During my reading centers, my students would see me at the teacher table for their small group instruction time, aka Guided Reading Groups. This was the MOST important center because I was able to differentiate it for each group. Here's how I would structure the small group reading lesson during our center rotations.
Here's how a typical small group lesson (about 15 minutes) would go:
- 2 minutes: Early Start Activity: Students would sit down at the small group table and do their “early start” activity (usually a roll and read page or sight word flashcards). During their “early start” activity, I would do a quick lap around the room to make sure all students were starting their centers.
- 2 minutes: Lesson Warm-Up: We would warm up by working on sight word flashcards, doing a roll and read, answering a question, or naming words that went with a specific phonics skill. This got their juices flowing and settled into our small group time. I would also take this time to quickly review from our Phonics Whole Group Lesson.
- 10 minutes: Small Group Lesson: Here's where you actually teach the lesson! Each day, I focused on a different subject and I differentiated the lesson for each group.
- 1 Minute: Closing: I liked to end our small group time with a quick review of what we learned for the time. I would ask each student a different question, and they would get a sticker, ticket, skittle, for answering the question and being a great listener at this center. Once the timer went off, we would clean up any materials we used and set up for the next group.
Rather than just focus on reading comprehension during this time, I liked to work on a different ELA skill each day. This allowed me the chance to work on all ELA skills to make sure that my students were understanding what they were learning in whole group instruction. Being able to work on all ELA skills was the best way I could differentiate each subject and skill for my students while keeping the whole group lesson simple.
Here's how my instruction for the week went:
- Monday: Sight Words/Fluency– My students and I would go over the new sight words of the week, as well as practice their own individual sight words. We would play sight word games, practice spelling on whiteboards, using them in sentences, matching games, or roll and read fluency pages.
- Tuesday: Reading Comprehension– For reading comprehension, we were required to use the student's weekly readers that came with our boxed curriculum. My students would do a quick book walk through. This is where they would identify what they thought the story would be about or characters they saw. They would find the highlighted sight word, we would practice spelling it, saying it, clapping out how many syllables, etc. Then they would take turns reading a sentence each. I taught them how to follow along using their finger. When they saw a period, it was time for them to stop and the next student was up. We would get through the story once, then I would ask simple comprehension questions, like “What is the setting?” “Who is the main character?”
- Wednesday: Reading Comprehension– On Day 2 of Reading Comprehension, we would reread the story of the week. Then, they would answer the main questions at the back of the book. I would either call on one at a time to answer or they would write it on their whiteboard. If my students finished the story on the first day of reading comprehension, we would do a Phonics Reading Passage from A Teachable Teacher.
- Thursday: Writing- Weekly Journal Writing– This was the time I would work on specific writing skills with each group. Some groups would need to work on handwriting. Others may be writing their sight words in a sentence, or practicing spelling phonetically. This changed from week to week and was almost always different depending on the group. Your main goal is to get them writing! You will be right there to help them along (and remind them to take their time and use the lines!). Usually this was their BEST writing of the week, because I was guiding them the whole way.
- Friday: Phonics Interactive Notebook– My students would complete a page in their phonics interactive notebook based on the skill of the week. I used Friday as a catch up day. I would assess students, work with students one on one on certain skills, monitor centers management if needed, etc. It was helpful to have a day where I could go where I felt I was needed.
Want to learn more about my reading centers?
Find more center ideas and how I plan and schedule the rest of my reading centers block here.
You can try out a Roll and Read with CVCe Words for FREE here! It can be used as an Early Start activity or as a reading center by itself! Or grab these Roll and Read Editable Templates to create your own!
I hope this helped you get some ideas on how to structure and plan your small group reading lesson. It is a short, but very important part of your day!