With so many students reading at different levels, it’s easy for your guided reading program to become disorganized. These handy tips and strategies can help you keep you and your students on track throughout the school year.

Plus, check out these 7 tips to help students become strong, independent readers.

Have a dedicated guided reading area
Designate a space in your classroom for guided reading and have all of your guided reading resources within a reachable distance. Keep the space neat and clean so that it’s a comfortable place for you and your students to work in.  

Sort your supplies
Keeping your guided reading books sorted in an organized way is probably the most important takeaway here. Over time, you will figure out a system that works best for you, but keeping your texts in bins sorted by level, comprehension skills, and theme focus is a good place to start. Color coding each group and using that color for your bins and folders will help you quickly find exactly what you’re looking for—and make it fast and easy to return things!

Keep detailed notes
It may seem obvious, but keeping organized notes for each individual student is an invaluable reference source for you when it comes to writing report cards and speaking with parents at conferences. Using one small notebook for each student—rather than one big one for all—will ensure you don’t mix up notes or run out of space. Tracking progress in your notebooks will let you know which students should be moving up or down a level.  

Establish a schedule (and stick to it)
Everybody knows that kids do well with routine, which is why having set weekly guided reading times is beneficial to everyone. Your students will know what to expect, and what’s expected of them, and you won’t be scrambling to carve out time somewhere during the week to fit groups in, meaning you can focus solely on teaching.   

Shop our STEM/STEAM Guiding Reading Books Lists for Every Level