Are you ready for Chapter 9 of Guiding Readers, Making the Most of the 18 Minute Guided Reading Lesson, by Lori Jamison Rog?
Chapter 9 is all about functional text--the reading we have to do in our everyday lives--the reading that we actually spend less time teaching to our students! We have all realized the importance of working with informational text, but functional text goes a step further. Since it's hard to find examples of functional text on our students' reading levels, you might have to spend a little more time scaffolding your activities.
Here are some examples of functional text:
TV listings
bus schedules
ball practice schedules
environmental print
menus
websites
travel brochures
applications (for library cards, etc.)
Rog gives examples of some solid lessons in this chapter, so be sure you go over them.
I think my students would particularly like reading directions to complete a craft project.
I found a few ideas on Pinterest that would be good to use in small groups.
Students read directions to draw a picture. Click on the pic above to go directly to the original site and do your own functional reading for the directions!
Here's a cute anchor chart to guide your group discussion.
Click on the chart to go directly to Working 4 the Classroom's blog.
What about adapting this treasure map idea and letting students create maps and directions of their own? A classmate can follow the directions and find a treasure.
Click on the map to go to the original source.
Why not try baking? Follow the recipe in Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake like pinner Bethany Morrill did.
Once you start thinking about functional text, you will see ideas and possibilities all around you! Share with the rest of us!
