Jigsaw Reading Planning Guide for Small Groups

About this resource

What's inside this resource

A four-part planning packet walks a teacher through running the Jigsaw reading comprehension strategy, in which each student in a small group of up to four reads the same or a different text but researches a distinct 'expert focus' — such as main idea, text features, or, for fiction, plot and character analysis — before reporting findings back to the group. The packet includes an Instructional Planning Page for the teacher to choose a fiction or non-fiction focus list and assign roles, a Group Overview Page completed together with students to record each student's book, expert focus, and due date, and both a teacher copy and a student copy of an ongoing Assignment Tracking Page. A final page offers cut-out assignment cards designed to be glued into a student's reader's notebook. The guide leaves text selection, delivery method, and pacing up to the teacher, functioning as an organizational template rather than a scripted lesson.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Research and report on an assigned 'expert focus' (such as main idea, text features, plot, or character analysis) after reading an assigned text or text section.
Share findings within a small group so the group builds a complete understanding of a shared or related text.

Teaching tips

Keep Jigsaw groups to four students or fewer, as the guide explicitly cautions against using it with larger groups.
Complete the Group Overview Page together with students for the first assignment, then transition to the simpler Student Assignment Tracking Page for later assignments.
Choose between assigning every student the same text with a different expert focus, or different texts with the same expert focus, using the two lettered options on the Group Overview Page.

Skills covered

Focused reading — students read an assigned text with a specific expert focus, such as main idea, text features, or, for fiction, plot and character analysis.
Collaborative reporting — students share their expert-focus findings with their small group to build a shared understanding of the text.
Assignment tracking — students record book titles, expert focus, and due dates using the tracking page or cut-out cards glued into a reader's notebook.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What is the difference between the two options for assigning texts and expert focuses to a Jigsaw group?

Option A gives every student in the group the same text but a different expert focus to research; Option B gives every student a different text but the same expert focus to research across texts.

How does the list of expert-focus options differ between the fiction and non-fiction versions of the Group Overview Page?

The non-fiction version offers focuses like text structure, main/central idea, text features, and graphic features, while the fiction version offers focuses like plot structure, setting, theme, characters, figurative language, and point of view.

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Resource details

Concepts & topics

Core concepts

Jigsaw method
Reading comprehension
Collaborative learning

Topics

Graphic organizer reading groups jigsaw jig saw reading comprehension nonfiction text structure elements of fiction jigsaw activity graphic organizer jigsaw graphic organizer reading book read

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What's inside this resource