One group, one text, a line per reader

Guided Reading Lesson Plan Template

A small-group plan built the way guided reading runs: the text introduction and the teaching point before the book opens, a row for each reader to note what you heard during reading and what comes next, and the discussion, word work and writing that follow. The workshop mini-lesson plan is here for the whole-class part of the block.

Before, during, after

2 guided reading templates

Portrait guided reading plan with introduction and teaching point boxes, a six-row per-student table for observations and next steps, and after-reading, word work and writing boxes

Word Google Docs

Guided Reading Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Group, level and text up top; text introduction and teaching point; a line per reader for running-record notes and a next step; discussion, word work and writing about reading beneath.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

Guided Reading Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Portrait reading and writing workshop plan with a teaching-point box, a six-row sequence table from connection to share, and mentor text, conferring and assessment boxes

Word Google Docs

ELA Workshop Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

The mini-lesson architecture as rows — connection, teach, active engagement, link, independent work and share — with the teaching point sentence, mentor text, conferring plan and what you will look for.

Download Word Open in Google Docs

PDF

ELA Workshop Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the guided reading templates

Most guided reading templates are a daily lesson plan with a level box added. What makes the real thing different is the middle: six readers, each needing a line for what you observed — a running record, a decoding move, a self-correction — and a next step for that child, not the group. This sheet gives the per-reader table most of the page and keeps the group-level pieces short: a text introduction that names the gist, the vocabulary and the tricky words, and a single teaching point you will actually hold to.

The after-reading boxes are deliberately three — discussion and comprehension, word work, writing about reading — because that is the sequence small-group reading instruction has settled on across the frameworks, whichever one your school names. It is written for any leveled or decodable text; the level box takes a letter, a band, a Lexile or a phonics scope entry equally well.

Questions teachers ask

Guided Reading lesson plans, answered

What goes in the text introduction?

The gist of the book in a sentence, the two or three words readers will not be able to solve alone, any unusual language structure, and what to notice while reading. Two minutes, said the same way every time, so readers open the book already oriented. The box is sized for exactly that much.

How do I use the per-reader rows?

One row per child, filled during reading as you listen in: what they did at a point of difficulty, a running-record tally or a note, and a next step for that reader. Over a few lessons the rows become the record that tells you when to move a child or regroup, which is the real purpose of the form.

Is this for a reading-group or phonics-based classroom?

Both. The structure — introduce, read with observation, discuss, word work, write — holds whether the text is leveled or decodable. Programs that have moved to decodable texts use the word-work box for the day's pattern and the introduction box for the sounds in play.