Outlining how teachers can best support a literate community yet still meet the needs of individual readers, this book explains how to create a balanced literacy program for grades K-3 based on guided reading and supported by reading aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, and other approaches. The book also presents guidelines for observation and assessment, dynamic grouping of readers, creating sets of leveled books, selecting and introducing books, teaching for strategies, and classroom management. After a foreword by Mary Ellen Giacobbe, chapters in the book are (1) What Is Guided Reading?; (2) Building on Early Learning; (3) Guided Reading within a Balanced Literacy Program; (4) Designing and Organizing the Learning Environment; (5) Managing the Classroom; (6) Using Assessment to Inform Teaching; (7) Using Running Records; (8) Dynamic Grouping; (9) Creating a Text Gradient; (10) Using a Leveled Set of Books; (11) Selecting and Introducing Books; (12) Teaching for Strategies; (13) Learning about Letters and Words; (14) Shifts over Time; and (15) Good First Teaching with a Second Chance to Learn. Appendixes present work board icons; an alphabet chart; a 10-day plan for the management of guided reading; 2 versions of a guided reading record; 2 versions of a record of book-reading progress; material for making a folded letter book; an evaluation response for text gradient; a guided reading self assessment measure; a guided reading book list containing over 2,500 entries, and a list of book publishers and distributors. (RS)