Guided Reading During guided reading, I meet with small groups of students to teach reading strategies. The students who are not meeting with me are able to work in small groups or with buddies in literacy stations. Students are gradually introduced to the different activities that they will be able choose to do in these stations. Stations reinforce their reading and writing growth. Some activities may change on a weekly basis, while others remain the same throughout the year. The following are examples of the stations that I will use during this literacy block throughout the year: library, listening to books, Johnny can Spell work, writing, buddy reading, browsing box, poem box, "read the room", and pocket charts. I will also use stations to reinforce our math, social studies, health and science curriculum. Helping your children Understand their books 1. Create mental images: Good readers draw pictures of the story in our mind. Have your child tell you about the pictures they draw in their mind. 2. Use background know-ledge: Good readers use what they already know to make sense of what they read. Ask what connections they make to their books. 3. Ask questions: Good readers make questions before, during, and after reading to understand their book, make predictions, and focus their attention on what’s important. 4. Make inferences: Good readers use what they know and information from what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, and draw conclusions deepen their understanding of the text. 5. Determine the most important ideas or themes: Good readers find key ideas or themes as they read, and they can distinguish between important and unimportant information. 6. Synthesize information: Good readers track their thinking as it changes during reading, to get the overall meaning. Have your child tell you what the story is about. 7. Use fix up strategies: Good readers are aware of when they understand and when they don’t. If your child is having trouble understanding specific words, phrases, or longer passages, they use a wide range of problem-solving strategies including skipping ahead, rereading, asking questions, using a dictionary, and reading the passage aloud.