Guided Reading Lesson Plan

Indiana Wesleyan University

4th Grade, Frances Slocum Elementary, Miss McAdams
UNIT BIG IDEA
A community divided cannot stand. Students are to grasp the power in their actions within a community. This
includes how they treat others, the way they participate in their surroundings, and ways they can advocate for
one another to make the places they live stronger.

Lesson Rationale
Students are engaging in this lesson in order to develop the reading skills of summarizing and identifying the
main idea of a variety of texts. Through the use of collaborative group work and discussion, students will
participate in multiple stations that aid the development of these skills in order to enhance their reading learning
experience and comprehension.

Readiness
● Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
○ Goals--Unit
■ By the end of this unit, students will have engaged in multiple learning scenarios that
promote teamwork and community development.
■ Students will acquire in depth knowledge about a variety of social and
communication skills, and understand the impact their actions have on their
community.
■ Students will become proficient in summarizing multiple texts and identifying the
main idea while finding personal applications to their lives.
○ Objectives
■ After completing the lesson, students will have demonstrated their knowledge of main
idea and summarizing by completing the provided workstations.
■ After completing this lesson, students will collaborate to complete one act of kindness
for an individual at Frances Slocum Elementary.
■ At the guided reading station, students will make predictions, during a collaborative
discussion, regarding the main idea of a text and strengthen it using supporting
details.
○ Standards
■ 4.RL.2.2 Paraphrase or retell the main events in a story, myth, legend, or novel;
identify the theme and provide evidence for the interpretation.
■ 4.SL.2.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) on grade-appropriate topics and texts, building on others’
ideas and expressing personal ideas clearly.
● Management Plan
○ Time
■ Whole Group Introduction-5 min
■ Guided Reading Group-12 min
■ 3 Workstations-12 min each
■ Conclusion-5 min
○ Materials
■ Ipads
■ White printer paper
■ Pencils, pens, markers, color pencils, crayons
■ Blank envelopes/plastic bags
■ Printed stamps
■ Variety of picture books to choose from
■ Note cards
■ Mystery Main Idea Game (anticipatory set)
■ Printed definitions of main idea and supporting detail
■ Wildcat Books QR codes
○ Space
■ Anticipatory Set/Introduction-whole group carpet reading area
■ Guided Reading Group-the kidney table at front of the classroom to have view of all
workstations
■ Workstations-small tables scattered around the room in full view of guided reading
table
■ Closure/Reflection-whole group carpet reading area
○ Student Behavior Management
■ The cooperating teacher will rotate the room every now and again to make sure
students are staying on task and understand the objective.
■ I will leave the guided reading groups when students are chorale/independently
reading to see if students have any questions or would like to share their work.

● Anticipatory Set (Whole Group-Main Idea Mystery Envelope)

○ Students will be called to sit at the reading carpet for a whole group introduction.
○ “I have an envelope here. The contents inside are different, but they are all somehow connected. As
I pull out each picture, I want you to say out loud what the item is and I will tape it on the board.
After all the pictures are up, I want us to brainstorm what we think all these pictures have in
common.”
○ There will be two different “mystery envelopes,” for students to organize through as a group. I
will model appropriate thinking by saying, “What do I see in these pictures that are similar? Do
they all achieve the same goal? Do they remind me of something?”
 ○ Students will share with their peer sitting next to them and share what they think the pictures
may be about. I will then ask for student responses and write them underneath the pictures. I
will then have an envelope inside to reveal the correct answer.
○ I will then lead into the lesson and plan for instruction by saying the purpose statement for the
day’s lesson. (connecting use of skill in beginning activity to critical thinking students will use in
stations)

● Purpose Statement
○ “Today we are going to put to practice everything we have learned so far about summarizing and
identifying the main idea. As you complete the multiple stations set out for you, you are going to
become problem solvers and creators and you will use those skills to complete the tasks.”

● Plan for Instruction

○ Lesson Presentation (input/output)
■ Input-Students will be reminded of the basic reading comprehension skills of
identifying a main idea and summarizing in whole group discussion before being split
into work groups. (formative assessments to gauge student comprehension of
strategies and given tasks)
● I will model appropriate student behavior at each station and communicate
my class expectations.
● All the workstations offer some aspect of student choice in order to give
students a range of control and motivate them to be actively engaged.
● During guided reading groups, I will use tiered questioning to guide student
thinking and encourage use of critical thinking to engage in grand
conversation ex: What did this story make you feel as you read? Did you enjoy
the ending, if not, what would you change about it? In one or two sentences,
could you tell me what they story was about? If you could use one word to
describe this book, what do you think you would use?
■ Output-During guided reading and workstations, student will engage in multiple
developmental activities that target the learning strategies of finding main idea and
summarizing. Students will be implementing multiple communication skills in order
to collaborate to finish designated tasks.
■ Differentiated Instruction
● My students are independent and strong-willed, I have incorporated student
autonomy in every station, giving students multiple ways to respond.
● I have provided multiple videos/picture books on a variety of topics to target
multiple student interests.
 ● I have incorporated multiple forms of response including writing, creating
videos, and drawing a visual representation to maximize multiple of my
students’ strengths.
○ Workstations (small groups)
GROUPING: cooperating teacher already has groups made for the week’s stations,
this will be applied to this lesson when students are participating in workstations and
guided reading groups (3 separate classes, use pre-organized groups by cooperating
teacher)
■ Application Station (12 min)
● Students will come to this station and have a choice of variety of picture
books to read to themselves and then create a poster/comic strip to
communicate the main idea of the book in a creative outlet.
● The poster/comic strip must include a creative title that connects to the main
idea of the book. It must also include one or two sentences that summarizes
the story so people who see their creation understand what it represents.
● Student work will be displayed somewhere so students can come and see
what their peers have created and motivate students to complete the
assignment.
■ Technology Station (12 min)
● Students will be given a variety of Wildcat Books YouTube links via QR
code. These videos will have been picked by me in order for students to have
time to complete given task. Once students have watched this video, they are
to use either their camera or IMovie app to create a clip that identifies the
main idea of the book and incorporates pictures and clips of them speaking
to summarize the main points of the story.
■ Act of Kindness Station (12 min)
● Students will participate in a read aloud of the book Be Kind by Pat Miller,
the read aloud being done by another assisting college student.
● Students will then have a grand discussion about the underlying ideas of the
book and be given one act of kindness they can do for someone at our school.
● They will be given an envelope, stamp, and a lined paper, and they have the
choice (student autonomy) to pick someone in the school whom they would
like to thank for the work they do for us.

Guided Reading Lesson #1 (more independent reading group)

Text: Martin’s Big Words (Nonfiction)
Strategy: Identifying Main Idea, Predicting
Pre Reading:
Introduce the text using Tea Party Reading Strategy
● Give students an envelope/baggy of words and phrases directly pulled from the text that strongly relate
to the big idea (ex: equal rights, MLK, big words) I want you to read the words and phrases on these
papers, and I want you to make a prediction what you think the main idea of the story we are about to
read is going to be. What is the overall idea of the book? Once you have an idea, I would like you to turn to
your neighbor and share your prediction.
● Once students have shared with their neighbor, I will show the front cover of the text which does not
have a title and see if students know who MLK Jr. is. You have made a prediction about what this story’s
main idea will be. I want you and your partner to read this story together out loud. As you read, I would
like you to use the details and pictures in the book to investigate whether or not your prediction was close or
not.
Reading:
● Depending on how many copies of the book I can aquire, I will have students read independently, or I
will have them chorale read with a partner.
Responding:
● As students finish reading, I will begin to ask them response questions including, “What did you think
of the book? Did you like or dislike it, and why? Does it remind you of anything?” I will allow students to
share their initial response.
Exploring:
● I will ask students what they think the main idea of the story is. I will prompt them by asking,
“Remember, the main idea is not just one important detail in the story. The author wrote this story
wanting you to take away one big idea, one main idea that includes all those little details. Based on what
you read, what do you think that might be?” I will ask them to search in the text to support their answer,
the rest of us will follow along to find it in the text as well. I will point out how students found details
to support the main idea in multiple parts of the story, and that that is okay because the main idea
applies to the whole story and there are many points of a story that support it. “I always ask myself, is
this a detail in the story, or is it what the whole book is about?”
Applying:
 ● I will briefly highlight the importance of the main idea of this story to support the overall big idea of
my unit which is, “A Community Divided Cannot Stand.” Then I will remind students to ask use the
strategies we used to find the main idea of this book with the rest of the books they read, paying special
attention to the difference between a detail in the story and the big idea (I will have the definitions with
a visual printed out on a colored piece of paper as a visual representation for students).

Guided Reading Lesson #2 (less independent reading group)

Text: Swimmy (Fiction)

Strategy: Identifying Main Idea, Summarizing

Pre Reading:
Introduce the text by asking students if they have ever taken a risk before…
● Students have a piece of paper, and they are given time to write one to two short sentences describing a
time they took a risk, including the most important details of the story (designed to scaffold students
into summarizing precisely and concisely after reading a story).
● Students then have the chance to share their summary and I will ask, “I’m sure there was probably more
you could have told me about that experience, right? But sometimes when you want to explain the
important parts of a story to someone but need to do so quickly, you have to summarize and only include
the important details.”
● “We are going to read about a mouse named Tillie who also took a risk. As you read, I want you to pay
close attention to what happened in this story, what you think the Author is trying to tell you, and be
prepared to share afterward.”
Reading:
● Students will read independently all the way through the book.
Responding:
● “What did you think of the story?”
● “At any point did you relate to any of the characters, how so?”
● “Would anyone like to share what they think the main idea the author wanted us to take away was?
● Teacher will put students main ideas on big white paper to display.
Exploring:
 ● “Remember how you had to summarize your story, using only the most important details? If we were to
summarize this story using its most important details, what would they be? Go ahead and look back in
your text to find what we should include in our summary.”
Applying:
● Highlight the takeaway that ties into the big idea of the unit, “A Community Divided Cannot Stand”--
sometimes to make change happen in our relationships, homes, or communities, you have to take
responsible risks.
● “When you go to read your own books, there are messages in the story that the author wanted to tell you
when you read it. If you pay attention to the most important details of the story, you can figure out what
the main idea is. Now you could even tell a friend about it by summarizing the important details in a
couple sentences, maye you could convince them to read your story by doing that.”

VI. Check for Understanding

● Formative Assessment
○ Guided Reading-questioning and observation
○ “Would anyone like to share what they think the main idea the author wanted us to take away
was?
○ “Remember, the main idea is not just one important detail in the story. The author wrote this
story wanting you to take away one big idea, one main idea that includes all those little details.
Based on what you read, what do you think that might be?”
● During the anticipatory set, I will evaluate how accurate students are at synthesizing multiple details to
create a main idea, then after the workstations during the conclusion, students will reflect on their
favorite part of what they discovered today with the rest of the class (identify misconceptions/gaps to
address in reteaching)

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative:
● Targeted/scripted questioning during guided reading small groups
● Asking students if they understand the expectations of the task/asking if they are able to complete the
objective of identifying main idea and summarizing
● Posters/Comic strips that students create in order to demonstrate understanding
● Video clips/IMovies of students summarizing key details of their story

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
 a. Were the workstations beneficial in helping students achieve the objectives of this lesson?
i. Yes, each station took a different learning approach and targeted student
engagement to further understanding of main idea and summarizing.
b. How would I change the guided reading group sessions based on the experience?
i. I would have prepared more concrete examples of abstract concepts from
the guided reading lessons. For example, the concept of MLK Jr.’s “big
words,” do not mean in size or length but rather meaning and impact.
c. Did this lesson enhance or decrease my level of confidence as a developing professional and
educator?
i. This lesson made me feel much more prepared to have stations and guided
reading lessons, because I was able to complete the lesson successfully
without much external help.

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