Balanced Reading Program

1. Read Aloud

1.1. Students are quiet and listening to a story being read by the teacher. This Step is meant for explicit teaching or modelling a specific strategy. During a read aloud students are exposed to what a fluent and thoughtful reader looks like/sounds like. This is where thinking about a story takes place. It is important for the teacher to introduce some difficult vocabulary for students to help with comprehension. The teacher is also going to activate prior knowledge and give students some background information on the story. Teachers can use many different types of text during a read aloud so that students are shown many kinds of literature. This part of the program usually takes about 20 minutes and is done at a central learning area or carpet so that all students can see and hear the story.

2. Shared Reading

2.1. During a shared reading lesson. The teacher and students share the responsibility of reading and this part of the program is used to teach new skills as well as consolidate previously taught skills. This part of the lesson should not take more than 15 minutes and can be done with small groups or whole class. In this step everyone can see the reading and participate in the learning. Shared reading is used to work on cueing systems to develop fluent reading skills and to relate reading text to written print. This gives teachers an opportunity to bridge between read alouds and guided reading and allows teachers to observe and assess student abilities and struggles.

3. Independent Reading

3.1. During independent reading students should be using known strategies to read a book at their reading level. Students should be able to read their book and comprehend what is happening in the story. Teachers can set up some accountability to monitor this step (e.g.. Voice thread about the reading, reading response, etc.). During this step the teacher is providing minimal support to students. This part of the program allows students choice in their reading and helps to foster a love of reading as well as confidence to practice learned skills. The time given to this part should depend on the students ability to sustain reading independently and should get longer as students continue to develop their reading skills.

4. Guided Reading

4.1. This part of the program is meant to bridge shared reading and independent reading. The students will be working with small focused groups that need support with specific learning goals. The goals will focus on lessons previously taught in the read aloud and shared reading times. The students will read a text at their level but that poses challenges that they need to work on. This time is great for teachers to assess students needs as students work through to read and think about the text. It is also a time for teachers to give feedback to students during the lesson. The rest of the class is participating in independent activities.