Early Guided Literacy Lesson for First Graders

Ms. Crawford listens as a first grader reads from his journal.

This is a sample high intensity guided literacy lesson using the Lee & Low published text, Car Wash (text level F or 10) that we designed this summer (using Jan Richardson's lesson plan) for the primary grade summer school project that was held at 16 school sites in Newark, NJ.

This lesson is designed for a small group (4 to 6 children) reading at an early level. The two day 20-minute lesson plan connects reading, phonics, and writing and makes it far superior to traditional guided reading.  This is an example of the work that was done this summer to prevent reading difficulties.

In crunching more exiting data, children who attended summer school at least 80% of the time gained at least one reading level and added foundational skills. All of the students in Amber Crawford's first grade (shown above) made progress, with many children reaching the district's grade level benchmarks. Teachers like Ms. Crawford make huge differences in children's lives.

Early Guided Reading Lesson Plan

Title: Car Wash  Level: _F_ Strategy Focus: ________________ Lesson #____

Day 1       Date: _________	Day 2       Date: _________
Sight-Word Review-Writing (optional) here,  look,  all	Sight-Word Review-Writing
Introduction of New Book:  This book is called Car Wash and it’s about a little girl and her family who take their car through a car wash to get it clean, but a surprise happens. Let’s read to see what surprise happens. New vocabulary: foaming (p. 4),	Continue Reading Yesterday’s Book (and other familiar books) Observations:
Text Reading With Prompting · Check the picture. Does it look right and make sense? Reread the sentence. · Check the end (or middle) of the word. What would look right and make sense? · Cover the ending. Is there a part you know? · Break the word into parts. · Do you know another word that looks like this one?  · What can you try? What can you do to help yourself? · Put some words together so it sounds smooth. (fluency) · Read it like the character. (expression) · What did you read? What’s the problem? How might they solve it? (comprehension)
Select one or two teaching points each day after reading.  Word-solving strategies:                                     Fluency & Expression: · Monitor                                                       · Attend to bold words · Reread at difficulty                                  · Reread page ______ for expression · Attend to endings                                                    Comprehension · Use known parts                                        · Recall information · Contractions      (we’re)                         · Retell events in sequence · Use analogies                                               · Five-finger retell · Chunk big words                                           · Discuss characters’ feelings
Discussion Prompt: Read with expression.  Read the refrain: “We’re going through the car wash. Wash it! Wash it! Here we go!”		Discussion Prompt: Tell me what you just read. What happened at the beginning? Middle? End?
Teach 1 Sight Word: through What’s missing?  Mix & Fix  Table Writing    Whiteboard
Word Study (choose 1): Making Words w/ magnetic letters: e, n, s, t, t, w · Making words: we, wet, went, west, test, tent, tend, send, sent, tents,		Guided Writing:  Retell the events in sequence by writing three sentences that capture the beginning, middle and end of the story. Beginning (1 sentence) Middle (1 sentence) End (1 sentence)