Does your child’s school use guided reading? 🙁

This page will explain the grade 3 guided reading expectations and benchmarks. Guided reading is NOT a good way to learn to read. Parents, if your school uses guided reading and your child is struggling, please follow my grade 3 science of reading page. If your child CAN decode and spell, then guided reading is fine. Just be sure that when your child is stuck on a word, they sound it out – not guess!

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.

Even if your child is in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade, you can still read at home with them. Alternate reading pages or paragraphs aloud to each other. Borrow books on tape or CD from the library and have your child follow along.

To Meet the “Guided Reading” Benchmark, 3rd-grade students should be instructional at:

Level N in November (independent M)

Level O in March (independent N)

Level P by June (independent O)

Get Level N-P books on Amazon or at the public library. Here is a book list!

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

These bullet points are based on the DRA2 assessment.

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

• The child is timed. Level N students should read at least 75 words per minute. Level O and P at least 80 words per minute.

• Is the child reading expressing the text’s mood, pace, and tension? OR, if the text is nonfiction, is the child emphasizing key phrases and words?

• 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 at the pictures ahead? OR, if the text is nonfiction, can the child use the title and table of contents page to think of 3 questions that may be answered in the book?

• After reading the first few paragraphs, can the child stop and describe each character using 3 specific details? OR, can the child interpret what some nonfiction text features show if the text is nonfiction?

• After reading, can the child write a summary, including important characters, events, and details, from the beginning, middle, and end? Or, can the child write essential facts from each heading if the text is nonfiction?

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

• Can the child answer literal questions?3rd Grade Guided Reading Expectations

• The child has to interpret the story’s meaning and support it with details. (For example: What did the character learn? OR Why did the character feel____? OR Why did the character say ____?) OR, if the text is nonfiction, a “why do you think…” question is asked.

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

Nonfiction DRA2 options are available for Levels 16, 28, 38, 40, and 50.

**40 is listed 3x, and 50 is listed 2x. The goal is to become a stronger/higher scorer at each assessment point and allow the student to be assessed in fiction and nonfiction at 40 and 50.

Making Connections – Links background knowledge and examples from the text to enhance comprehension.

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 to solve it 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 3 Common Core State Standards Question Stems to start a conversation. These stems are used in school 3rd 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,” “tox,” “paj,” “zev,” and “nud.” The goal is for the child to recognize these chunks automatically.
Read real words. See #4 and #5 above.
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. 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.

Reading Survey

Your child will be asked to fill out a Student Reading Survey:

What books have you finished reading lately?
What are you reading now at school?
What are you reading at home?
What are 3 things you do well as a reader?
What are 3 things you would like to work on to become a better reader?

Edited on 03/17/2024

References

I did not write those wonderful blurbs of what advanced students look like at each grade level. They came from an unknown source.

DRA2 Teacher Manual from Pearson Publishing, 2006.