Based on analysis of information you have recorded on each students’ IDR Conference records, comprehension checks, and/or Listening/Reading Comprehension Assessments, place students with similar needs and reading abilities into small groups.
Refer to the “Grade x Overview” table on pages 2–3 of the Small-Group Reading Comprehension Teacher’s Manual to determine which lesson series would benefit each group of students. In the table, texts are listed by instructional focus and then by Lexile® level within each focus. Consider the following:
- Text. You can use the information in the table to identify appropriate texts for a specific reading group. It is not necessary to teach them in a specific order.
- Instructional Focus. You can group students based on the skill or strategy you think they need to practice next. In addition to its designated skill or strategy, the series of lessons for a text may also include extensions that address other strategies you would like students to practice further.
- Genre. Consider the genre of each text as you plan your instruction. Ask yourself which genres your students need to be more familiar with in order to be able to recognize those genres’ unique features and use those features to make sense of what they read.
- Level. We provide leveling information from Lexile® Framework for Reading for texts when available. The thinking the students do and the skills they develop in these lessons are appropriate for students reading at all text levels. As long as the students can read the texts fluently and comprehend them, they will be able to do the strategy work provided in the lessons.
The lessons can also be taught in the order they appear in the manual, if desired.
Note: In grades 3–5, students who demonstrate the ability to read longer texts independently might be good candidates for the foundation setting lessons for student-led book clubs.
We strongly recommend that you think of each placement decision in Small-Group Comprehension not as a stopping point but simply as the next step in an agile program, and that you reconsider the student’s instructional needs after each lesson series.