Guided Reading assessment
Formative Small Group Assessment
We start guided rotation at my table with word work. I use magnet letters to assess student knowledge of sight words and phonics skills. I use observational data to assess student reading skill and the use of strategies such as using the picture for support, using a word's starting sound, and finding chunks in words. Writing tasks help me informally assess both students fine-motor skills as well as their segmenting skills. This observational data informs the skills I target in instruction, but also allows me to determine group placement. Observational data ensures each student is in the appropriate reading group working on tasks that are at an instructional level for them.
Guided reading instruction is when some of the most targeted and important reading assessment occurs. I am able to assess common core standards RF.1.1 "demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print" through the use of leveled readers at my table.
The small group format allows for more individual attention and observation. I have hands on the back of each of my chairs, as soon as students come to my table they are expected to give the 'helping hand' a high five, say the letter name and letter sound. This is the first opportunity for me to informally assess student letter knowledge. Guided reading is broken into Day A and Day B. On Day A, we spend the first ten minutes on word work, the next 5 minutes a new book, and the last ten minutes independently reading. Day B starts with 5 minutes of reading, 5 minutes of word work, then ten minutes of writing. I use magnetic letters during word work. I give students a word, and students will build the word on their board. This informal assessment allows me directly identify students who need additional support with a specific sight word or phonics skill. This portion of guided reading allows me to informally assess students’ ability to put skills into practice as well as their phonological awareness. I take observational notes on students’ ability to complete word work tasks. This helps me identify skills I need to re-teach during small group, skills I need to address one-on-one with struggling students, or skills that most students are struggling with and need to be re-taught whole group. Students practice skills such as letter identification, letter sound identification, blending, segmenting, and phoneme substitution. This allows me to informally assess their phonics and sight word skills.
The 'helping hands' are a tool I introduced to maximize learning opportunities in the classroom. This also became a quick informal assessment I use at the start of each guided reading rotation. I write a target letter on the back of each chair so I can assess student knowledge as well as offer immediate feedback to students who need additional support.
Students are also able to self-assess their sight word knowledge. At each center there is a helping hand with a sight word on it. Students read the word before they begin their learning task. If students do not know the word, they ask a friend, then read it three times. This engages students in their growth as they become more aware of the words they still need to master.
The word work portion of Day A and Day B help me assess student skills. I give all students a task such as scrambling and building a sight word, segmenting a CVC, or phoneme substitution and blending. I am able to watch and listen to each student as they complete this task. This assessment guides the word work I will use the following day.
The writing portion of guided reading allows me to informally assess student writing skill at my table. Depending on student level, students may write a shared sentence to practice target sight words, or work towards writing a complete paragraph. This informal assessment informs the follow-up work students complete at their desk as well as the supports I provide at my table.
Running Record Assessment
I use running records to track student reading fluency and comprehension. Running records allow me to identify patterns in students’ mistakes that I can then address in my small group instruction. Running Records also indicate when students have mastered the skills they need to advance to a more challenging level of book. I take running records for each student twice a week to ensure my data is relevant and robust. This allows me to get a more complete understanding of students’ skills and areas for growth.
I complete at least two running records during each of my four guided reading rotations every day. This frequent formative assessments tracks students' use of reading strategies and indicates what skill students need to develop. I use running records to select the skills I focus on during guided reading and to indicate what specific skills each student needs additional support with. I keep the running records in a binder for each group. This allows me to track student growth and development with skills as the progress to more challenging reading levels. I complete the running record for 2-4 pages per student. I then track any patterns I notice and make a note on the paper to assist in my future planning. I tell students what I notice in the running record to invest them in their own growth and learning. By including students in their learning goals they are able to find engage more deeply in the tasks that are working towards their goal.
Running records allow me to assess Common Core standard RF.1.4, "read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension." Formative assessments throughout the year allow me to track if students are making sufficient growth towards mastering this standard.
This student was reading a level 3 book. While she struggled with ending sounds, that is not an appropriate target skill for her current reading level. I noticed that she was unable to use the picture to match with an unfamiliar word's starting sound. This running record indicates she needs to work on starting sounds. I will focus on this skill during the next guided reading lesson.
The running record above indicated to me that the student needed assistance with starting sounds of words. I addressed this concern during small group instruction. During the word work portion of guided reading, I implemented phoneme substitution to help the students in this reading group build their starting sound recognition. The video shown here is of the student identifying the starting sound in the word bit, identifying the letter that makes the starting sound, and changing the starting letter to match.
This student was reading a level 2 text. I noticed she struggled with the sight word does. I will do a word build and scramble with the word does in the next day's word work lesson. This student was also adding words while reading. This indicates she needs additional support with one-to-one matching. I will emphasize the use of a finger to track each word to make sure our words match what we are pointing to on the page in the upcomign guided reading lessons.
The running record above was recorded while student Z.Z. was reading A Fun Day on day one of the two day guided reading cycle. I noticed that this student needed additional help with the sight word does as well as using one-to-one matching. The lesson plan for A Fun Day is shown here. The focus skills for this group are one-to-one matching and using picture clues. The note on the running record indicates that this student needed additional support with the skill. To address this I reinforced the target skills on day two of the guided reading cycle. This error is developmentally appropriate as one-to-one matching is a target skill for students reading DRA text levels between one and three. This text is a level two. The lesson plan also indicates does is a challenging word. Students built and scrambled the word does during the word work portion on day two to build familiarity with the word.
This student is reading a level 10 text. He repeatedly dropped the ending sounds of words. This indicates he needs additional support reading all the way to the end of the word. I will focus on this skill during word work asking the student to build words with the endings -s, -ed, and
-ing. This practice will help the student develop greater familiarity with word endings and lead to more accurate reading. This student also struggles with finding smaller chunks in words. This will also be addressed during word work.
The running record shown above indicates student L.T. struggled with ending sounds and chunking. These two mistakes coincide with each other as using chunking as a reading skill helps students recognize common endings such as -ing and -ed. The lesson plan shown here indicates that these are two of the target skills students are working on while reading this book. Three of the challenging vocabulary words I review before starting the book on day one are twinkled, chirped, and touch. Two of these three words have the ending -ed. L.T.'s mistakes indicate I needed to more explicitly review ending sounds before reading. I made that adjustment to my lesson plan seen here. Before reading on day two, I reviewed endings sounds with students by having them build the word walk, then asked them to add the endings -s, -ed, -ing. We practiced breaking the word into its two chunks (walk & ing) to reinforce the focus skill for this text.
Exploration Station Center
Exploration station is a three station rotation students move through during the week. Students check the exploration station chart for their number. This tells them if they will be at the writing, word work, or library station. Students will visit each station at least once each week. The activities at each station are designed to allow for more student choice as they self-select the activity to help them better understand their own ability level and what areas they still need to work on. These centers also allow for student self-assessment. Students select a task based on the skills they know they already have and what they are working on. By engaging students in assessing their own growth, they are able to be more motivated to make progress as well as find encouragement in tracking their own development.Students also work with their peers allowing for informal feedback from their classmates. I informally assess student performance at each of the station by taking observational notes.
The writing station is designed to assist with both segmenting and blending. There is a packet of words for each of the five vowels. Students use the strips to build CVC words with that vowel. They then read the word, and write it on a recording sheet. For students who have a solid foundation in this skill, they are also asked to write a sentence using that word. This self-differnetiation allows students to push themselves and assess their own skills. As students develop their skills, they may choose to write a letter or postcard. They may write the letter or postcard. The picture shown here is of a letter one student wrote to her moms. Her moms speaks Spanish so she translated her own letter into Spanish. This student pushed herself in this task to make it more meaningful for her and her family.
Writing Station
Word WOrk Station
I have organized my library in a way that is student accessible. Books are organized by genre, then by difficulty. The boxes are indicated with green, orange, and pink stickers. Boxes with a green sticker indicates that the books are accessible for most students, the orange sticker indicates the books are a little more challenging, and the pink sticker indicates books that are at a higher skill level. Students are able to self-select from the boxes. I teach students the importance of selecting a book that is right for them, rather than one that is too easy or far too challenging. Organizing it by genre as well as skill level ensures students can find a developmentally appropriate book that is interesting to them.
The word work station has games that focus on letters, letter sounds, and sight words. Students are able to choose the game that is right for them. Students who are not yet ready to independently read sight words work on the letter sound puzzle. Students may do this independently or with a partner. They match the picture to the letter that makes the startign sound. The popcorn game is played with two or three students. Each student selects a word, if they are able to read it, they keep it. If they cannot, they put it back and lose their turn. If students pick "pop!," they put all of their words back. In sight word Candyland, studetns slect a sight word. They may choose between kindergarten sight words (pink) or first grade sight words (green). If they read the word, they roll the dice and move that many spaces forward. If they cannot read the word, they do not move. As the year progresses I will also give students the option of second grade sight words.
Library Station
