SAMPLE BUDDY GUIDED READING LESSON PLANS
Remember, planning for your buddy has two purposes:
1) it helps you map out your teaching so it will be more effective, and
2) it gives me a window on how you are applying our course learning.
Instead of making your lesson generic, make it specific to the book you are using and to
your buddy. Consider the “supports and challenges” the book provides as well as
strategies your buddy needs to work on.
Materials:
Title: Huggles’ Breakfast
Author: Joy Cowley
GRL:
A
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Let her choose one book from her book bag
 Last week’s guided reading book (take running record)
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 Connect to previous read-aloud of The Very Hungry Caterpillar—another creature eating lots of
things
 Talk about what she likes to eat for breakfast
 This book is about a creature named Huggles who eats lots of different things—let’s find out whether
they’re the same things we would eat!
 Picture Walk: She knows the word “a,” which repeats on each page. Have her look at the picture on
each page (except the last one), say what she thinks Huggles is eating, and frame the word for it. The
page with the sausage may be confusing. If she says “hot dog,” ask her what hot dog would start
with. Point to the word “sausage” and ask if that could say “hot dog.” “What sound will the word
start with?” Tell her the word if needed since it is too hard for an emergent reader to decode. Don’t
include the last page in the picture walk, since it might ruin the funny ending.
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Give her encouragement that she is going to be able to read the whole book just fine
 Make sure she points to each word as she reads so that she can get one-to-one matching down.
 Cue the first letter and the picture if she has trouble with the word that changes in the pattern. She
may read “phone” instead of “telephone” on the last page. If so, go back and have her look at the
initial letter.
FOLLOW-UP:
 Talk about the last page and ask her why she thought it was funny (Huggles eats a telephone, which
isn’t even food)
 Which things would she like that Huggles ate?

If any of the words were tricky, talk about how she figured them out. Encourage her use of the
illustrations and the first letter of the word (since she is an emergent reader) and her matching of
voice to print with her finger.
Materials:
Book Title/Author: Can I Play? by Claire Llewelyn
Guided Reading Level (a-z):
C
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Austin will read his Down by the Bay class book for a warm-up.
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 Read the title and ask him to look at the cover. “Why do you think the puppy is smiling?”
 Summary statement: “This is about a puppy who wants to play with someone.” Be sure to use the word
“puppy” to give him a head-start on decoding the word, as he may want to say “dog” or “pup”.
 Personal Connection: “Who do you like to play with?” Try to draw out who Austin likes to play with and
what he likes to do.
 Question leading into the story…”Who do you think the puppy might want to play with?” Let him make
some guesses. “Let’s take a look at some of pictures inside to see if we can tell who he wants to play
with.”
 Picture Walk: Look at the first 3-4 spreads of the book together. Talk about what seems to be happening.
On the page where the cat is eating, ask if it looks like the cat wants to play or eat his food. Also look at
the frog pages, but don’t go past the frog pages so he will have a chance to work through the rest on his
own.
 Point out the quotation marks and see if he knows what they mean. “When there are marks like this, it
means that someone is talking. Sometimes the dog is talking, and sometimes the other animals are
talking” Also look at the question mark and review that it means a question is being asked (connect to the
book title where there is also a question mark).
 In order to help with word recognition and fluency, have Austin find and frame puppy, hello, said, and
want.
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 He still tends to skip or add words if he doesn’t fingerpoint, so have him do this for the first reading, at
least. If there is time for a second reading at the end of the session, try having him point with his eyes.
 Tell Austin that you are confident that he is going to be able to read this book really well.
 Possible tricky spots:
o He might want to say “bird” on the owl page. Prompt him to look at the first letter of the
word.
o On the same page, he may say the owl wants to “sit” instead of “sleep”. Prompt to look at
beginning and ending letters or the “sl” blend.
FOLLOW-UP:
 “Can you tell me what happened in the story?” Ask additional questions as needed to find out whether
he understood the story. “Does your mom like to play with you, too?” We will discuss things we like to
do with our moms.
 Go back to tricky spots in the book and let him know what a good job he did of recognizing sight words and
figuring out tricky words. Reinforce his use of strategies like using the first letter of the word and the
pictures. Tell him I will be helping him learn to point with his eyes.
Materials:
Title: Bugs!
Author: Patricia and Fredrick McKissack
GRL:
C
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 What Has Stripes? – last week’s guided reading (take running record)
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 Read the title and have Jenny name any of the bugs she can in the illustration and discuss whether she
likes/dislikes certain types.
 Picture Walk: Ask Jenny to describe a few of the bugs in the illustrations (p. 7, 8, 15). Point out the “wh”
and “th” words (where, there, three, everywhere) and make sure Jenny can read and recognize them
(these are the words she has the most trouble with). Point out the number words, as well, and make sure
she knows how to read them.
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Remind Jenny of strategies we’ve practiced for figuring out difficult words – using illustrations to check
meaning, looking at the beginning and end sounds of the word, and skipping + going back to a word to see
what word could fit in the sentence.
 Listen carefully as Jenny reads independently. Wait to correct her errors until she reaches the end of each
set of pages and has had time to self-correct. Don’t interrupt unless Jenny is very frustrated or her
miscues are changing the meaning of the sentences. If interruption is necessary, suggest a strategy that
will help her figure the word out for herself (don’t tell her the word until/unless she has had adequate
time to rethink the word).
FOLLOW-UP:
 Meaning-Based Discussion—Have Jenny retell the main points of the book (what kinds of bugs we saw
and where they were). Ask her if she has seen any bugs on the playground or near her house and what
they looked like.
 Tricky Spots/Strategies—Go back to pages with words that gave Jenny difficulty and discuss how she
figured them out – what strategies worked or didn’t work and how she might be able to do the same
thing in a different book in the future. I anticipate that Jenny will have difficulty with the “wh” and “th”
words, so discuss these sounds and the words that use them in this book as a transition into the
engagement activity. Be sure to explain the difference between voiced and unvoiced “th” words and have
her put her hand on her throat to feel the different placements.
Book Title/Author: Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza
Guided Reading Level (a-z):
C
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Have buddy read “Shark in a Sack” by Joy Cowley (which was last week’s book) to build his confidence in
reading.
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 “Today we are going to be reading Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza by Marjorie Eberts and Margaret
Gisler. What can you tell by looking at the cover and by reading the title that the book will be about?”
 Since the book is about food, it will be easy to make text-to-self connections.
“What is your favorite type of food? Are there any foods you dislike?”
“Do you have home-cooked meals ever at home (or do you eat out a lot)?”
Since on the cover the young girl is holding a grocery sack, “Have you ever gone with someone to go
grocery shopping? How was that experience for you?”
 Now go through a picture walk. Use your pointer finger from each hand to put a frame around the words
he would probably confuse.
 On page 7, it has the word “round” in the sentence. First point out the types of food in the picture
to see if he can guess what shape they all are.
Page 13 has the word “square” in it. Do the same thing for this.
Same with “triangle” on page 18.
 Page 8 has the word “pancakes” in the sentence. Break it up into two pieces: pan and cake. Write
them both on the white board to show how he can put two words together to make a compound
word.
 Page 27 has the word “shapes” on it. “What sound does the letter s make? What sound does the
letter h make? Now if you put them together, as in sh, what sound does that make?”
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Buddy will hold the book himself and read softly aloud so I can still hear.
 If buddy gets stuck on any word, try to help him figure it out without giving away the answer – no sounding
it out!!
FOLLOW-UP:
 Have buddy retell the story. You can give hints like “What type of circle foods does he eat?” Same with
square or triangle foods. By doing this, you can tell how well the buddy understands the story while he
reads it.
 “There were many difficult words in this text. What words do you think were the hardest?” Go through
the difficult words to help buddy find strategies for making reading easier.
Book Title: Wake Me in Spring
Author: James Preller
Guided Reading Level (a-z):
E
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Let Megan choose a book from some of the previous guided reading books we have gone through.
 Ask Megan if she remembers the book, and if so what she liked about it.
 She should be familiar with the book, but any trouble spots from previous readings could be reviewed.
 Read the book with Megan providing support when necessary.
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 Look at the cover of the book to discuss what could be happening inside the book – Who is on the cover of
the book? Why do you think there are a bear, a flower and a mouse on a book called Wake Me in Spring?
 Ask Megan what she already knows about bears and spring – connect any previous knowledge that she
might have to her ideas about this book.
 Do a picture walk of the book - This book uses quotations so make sure that Megan is familiar with what
they are and what their purpose is. Explain to her that quotation marks are used when someone in a book
is speaking.
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Remind Megan of all the things we discussed in the picture walk through and any of the key words that we
used for some of the pictures.
 Allow Megan to hold the book so she can use her fingers to break up any words she is having trouble with.
 Encourage Megan to go slowly – she tends to read as quickly as she can and will repeat a word incorrectly
throughout the book if we don’t ask her questions like “Did that sentence make sense?” or “What are the
beginning and ending sounds of that word? Now what did you just read?”
 If Megan gets stuck on a word, gently remind her to look at the pictures for clues or break it apart into
syllables, take off suffixes, or anything else she might know how to do.
FOLLOW-UP:
 Ask Megan to recall what some of her favorite parts from the book were – this is essentially asking her to
review what the book was about to check for comprehension.
 Connect any information that Megan had about bears and springtime before the book to anything she
might have learned while reading the book – this book, while fictional, does have some nonfiction
information (i.e. bears hibernate in the winter and wake up in the spring).
 Ask Megan if the new punctuation in this book had any effect on how difficult she felt it was to read it.
 Allow Megan to re-read the book – sometimes she likes to go back through and just look at the pictures!
 Book Title/Author: Just Like Me/Barbara Neasi
 Guided Reading Level (a-z):
E
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 I will do a running record on our last guided reading book.
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 First I will read Melinda the title of the book. I will then go on and tell about the story, how there is one
twin out of the two that is talking and she is comparing herself to her twin sister.
 I will ask her if she knows anyone who has a twin, if she doesn’t, tell her about someone I know that does.
Then ask her if she has ever thought about having a twin. Would she like it or dislike it and why? Then ask
her if she thinks twins do everything together and if they like the same things.
 Picture walk: I will give her the example to look for the repeating phrases from page to page and try to
help her connect that repeating phrase with the pictures. I will ask her what is happening in the pictures
and say the phrase and help her to finish my sentence with what is happening in the picture.
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 I will reiterate that she is a wonderful reader and that I want her to read her best, but to go slow, so that I
can follow along…instead of just saying slow down!
 I will give her extra encouragement during the more tricky areas and when she starts to want to give up.
 I think the words Jennifer, brown, grade, dance, skate, bubble, clean, float, wear, wake, and sometimes are
going to be tricky for her at first, but when I encourage her to start with the first two letters, look at the
picture to help her, and then use her finger to help her with each syllable, (when she may get stuck), might
help her. I will make sure that I am not just giving her rules, that she is finding reliable patterns in the text
to help her read.
 I will make sure that when I am helping her through a word, giving her ideas on how to get through the
trickiness, that I am not giving it to her or making it too easy by telling her too much.
 The way I will help her use the picture/text strategy is to explain to her that it’s ok to look at the pictures
to help you read. The pictures are there for the story and for her to use. I will explain that when she gets
to a word that she thinks is tricky, that she will think about the picture and what is happening, then try the
first two letters, but not to just guess or make up something that doesn’t really make sense to us.
FOLLOW-UP:
 I will have Melinda tell me the main points of this story and ask for a few answers from some details.
 I will ask her she thinks Jennifer and Julie are they the same as each other and how are they different from
each other.
 I will have her explain to me what this means to her with some help, does she think that we should all be
the same and like the same things or should be different and maybe like or dislike different things and
why.
 We will go back and discuss what the pictures and the text are saying, if she misses any points or says any
of them incorrectly.
 We will talk about the words that she was having a hard time with and ask her why they were so tricky and
maybe what she could do next time to make them not so tricky. (Which will then lead into the mini-lesson,
because a lot of the words that are in this book are words that Melinda has trouble with and we are trying
to improve her long vowel patterns and other vowels. In order to introduce those long vowels, I will also
compare them with those same short vowel patterns to help her compare and differentiate the two.)
Title: If You Take a Mouse to School
Author: Laura Numeroff
GRL:
K
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Let him choose one book from his book bag
 Last week’s guided reading book (take running record)
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 Connect to other books by Laura Numeroff that he may know (If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give
a Moose a Muffin)
 Summary…Tell him that this is a book about a mouse who goes to school with a boy.
 Personal connection…What does he think a mouse would do all day at school?
 Picture walk up to the math/science page…Can he find the word science? (This will hopefully also
help with decoding the following word, “experiment,” during the reading.)


Starting with the math/science pages, the text tends to skip around on the pages, so have him run his
finger to show where he would start reading on that page and where he would continue. Make sure
he understands that he needs to finish all of the text on a page, from top to bottom, before moving
on to the next page.
Talk about finding smaller chunks he can recognize in long words—use “lunchbox” as an example on
the first page. Write it on the whiteboard and look at the two words that are inside it. This can help
with long words we find when we are reading. Remember to double-check by passing your finger
under the word while you say it to check for letter-sound match. Re-read the sentence to see if the
word makes sense. (Demonstrate with this word.)
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Make sure he holds his own book. Have him read softly so I can listen in.
 Remember not to correct his mistakes right away. See if he catches them when he gets to the end of
the sentence. Prompt if needed based on the kind of miscue.
 If he comes to a difficult word, he tends to skip it and not return. Remind him to put his finger under
the tricky word, skip it, finish the sentence, then go back and re-read to see if he can figure out the
tricky word (skip & return).
FOLLOW-UP:
 Talk about the book and what he found interesting, funny, etc.
 Discuss the tricky parts I noted during the independent reading, encouraging him for using strategies
that helped him. If appropriate, coach in the use of other helpful strategies.
 Lead into mini-lesson on compound words…
Materials:
 Book Title/Author: Five True Dog Stories by Margaret Davidson
 Guided Reading Level (a-z):
M
FAMILIAR or EASY READING:
 Since we have read the first chapter of the book last week, I will prompt Sydney to help her remember
what the first chapter was about. Even though the first chapter had a different setting and characters than
the chapter we will read today, recalling what has previously happened will help her make an overall
connection between all of the “unforgettable” dogs in the book. “Can you tell me anything you
remember about the chapter we read last time we were together?”
o If Sydney has trouble remembering details from the chapter we read last week, I will ask more
narrow ended questions. “Do you remember the name of the dog in the story? Where
did he live? He had a special job. Do you remember what type of job Dox had?” If she
still struggles recalling the previous chapter I will go back to the table of contents and
have her read “Dox, the greatest detective dog in the world.” I will also review the
character map we made together.
 After reviewing the table of contents and character map, I will discuss the importance of taking her time as
she reads to make sure she understands what she is reading. This is important because at this level,
Sydney has a tendency to want to speed through the reading without stopping to think about she is
reading because she is able to read the majority of the words. I will have her go back to important parts in
the story and point out how as readers, we must stop and make sure we understand the words because
just reading words without understanding what they mean is not really reading. “I know you are a great
reader and love to read chapter books, but it is very important that you understand what you are reading.
This is not always easy for us to do, but one thing that I do when I am reading and do not understand what
I just read is that I go back and read the sentence or word again. Do you think this would be helpful for
you to do?” I will demonstrate how she can do this using a sentence from chapter one.
o This is an important strategy for Sydney to work on to strengthen her comprehension level.
 I will then take a running record on a page of her choice from the first chapter.
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
 I will have Sydney turn back to the table of contents and ask her to read the sentence about the new dog
featured in the chapter.
 I will reintroduce the map I used last week and point out Switzerland. “Do you remember how we used
this map to find the country of Italy? Do you know why we found Italy on the map?” She will hopefully
say something about Italy being where the first chapter took place. “The setting of the chapter you are
going to read today is Switzerland. Switzerland is a country just like the country we live in, the United
States of America.” Because the setting of the story is different, the words the author uses to describe the
setting and characters. The chapter we are going to read today takes place in a very cold area and because
of this the words the author uses to describe the setting will be different from the words he used to
describe the first chapter we read. It is important that she understands how the setting can affect the
story.
 I will walk Sydney through the chapter to point out and explain difficult vocabulary words: St. Bernard on
page 25- “A St. Bernard is a type of dog, just like a lab is a type of dog” (Here Sydney will be able to make a
text to self connection because she has a lab at home.” Avalanche on page 27- “An avalanche is a great
slide of snow”
o The word avalanche is defined in the same sentence as the word. “Often times the author tells us
what a hard word means by including the definition in the same sentence.
 Talk about why some of the words in the story are split up between two lines. “Do you remember when
you were reading last week and some of the words were spilt up on two lines? (Turn to page 7 and point
out mas-ter.) Point at the word-“This – is called a hyphen and it tells us that the entire word would not fit
on the same line, so the author put the rest of the word on the next line. The word is split up between
syllables, we say mas ter. So when you are reading and come to – put the first part of the word mas and
the second part of the word ter together.”
o If she does not know what a syllable is go over the syllables in her name and explain a syllable is the
different sounds chunks we hear when we say a word.
 I will remind her to take her time while she reads to make sure she fully understands what the text says. I
will also remind her to go back and reread a sentence to help her be aware of what is happening in the
story.
 Just before she starts reading I will ask her to think of ways a dog can save people. “As you read, think
about how the author describes the way Barry the dog saves the people in the story.”
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
 Remind Sydney to take her time.
 Let her hold the book and tell her to make sure she reads out loud so that I can hear her.
 Remind her to put the parts of the word together when she comes to a hyphenated word.
 Keep reminding to go back and re-read a sentence or part of the chapter if she does not understand what
she is reading.
 Remind her to use the surrounding text when she comes to a new vocabulary word.
FOLLOW-UP:
 Ask Sydney to talk about how Barry the dog saved people. “Who did Barry save? How did Barry save the
girl?” If she is having trouble recalling details have her go back and reread parts of the chapter.
o At this point it is important to make sure Sydney understands how vital it is to understand what she
is reading. Having her go back will make her more aware of this.
 Ask her if she did not know what any of the words she read in the chapter meant. “Did you do anything
we talked about while you were reading to try and understand what the word meant? Did you use the
surrounding words to help or did you go back and reread the sentence or word?” Make sure to review any
words she still does not know.
 Ask Sydney questions about other dogs that save people. “Do you know any other stories about dogs that
have saved people?” This will lead right into the mini-lesson.
Materials:
 Book Title/Author: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
 Guided Reading Level (a-z):
 Newspaper
 2 small post-its per student
R
INTRODUCE THE NEW BOOK:
“We are going to read Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Let’s take a look at the cover art.”
Discuss the cover illustration. “It might look like a mom and her children here, but actually it’s not. This is
Anna, and this is Caleb. They are brother and sister. You can see their dad in the background. The
woman’s name is Sarah, but she isn’t their mom. We’ll talk about that more in a minute.”
“Do you think this book takes place now, or a long time ago? What are the clues? This book does take
place a long time ago, about 100 years ago.”
To introduce the characters, read aloud the first page while the students read along. Ask students to pay
attention to who is in the story. After reading, ask “Can you figure out who is telling the story? How do
you know?” (Anna is the narrator)
“Do you remember that I told you the woman on the cover is not Anna and Caleb’s mom? Their mom
died when Caleb was born, so they have lived all these years without her. What do you think their life is
like without their mom? Do you think the father might want to get married again?” Explain how the
family lives out in the country where it is hard to meet new people, so that father puts an ad for a new wife
in the newspaper in a faraway city. Show how most ads in newspapers are for cars, homes, furniture, etc.
A woman named Sarah sees the ad. She lives far away, so how do you think they would get to know her?
Do you think they had phones back then? How about computers? They start writing letters to each other,
and in this book, you’ll get to read some of those letters. In one of Sarah’s letters, she describes herself as
‘plain and tall.’ (Also refer to the title of the book.) Do you know what “plain” means in this situation?”
Explain that it means she is ordinary-looking. The word “plain” is also used in this book to describe where
they live, which is a place where the land is flat, with small hills but no mountains. (Contrast the spelling of
“plane.”)
SCAFFOLDED INDEPENDENT READING:
In a minute, you will begin reading chapters 1 and 2. I am going to give you two small post-its to use. As you
read, I want you to mark two places that describe where Sarah is from. Be ready to talk about them when
we meet again.
FOLLOW-UP:
(At next guided reading session so that students can finish chapters at their own pace)
 Have students share the places they marked that show where Sara is from. Help them get a picture
in their minds of that setting because it plays into comprehending the rest of the book.
 Were there any spots in the reading that were interesting or confusing for you? Did any questions
come to mind? Have a general discussion before introducing the next section of the book.