In 2017, I had 20 years of educational background and decided to write a first grade reading comprehension curriculum for our school. I wanted it to build upon student’s skills each week, meet the first grade standards, and provide new daily mentor text to read aloud to students. After much thought, I decided to name it “Guided Reading with a Purpose.”
As teachers, we all know that education is constantly evolving and changing. I am continually reflecting on the resources I put out there to make sure they best fit the needs of the students, offer a wide variety of differentiation, and are relevant to the changes in education. The name “Guided Reading with a Purpose” evolved because I used it for both whole-group and small-group guided reading, and I wanted each week to have a purpose for new learning. The term “guided reading” is predominately associated with small group reading and has caused some confusion over the years. Reflecting on that and what this curriculum offers, I have decided to change the name to Reading Comprehension with a Purpose or “RCP.”
Changes to the Reading Comprehension Curriculum
With a new name, comes a few changes. First, I wrote this curriculum in 2017, and I feel the printables themselves need a little fine-tuning from an aesthetic point of view. So, I have started from Week 1 Rules and Routines and I’m working my way through each unit. This process will likely take me the majority of the year, but I feel passionately about this first grade reading comprehension curriculum, and I feel it deserves the attention. I also wanted the lesson plans to be more cohesive, so they are receiving a makeover as well.
Next, I wanted to add weekly vocabulary to the stories. When I taught this, we used 5 words a week that integrated both the weekly theme and the skill. However, I had never added this piece to the unit. I also realized that some teachers wanted just 1 story and not 5 for the week. I know this is a personal preference. I preferred to read a new story every day with my students but keep the skill set the same. To accommodate all the needs, each story has 5 vocabulary words unique to that story with activities for those who purchase just one story at a time. If you purchase the weekly bundle, the bonus file has 5 words that can be used for the entire week. Depending on which way you use the resource, both options are available.
Also, if you purchase any of the RCP bundles, you will receive a YouTube link to the songs that are taught weekly. The songs that I wrote for the reading comprehension skills were recorded by a professional singer, mainly because I have a terrible voice. I am providing the link to make it easier for teachers to just click on the video and project it. My students loved gluing the weekly song in their marble book, and singing it daily before we read the mentor text and as we worked on each focused skill.
Another change involves the mentor text offered each week. Sometimes books go out of print. This is not helpful to teachers, so I may be replacing a story here or there. I want things to be easily accessible to all teachers and not something they have to dig for to teach the curriculum.
Finally, I have changed the order of a few weeks already. Since each week has its stand-alone purpose, it doesn’t matter when you teach the units. I am making the change because I feel it’s what’s best for the curriculum. For example, I moved my Apple Unit in front of Community Helpers. I did this because in the Apple Unit students learn the difference between fiction and nonfiction text. In my Community Helpers Unit, we read a fictional mentor text and a mini nonfiction reader each day. I thought having prior knowledge of this concept would provide a great opportunity to review this skill and discuss it in class.
If you already own Reading Comprehension with a Purpose (formally Guided Reading with a Purpose), you will be receiving updates all year long until it is complete. I hope you enjoy the new and improved weekly units, I know your students will love them as much as mine did. Here’s some feedback from teachers who use this curriculum in their classroom:
“This resource is beyond my expectations. I love using a different picture book every day, and I absolutely love that read aloud time is built into each daily lesson. I love to read stories to my students. There are some many extras and options within this resource. You can use the stories and choose how much or how little you do with each one. There are review weeks as well. My students love the themes and all the stories that they have been exposed to is priceless. Additionally, they have learned some vocabulary words that they may never have know before, and I love how much nonfiction is included.”
“WOW! This is exactly what I’ve been wanting to do, but did not have the time to create all the resources so I could use REAL books. My class has had so many authentic learning moments thanks to variety of texts and depth of learning this program promotes. I love how you have generic activity sheets as well as ones specifically written for each story. My favorite part is the simple crafts to go along with each story. It’s so hard to pick and choose each week which one to do! I was telling a friend that I can’t wait to do our new story everyday. It certainly has brought the joy of reading back into my classroom! Thanks to this resource, I could kiss the boring basal reader goodbye!”
Free First Grade Reading Comprehension Resources
To give you a closer look at what is included in this first grade reading comprehension curriculum I’m sharing 2 freebies with you – my Free Reading Comprehension Curriculum Map for the year and my Free Reading Comprehension Book List. These freebies will give you a detailed look at what themes and skills are covered throughout the year as well as what books I have selected for these units.
Keep in mind that if you don’t own all these stories, many of them can be checked out at your local library. By having the list ahead of time, you can go online and request them. Also, many of the stories are read aloud on YouTube as well. My students enjoyed it when I changed things up and had them view the story on the SMART board.
Ready to try it? I’m sharing one additional freebie from my Apple Week so you can grab this Johnny Appleseed Freebie and get started with Reading Comprehension with a Purpose today!
Reading Comprehension with a Purpose Membership
The entire Reading Comprehension with a Purpose curriculum is available on TpT and I’m also offering this curriculum as a one-time purchase membership through Kajabi. You have the option to pay the one-time membership fee as a whole or in 4 installments. I LOVE the way each unit is easily accessible and organized into folders in Kajabi! I have marked down the membership price compared to TpT since I’m still working on uploading the units. Once it is complete, the price will match the TpT price so grab this deal now!
To read more about Reading Comprehension with a Purpose, check out my prior blog post “Guided Reading with a Purpose.” Other than the name, the changes made are positive and only make this reading comprehension program more enriched. You can also read more about the reading comprehension songs in my blog post, “Reading Comprehension Strategies One Song at a Time.”
Need reading comprehension resources for second grade? My dear friend Kacie Brown of Having Fun First has recreated this reading comprehension curriculum for second grade. You can read more about the themes and skills covered and grab a free sample lesson in her blog post, “Second Grade Curriculum for Reading Comprehension.”
