This summer, after much reading and research and thinking about how I wanted to change my instruction based on what I had learned about the science of reading, I set these goals and made this template for small group instruction. My small group instruction plan, starting in October, looks like this:
As you can see from the first few sentences at the top, I’m not exactly sure how this is going to pan out. How will I group my students? By phonological training level? By their ability to blend and read words? I prefer to work with students two-on-one versus a small group of six, but perhaps I’ll change my ways? Can I get through all of these critical components in a day? No. A week? Possibly.
The week of October 4 was my first week of trying this out (i.e., I have not done it like this in past years). In collaboration with my teammate, we decided to start out as outlined below.
Each student has a reading folder with six sheet protectors inside.
The first sheet in the reading folder has our I Can statements. Our district has, in the past, required that we have I Can statements posted in the classroom. Because of limited wall space and limited dry erase board space and limited time (so many limits!), we thought it would be a good idea to just include them here. The students can’t read these yet, but we will go over them any time we have a minute or two to fill.
On Mondays we will work on phonological awareness and word lists. Everyone is starting out on Level A1 for phonological awareness (tell me the first sound you hear in a word) and word list #1 (VC words).
Tuesdays is devoted to phonics review and focus phonics. This is the review sheet I put in everyone’s reading folder this week on Tuesday. The top row includes the letters we learned the first week or two of school; the next row is from weeks two-three; the third row from weeks three-four; and the last row from the last couple of weeks. Every Tuesday, I will delete the top row and add in a new row at the bottom, the bottom always being the newest letters/sounds that have been introduced during whole group phonics. Students are used to this routine—say the letter names first and then go back and say the letter sounds—because we’ve been doing that since day one.
This went into the folder on Tuesday (phonics review and focus phonics day). I am using these sheets to instill concepts of print, voice-print match, and first sound fluency.
This also went into the reading folder on Tuesday (phonics review and focus phonics day). In addition to concepts of print, voice-print match, and first sound fluency, the students learned some new vocabulary (kayak, kiwi, koala).
Wednesdays are for reading continuous text. The focus lesson for this week is “sometimes we know a word and just say it and sometimes we don’t know a word and have to say all the sounds.” The students are learning the and a in addition to blending sounds. This was challenging for most of the kids, but it’s okay, they’ll get much practice in this and it’s only October.
Writing continuous text is scheduled for Thursday small groups. This is our starting point. My high group was able to write all three letters for each word—after we counted the sounds together—and do most of the letter formations on their own.
The two middle groups counted the sounds with me, drew the corresponding number of lines, and then we talked about which letter we would write for each sound. Many of the letter formations they knew; I had to model the u and the p for them.
With my lowest bunch, we stuck with two-phoneme words. They did well with this.
Fridays look a lot like Mondays. We will work on phonological awareness training and word lists. Students will have the opportunity to try to pass a level and/or pass their word list and get a new one. Theoretically, they should be practicing their current word list throughout the week, either independently or with me and therefore might be able to read it fluently on a Friday (or Monday) and be ready to get a new list.
This is the chart I am using to track student progress through the phonological awareness exercises. Kilpatrick starts on Level D1. I still haven’t figured out why he starts on D1. I added in Levels A1 (tell me the first sound you hear in a word), A2 (tell me the last sound you hear in a word), B (blend three phonemes the teacher gives), and C (segment a CVC word the teacher gives). The levels up to N2 go way into first and second grade; students certainly are not expected to go through all of the levels, but they have the opportunity to do so.
This is the chart I am using to track student progress through the 34 word lists. Lists 1-13 are at the kindergarten level; lists 14-34 include phonics typical for first and second grade. Students are not expected to master all lists, but, again, they have the opportunity to do so.
Again, this is the first year I have taught small groups in this manner. I know that things will morph as the weeks go on. I’ll be keeping you posted about what is working and what isn’t. Hopefully this sparks a few ideas and gives you some new things to try in your classroom.
And a friendly reminder for those of you who are not paid subscribers, don’t miss the October special—15% off the regular subscription rate. You won’t believe what you’ve been missing…
Wow! This was extremely helpful! I have Kilpatrick's book but haven’t finished it yet. Thank you for this and all of your posts. I’m a new subscriber and am loving binge reading them all! You’re amazing! —-Tami
I love these ideas, and just subscribed, but I am being denied access to some of the documents and also cannot find all of them, is that not part of the subscription?
I love these ideas, and just subscribed, but I am being denied access to some of the documents and also cannot find all of them, is that not part of the subscription?
Thanks,
Cindy