Choice Lit Topic: Guiding Groups
How many? How often? How to assess? What’s the teacher’s role? We share flexible and creating strategies for leading groups, and teaching students how to partner and work well with classmates independently. Resources include everything from planning and assessment forms to scores of video examples of groups in action at many grade levels.
Results
Partner Reading: Helping Peers Teach Peers
In this video from Linda Karamatic's second-grade classroom, two girls meet with Linda to develop tips to share with their classmates on how to partner read successfully.
Found Poetry in Second Grade
Linda Karamatic teaches a small group of her second graders about found poetry.
Inferring Small Group in 5th Grade
Karen Terlecky meets with a small group in her 5th grade class to discuss the strategy of inferring.
Guiding Groups in Middle School: Reading Poetry
Katie Doherty works with a small group of sixth graders who need extra support as they read the poem "Aspects of Autumn." You can read the poem below the player....
“If You Like Matt Christopher” Student Book Share
In this video, two boys share other books beyond the writing of Matt Christopher that might interest their three classmates. The boys report on the books and describe components that are important to them.
Middle School Book Clubs: Response Options
Katie Doherty explains the options for response as students finish their books in book clubs. She meets with the readers of Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell and discusses their plan for response.
Middle School Book Clubs: Introduction
In this video we see Katie Doherty's middle schoolers conducting book clubs in heterogeneous groups discussing books of their own choosing. Katie shares her successes and challenges with book clubs.
Making Predictions and Finding Evidence in Text
In this video from a 5th grade small group, Clare Landrigan talks with students about making predictions and finding evidence in text. The text used is Jean Little's Hey World, Here I Am! Poems and short essays are excellent choices for small-group comprehension work, because the text can be read, reread, and discussed in just a few minutes.
Science Writing: Small Groups
In this second video in a three-part series, Jennifer Morgan leads her grades 3 and 4 students as they work together in small groups on a science and writing task. She focuses on her role as a listener and gives the opportunity for the students to express how they are organizing their observations and data collection.
Listen In: Strategies for Using Nonfiction Texts in Writing
Besides being good friends, Sammi and Alyssa had similar writing folder contents: nonfiction texts that were exact copies of a published book. In academic integrity studies of high school and...
Conferring About Inferring
During reader's workshop, my main goal is to have students reading and practicing some form of reading strategy with the text that they choose. At the beginning of the year,...
Book Club Meetings in 3rd Grade
When I began planning for book clubs in my classroom, I knew that the readers in our class needed to keep their read-to-self time as a sacred opportunity for them...
What is the Content for Small-Group Instruction? (Part 2 of the Grouping Series)
My colleague Pam, who is new to small groups, had a goal of meeting with three groups of fifth graders each day. We had several pieces of information in front...
Voila! Best Writing and Entry Slips in Second Grade
Linda Karamatic leads a small group of second graders who are choosing pieces with the help of their peers to place in their portfolios. After reading and discussing their pieces, Linda shares an entry slip to encourage more careful selection of writing.
Fonts: Small Group and Conferring with Intermediate Writers
In this follow-up to a whole class lesson and discussion of fonts, Franki Sibberson pulls together a group of 3rd and 4th graders from her class who have asked to be a part of a small group on fonts.
Book Clubs in 3rd Grade
At the beginning of this book club, Beth Lawson checks in with three students about their character studies in the book Because of Winn Dixie. As they prepare to have an independent conversation, she offers them a suggestion to get started.
Reorganizing Guided Reading Supplies
In this video from a first-grade classroom, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey ("The Sisters") help Kelly Yahr reorganize the books and materials in her guided reading instruction area.
The Five-Minute Solution: Mini-Groups after Minilessons to Maximize Conferring Time
Writing conferences in the upper elementary grades can be scary. Books and gurus say you have to have "editing conferences" and "revision conferences" and "idea conferences." They say you need...
Guiding Reading Partners: Work on Accuracy
In this reading conference from a 2nd grade classroom, Linda Karamatic pairs two children who have similar needs in reading.
Middle School Book Clubs: Introduction
Book clubs are a natural fit in middle school classrooms. They are a great way to incorporate more reading into the lives of our students, and to encourage...
Middle School Book Clubs: Response Options
Perhaps the most important part of my role as teacher during book clubs is to know what my students are thinking. This is the whole point, to know that they...
