Book Review -- The Next Step in Guided Reading

This month I read, The Next Step in Guided Reading, by Jan Richardson.  It was a very detailed book with lots of great ideas for reading teacher of all levels. 

As a teacher returning to first grade I was looking for how to take my reading groups to the next level.  Jan definitely answered that in her book. 

She had some good reminders for me:

Everyday every lesson should have:

1.      Daily Read Aloud

2.    Shared Reading

3.    Guided Reading

4.    Self Selected Reading

Things I want to remember:

• ·      Instead of ringing that loud bell….use cell phone timer to signal clean up.  Quieter/gentle reminder…will encourage room to be quieter.
• ·      Spend Week 1 -4 Establishing Guidelines and Routines
• ·      What happens when someone leaves a mess?
• ·      Create Book Bags for the children
• ·      Create “I’m Done” Poster
• ·      Create Discovery Tubs for students who have completed all work
• ·      Set up Routines for Bathroom, Finish Work, Unfinished Pockets, Expert Helpers to control interruptions during guided reading
• ·      Gallon Size Bags for Book Bags for students

The Reading Journal

Jan Richardson has lots of amazing ideas for journal responses based on grade level.  I am going to start with having the children  keep a log of what they read in and out of the classroom each week. 

Once a week in their journal the children will write me a letter about one of the books.  The shape and content of the letters will change as the year goes on.  I will model during shared reading my expectations for this letter.  At the beginning of the year we will start simple with how to write a letter.  As the year goes on possible mini lesson ideas:

·      using post its to mark something that is interesting

·      reusing your post it

·      A Connection you made with the book to your own life

·      Something that surprised you in the book

·      an interesting fact

·      favorite character -- Because

·      how the main character changes in the story

·      compare two characters in the story

·      compare yourself to the character in the story

·      compare this book to another book

·      illustrate your favorite part of the book and describe what is happening

·      Tell me three reasons why this book is interesting or why  do you liked it

·      Tell me something that puzzled you in the story

·      what lesson was the author trying to teach in the story

·      What are some amazing words you found in the story and what do they mean

·      What are three important facts from the story.

·      What is the main idea

·      The Five Finger Retell

Character/Setting/Problem/Events/Ending

Jan Richardson also writes about teaching young children to ask questions as they read.  I think this is a great skill in general.  How many times do you have a visitor in your classroom and the visitor says, “Does anyone have a question?”  And one of your little ones tells a story about his dog. 

She has three levels of questions:

The Green Level

The questions that are asked and the answers can be found in one place in the book.

Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

The Yellow Level

The questions asked have their answers in the text and must you must read several paragraphs maybe even pages and compare and contrast. 

How are __________ and _____________ alike

How are ___________ and _____________ different

What caused ________________

The Red Level

The answers to these questions are not found in the text you need to draw from your personal experiences and background knowledge to answer.

I wonder why…………

Why would…………

How would

What if

What would happen if

Ok stay with me I know this is getting long however the most important part of the book is at the end.  I am all about teaching vocabulary this year.  I read that in Teaching Like a Champion.  So at the very end of the book Jan Richardson writes about the differences between the characters feelings and the characters traits.  Something a first grader will know nothing about.  However it is something that I can definitely teach.

TRAIT can be a vocabulary word---A trait describes what a person/character is like on the inside. 

Now you are ready to teach different traits as vocabulary words.  She recommends finding books to go with each trait. 

Here is what I have come up with this morning for my school year:

Week	Book	Trait
1	Chrysanthemum K. Henkes	START with Feelings
2	Mo Willems Books	More Feelings
3	Oh No George C. Haughton	irresponsible
4	Junie B. Jones B. Parks	impatient
5	One Smile C. McKinley	grateful
6	The Kindness Quilt N. Wallace	kindness
7	1492  -- Christopher Columbus	confident
8	There’Something In My Attic M. Meyer Stellaluna j.  Cannon	brave clumsy
9	Where The Wild Things Are M. Sendick	Mischievous
10	The Littlest Owl C. Haughton	helpful
11	Leo Late Bloomer R. Kraus	patient
12	The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush T. dePaola	faithful
13	A Color of His Own	cheerful
14	Me First	pushy
15	The Gingerbread Baby J. Brett	arrogant
16	The stable Were Jesus Was Born	humble
17	Tacky the Penguin H. Lester	odd
18	Dr. Martin Luther King	peaceful
19	The Little Red Hen	selfish
20	The Little Yellow Chicken J. Cowley	clever
21	Abraham Lincoln	honest
22	Plant A Kiss A. Rosenthal	considerate
23	Curious George H. Reyes	curious
24	Ordinary Mary;s Extraordinary Deed E. Pearson	ordinary
25	Where Does Love Come From M. kirkova Love You When L. Kranz	loveable
26	How To  Lose All Your Friends N. Carlson	gloomy
27	Olivia	confident
28	I Love It When You Smile S. McBratney	grumpy
29	The Story and Life of Jesus	Review Traits
30	Owl Babies M. Waddell	thoughtful
31	Kindness Is Cooler Mrs. Ruler M. Cuyler	inconsiderate
32	Sylvester and the Magic Pebble W. Steig	miserable
33	The True Story of the Three Little Pigs J. Scieszka	calm
34	Gregory, the Terrible Eater M. Sharmat	fussy
35	Ira Sleeps Over B. Waber	cautious
36	Harold and the Purple Crayon C. Johnson	Review

Thanks for sticking with me.  I hope you can tell from my long post that this book is well worth your time and investment.  It has lots of good suggestions for grades 2 and above as well.  
Happy Reading. :)