Assessment and_small_group_work_new_and_imporved-1

Text Reading Assessment System
The Region One Text Reading Assessment is designed to help you assess each of your
students’ reading levels and the strategies that they are using or not using to assist them in
accessing meaning from the texts they are reading. Once you have found each student’s
appropriate reading level (that is, their instructional level at a 90%-95% accuracy rate)
and know the reading strategies they are and are not using, you can plan mini-lessons and
small group work to meet the needs of the students in your class. Inside this packet you
will find the following resources to assist you in this work.
1. Copies of leveled texts for you, or an intervention specialist, to use to take
running records and other notes
Fountas and Pinnell Levels D-N
2. Copies of leveled texts for students to read while you, or an intervention
specialist, takes a running record
Fountas and Pinnell Levels H-N
**Please note that students’ copies of Region One/TC Group 2-4/Fountas and Pinnell
Levels D through G are non-fiction titles from the non-fiction libraries you have
received. They need to be immediately removed from the library and only be used
for assessment.
The titles, all from Rosen Classroom and Materials, as follows:
• Some Things Push and Some Things Pull, by Alan Trussell-Cullen Level D
• Living Things, by Joan Chapman Level E
• Desert Animals, by Jane Snyder Level F
• Magnets, by Alan Trussell-Cullen Level G
3. Possible Reading Strategies to teach at each Text Reading Level
Included here are those strategies which apply to specific reading levels, as well as
those which apply across all reading levels. These can be used as resources during
both individual conferences and small group work.
4. Descriptions and Planning Sheets for Small Group Work
The text reading assessment and the small group work can be either used by you or
the intervention specialist that assists you in your work with students. Once you have
assessed, then you can use the strategies for each level to help you decide what you
need to work on next. You will want children to master most of the strategies at a
level before moving on to the next level.

Using the Text Reading Assessment
• When you meet with a reader to do a text reading assessment, ask the child to bring his or
her independent reading baggie. You’ll use this at the end of the assessment.
• Begin assessing at a low level text. You may see that the text is clearly too easy. Jump
ahead a level or two saying, “Oh, this seems very easy for you.” This conveys an
encouraging message.
• Read the introduction we provide to the book. Then ask the child to read some to you –
it’ll be the first 100 words. Tell the child that if he or she gets to a tricky part the child
should pretend you’re not there and do whatever he or she can (although actually, you
may end up telling a child a word rather than leaving the child stymied too long). While
the child is reading, record his or her miscues (errors) in the space above the actual word
on your record sheet. After the first 100 words, while the child continues reading silently
quickly assess the child’s accuracy rate. (Accuracy rate is determined by finding the
number of words read correctly – say 92 out of 100 words read – that’d be 92%
accuracy.) You want kids to read at approximately between 90%-95% accuracy rate, but
forgive miscues such as a person’s name, or a miscue that repeats. To calculate the
accuracy rate of a running record, use the formula and the charts provided in the packet.
Miscues that are most alarming are those that disrupt meaning. Under no circumstances
should a child read in a level where the child is scoring below 90%. If this is the case,
stop the assessment. (“Ok. Thanks. Let’s try another story.”) Go down several levels to
avoid the depressing process of going lower, lower, lower. If the child’s reading is 90-
100% accurately and fluently, have the child continue reading silently to the end of the
excerpt where you’ll study comprehension.
• As the child reads aloud, note the level of fluency. Does the child pay attention to
punctuation and read with appropriate expression and intonation? Does the child’s voice
reflect comprehension? Children should be reading texts that they can read with fluency.
Some children have developed habits of robotic reading, and if you simply say, “Put your
words together,” or “Read it faster, like you are talking,” their fluency improves
dramatically. That’s okay. But if your prompts can’t get a child reading with fluency,
the child needs to read easier books and to learn to expect reading to “sound like a story”
or to “sound like talk.”
• Note the child’s reading behaviors on your assessment sheet. Is the child still pointing
under words – this should have stopped at Region One/TC Group 2 of Fountas and
Pinnell Level D books. Is the child voicing – whispering? This is also something you’ll
want the child to cease doing for now. Does the child laugh at funny parts and otherwise
demonstrate engagement?

• After the child reads the passage, ask the child to retell the story. If the retelling doesn’t
suggest that the child understands the story (he or she may recall some details but show
no understanding of what’s really going on or why it’s happening), you will want to ask
the questions that follow the passage. They’ll help you see the extent to which the child
understands the book. Don’t expect the child to answer all the questions correctly. If a
child is reading at 95% accuracy and shows comprehension and fluency, then this level
works.
• Take a tour of the child’s baggie to assess whether the child has books that all reflect a
particular reading level. Do the books match your assessment? If not, tell the child that
for now, the whole class is going to work on reading easy books and really thinking a lot
about them. Show the child where he or she can find books that’ll be great books for this
sort of close reading. Actually, of course, these are just-right books for the child.

Reading Strategies
On the following pages you will find reading strategies that correlate to text reading
levels. In each reading level, the texts have particular text characteristics. The reading
strategies in each level help readers to be able to navigate their way through those text
characteristics to read for meaning successfully. The reading strategies become more
sophisticated as the text reading level increases.
You will notice that in TC Groups 2 through 7, specific reading strategies are listed for
each group along with prompts to use to assist children in using these strategies
independently. These strategies help students negotiate difficulties with the print and
structure/organization of the text.
In TC Groups 8 and 9, specific strategies are not listed. By the time students reach these
levels, our hope is that students have developed a repertoire of strategies which they use
to successfully deal with difficult words and confusion that they encounter in the texts
they read.

Fountas and Pinnell: C, D
Reading Strategies Prompts
Getting the mouth ready for the initial
sound of a word
 Read it again and see if it looks right.
 Use the first letter(s)/last letter(s) of the word to help you.
 Check the picture and use the first letter(s)/last letter(s) of the word to help
you.
 Think about what’s happening in the book right now and use the first
letter(s)/last letter(s) of the word to help.
 Could it be (child’s miscue) or (actual text)?
 Does that look right?
Using left to right directionality  Let me show you how I point under the words…
 Point under the words.
 Does it match?
 Where there enough words?
Locating one or two known words on
a page
 What word(s) do you know by heart?
Monitoring for meaning: checking to
make sure what has been read makes
sense, sounds right, and looks right
 Read it again, and make sure it makes sense to you?
 Read it again and make sure it sounds right to you.
Reading with fluency  Listen as I read this part smoothly…now you try it.
 Reread that part in a smooth voice.
 Make it sound smooth.
Names of Students and Notes

Fountas and Pinnell: D, E
Rereading and Self-correcting  Read it again and see if it makes sense. Are you right?
 Read it again and see if sounds like book language. Are you right?
 Read it again and see if it looks right. Are you right?
Reading with Fluency  Listen as I read this part smoothly…now you try it.
Cross-checking one source of
information against another
 Could it be (child’s word)or (actual word)?
 Take a closer look at . . . [teacher determines which source of
information] and say “Read it again . . .”
Meaning: “Think about the story to help you”; “Use the picture to help you”;
“Does it make sense?”
Syntax: “Read it again and make sure it sounds right to you.”
Visual: “Read it again. Does it look right?
 Does that make sense, sound right and look right?
 Are you right?
 How do you know?
Recognizing common chunks of
words
 Take a closer look at ____ (teacher determines which part of the word needs to
be attended to.)
 Are you right?

Fountas and Pinnell: F, G
Rereading and Self-correcting  Read it again and see if it makes sense. Are you right?
Reading with Fluency  Listen as I read this part smoothly…now you try it.
Cross-checking one source of
information against another
 Could it be (child’s word) or (actual word)?
 Take a closer look at . . . [teacher determines which source of information]
and say “Read it again . . .”
Meaning: “Think about the story to help you”; “Use the picture to help
you”; “Does it make sense?”
Syntax: “Read it again and make sure it sounds right to you.”
Visual: “Read it again. Does it look right?
 Are you right?
Integrating sources of information
from meaning, structure and visual
 Read it again and see if it sounds like book language.
 Read it again and see if it makes sense.
 Does that sound right?
 Does that make sense?
 Could it be (child’s miscue)?
Using a repertoire of graphophonic
strategies to problem solve through
text:
Students are using increasingly
difficult chunks in words, and can
make some analogies from known
words to unknown words.
be attended to).
 Does this look like a word you know?
 Are you right?

Fountas and Pinnell: H, I
Rereading and self-correcting  Read it again and see if it makes sense. Are you right?
Reading with fluency: demonstrating
fluent phrasing of longer passages.
Students are reading longer chunks of
text fluently.
 Listen as I read this part smoothly…now you try it.
 Are you right?
Integrating a balance of sources of
information
Students are using all the sources of
information together more often to
problem solve through text.
 What could you try?
text:
Students are using increasingly
difficult chunks in words, and can
make some analogies from known
words to unknown words.
be attended to.)
 Are you right?

Fountas and Pinnell: J, K
Rereading and self-correcting  Read it again and see if it makes sense. Are you right?
Reading with fluency: demonstrating
fluent phrasing of longer passages.
Students are now reading longer
chunks of text fluently.
Integrating a balance of sources of
information
Students are now using all the sources
of information together often in
problem solving through text.
text.
Students are now problem solving
difficult words in a variety of ways
instead of just one or two.
be attended to.)
 Are you right?

Fountas and Pinnell: J, K, L
Reading Strategy Prompts
Rereading and self-correcting
regularly
 Read it again and see if it makes sense. Are you right?
Reading with fluency, intonation, and
phrasing
Demonstrating the existence of a self-
extending (self-improving) system to
problem-solve strategies
Students need little to no prompting as
they are solving problems for
themselves as they read.
Solving unknown words with ease
Students are able to problem-solve
new words easily on their own as they
come across them in texts they read.
be attended to.)
 Are you right?

Fountas and Pinnell: L, M
Comprehension Strategies
 Activating Background Knowledge
Relating the text to your own experiences.
 Questioning
When you do not understand something, stop. Ask
yourself: Where did it stop making sense. Why is it not
making sense? and/or What don’t I understand? Then
research what you do not understand using the text or
other sources.
 Determining the Important Ideas
Asking yourself: What is this mostly about? What is
essential to know about the meaning of this text? Gather
information that connects to those ideas.
 Monitoring and self-correcting
Notice when meaning is breaking down and using
reading strategies to help you fix up where it has broken
down. Meaning may breakdown in words, sentences,
paragraphs, structure and/or organization of the text or
even whole concepts.
 Drawing Inferences
Reading between the lines: Using what you know and
the text to help you understand what the writer is
trying to convey in the text.
 Synthesizing information
Reviewing, sorting, and sifting information as you
gather it page by page in a text. This helps you to
focus on the whole of the text rather than pieces,
pages, or parts alone.
 Visualizing
Making pictures in your mind to help you understand
what you are reading. As you learn new information
with every page that you read, you revise those
pictures.

Fountas and Pinnell: M, N, O
Comprehension Strategies
 Activating Background Knowledge
 Questioning
When you do not understand something, stop. Ask
yourself: Where did it stop making sense. Why is it not
making sense? and/or What don’t I understand? Then
research what you do not understand using the text or
other sources.
Asking yourself: What is this mostly about? What is
essential to know about the meaning of this text? Gather
information that connects to those ideas.
Notice when meaning is breaking down and using
reading strategies to help you fix up where it has broken
down. Meaning may breakdown in words, sentences,
paragraphs, structure and/or organization of the text or
even whole concepts.
Reading between the lines: Using what you know and
the text to help you understand what the writer is
trying to convey in the text.
Reviewing, sorting, and sifting information as you
gather it page by page in a text. This helps you to
focus on the whole of the text rather than pieces,
pages, or parts alone.
 Visualizing
Making pictures in your mind to help you understand
what you are reading. As you learn new information
with every page that you read, you revise those
pictures.
What Every Text Demands that Readers Do:

 Use strategies to recognize and solve words.
 Orchestrate different sources of information in comprehending text.
 Use the punctuation and sentence structure to identify phrase units.
 Monitor their reading to be sure it makes sense, sounds right and looks
right---correct themselves when necessary to gain meaning.
 Recognize important elements of narrative (character setting, plot,
movement through time and change)
 Recognize important informational structures (compare/contrast,
description, cause/effect, temporal sequence, problem/solution) and use
them to anticipate analyze, and understand text.
 Sustain attention and memory over periods of time.
 Activate and use background knowledge and make personal and text
connections.
 Revise their ideas as they take new ideas and information from the text.
 Recognize elements of the writer’s craft.
 Think critically about text, making judgments as to accuracy and
quality.

Comprehension Strategies that Every Reader Needs to Know
 Activating Background Knowledge:
 Questioning
When you do not understand something, stop. Ask yourself: Where did it stop
making sense. Why is it not making sense? and/or What don’t I understand?
Then research what you do not understand using the text or other sources.
Asking yourself what is this mostly about? What is essential to know about the
meaning of this text? Gather information that connects to those ideas.
Notice when meaning is breaking down and using reading strategies to help you
fix up where it has broken down. Meaning may breakdown in words, sentences,
paragraphs, structure and/or organization of the text or even whole concepts.
Reading between the lines. Using what you know and the text to help you
understand what the writer is trying to convey in the text.
Reviewing, sorting, and sifting information as you gather it page by page in a text.
This helps readers to focus on the whole of the text rather than pieces, pages, or
parts alone.
 Visualizing
Readers make pictures in their minds to help them understand what they are
reading. As they learn new information with every page that they read, readers
revise those pictures.

Possible Ways the Think About Small Group Work in Reading
There are different ways to do small group work with children. We are proposing two ways here:
Strategy Lessons and Guided Reading. Sometimes when we want to work on a particular strategy
with students, we may choose to do a strategy lesson. This way we can teach the strategy directly
and coach the student in the work. If we are working on helping students to solve problems in their
reading without stopping, or to use a variety of strategies together, or to prop them up to read on
their next level for the first time because they are ready, we may choose to do a guided reading
lesson. The important things to remember are what makes the most sense for your children and what
materials do you have to meet the needs of your students.
Strategy Lessons
Who is in a strategy lesson?
• You, or an intervention specialist, can gather 4 or 5 students who are/are not on the same
reading level and/but who need to work on the same strategy.
What texts are used in a strategy lesson?
• The students can bring the books they are reading in Reading Workshop that are on their
appropriate reading level to use in practicing the reading strategy.
What are the parts of a strategy lesson?
• You, or an intervention specialist, can teach the students the strategy through a mini-lesson
within the small group. After the mini-lesson, you or the intervention specialist can confer with
students independently. The parts of a strategy lesson are (just like the mini-lesson):
Connect
Tell the students why you have gathered them and the strategy you will work with them on
today.
Teach/Model
Teach the students the strategy by demonstrating it in a text of your own.
Active Involvement/Try it Out
Have the students try out the strategy in the text you used or their own.
Link/Solidify
Link the strategy work you just taught with their everyday life as readers. Tell them to
continue reading in their books, ask them to try the strategy that you just taught, and tell
them that you will be coming around to confer with them (coaching them with prompts on
the strategy that you have worked with them on in the strategy lesson).

Guided Reading
Who is in a guided reading group?
• You, or an intervention specialist, can gather 4 or 5 kids on the same level who need to work
on strategies that are similar.
What texts are used in a guided reading group?
• In guided reading, you, or an intervention specialist, choose the book and brings copies for all
the students to read. This book is on the reading level of the students and has opportunities for
students to practice reading strategies.
What are the parts of a guided reading group?
• Book Introduction
• Reading/Prompting/Coaching Time
• Brief Discussion of the Meaning of the text
• Teaching Point
• Link
What happens in each part?
Book Introduction
Introduce the book to the students by reading the title and asking the students if they have had any
experiences or know anything about the subject of the book. Next, give the students an overview
of what the whole book is about while flipping through the pages. As you, or the intervention
specialist, come across words on the pages in the book that you think the students may not be able
to read using all the reading strategies they know (there should only be 1 to 3 at the most), point
out the words to the students and the students locate them on the page. Finally, talk briefly with
any unfamiliar concepts in the books as he/she moves through the introduction.
In your introduction, include:
1. Title
2. Prior knowledge question or inquiry
“This is a book about…” (a one sentence summary), and then ask the students if they know
something about, have ever experienced, have ever been to- whatever the book is about. Let them
briefly tell you their experiences; this is not a long conversation (1 to 2 minutes at the most).
3. Summary on the meaning of the book
As you flip through the pages of the book, talk to the students about what the book is about.
Depending on how much support you think the students need in knowing the meaning of the story
beforehand, you may say a little or a great deal on each page. Sometimes you may just turn a page
and not say anything, instead letting the students gather the meaning of the text on their own.

4. Supportive/challenging Parts of the Text
Point out what the students may need you to assist them with in the book introduction, so that
they can still have work to do on their own and have a successful read of the text? Supportive
parts of a book may include, for example, words, language patterns, concepts, genre structure/
organization/ features, etc. that students are familiar with and do not need you to mention in the
book introduction. Challenging parts may include those same parts that are unfamiliar and that
students, with all the reading strategies they know, will not be able to figure out on their own.
(***A word of caution: If there are many parts that you feel you need to talk about- for
example, 3 to 4 challenging parts or more in Groups 3 or 4 books, the book may be too
difficult.)
Reading/Prompting/Coaching Time
How do students read?
After the book introduction, each student receives a copy of the book and begins to read the book
on their own. For children participating in guided reading at approximately levels D through K,
each child will be independently reading their book aloud though not together, as guided reading is
not choral or round robin reading. For children participating in guided reading at levels K or
higher, children should read their books silently, and when prompted by the teacher in a
conference, they may be asked to read the text, or part of the text, aloud.
What does the teacher do?
Prompt the students as they have success and difficulties in their reading by using strategies that
are appropriate for the level and need of the student. Watch to see what would be a good teaching
point (a reading strategy that all the students can benefit from and that is appropriate for their level.
Refer to the leveled charts which list appropriate strategies for each level).
Brief Discussion of the Meaning of the Text
After all the students finish reading the book, ask the students what they found out or learned in the
book. This is a brief discussion to check to see if the students were able to read successfully for
meaning. If they were not, this is a clear sign that something went wrong. The book may have
been too hard- i.e. too many challenging words/concepts, language structures are too complex, the
students are not reading for meaning but instead to get all the words right, etc. It is important to
find out what happened here, because the students need to know that reading is about getting
meaning.
Teaching Point
Once all the students have finished reading the book (some may finish before others and can reread
the book and notice things they did not know the first time), teach the students the reading strategy
that would be most helpful to all of them based on what happened during the reading. Students
should try out the strategy with you or the intervention specialist.
Link
After the students try out the strategy, link the work in this guided reading lesson to their everyday
reading.

Planning for Strategy Lessons
Strategy to Focus on: ___________________________________
Strategy Being Taught

Planning for Guided Reading
 Book Introduction
- Title
- Prior knowledge:
- Summary
- Supportive/challenging
parts of the text
 Reading/ Coaching
Gather the prompts for
the reading strategies that
you want the students to
be using as they come
across tricky parts in
their reading.
 Teaching Point
What did you teach at
the end of this lesson?
 Link
Link the work in this
lesson to their everyday
reading.

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