Mrs. Cowan's Centers

Mrs. Cowan's

Classroom Centers

Welcome! Come in and browse a while. Feel free to e-mail me anytime! Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome!!

Below you will find examples of my classroom reading centers. Reading centers are used as I do guided reading with my students. The students love these centers and frequently ask if they can go to them rather than go outside. The centers are easy to create and inexpensive. Feel free to email me with any questions or suggestions. Thanks for stopping by.

Mrs. Cowan

Center 1: Guided Reading

Guided Reading involves grouping students according to the current DRA reading level. The text used during guided reading is selected by the teacher because it emphasizes specific skills that the students need to work on. In guided reading, the students and the teacher explore the text together through discussion. The teacher selects the text, introduces it and guides the students as they talk, read, and think their way through the text.

The key objectives of a guided reading are:

an appropriate text is selected by the teacher
the purpose for reading is established and shared with the students
the skill being taught is introduced as well through the reading or prior to the reading depending on the skill
the reading is introduced to the students through guided discussion
texts are read (either individually, group, chorally, and/or by teacher) and discussed by students
students respond to texts
specific skills are emphasized during the lesson
individualized reading instruction

Steps in the Process of Guided Reading

Teacher Preparation
A wide range of text forms are suitable for guided reading - stories, poems, articles, reports, recounts, descriptions, instructions, explanations, arguments, extracts from magazines or newspapers, picture books, cross curricula texts, extracts from novels to just name a few. The teacher spends a significant amount of time planning how to introduce the text to the students. I often have the students discuss what the think the story will be about, what genre it belongs to, etc. A teacher needs to read the selected book and come up with questions that will encourage higher order thinking in the students. The teacher also needs to develop a follow up activity to the text that will emphasize the desired skills.
Introducing the Text
This will vary depending on the text selected. The discussion may be based on student's recent experiences, the author of the story, the title and /or illustrations of the book, opening sentence, possible genre, and/or current theme being studied within the classroom. The students should be encouraged to ask questions, make predictions, and discuss what they think the text will be like.
Reading the text
Students may read the text individually, group, chorally, and/or by teacher. Depending on how the text is read, the teacher then questions the students about what has been read. Asking questions as the text is being read is an excellent way to monitor your student's reading.
Questioning/Assessment
Depending on how the text was read, the teacher will often question students during the reading. These questions need to require higher order thinking and relate to the skill being taught. If the students read independently, this is the time the teacher observes the students as they read, noting problems or difficulties that need to be followed up later.
Responding to and discussing the text
It is during this time that the teacher and students respond to the text. They may reflect on their predictions, clarify any misunderstandings, ask questions, examine the author's craft, validate responses by using the text as evidence, and
Follow up
Follow up activities to extend students' understanding of the text may be valuable. However, the reading and the discussion may be enough in itself.

Guided Reading helps to develop in students:

positive attitudes to reading
desire to read
appropriate strategies to gain meaning from texts
the skills needed to think critically and outside the box
the skills to decode and define unknown words
the skills to access information and use it effectively

For additional in-depth hints on questions to ask during guided reading, please visit My Reading Strategies Page. You may also wish to visit Characteristics of Leveled Texts page for additional information on the various reading levels. For a wide range of leveled texts, try these sites: