Guided reading has long been recognized as a dynamic process that supports children's skills as readers in all genres, yet fiction accounts for over ninety percent of the texts we select for these small-group encounters. If children are to be empowered, life-long readers, who read for many different purposes, they need concentrated, small-group encounters with informational texts.

In this series, Tony Stead works with third-grade teacher Lisa Elias Moynihan and first-grade teacher Lauren Benjamin to explore guided reading instruction with early emergent, developing, and fluent readers, using a variety of informational texts. After an introduction, three in-depth programs look at what happens before, during, and after the reading—accessing students' prior knowledge; overcoming text challenges; introducing the focus of the lesson; sharing and reflecting and, most importantly, determining if the students have understood what they read.

Program 1: Getting Started
An introduction to key issues for ensuring successful guided reading sessions: forming groups using assessments, selecting the focus and text, and managing the rest of the class.

Program 2: Guided Reading with Early Emergent Readers
Lauren and Tony each conduct guided reading sessions with young learners, focusing on the importance of making children aware of what they are learning about the world as they read.

Program 3: Guided Reading with Developing Readers
The importance of using procedural texts in guided reading is highlighted as Tony and a group of children read through How to Make a Paper Airplane. Will the children be able to follow the instructions and make a plane that can fly?

Program 4: Guided Reading with Fluent Readers
We watch as Lisa Elias Moynihan works with her fluent third-grade readers using a biography and then reconvenes the group a few days later to follow-up.