Diving Into Your Q&As: My Students Never Finish Their Guided Reading Book…HELP!

Our question today comes from Tina L. Her question is, “My fourth graders have a hard time finishing the book by the end of our session together. What is one thing I can try to help with this?” Oh, how I love this question! This may surprise some of you but I recommend that you do not have your students finish their guided reading book in one sitting (or in some cases, ever at all). Tune in to find out why!

While there are some books that you’ll want to finish to support a specific reading strategy, you absolutely do not have to complete every single one! Today’s tips will help your students truly enjoy the reading process without rushing and overwhelm.

If you have a question that you’d like me to address on a future Q&A episode, send me a message on IG @missps_style!

In this episode I share:

• Why I don’t finish a guided reading book in one sitting
• Choosing the best course of action based on student need
• What to do if students finish tasks at different times
• Giving student’s the opportunity to abandon a book
• Benefits of repeating the same book for multiple sessions

Guided Reading Resources:

• Guided Reading Question Cards
• Reading Response Stem Cards Bundle
• Reading Skills and Activities Bundle

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About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new ideas when it comes to literacy instruction in elementary classrooms? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to offer actionable steps and to share information for teachers, like you, who are always looking to improve their craft! ELA is our jam and we are excited to dive into all things reading and writing with you!

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner behind Miss P’s Style. She is a literacy specialist and loves to support students and their teachers with curriculum, literacy instruction, best practices, and engaging literacy activities. Through this podcast, she will share literacy tips and strategies that she has learned from the many years of experience she holds from being an elementary teacher and literacy specialist. Megan has taught all elementary grades (K-5), but an intense passion and love for upper elementary came about!

Dive in with us every Monday for a new episode from Megan! She, and her guests, will chat about various literacy topics and will bring you tips and tricks that can easily be implemented in your classrooms… immediately!

You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and subscribe!