The key to saving your sanity when planning for small groups is materials management! There is nothing worse than spending an afternoon making copies, folding books, and binding all the things, only to misplace the copies you need for your first group tomorrow morning! How to Store Materials You are likely working with multiple groups of kids ... Read more 26 Aug 2023 - 1 minute read
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated July 15, 2024 Placing your students into groups for small group reading can be tricky! All of your students have different strengths and abilities and we want to meet each student at their individual instructional level. We know the end goal is to teach our students how to read, but how do we get there? What skills an... Read more 25 Aug 2023 - 4 minute read
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated July 15, 2024 Small group reading is such an important part of the school day since it gives us a chance to meet with our students in a smaller setting. This is where we can focus on the specific phonics skills that our students need to become fluent readers. It can be tricky to form these groups, so I created an asse... Read more 22 Aug 2023 - 1 minute read
By LAURIN BRAINARD Updated July 15, 2024 Getting started with centers can be so tricky! What activities should you use? What can your students manage independently? There are so many things to consider! When I think about successful literacy centers, I immediately think about material management. You need enough materials to keep all of your s... Read more 26 Jul 2023 - 5 minute read
Have you ever found yourself scrambling to find activities for your fast finishers to complete? You know the students… The ones where you give out a practice page and they are almost finished before you even finish passing out to the whole class? Reusable activities have been my favorite way to keep these students occupied in a meaningful learn... Read more 07 Jul 2023 - 5 minute read