Guided Reading Lesson Plan (Levels A-L)

Title: A Snowman Level: F ISBN: 978-1608671519 Publisher: Wilbooks

Teaching Point: Readers look for chunks they may know to help them figure out a word.

Familiar Read: (3 min.)

Familiar Writing: (3 min.) Word Building (3 min.) –or chunk
1. put
2. add or-for-storm-acorn
3. ball - have students use magnets to build the words

Before Reading: (5-7 min.)

 Book Introduction: (include meaning, structure, visual)
Have you ever made a snowman? How did you do it? Did you add accessories? In this fiction story, the
animals are adding things to a snowman that the children built. It is a fun, make-believe story we can read for
enjoyment.

 Difficult Words/Vocabulary: animals (2) scarf (3) branches (5)

Play ‘I Spy’ with the difficult words. Show pictures of each and get students to match words to pictures
based on first letter sounds (visual learners).

 Intentional Teaching Point: (refer to flip chart)

Readers look for chunks they may know to help them figure out a word. You know lots of words and chunks.
If you come to a tricky word, see if there is a little word in the big word that can help you. Or, look to see if
there is a chunk that will help you figure out the new word.
Practice chunk words that students may see using magnets allowing students to separate the chunks (for
kinesthetic learners). Some words could be, for example, ‘snow’ ‘man’ ‘but’ ‘ton’.

During Reading: (5-10 min.) Listen in to students while they read. Reinforce the teaching point, help with
decoding, check for understanding and provide specific feedback.
Have students choral read (all read together) in order to help auditory learners pick up words from peers. As
students are reading they should be pointing to each word (tactile learners).

After Reading: (5-7 min.)

 Return to Teaching Point

Were you able to figure out any tricky words in the story? Share what strategy you used.

 Discussion Questions
Let’s retell the story:
What happened at the beginning of the story?
What happened next? What did the owl bring? What did the squirrel bring? The kitten? The puppy?
What happened at the end? Get students to use loose parts to tell their story (visual, auditory, kinesthetic).
Have students re-tell the story to someone in another guided reading group.

Could this story really happen? Why or why not?

 Guided Reading Lesson Plan (Levels A-L)
Writing Connection: (5 min.)
Have you ever made a snowman? What did you put on yours?
- allow students the option to write full sentences or create a list
- if a student is really struggling with the written piece, they can use the book that was read to see if they can
find words in it
- a word bank could be provided
- a sentence starter is provided by the teacher “On my snowman I have __________”

I think Guided Reading is a form of DI in itself as it divides students into groups according to their ability. In
these groups, the teacher can target student learning outcomes according to their needs. For example, a group
that is at a beginning level will be working on reading simple texts. Similarly, a group that is working on
chunking will be given instruction that helps build this skill. Everyone is working at their ‘just-right’ level. The
other groups are working on literacy activities as well. Other centres might include: bingo, reading with a
partner, making sticker stories, or listening to reading on the iPad.