Lesson 5.2: Matching Children With a “Just Right” Book
Focus: Understand how to select books for guided reading that are “just right” for the students as well as teach students to select “just right” books for independent reading.
Prior to the Collaboration Group Meeting
1. Reflection Journal
Write in your reflection journal prior to the Collaboration Group meeting. You are to respond weekly in your journal, reflecting on your learning, observation, questions, and personal connections. Your reflections need to be at least 250 words. You may choose how to format your journal, though you may want to consider the following as you write:
- What are some new understandings you made this week as a result of the work for this lesson and your work with your students?
- How has this new understanding influenced your current practice?
Bring your reflection journal to the weekly Collaboration Group meeting, and prepare to share your entries.
2. Reading
NOTE: To print the linked documents, do the following:
- Put your mouse on the document and right click. You will see a window that asks you where you want to download the document.
- Determine where you want to save the document.
- After saving the document, open and print it in MS Word.
- Read On Solid Ground (pp. 136-151). As you read take notes and bring the notes to the Collaboration Group meeting to support your discussion about book selection.
- Read Matching Children With a “Just Right” Book and Developing a Classroom Book Selection Chart.
3. Classroom Application
- Using the readings as a guide, work with a classroom to develop your own chart of guidelines and post it in the classroom.
- Email a copy of the guidelines you developed to the instructor and bring a copy to the Collaboration Group meeting to share.
During the Collaboration Group Meeting
- The facilitator leads the Collaboration Group in:
- Sharing reflection journal entries.
- Summarizing the lesson done in the classroom and sharing classroom book selection guidelines.
- Discussing the professional reading in On Solid Ground (pp. 136-151).
- Discussing what each of the following terms mean and how to apply these terms to the classroom’s reading program: “On the Easy Side,” “Just Right,” and “On the Hard Side.”
- Determine the facilitator, recorder, timekeeper, date, time, and location for the next Collaboration Group meeting.
After the Collaboration Group Meeting
- The recorder emails the instructor a summary of how the participants will apply the terms “On the Easy Side,” “Just Right,” and “On the Hard Side” in the classroom.
- The timekeeper emails the attendance to the instructor.
- The recorder places copies of all the work done by the Collaboration Group in the Collaboration Group Notebook for future reference.
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