Does your child’s school use guided reading? 🙁
This page will tell you the guided reading expectations and benchmarks for kindergarten. Guided reading is NOT a good way to learn to read. Parents, if your school uses guided reading, please see my kindergarten science of reading page for the correct way to teach your child to read. reading is NOT a good way to learn to read. Parents, if your school uses guided reading, please scroll to the top of this page and follow my “Kindergarten Expectations and Recommendations.”
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.
To Meet the “Guided Reading” Benchmark, kindergarteners should be instructional at Level C by June. Their independent level is Level B.
Get Level A-C books on Amazon or at the public library. Here is a book list. Again, I do not recommend these. They are predictable books—the child is guessing and not reading. Decodable books are best when learning to read.
AT LEVELS A-C, 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 1 error per 10 words.
• Is the child using the pictures and letter sounds to figure out unknown words?
• Does the child recognize their mistakes and go back to fix them?
• Are they demonstrating an understanding of the directionality of print from left to right?
• Can they show directionality on two or more lines of text?
• Are they pointing to each word with consistent 1:1 matching? (Students tend to guess or memorize texts at this age level.)
• Can the child hold the book and turn the pages independently?
• Does the child understand the terms: begins with, ends with, letter, and sound? For example, “Find the word that begins with this letter: g. Find the word that ends with the sound /b/.”
Reading Survey
Your child will be asked who reads to them at home and to share a title and specific details about a favorite book. A survey will also be given asking the child:
- What books have you finished lately?
- What are you reading at school now?
- What are you reading at home now?
- What are 3 things you do well as a reader?
- What are 3 things you need to work on to become a better reader?
Copyright 05/04/2012
Edited on 10/20/2024
References
DRA2 Teacher Manual from Pearson Publishing, 2006.
