For new readers, reading is not an automatic process: it must be learned. Guided reading lessons help students develop their own awareness and understanding of all elements of a text, allowing them to learn at their own pace. An effective teacher tool, guided reading activities allow teachers to help students focus on improving and developing their reading comprehension skills.
For new readers, reading is not an automatic process: it must be learned. Guided reading lessons help students develop their own awareness and understanding of all elements of a text, allowing them to learn at their own pace. An effective teacher tool, guided reading activities allow teachers to help students focus on improving and developing their reading comprehension skills.
Reading Games for Young Children, by Jackie Silberg, is one of many valuable reading resources for teachers—both new and experienced. Providing useful tips for introducing reading comprehension concepts and instilling a love for reading within young students, Silberg’s book also provides various guided reading lessons that can be easily integrated into any classroom.
Here are a few fun and engaging guided reading activities and tips you can try in your classroom!
Suggestions for Reading Books
- Reading a book is not only enjoyable for both adult and child, it also stimulates children’s desire to read books by themselves.
- Show the children that the words you are reading are the text on the page. This seems obvious, but children often think you are making it up from the pictures. Let them know it’s mostly the text that carries the meaning. Following the words with your finger is very helpful.
- Show the children the cover and title page. Announce the name of the author and illustrator. This shows them that real people wrote the story. It might inspire them to write a book of their own.
- Read a loud with enthusiasm. Be an actor! Do silly voices.
Story Retelling
- Telling and retelling a story helps children understand how parts of a story are related.
- Pick a favorite book. Read the book together.
- Say that you are going to tell the story from memory without using the book.
- Show the children the book, and then put it away and retell the story with enthusiasm and expression. If appropriate, use props. For example, you could use mittens for “The Three Little Kittens.”
- Talk about the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.
- Show the children the book and then tell the story again from memory.
- Now ask them to tell you the story.
What’s on the Page?
- You will need a book that has pictures on each page, and a piece of paper to cover the pictures.
- Choose an interesting story with colorful pictures.
- Cover the picture on the first page and then read it to a child.
- Stop reading at the end of the page and ask him to tell you what the page was about.
- Now ask him to guess what the picture will be on the page.
- Show the picture again and talk about it. Then go to the next page and play the game again.
Stories Come to Life
- Reading is important, but creating and acting out a story makes it come to life and helps the children internalize the concepts in the story.
- Read a story that children know. Read the story, and as you read, find one word such as “run,” and say it in a loud voice.
- Ask a child to act out the “loud” word when she hears it (by running).
- Also use words that show emotion such as “happy” and “sad,” and ask children to act out those emotions.
