Book Bands for Guided Reading

Book excerpt: Book Bands for Guided Reading is the authoritative publication in the UK enabling schools to create, audit and supplement a high quality library of sets of books for use with groups of Foundation and Key Stage 1 children. It provides a rationale for including titles from a range of different publishers in a common gradient of challenge, and relates this gradient to the progression in phonics outlined in Letters and Sounds (Primary National Strategy 2007). Important sections describe procedures for assessing children in order to create compatible groups; carrying out Guided Reading; and monitoring the progress of individuals. There are suggestions of ways in which school management can use this handbook to deepen professional skills and understanding, and investigate areas of weakness that may result in lack of progress in children's reading. New to this edition: a new section evaluates the main series of books designed for use in Foundation and Key Stage 1 Guided Reading currently on sale in the UK; eleven updated and expanded colour-banded listings give details of more than 3,500 suitable texts; new Pink A and Pink B lists offer added support to Foundation Stage teachers; new sections discuss non-fiction and which features make particular books worth a lesson.