Reading Groups?

[Terri Z]

I have been teaching for a while and a few of my fellow teachers have started using reading groups in their classrooms. I'm really not sure what they or how to use them in the classroom.

Can anyone share their experience with reading groups? Do they work? How do you set them up.

Many thanks for your input.

Terri ;)

[ginger_spike9]

Dear Terri,

When I went through T-coll, it was professed as the only way to keep your sanity and keep to grips with where each of the kids was with their reading.

Reading group are cut by ability and you have as many as you need but I have five. You then create a rolling roster that includes (in my case) five activities with teh main one being guided reading with the tecaher. My others include changing their independent reading books, that go home, computer based literacy activities, browsing books from the classroom selection and of course the follow up writing activity from the reading.

It will work for all age groups. My own class is yr1 and they cope admirably.

[Virgen]

Dear Terri:

I have my students devided into 4 groups (by reading level-low to high)
I prepare a calendar where I meet with each group from twice to 5 times a week (or everyday) according to their needs.

While I have the guided reading group, the other groups are in Centers working on Literacy. I have a literacy activity on two or three centers focusing on my unit for this week and the skills being taught (these activities are to reinforce what I already taught. Every 15-20 minutes the timer goes on and they rotate until they complete their activity. They will do centers right after they finish a "must do" activity provided by me.

They each have a "Literacy Center Folder" with a "Choice List" attached to keep track of their activities and their completion. They may also work on Computers (teacher selects web site for activity)

It takes time to plan and prepare, even to train the students. But once you have everything set, it will run smoothly.

Make sure you model and present activities before starting and write up and post a set of rules for Guided Reading-Center Time. Just keep it simple.

I hope this will help

Virgen

[pngwin]

I have been using reading groups successfully for years. It does take extra preparation and ongoing assessment, but it is well worth it. I divided my third grade class up by continents. (ablity grouped). Since the world is part of my curriculum it goes great. Students can "travel" through the continents as they become better readers. Spending time teaching the routine is the key to it. I am able to work with a small group while the remander of the class is on-task. The expectations are set. Some students are reading or responding to an assigned reading task after reading with me. Some are working on vocabulary assignments I have given, some are on computers with sites I have set up. www.starfall.com is an excellent site! I have books on tape as well. My advanced readers have the option to record themselves reading a story, to become part of our classroom collection. Once a week students are are required to write a letter to the teacher. It includes connections, predictions, etc. Many of my ideas came from Guiding Reading by Irene Fountas.

[Unregistered]

Hi Terri!
I too have asked lots of teachers how they run their reading groups. Here is what worked for me.

1. Place the children into 5 (no. of days) reading groups according to ability.
Check your schools resources and find books at the appropriate level for each group. If you have 5 kids in a group you need at least 3 copies of the same book.
2. Do reading or your English lesson with the whole class, followed by some sort of written response - comprehension, cloze, writing etc - enough to keep them going for at least 20 mins.
3. While they are working on a written task take your group for the day. They do not do the whole class activity for that day. Have each child read a page of your ability appropriate text. Teach as you go around your mini circle. Focus on whatever that group needs help with eg. punctuation, reading strategies etc.

This system works well even with difficult classes. It does not require lots of preparation. You hear every child read at least once each week. Noise level is kept to a minimum.

I found that with a number of groups running simultaneously the noise level kept rising and the preparation is too huge.

I love working with a small group. Verbally questioning children about the text allows you to get a good feel for where they are up to and what their individual needs are.

I hope this is helpful,
Good luck,
Kim

[Unregistered]

The most important thing to remember is that you must take the time to teach your students the routine & procedure for working independently while you are working with a group. For some, this may be the first time that they have been asked to do this & you will get resistance. Be patient, but be consistent & keep reinforcing what you expect them to do. If you are going to use centers, try introducing a new center a week (depending on the age group of your students) until you have them all introduced. Overwhelming them with too much info will only bring chaos. Once the routine is established, you'll start to wonder how you ever did it any other way. Good Luck!

[Unregistered]

yes they work just fine and just put however maney people in a group that you want

[Unregistered]

You never did mention what age group you are teaching. I have four reading groups, but there have been years that I have had up to six. However, two of those reading groups I had to work one on one with the student.

1. First go over any seatwork, DOL or other activities you want the class to complete. Make sure it is work that they can do independently so you won't have too many interruptions with questions.

2. Call on groups as the kids are working on seatwork.

3. Once the students are through with their seatwork, and it is correct, let them go to a center. Centers can include: computer time, puzzles, reading center, writing center, teacher center where they work wtih another student with things that are self check material, creative center where the students can build with different objects, educational game center etc...

I do not agree with the teacher that only meets with a group once a week. I think it is extremely important to listen to each child read everyday. The way I am sure I can get to each group is I do not spend as much time with the higher group. I still listen to them everyday and make sure I am challenging them enough, but I spend more time with the lower groups.

I hope this is helpful!

[Unregistered]

As a special education teacher, I also have reading groups. In addition to the other group activities others have mentioned, I also have students working on spelling words as part of their literacy center work. My other students are at computers, completing literacy folder activities, self-selecting books to read, reading, and/or writing in a reading log. With special ed groups, it's difficult to do exactly the same three activities every day (I have three groups) so we rotate through a list of activities. The key is to practice, practice, practice the routine. Don't give up after a couple of days!

[Lynda]

I always have reading groups - currently 5 based on ability. I read with two a day, after guided reading, they have an activity to follow on from the story, while the others rotate through reading big books and poems, listening post, set activity (usually a grammar type activity) and language games (I have a selection of word type games). The lower ability group I manage to see 3 times a week while the more able readers can read and work independently and I get to hear them read sometimes only once but mostly twice a week.

[Unregistered]

I strongly encourage teachers to listen to their students read each and every day. Only listening to them read two or three times a week will not keep the teacher in touch with any weaknesses. Any problems need to be tackled right away. How can a teacher truly know if his/her students are reading each and every night? Manage your time better, you there is really no excuse not to give each and every child that important time. (even if it is not one on one but in groups)

[Unregistered]

I agree with the teacher above. Some teachers have no clue how to manage their time better. A teacher should find the time to listen to each child read everyday. Some kids come in early in the morning, that's a good time to get them to read their library book or whatever to you. There is time if you make it and not spend so much time talking to other peers and sitting around complaining. Stop being LAZY!

[AngeNZ]

I also agree with the point made about the need to listen to the children read more than two or three times a week, however I don't think it comes down to laziness as the previous post has stipulated but I won't get into that - as that is a different topic of it's own.

Terri, there have been a lot of really good suggestions in here. I hope that you have found your answer about why reading groups are used and how they are setup.

In all my years of teaching, I have always used reading groups because they allow me to monitor the childrens' literacy progress more effectively in comparison to whole class teaching. It ensures that the more fluent readers are continuing to be challenged and that the developing readers are not left behind.

The first thing that I do is establish where each child is at with their reading, make a note of it and then group the whole class accordingly. I try not to have anymore than 3 or 4 groups because the more groups you have, the less time you will have to meet with each of them which is important because the children really need that time with the teacher.

After I have set up the groups, I then jot down some long-term reading targets for each of the groups so that I have a base for the types of resources and activities I will need for each of them. Once I have gathered all my resources and arranged them according to which group will use them, I then write down some short-term goals (weekly). This is where I make a note of which reading target the children will be working on a particular week. It may sound like extra paperwork but in the long run you see that it actually helps you to decide which resources/activities get used each week and on which day.

Once all of the above has been done, I make up a language taskboard which is just a simple but colourful chart that the children look at each day to find out what activity they need to be doing at a certain time. It lists the days of the week across the top, each of the learning stations (determined by activity) down the side and then some blank boxes underneath each day for you to slot in a picture or text for each group. I often let the children decide what to call their group so they have ownership of it. Then I go and look for 5 of the same pictures or objects that I can attach to the taskboard (one for each day) that represents their group.

For a new class or children that have never used reading groups before, it can take awhile for them to get used to it. You've just got to be patient and persistant. It's a routine that the children need time to get used to but in the long run, once they have gotten into that routine of moving off to another activity with their group - language time runs so smoothly and every child will always have a task to keep them busy and focused.

Sorry for the long post guys, got a bit carried away there :)

[Unregistered]

I was surprised at the number of responses you received that supported ability reading groups. I do not. If you talk to students who detest and avoid reading all together, you would likely find that they are the same students who were placed into one of the lower reading groups year after year. No matter how teachers try to disguise groups, children know exactly which classmates belong in the high, medium, and low groups.

A better alternative is to assess students often (it can be as simple as jotting down notes on a clipboard), to provide them with instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, etc. Students could change groups daily, weekly, or even monthly depending on their particular needs. For example, a group might consist of 1 high ability reader, 2 medium ability readers, and 2 low ablility readers. They are brought together as a group for several weeks to develop better comprehension skills. *Just because a student reads at or above grade level, does not mean they are comprehending what is read.*

As new skills are successfully mastered, an individual can then be moved into another group working on fluency, for example. Another student from that same group might move on to a new group working on a particular phonics skill, because lack of that skill is hindering their reading more than fluency. The new groups would consist of students with different reading abilities (low, medium, and high). What the new groups have in common, however, is that each group member needs to learn the same skill to help them become better readers.

Not only does this way of grouping help preserve and advance students' self-esteem and love of reading, it is a more efficient way to teach. Students receive the exact instruction needed to move them forward. That doesn't usually happen as quickly or easily when students are grouped according to reading level rather than actual need.

Lastly, students need to experience the joy of opening their minds to new possibilities and adventures. Take time each day to read aloud to students no matter what the age or grade level (yes, even high school and college students enjoy being read to). If you can, project the page you're reading on a screen or whiteboard so students can follow along as you point to each word. Pick a "first in a series" book such as Hatchet or, Little House in the Big Woods, to inspire your students to keep on reading. If you are enthusiastic about reading (fake it if you have to), your students will follow your example. With any luck at all, you will be giving your students a gift they will always remember . . . a gift that will hopefully last a lifetime. What can possibly be better than that?

[Unregistered]

Hello, I understand how to set up a reading group, however, besides just guided reading, how should the reading group function? What type of activities should the teacher being doing within the actual reading group?

[Connie Semler]

Hi,
I use reading groups. Now it is called guided reading. I put the students by ability. I use my observations, standardized testing scores, and I give each student a Slosson. A Slosson is where the students read a list of words by grade. There is a correlation from the list of level and ability ( it is a good determination). I have the students read in these groups. Usually there is a theme to the books they groups read, (endangered species, author study) based on the district's curriculum. The groups are fluid. I might have to move students as we read in groups. I also do entire class books, group books (not by ability), and partner reading. This is called a balanced literacy program.

Good Luck!

[Connie Semler]

I neglected to mention, the students get a bookmark. It is a brochure that has questions for a section of the book they have read. It is has three types of questioning. One where they put a sticky note on a specific item such as working with words, literacy device, etc. (antonyms, personification), a comprehension questions (where they write out the answer on the bookmark), and lastly another type of question such as making a connection to the book, prediction, moral to the story. I created these brochures on my own. When we meet we go over the bookmark and share our answers and have a group conversation. I then go over the next section. Also, I might do a mini lesson on something I have noticed in the students' writing. When I do the lesson each student uses a white board to respond to the questioning during the lesson.

Sorry I did not write this in my first response. If you would like to get in touch with me you can e-mail at ConnieSemler@aol.com.

[Unregistered]

I was surprised at the number of responses you received that supported ability reading groups. I do not. If you talk to students who detest and avoid reading all together, you would likely find that they are the same students who were placed into one of the lower reading groups year after year. No matter how teachers try to disguise groups, children know exactly which classmates belong in the high, medium, and low groups.

Students could change groups daily, weekly, or even monthly depending on their particular needs. For example, a group might consist of 1 high ability reader, 2 medium ability readers, and 2 low ablility readers. They are brought together as a group for several weeks to develop better comprehension skills. *Just because a student reads at or above grade level, does not mean they are comprehending what is read.*









I group my students based on comprehension skills. Every 6 weeks I set up new groups based on the benchmark scores. My students love it because they know they are only getting instruction on skills they need. I can rarely complain that my students did not apply themselves on a benchmark because most students don't want to get stuck doing a "boring" (unchallenging) lesson.