Flexible Grouping
Enhances Core Reading Selection
-Linda Lane
What’s the objective?
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Grouping students for success depends
upon lesson objectives.
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Skills based lessons
Comprehension based lessons
Considerations
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Students’ conditions for success:
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Reading level
Skill level
Independence level
Personality types
Creating a safe working environment for all
Grouping Options
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Homogeneous or Heterogeneous-depends
on your objective
Whole group
Small group
Partnerships
Key-groups are flexible and change as
students grow
Grouping options can change within one
lesson or across consecutive lessons.
How can grouping help our students
become active, independent readers of the
core weekly story?
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Students who require support, will flourish
with teacher or peer support.
Students who are independent learners
will appreciate the added independence.
Students will practice and apply reading
strategies to create meaning.
Students will enjoy reading the rich
literature Reading Streets provides.
Grouping Strategy
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Rank students from highest to lowest using
STAR Reading data
Place students on grid-redo grid after each
STAR testing
Horizontally-small homogeneous groups
Partners- every other row or two ex: 1 with 7
or 10, etc.-gives students enough support to
be successful
Make considerations for positive student
partnerships
Grouping Grid
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How can I apply grouping to the
weekly core story?
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Pre-reading Whole Group
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Build Concepts
Teach Skill and Strategy
Use read aloud to model your thinking-show
students how to apply skill and strategy
Involve students in applying skill and strategy
with skill/strategy selection
Build Background Knowledge
Vocabulary Development
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During Reading-Small groups and
partners
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Partners read and respond to selection-work
together to support one another
Small group working with teacher to read and
respond to selection-guided practice/modeling
as needed
Teacher choice-entire selection/half
Align student response to skill and
strategy of the week
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After Reading-Small heterogeneous
groups
Discussion Circles guided by question
sticks
Sharing reading responses
Task cards to insure all participate
What happens when my support group
isn’t quite ready for after reading work,
but everyone else is?
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Extension activities that truly extend
learning
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HOT Schools strategies-integrate the arts
Fluency-reread parts of text, capture the
character’s voice, poems, readers theater
Read companion leveled reader
Read companion selection
Make an Extension Activities
Chart
Vocabulary
List
Genre
Describe
Characters
Setting
Write
Question
Predict/Rate
Problem/
Solution
Create
Author
Word
Work
Connection
What Makes It All Work?
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Consistent routines
Explicit expectations
Redo grid to form groups as children grow
Different weekly partners
Resources
Ford, M.P. (2005). Differentiation through flexible grouping: successfully
reaching all readers. IL: Learning Point Associates.
Paratore, J. Grouping for instruction in literacy: what works and what doesn’t.
IL: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pavelka, P. (2009). Differentiating instruction in a whole-group setting. CT:
Husky Trail Press LLC.