I also teach a multiage (2/3/4) and find that guided reading is the hardest
block. I have had to adapt the program, both for making words and guided
reading.
-For making words, the 5 word wall words a week were not working well for me
(wow, look at that alliteration!) anway, I ended up doing 5 individual words a
week from their journals. I had kids who just don't need the high frequency
words because they just "get" spelling. They spell most words in their
vocabulary correctly. So I did vocab with those kids, as well as the making words
suffixes, prefixes, root words, etc. This year I will have to do small groups for
the making words aspect. While it is multi-level, it is not multi-level enough to
meet the needs of 7-10 year olds in one classroom! I am going to have to do
small group instruction for this one. My kids kept word rings, and each index
card had their five words for the week on them. I tried to include all the words
from the grade level list, as well as words they used a lot in their journal. I came
up with activties for them to do with a partner instead of the word wall chants. I
did the chants and word wall words for about 4 months, before I decided it was
not working for the older kids at all. I was using 3rd grade words. It is just too
hard for me to do in my class.
- For guided reading, I did a poem a week for the beginning of the year. I had
some 2nd graders who just were not ready to read at the level the 3rd and 4th
needed. In fact, I had one who was low for 2nd grade. Poems are great for
comprehension, but not overwhelming to the kids who aren't reading really well
yet. We began the year with a poetry unit.
When I did whole class guided reading, I had to wait until I was sure that my
lowest readers could read it well enough, or with some assistance for me. There
was no way I could give a book much lower to the rest of my class. The books I
chose (3rd grade level) were already too low for many kids, and were mostly a
comprehension activity, or getting information from a text. There were times I
did stories that were too hard for my lowest readers. I sent them home ahead of
time and had them read with an adult, or have the adult read to them. Then they
could participate in the discussions. I would usually say on the first day, go read
it (alone generally, but sometimes with a partner.) If some kids did not finish on
day 1, they read with me on day 2. I find that reading twice was good for a
picture book in my class, but I have older kids. A longer story, we would read 3
times, over the course of a week, with discussions and activities in between.
I did extra time for SSR because my guided reading was not every day... it was
too hard to keep the strong 4th graders engaged, and I did not want to do
guided reading groups and centers. My SSR was 45 minutes a day, read aloud
20 minutes. I did a mini lesson with different kids at different times. My lower
kids stayed with me one day a week for 1/2 hour, while the others had some
volunteering opportunities. (I planned this) That way I could do reading lessons
with them. When the lower kids volunteered, I did more complex lessons with
the other kids. I also met with each kid in SSR more often than the book
suggests. I would have SSR when I had a TA in the room. We would each target
a few kids. My lowest readers read with us every day. By mid-year they were at
grade level. My strong readers also did book reports to extend their learning.
This is how I dealt with not doing the lower level part of the guided reading.
Since I had 4th graders, I couldn't bear to read 2nd grade level books for 2 days
a week. It's just not fair to them. They were already reading 3rd grade books
most of the time in guided reading.
I also did book buddies... that was the best thing I did all year! I had the kids
who needed fluency and extra reading practice, really read the story they were
to read to their book buddy over and over again. Then, they would read it to
the book buddy. Sometimes they shared books they published themselves with
the book buddies, or the book buddies read to them. We did it every week.
I only did book club groups once, at the end of the year. It worked so well, over
the summer I have been scouring thrift shops and planned 3 units with book
club groups to do genre and author studies with.
Good luck!
On 8/06/07, Pat wrote:
> I'm just about sold on trying Four Blocks this year, but I
> have a muiti age classroom Some first some second. How
> would I do the guided reading block with such a range in
> reading ability? The independent reading will be a cinch,
> but how to cover all kiddos with one lesson, from which
> basal?
> Any suggestions from you pros?
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