Each of the programs calls for considerable teacher decision making, but within a well-defined sequence of instructional activities.

When a student is reading aloud, a teacher must decide when to coach a child in the use of strategic behavior and which strategies and skills to teach the child to use. When students are writing, decisions must be made about how much and which forms of support should be given. Nevertheless, there is a regular pattern of activities. The following activities tend to be scheduled in a regular pattern:

• Rereading familiar texts: As noted earlier, the primary purpose of rereading familiar books is for building fluency.
• Reading or rereading a new book: New texts allow students to try out and extend the strategies and skills they are building. As they interact with new and somewhat challenging materials, opportunities arise for teachers to coach the application of strategies.
• Working with words: These activities force students to attend to the detail of words.
• Writing words or sentences: Writing is used to reinforce and extend reading skills.

Through the use of a regular sequence of activities, children quickly come to know what will be happening in each instructional session and the order in which it will happen. Time is not lost in transitions or in deciding on activities.