Reading Small Group Lessons Done For You

I don’t know about you, but I could ALWAYS use more ideas for my small group teaching.

I love to have a ton of ‘tools in my toolbox’ so I can pull out what my students need at a moment’s notice.

So today, in the spirit of new ideas and sharing, I want to give you one lesson plan format that I use a lot! I recycle this same template, and tweak it to match what my students are working on. Feel free to use this however you need to with your own students!

Note: This lesson plan is using my standards-based reading passages. I love these, because they target one standard at a time. So, it makes it easy for students to hone in on one skill. This is a skill-based comprehension lesson for 2nd grade!

Step One: Review the skill we are working on.

Host a brief discussion about the reading skill you’re practicing that week. Review the definition for that skill (bust out some visuals if you have an anchor chart already made). Make some connections to times that you’ve seen that skill in texts already that week, or previously that year.

Example: Today we’re going to work on finding the main idea of a text. What does main idea mean? Yes, it means to find what the text is mostly talking about. We want to be able to name the one, main thing that a text is about, and use evidence from our passage to make sure that we are right.

What are some books we’ve read together where we found the main idea? Exactly! We read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The main idea was that a boy had a very bad day with his family. We also read an article about Cheetah’s and the adaptations that they have to survive.

Step Two: Preview Today’s Text and Make Predictions

Predicting is such a powerful tool for comprehension. It requires that our students take in all of the details of the text before they start reading: photographs, captions, the title, headings, etc. All of the features that give essential clues to figuring out what a text is trying to teach us, yet our students are so quick to skip.

Example: Let’s take a look at this passage. What do you think this passage might be about, before we read? Take a minute to look over the entire page, then write your prediction down on a sticky note.

Step Three: Read in Chunks

When it comes time to actually read, there are dozens of strategies you can employ. You can have students whisper read. You can read aloud and have students close read on their own immediately after. You can ask students to choral read, echo read, or partner read. How you choose to approach the reading is up to you.

But, when I’m working on non-fiction, I like to do two things every time:

1. Chunk up the reading so you can model comprehension and metacognition skills. This can be by paragraph, by header, etc.

2. Give each student a highlighter. Ask them to highlight any words they do not know as they go along. (This may be vocab they don’t recognize or words they can not decode).

Example: Ok, we have our predictions. Now we need to see if we’re right. It’s time to read! I want to start just by reading the first paragraph. I’m going to give each of you a highlighter. We are going to whisper read this first paragraph. As you’re reading, if there are any words that you either don’t know how to say or don’t understand, I want you to highlight them. We’re going to check in after this first paragraph and discuss what we’ve read so far, and make sure that we understand it.

Step Four: Model Model Model Comprehension Skills in Action

Depending on how much time you have, you may have to stop before you’ve had the chance to read and discuss the entire passage. The first read often takes me up to two small group meetings with one group.

As you work through reading, you have the awesome opportunity to model exactly what your thinking looks like while you read. Normalize having to go back and reread something that didn’t make sense. Ask questions as you go, and ask students if they wondered the same things as you. Refer back to student predictions and keep tabs on whether or not they were correct.

Example: So, I noticed while we were reading that (Student) highlighted this word (write the word hibernate on a white board). (Student), why did you highlight this word?

You weren’t sure how to say it? Ok, let’s work through it. How many vowels do you see? Good. I’ll underline those. Now, let’s divide the word up at the vowels to create the syllables. You can see there are three syllables.

Chunk the word hi-ber-nate.

Do you recognize the word hibernate now that you know how to say it? You do? What does it mean? Very good! Bears hibernate in the winter to help them survive the harsh weather.

Now that we know what that word says, I think it’s a good idea to re-read that section. That will help us make more meaning from it!

Step Five: Apply the Skill

This may not happen until day two or three, unless you have a very long time with each group! I want my students to have a deep understanding of the text before we try to pull out evidence and prove that a certain reading skill is evident in the text.

So, on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, it’s a great time to comb through the text and pull the evidence that you need for the skill you’re teaching! I love using graphic organizers for this part, because it allows students to gather their thinking without having to just answer specific questions.

Step Six: Reteach this same routine, but speed it up a bit

Give students a new text, and follow the same series of steps, but speed things up a bit and give more of the responsibility to the students. Let them lead the conversation about their thinking. Release the responsiblity!

This is most likely your Thursday-Friday small group plan. I tend to go through 2 texts/week when I follow this routine!

Standards-Based Passages

If you want the standards-based passages that I love using for this lesson routine, you can check out the full bundle HERE.