Reading Strategy Groups: Understanding Characters

Description

Ten COMPLETE strategy group lessons that are ready to print and go! The ten lessons in this unit are:
1. Character Expressions
2. Character Feelings
3. Feelings Can Change
4. Guessing a Character’s Thoughts
5. Inferring Character Traits
6. Inner Traits vs. Outer Traits
7. Describe Characters Using Text Evidence
8. Sometimes Characters Repeat Patterns
9. Character Motivation
10. Compare Characters

Each lesson includes:
– WARM UP: Quick tasks that review prior knowledge and introduce the strategy.
– PRACTICE: Complete, high-interest passages (differentiated at three levels) that include thoughtful prompts for you and the students to discuss, write, think, skim, etc.
– INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Send your students off with accountability practice.
– MISC: Printable anchor charts for every lesson (just print-and-go to fit full size chart paper), conferring note pages, and lesson planning pages are all included.

EVERYTHING IN HERE IS READY TO GO
All you need to do is figure out which students would benefit the most from each strategy lesson. If you have skilled reading volunteers or aides in your classroom, they can easily run these groups while you are working with other students.

PSSST…

This is available in a bundle option:
Reading Strategy Groups: MEGA BUNDLE

IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM GUIDED READING?
Yes. Strategy groups rely on teaching your students a reading strategy that they can and will use while independently reading. This type of grouping is not strictly confined to the student’s reading level. Strategy groupings should be flexible so that we can get far, far away from kids who identify as a level, such as “I’m in the purple reading group” or “I am supposed to read level M books.”

Strategy groups rely on you knowing what your individual students need to work on. Do you have a few students who read like robots? Let’s work on it together in a strategy group. Do you have a group of students who struggle identifying the main idea of a text? Let’s work on it in a strategy group. Do you have students who are ready to start describing theme? Let’s work on it in a strategy group.

The purpose of a strategy group is to teach a comprehension strategy, not check on a student’s level of comprehension. The strategy group lessons included here are the first part of your lesson. You must continue the lesson by following up with your students. After the strategy group lesson, is the student applying the strategy in their independent reading?

HOW DO I USE THIS?
Strategy groups work well in all classroom settings. A best practice that all classroom teachers should employ is frequently checking in and conferring with students. When you confer with your students during reading, you see what reading skills and strategies they have mastered and what strategies they need help with. In my classroom, I teach a group lesson everyday. For two days of the week, I confer with students after the group lesson. While conferring, I check in with students to see where they are in their learning. I take notes of the types of instruction each student needs next. I use this information to form my next strategy groups. Overall, I am flexible. On some weeks, I spend more time on conferring and some weeks I spend more time on strategy groups.

One incredible feature of the included reading strategy passages is that the discussion prompts are all included. Everything is print and go! If you have skilled reading volunteers or aides in your classroom, they can easily run these groups while you are working with other students.

WHAT GRADE LEVEL IS THIS FOR?
The content (learning about characters in a fiction text) is most appropriate for grades 2-4. However, you may have students in other grade levels that need lessons in this area. There are three text level options included in this product.
LEVEL 1 passages (denoted in the lower right hand corner of the passage with ❍) are recommended for 1st grade or lower level 2nd/3rd grade students.
LEVEL 2 passages (denoted with ❍ ❍) are recommended for high 1st graders, students on grade level in 2nd/3rd grade, and low 4th graders.
LEVEL 3 passages (denoted with ❍ ❍ ❍) are recommended for high 2nd/3rd graders, or 4th/5th graders.

WANT MORE?
Check out the full product line…
– Main Idea {Non-Fiction – 4 Lessons}
– Author’s Purpose {Non-Fiction – 4 Lessons}
– Key Details {Non-Fiction – 5 Lessons}
– Text Features {Non-Fiction – 10 Lessons}
– Fluency {10 Lessons}
– Summarizing {Fiction – 7 Lessons}
– Understanding Characters {Fiction -10 Lessons}
– Theme {Fiction -6 Lessons}
– Vocabulary and Context Clues {Fiction -6 Lessons}
– Free Sample!­ (Complete DIFFERENTIATED lesson teaching Plot vs. Theme)
→→→→ Reading Strategy Groups: NON-FICTION BUNDLE (Main Idea, Author’s Purpose, Key Details, Text Features)­
→→→→ Reading Strategy Groups: FICTION BUNDLE (Summarizing, Understanding Characters, Theme, Vocabulary)­
→→→→ Reading Strategy Groups: MEGA BUNDLE (Includes ALL of the units listed above)

DOES THIS WORK WITH JENNIFER SERRAVALLO’S READING STRATEGIES?
Yes! If you are a fan of the reading strategies written by Jennifer Serravallo, then these activities will be a perfect compliment. The strategies in this pack work seamlessly with the strategies that Jennifer Serravallo suggests in her (AMAZING) Reading Strategies Book.

STILL UNSURE?
Check out this strategy group free sample to see if this will work for you!

– Alyssha Swanson
Teaching and Tapas: American Teacher in Spain