Guided Reading Lesson Plan
Group: DRA level 18 - 20
Date:
Title: Little Bear Turtle Island Voices, Level J (DRA 18)
Oral Assessment/Reread:
Learning Goals
(Running Record)
Text Level: Visualizing ~ Click – Take a
student name(s)
Picture! p. 79 Guiding Readers (Rog)
Word level: Using context clues to
determine the meaning of unfamiliar
words - Reading Around the Word, p.
81 Guiding Readers (Rog)
New Text/Book Introduction
Preview: This book tells the story of a white bear that has smudges on his sides
and why the hunters are taught never to hunt him. Take a minute to look through
the pictures and then we will talk about whether you have ever read a story like
this before.
Prior Knowledge: Have you ever read or listened to a story before that told of the
reason why things are the way they are? Has anyone ever seen a polar bear
before? Where do you think polar bears live?...
Possible sentence stems: This reminds me of ..., I already know that..., This relates
to ...
Purpose: When you are reading today you may come across some words that you
are unfamiliar with. Sometimes authors will give us clues to the meaning of tricky
words in the other words on the page. We call this “reading around the word”.
Today you are going to practice “reading around the word” to look for context
clues – clues that will help you to understand the meaning of the word.
Print the word lard on a card and have students locate the word in their text (p.
5). Have the students use highlighting tape to highlight other words on the page
that help us understand the tricky word. Talk about all the clues that students
have identified and, as a group, build a definition of the focus word.
Day 1: (Focus, Questions related to Learning Goals)
Must-Do Activity:
Before:
 Book introduction (Preview, Prior Knowledge, Purpose)
During:
 Independent reading of the text – Running record
Provide students with a previous
guided reading text that contains a
few unfamiliar vocabulary words
that are supported by context clues.

Have students write down any other words that they
come across that they need to use the context clues for.
Add the words to their graphic organizer. Ask them to try
to add at least one word.
After:


Discuss the text.
So why don’t hunters hunt polar bears with smudges on
their sides? How did using the context clues help you to
understand what you were reading?
Day 2: (Focus, Questions related to Learning Goals)
Before:
 Review Reading Around the Word definitions from
previous day.
 Purpose: Today we are going to work on visualizing or
constructing mental images of what we are reading. This
text has illustrations, but there might be other images
that come to mind. We might also be able to imagine
that we hear, smell, taste, and feel things that relate to
the text. For example, if we look at the cover page of this
book, are there any mental images that come to mind?
Could you imagine that you feel, hear, or smell anything?
(Possible answers: cold, wind, bear noises...)
Possible sentence stems: I can picture...; In my mind I see, hear,
smell, taste, feel...; If this were a movie...

Because this text already has illustrations for us, we are
going to reverse the process and we will add our own
words to the pictures. Show the students some samples
of captioned pictures from newspapers or magazines, for
example. What are some examples of words we could
add to the title page of this story?
During:
 Independent reading of the text – Running record
 Stop at 1st pause point together, p. 5 (if one student gets
there first they will reread until the other arrives).
Discuss captions they could add to the illustrations at
that point.
 Continue reading independently, stopping at 2nd pause
point – p. 9. What caption could you add to this page?
Are there any other sensory images that come to mind?
After:

Provide a list of 3 or 4 words from
the text for students to find and
define. Have students work in pairs
to write each word, record clue
words or phrases from the text, and
create their own definitions based
on the clue words. (graphic
organizer, p. 88, Rog)
Must-Do Activity
Sticky note captions: Have
the students add stickynotes captions at three
points in another story from
their book box. They will
share these on Day 3.
Celebrate use of the strategy. Discuss the images that
came to mind and/or the captions.
Day 3: (Focus, Questions related to Learning Goals)
Before:
Must-Do Activity:
Have students reread the

Purpose: Fluency – phrasing (Students will be able
to read in phrases rather than word by word.) p. 60
 Using a passage in the text, read aloud,
exaggerating the difference between reading word
by word and reading in phrases. Invite them to talk
about why the latter sounds better and makes more
sense. Create a sentence strip excerpted from the
guided-reading text and cut it into phrases.
Together read each phrase, saying the words
smoothly together. Point out to students that each
line in their guided-reading text is a group of words
that go together. Have them finger frame each line
and practice reading it smoothly together in chorus
several times. Give each student a slider (plastic
ruler) to slide under each line as they read, to guide
them in reading groups of words smoothly instead
of separately.
During:
 Have students buddy read aloud to practice fluency
and choose one page to read aloud to the group
afterwards.
After:
 Have each student read their chosen page aloud in
phrases rather than word by word.
guided reading texts in their
book boxes with their
buddies, using their
individual sliders to read in
phrases.
Day 4: (Focus, Questions related to Learning Goals)
Plan A: The Reading-Writing Connection: Organizing Ideas, p. 85,
Rog
Use the 3-2-1 Graphic organizer planner (p. 89) to have the
students retell the story considering the beginning, middle, and
end.
Do this as a group for ‘Little Bear’. Possibly in partners,
depending on the number of students. Then come back together
to compare and create one together as a whole group with
everyone contributing ideas.
Plan B: Infer with a picture. Use the two guys with a GPS
picture. Ask students, “What can we infer?”
Choose a page in the book to infer with. Just looking at the
pictures write down everything we can infer. (Page 5, 6, 9)
Plan C: Complete sentence stems for inferring:



The story said_____ which made me think...
When I read ____ it made me realize ...
I can tell (character) is (character trait) because
...
 How the character acts tells me ...
 How the character feels tells me...
 What the character says tells me...
A: Do a 3-2-1 organizer for
another book from their
book box. They will share
this at the beginning of the
next guided reading lesson.
B: Page 11 on their own
brainstorm everything you
can about inferring just
using that picture. Share at
next guided reading lesson.
C: Complete additional
sentence stems from the list
provided for a different
book from their book box.
Adapted from Pembroke Publishers 2012 Guiding Readers by Lori Jamison Rog ISBN 978-1-55138-273-9