Does your child’s school use guided reading? 🙁

This page will tell you the guided reading expectations and benchmarks for grade 2. Guided reading is NOT a good way to learn to read. Parents, if your school uses guided reading, please see my 2nd-grade science of reading page for the correct way to teach your child to read.

Guided reading falls under the Fountas and Pinnell cueing system method, which is now frowned upon. Students do NOT sound out words when they are stuck; instead, as students read, you ask them to figure out unknown words by looking at the picture, looking at the beginning letter sound, thinking about what would look right/sound right/make sense or skipping the tricky word/reading on/going back. This makes reading a guessing game. 2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

To Meet the “Guided Reading” Benchmark, 2nd-grade students should be instructional at:

Level K in November (independent J)

Level L in March (independent K)

Level M by June (independent L)

Get Level K-M books on Amazon or at the public library. Here is a book list! I only recommend these books if your child has a firm grasp of phonics and can read decodable texts.

AT LEVELS K-M, A CHILD’S READING LEVEL IS DETERMINED BY THE FOLLOWING:

These bullet points are based on the DRA2 assessment.

•Is the child reading with acceptable accuracy? No more than 10 errors/100 words.

• The child is timed. At least 55 Words Per Minute Meets the Benchmark for Level K. At least 65 Words Per Minute Meets the Benchmark for Level L. At least 70 Words Per Minute Meets the Benchmark for Level M.

• Is the child reading expressing the text’s mood, pace, and tension?

• Does the child read in longer phrases and heed punctuation?

• After reading the first few paragraphs, can the child make 3 thoughtful predictions of what might happen in the text without peeking ahead at pictures?

• After reading and with the book closed, the child retells. Are they referring to the characters by name and including all the essential details from the beginning, middle, and end in sequence?2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

• Does the child use the critical language and vocabulary from the text?

• Can the child retell the story independently without prompts or questions?

• The child has to explain the author’s message: What is the author teaching us? The child must support this with text details.

• The child must determine the most important event in the story and why, giving an opinion that reflects higher-level thinking.

• If nonfiction, can the child quickly locate and use the nonfiction text features to answer questions? (timelines, maps, table of contents, glossary, captions, charts, etc.)

2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

Making Connections – Links background knowledge and examples from the text to enhance comprehension.2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

Questioning – Asks and answers different questions; finds evidence in the text to support questions and answers.

Visualizing/Sensory Imagery – Demonstrates multi-sensory images that extend and enrich the text; demonstration may be through any modality or medium.

Determining Importance – Identifies at least one key idea, theme, or concept, linking it to the text’s overall meaning. Uses supporting details from the text to explain why it is essential.

Monitoring Comprehension – Identifies difficulties. Articulates the need to solve the problem and identifies the appropriate strategy using meaning, visual, and structural cues. (Sound out words when stuck!)

Predicting/Inferring – Independently makes predictions and interpretations and draws conclusions; clearly explains connections using evidence from the text and personal knowledge, ideas, or beliefs.

Retelling/Summarizing/Synthesizing – Retells text elements in a logical sequence with some extension to the overall theme, message, or background knowledge; refers to characters by specific name and uses vocabulary from the text.

Here are Grade 2 Common Core State Standards Question Stems you can use as discussion starters with your child, but make talking about books fun! However, the CCSS is used in the classroom.2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

We administer the FREE DIBELS 8 3x/year. Each are 1-minute tests:

Read 3-letter short vowel nonsense words ~ these can be sounded out ~ for example, “sil,” “tob,” “paj,” “zev,” “nud.” The goal is for the child to recognize these chunks automatically.
Read actual words – sight words.
Oral reading fluency ~ Can the child read x amount of words in a story with at least 96% accuracy?
Maze Comprehension: This test is 3 minutes long. The student reads a story that is missing words. Each time a word is missing, the student selects the correct missing word from three words.

The minimum scores to pass:

Here are other free literacy assessments if you want to assess your child!

Does your child’s school use guided reading? 🙁

AT LEVELS K-M, A CHILD’S READING LEVEL IS DETERMINED BY THE FOLLOWING:

2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

2nd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

Reading Survey