Integrating LFS Into Guided Reading
Donna Jay

What is guided reading?
What is guided reading?

Guided reading is small-group reading instruction designed to
provide differentiated teaching that supports students in
developing reading proficiency. The teacher uses a tightly
structured framework that allows for the incorporation of
several research-based approaches into a coordinated whole.

For the student, the guided reading lesson means reading and
talking (and sometimes writing) about an interesting and
engaging variety of fiction and nonfiction texts. For the
teacher, guided reading means taking the opportunity for
careful text selection and intentional and intensive teaching of
systems of strategic activity for proficient reading (Fountas &
Pinnell, 1996).
What is the purpose of guided reading?
 You select books that students can read with about
90 percent accuracy. Students can understand and
enjoy the story because it’s accessible to them
through their own strategies, supported by your
introduction. They focus on meaning but use
problem-solving strategies to figure out words they
don’t know, deal with difficult sentence structure,
and understand concepts or ideas they have never
before encountered in print.
What are the elements of guided reading?

Although teachers utilize various approaches to guided
reading, the following elements are a part of most guided
reading sessions:



Teachers select books for groups rather than following a rigid
sequence.
Groups are dynamic; they change in response to assessment
and student need; they are flexible and fluid.
In all groups, no matter what the level is, teachers teach for a
full range of strategic actions: word solving, searching for
and using information, self-monitoring and correcting,
summarizing information, maintaining fluency, adjusting for
purpose and genre, predicting, making connections
(personal, other texts, and world knowledge), synthesizing,
inferring, analyzing, and critiquing (Pinnell & Fountas,
2008a).
What does research say about guided
reading?

All teaching in guided reading lessons has the ultimate goal
of teaching reading comprehension.


In guided reading, teachers provide specific demonstrations
and teaching of comprehension strategies such as inferring,
synthesizing, analyzing, and critiquing. Teachers prompt
readers to think and talk in these strategic ways. This kind of
teaching is supported by research. The National Reading
Panel (NICHD, 2000) has suggested that teaching a
combination of reading comprehension techniques is highly
effective in helping students recall information, generate
questions, and summarize texts.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/pdfs/
GR_Research_Paper_2010.pdf
Video
 http://toolbox.learningfocused.com/lfdirect/html/L
FS_Overview_1b.html
How does guided reading and LFS mesh
together?
 The E.A.T.S model and guided reading can be integrated
together!


Essential Question – This can be given to the whole group
of students to focus the purpose of the guided reading
instructional time and literacy workstations around one
common comprehension skill (story mapping,
fantasy/realism, cause/effect, prediction, etc). A short
mini-lesson reviewing the comprehension skill can also
follow.
Students who are not working with you in small groups
will be working at literacy stations or independently to
answer the same essential question as presented to the
whole group.
How does guided reading and LFS mesh
together?

Activating Strategy


This can be done in your small guided reading group. Any activating
strategy that works appropriately with the chosen text you selected
is great (link to prior knowledge, link to what will be learned in the
lesson…must be motivating!) As with any other lesson, selecting
the appropriate activating strategy can set the stage for learning.
Teaching Strategies

These can be in the form of graphic organizers, or any other tool
that works both with the selected text and the comprehension
strategy for which you are focusing the lesson. Students must be
able to apply their learning during the lesson. Assessment prompts
are useful to check for understanding throughout the lesson.
How does guided reading and LFS mesh
together?
 Summarizing Strategies
 Distributed summaries, exit tickets, etc. can be
utilized in the small group guided reading lesson to
review if students comprehend the essential
question of the lesson.
 When all small group instruction time is over, gather
all students together and summarize in another way
for the whole group, making sure that students at
literacy stations also have a level of understanding of
the essential question.
How does guided reading and LFS mesh
together?
 Extending Thinking Activities
 Literacy stations are a great means to integrate
extended thinking activities. Choose the
appropriate thinking strategy (comparing,
classifying, induction, deduction, error analysis,
constructing support, abstracting, or analyzing
perspectives) for your students and apply it to a
literacy station.
Can this really work?
 YES! With just a few changes, you can integrate
guided reading and LFS together!
 Questions?