Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers [With CDROM]

This is my first year with my own kindergarten class and this book has walked me through all of the pieces of providing excellent guided reading instruction. It took all of the things I learned in graduate school and by reading other books about reading and turned it into a clear easy to use system that makes sense and works. It also provided most of the materials I needed to implement the lessons. This is a great book for new teachers but I think it would also be helpful to more seasoned veterans. It's a must have. -Amanda Pitt

This is my ninth year as a reading specialist. I've had Balanced Literacy training, training similar to Reading Recovery (Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project: CLIP), and have used Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading books and supplements. Therefore, I was prepared to be disappointed in this book, but after examining it have decided it is an invaluable resource for differentiated reading instruction. The book covers the very earliest reading instruction through levels 20+. The thing I really like about it is that it gives the Fountas-Pinnell, Reading Recovery, and DRA levels equivalents for each stage. There are five stages: Emergent Reader, Beginning Reader, Fledgling Reader, Transitional Reader, and Independent Reader. There is a lesson plan template and sample lesson for each level--called stages--(which I have tweaked a bit and made my own template for each level in WORD). The appendix has materials and examples for carrying out the suggested lesson formats. The levels get progressively more sophistocated: Stage 1 includes alphabet activities, for example, and Stage 5 has Word Pattern Sorts. Moreover, there is a section on screening and evaluation that I wish I had had when I was testing for my reading groups. If you're a reading specialist, don't throw away your Fountas and Pinnell materials, but this is a great supplement to give you a feeling of focus and direction for the different reading level lesson plans.

This is an excellent resource for developing lessons and support for beginning readers and struggling readers. I plan on using this as a reference for lesson development.

I've been attending a class with other teachers from my school and we're using this book (which our Reading Recovery Teachers use with their students) to better help ALL students learn to read. I wanted my own copy so I can refer back to it whenever I want and make notes during class.

This book is the step by step guide to teaching guided reading by reading levels. It also included the word cards, letter cards, dictation sentences and more that go with each lesson. I feel like I am a more effective teacher due to this book. It is a must have for teachers!