Using Reading POWERS for guided reading

Last year I posted about my ‘Reading POWERS’ approach to Whole Class Reading – you can view the original post here. I’ve also shared how I teach reading in three phases.  I’ve continued to develop my Reading POWERS approach, and will try to write a detailed update soon, but in the meantime wanted to share the templates I’m using for guided reading in case they are of any use to others.

I teach a mixed Y1/2 class so guided reading really benefits my Year Ones, and also any of my Year Twos, who at this time of year may not be reading age-related texts fluently.

I have used the Reading POWERS to help ensure I am teaching and assessing across all of the teaching objectives within Guided Reading sessions, selecting one main POWER as my focus, and planning questioning around it. I created template guided reading plans for Year 1 and Year 2 reading powers, which are available here and look a little something like this, a plan I did for ‘First Day’ by Korky Paul (Collins big cat):

I still use the three phased approach when teaching guided reading, so will share key decodable and tricky words, as well as key vocab in advance of reading, and we will often select sections of the text (or on occasion the whole text) to re-read for fluency.

I tend to teach guided reading and whole class reading simultaneously, so whilst the majority of the class are getting on with a whole class reading activity, usually in reading journals, I will have a few groups doing a guided read (or linked activity) then we swap over. This means guided reading can be taught in 2 x 1 hour slots a week, but with the rest of the class undertaking a purposeful WCR activity each time, which has eliminated some of the issues associated with ‘carousel’ style guided reading where often groups are doing ‘holding’ activities whilst the teacher reads with their group.

You can take a look at how I timetable this below – reading with each group twice over two weeks (I don’t have a TA so only have 4 groups, but with a TA this could easily be increased to 6 groups).

You can download this timetable as a word file here.

The Whole Class Reading activities are planned and integrated into my English planning so that they support the English learning journey (as opposed to being discreet and separate lessons).

I’ve found this approach has allowed me to gather lots of evidence, and also (and most importantly) my class are really flying with their reading! The whole class reading really supports the depth and comprehension, whilst guided reading supports those who are still working on decoding and fluency. All round, it’s resulted in my class making great progress, and becoming enthusiastic and confident readers.

I couldn’t ask for much more than that!