Guided Reading

Guided Reading is an instructional system for teaching reading.  Within the instructional setting, teachers select and introduce books to small groups of children keeping in mind the children’s current reading abilities via observation and assessment. The teacher supports each reader’s development and use of effective strategies as the children read many new texts at increasingly challenging levels. The purpose of guided reading is to enable children to use and develop reading strategies while enjoying the story because it is accessible. It is accessible to them through the use of their own strategies and by the teacher’s introduction. 

The primary focus of guided reading is to enable children to construct meaning while using problem-solving strategies that help them read words they have not seen in print before. Children are taught to figure out words they don’t know, deal with tricky sentence structure, and understand the concepts or ideas portrayed in the text.

The ultimate goal of guided reading is for children to be able to read independently and silently with fluency and good comprehension.

We use the Fountas and Pinnell alphabetical system for leveling books for guided reading lessons. See DRA Grade Level Benchmarks for more information about how reading levels correspond to grade level benchmarks.