Guided Read Alouds

Let’s chat about guided read alouds. We all know how important it is to read aloud to children. I feel that it’s the single greatest thing a teacher can do. That and giving students independent reading time! BUT, we also all know that time is such an issue. There never seems to be enough time. And yes, you tell yourself that it’s important to read aloud to the kids and that it isn’t wasting time, but you also want to make the most of what little time you are given with each class. That’s where guided read alouds come in.

If you love to read a certain chapter book to your class, that’s amazing. Just doing that alone is beneficial and shouldn’t be sacrificed. But if you want to use that chapter book read aloud to assess listening and comprehension, incorporate some writing practice, and give students the chance to talk about the book, then guided read alouds are perfect for you!

So, what are guided read alouds?

Guided read alouds are when you (the teacher) reads a chapter-or two! from a book to your students each day. After you finish the day’s reading, the kids answer the central question for the chapter that was read. You can use these central questions as an exit slip where you post the question somewhere in the room and students write their response on a sticky note and post it before leaving. OR you can use it as more of a journal entry where the students write in a notebook or on their own paper and turn it in. However works best for you!

How long should guided read alouds take each day?

15-20 minutes. I would suggest reading one chapter (or 7-10 pages) from your read aloud each day. After you finish, I would give students 5-7 minutes to complete their central question response. If you are using the exit slip method, the time allotted for students to answer would be less because the response doesn’t require as much detail.

If you are departmentalized, I know 15-20 minutes is a big chunk of time when you are working with a short class time, BUT just think of all the standards you are covering by incorporating daily read alouds and central questions into your teaching!

Key Ideas and Details 1: Refer to details and examples in the text

Key Ideas and Details 2: Summarize the text

Key Ideas and Details 3: Describe a character, setting, event from the text in details

Writing 1: Write opinion pieces on topics or text

Listening 4: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud

These are just a few to name! If you have a bigger lesson that needs a little more time one day, just adjust your read aloud and stop the chapter a little early.

If you are worried that read alouds aren’t a good use of time, trust me THEY ARE.

Does every student need a copy of the book?

No! Would it work if every student had their own copy? Absolutely! Would it be beneficial if every student had their own copy? For some, absolutely! Is it necessary? NO.

As long as you have a copy of the book that you are reading aloud from and your students are listening to you, that’s all you need. When it comes time for the students to answer the question and they can’t spell a certain word, just have them sound it out on their own. It might be beneficial to write the characters’ names on the board or create a chart so students can use that for spelling, but even if they sound those words out too, they are still reflecting on what they read/heard, organizing their thoughts, giving their opinion, and discussing the book.

So, what’s the difference between a guided read aloud and a novel study?

Guided read alouds are different from novel studies in many ways. With a novel study, each student needs his or her own text because they are going to be using the text to complete activities and assignments. The whole point of a novel study is to examine one piece of text and dig deeper to analyze the author’s writing, understand the characters’ actions, etc. A guided read aloud isn’t as in depth. The main purpose (I think) is to expose students to a book and have them enjoy a story. Giving central questions just gets them to thinking about their reading and makes the read aloud a little more impactful and meaningful!

Do you need a read aloud board in your classroom?

You don’t need to have a board dedicated to your read aloud, but I do feel it makes it special for the kids and places a little more importance on the book. If you are using the central question poster option, then you do need a place to display the question of the day. It can be as big or as little of a display as you want.

Are there specific books that make good read alouds?

I feel like books that have shorter chapters make for a great read aloud. Books that are fast paced and full of dialogue are also winners. Descriptive writing is wonderful and beneficial in some cases, but books that are full of this type of writing can be a little hard for students to get into. Books that contain relatable characters are also good. Students want to see themselves in stories.

When do you fit this in your schedule?

Make it routine! Either start class with your read aloud everyday or end class with it. I would suggest doing it at the beginning of class and providing students with time to answer the question. If they don’t finish their answer and you have time at the end of class, they can finish up then!

How do you combine reading picture books and chapter books?

I’ll admit, this is tricky. Yes, ideally we would incorporate BOTH picture book read alouds and chapter book read alouds daily, but we all know time is not usually on a teacher’s side. If you are self contained, this may be possible, but departmentalized classes are working on such a small amount of time that it might not be feasible to do both. I would suggest holding off on daily picture book read alouds when you are doing a chapter book read aloud. That pains me to say, but again, time. You can still use picture books, just maybe not every day. When you finish your read aloud, you might want to take a little bit of time (a few weeks, or a month or so) and only read picture books. If you are in the middle of a chapter book read aloud and you find a picture book that works well for your lesson, find a way to incorporate it and you can do both that day! The main thing is that you are reading aloud to your kids and you are exposing them to a wide variety of texts.

Should you give daily quizzes?

I wouldn’t suggest daily quizzes, but if you are wanting to assess comprehension and check for understanding through quizzes, weekly quizzes would work. I feel like the daily central questions can serve as a way to assess students’ comprehension. They can also guided you on plot points that need clarifying or topics to bring up for further discussions.