Small group instruction is vital to helping your students meet their academic goals. I will never go back to whole group math instruction since starting guided math groups. Up until last year, I used guided reading groups during my reading instruction. Then, I found out about strategy groups, and they are so much more effective. Keep reading to find out how to set them up in your classroom.
How Are Strategy Groups Different From Guided Reading Groups?
Traditional guided reading groups are made of students who are all at the same level reading the same book. They are all focused on the same strategy, even if some of the students have already mastered it. Guided reading groups generally stay the same for the whole year – or until a student moves a reading level.
Strategy groups are made of readers at all levels who need help with the same strategy. You may pull a common text for everyone to use if you’re teaching something that isn’t in every book. However, if you’re teaching something like character traits that is in every fiction book, the students can bring their own independent books. Strategy groups change all the time – either weekly or even more often. Focusing on the specific skills the students need really helps them improve.
How to Set Up Strategy Groups
#1 – Collect data on your students.
To form strategy groups, you’re going to need to know your students’ strengths and weaknesses in reading. You can use a benchmark assessment, individual conferences, or weekly assessments to collect data. Every Friday, my students take a quick 4-question quiz on the reading standard we covered that week. I use that data to form strategy groups for the following week.
Check out my reading assessments at the following links.
First Grade Reading Literature Standard Assessments
Second Grade Reading Literature Standard Assessments
Third Grade Reading Literature Standard Assessments
Third Grade Reading Informational Texts Standard Assessments
Fourth Grade Reading Literature Standard Assessments
Fourth Grade Reading Informational Texts Standard Assessments\
Fifth Grade Reading Literature Standard Assessments
#2 – Use your data to form strategy groups.
I try to keep my strategy groups to about 4 or 5 students. I look at my Friday assessment and put students who missed question #1 in a strategy group. That group focuses on the most basic level of the standard. For example, if I’m teaching character traits, we’ll look at a list of character traits and pick one to describe the character. Then, we’ll go back into the text to find text evidence.
Other groups are working on writing to explain why they chose a specific character trait and choosing more interesting words to describe a character. Despite what third graders may think, nice and good are not the best adjectives to use for character traits.
I use data from my individual student conferences to form strategy groups based on fluency and accuracy. If I see three students who are struggling with putting endings on words, I’ll pull them in a strategy group and review this skill.
#3 – Decide how you will teach the lesson to the group.
The easiest way to teach a strategy group is to have the students bring their independent reading books to the group. This cuts out a lot of the planning time. I used to spend hours gathering materials for my guided reading groups. Now, if the strategy can be found in most books, I just have the students bring their books to group.
If I’m teaching a strategy that I don’t think will be in all of their books, like making inferences, I will choose a short passage that lends itself to that strategy. Then, I’ll send my students off to look for it in their own books.
All strategy group lessons have the same basic parts:
Set the purpose – Let the students know why you have brought them together. What are you going to be teaching them?
Model – Use a text and model the skill you want them to learn.
Guided Practice – Have the students try to apply the skill while you coach them.
Give an Assignment – Tell the students what you want them to work on during their independent reading time to improve their reading.
My strategy groups usually last about 10 minutes. Then, I follow up with my students during reading workshop time to see how they are applying the lesson.
Download my editable strategy groups planning template at the bottom of this post.
#4 – Decide when you will meet with groups.
I meet with strategy groups during our RtII time and during reading workshop time. I’m usually able to meet with 2 groups during RtII after getting the rest of my class started on another activity. Usually that involves listening to a story on the Chromebook or partner reading.
During reading workshop time, I pull a group right after my minilesson. Then, I spend the rest of the time conferencing with students. That’s when I check in with my higher students who didn’t need a strategy group that day or I see how the students are applying the skills they learned in the strategy group.
Why I Like Strategy Groups More Than Guided Reading
There are several reasons I prefer strategy groups over guided reading groups.
- The main reason is because I see so much more growth in my students with strategy groups. We focus on one skill, and I’m really able to see my students improve in that one area. We recently finished learning about main idea and supporting details in nonfiction. I gave a Friday assessment to see how my students were doing with it. I created strategy groups based on their needs. Some worked on identifying the main idea and writing it in a complete sentence. Others focused on finding supporting details that related back to their main idea. The highest group worked on summarizing nonfiction texts. The next week I gave another assessment on main ideas and supporting details, and I could see the progress. My students really applied what they learned in the strategy groups.
- Another reason I like strategy groups better is because I don’t have to meet with every student every day. When I did guided reading groups, I felt an obligation to meet with every student every day. Now that I use strategy groups, my lower readers are naturally in a group each day, and I don’t feel guilty for not meeting with my higher students, because I know they’ve mastered the skill I’m teaching.
- Strategy groups also take less time than guided reading groups. I spent at least 20 minutes per guided reading group, because my students had to read a whole chapter or article. Now, strategy groups take half the time. We only read about a paragraph together for modeling and guided practice. Then, I send them off to read more independently. This allows me to meet with more students and hold more one-on-one conferences.
- Finally, strategy groups have cut my prep time in half. I used to spend hours pulling books and activities for 4 different guided reading groups. I also planned 3 other centers for the students to do while they weren’t meeting with me. It took forever! Now, the most I have to do is pull a few short articles or stories for my groups when their books aren’t going to lend themselves to the strategy. The rest of my class is engaged in meaningful reading. If you need passages for your strategy groups, this post has lots of places to find them.
If you want help planning your reading workshop lessons, head over to the Teach Without Tears TPT Store to check out the reading workshop lessons for grades 1 to 5.
Want more tips to implement reading workshop in your classroom? Join the Rock the Reading Workshop Facebook Group.
What Do You Think?
Have you tried strategy groups in your classroom?
Let me know in the comments below.
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Plus, download this editable template, and start planning your strategy groups today.
I’ve been wanting to hear more about strategy groups. Thanks for sharing!
It is really interesting to read about Strategy Groups in comparison to Guided Reading Groups. Thanks for this post, there is some great information here!
I love your ideas for strategy groups! I do something similar during Daily 5. Do you use Daily 5 in your classroom? In the past, the biggest challenge for me during small group instruction was making sure that the rest of the class was engaged and doing meaningful independent work. I feel like Daily 5 has helped a lot with that this year!
I used to do Daily 5, but this year we started a reading workshop model. While I’m meeting with strategy groups and conferencing, the rest of my class is reading independently. I also pull some strategy groups during our RtII time while my class is doing Listen to Reading or Read to Someone.
Helpful article. As someone coming from a gifted class into a Lucy Calkins, I am totally overwhelmed by all of this. Reader’s Workshop is very confusing and a lot to read for my little two hour a day job. I try to follow her lessons but ad a lot of my own stuff, too. I have not mastered the small group end of it. I’m also planning to implement book clubs the next time we do Writer’s Workshop. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything right or her way.
We had Lucy Calkins for writing last year and just started the reading program this year. It’s definitely a lot to read. I try to pull out the most important parts that my students need to understand. I love the reading workshop part of it, though. My students are reading so much more than in the past, and they are loving their books. I just wish the lessons were presented in an easier way to follow.
I used Lucy Calkins for the first time and it was a lot to teach in one lesson. I alternate reading workshop 1 day and writing workshop the next day for 80 mins each. My plan is To meet with groups and the other students do the daily 3. How often should I have strategy groups? I need to get through the Calkins lessons, word study or vocab too And only have 80 min. How would you manage it?
Hi, Marissa! I agree – Lucy is a lot in one lesson, especially when we were told to keep the minilesson to 10 minutes. My reading workshop time (45 minutes) is my only reading time, so I do strategy groups and conferences while my students are reading independently. I meet with one strategy group each day and try to fit in 2 conferences. With 80 minutes, I would use 50 minutes for reading workshop (10-15 minute minilesson, 30 minutes of independent reading/conferencing/strategy groups, 5-10 minute share). Then, you would have 30 minutes for word study, vocab, etc. I stopped Daily 5 when we moved to a reading workshop model. My district wants the students reading independently for at least 30 minutes a day. I hope that helps!
I’ve done strategy groups with my upper seconds. My lower seconds still need so much fluency work and word work for most of the year.
In third, I use strategy groups for my students who need help with fluency and word work, too. I do a quick model of a skill, like reading in phrases. Then, we practice together, and I send them off to read. I conference with them individually to see how they are applying the strategy.