Most Kindergarten teachers would agree that a mix of teaching whole group lessons and small group lessons are important to reaching all your learners. You can't teach Kindergarten without one or the other. They both work together really well. However, how do you decide what parts of your phonics lesson you should teach using whole group vs small group instruction?
Whole Group Phonics Instruction
Whole group phonics instruction is where you are teaching your phonics lesson to your entire class. This was usually a 10-15 minutes long lesson. That time frame seems to be the “sweet spot” to keeping students focused and learning before they needed to change it up. Your goal with whole group instruction is to keep it engaging and teach a new phonics skill.
Whole group lessons are important to teach daily in Kindergarten because students need to learn how to sit, listen, and discuss in a whole group setting. As they get into the upper grades, there will be more whole group instruction. My whole group phonics lesson always consisted of two parts- phonemic awareness and the phonics lesson.
Phonemic Awareness
The first part of our whole group phonics instruction was our phonemic awareness daily warm-ups. These took about 5 minutes and practiced both phonemic and phonological awareness skills. This was best to do whole group so you didn't have to do the same lesson 4 times or more during small group. I liked to call a few students at random to show if they were able to do the skill independently as a quick check. You can read more about how to incorporate these into your whole group instruction here: Quick and Simple Phonemic Awareness Lesson Plans.
Whole Group Phonics Lesson
The other part of our whole group phonics lesson was the actual lesson. In this blog post, My Daily Phonics Routine, I walk you through step by step each part of the phonics lesson. This part usually took about 5-10 minutes depending on what skill I was teaching.
Small-Group Phonics Instruction
For my small group lesson, I would always go right from my whole group instruction into our center rotations. During small group time or centers, students would practice a variety of skills in a smaller group- whether it is with the teacher, with others, or even independently. During your small group lesson is the perfect time to really hone in on those skills that each group needs additional, one-on-one help with.
Small Group Differentiated Instruction of Lesson
During center rotations, one station was always the “teacher table”. This is where I taught each small group of students for about 10-12 minutes on the skill that they needed to work on. At any one time, I could have a group working on identifying beginning sounds, reading CVC words, or spelling words with blends. In my experience, my class was a wide range of skills, so having this lesson time was very important. Read more about how I structured my small group lesson here.
Center Activity or Independent Activity
While I was teaching my small group lesson, my students rotated through their ELA centers. Each center was practicing a skill they had previously learned. I didn't do just phonics centers, but a mix of phonics, writing, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, technology, and art. Doing these daily center rotations not only allows students to have additional practice, but also helps them learn how to work with others, how to take turns, problem-solve, and work within an allotted amount of time.
How do you distinguish small group activities vs whole group activities?
Most of my activities I used during both whole group and small group time. Picture sorts are great to model how to identify a beginning sound, and then it gives you time to practice it before they have to do it on their own in centers. Certain activities like write the room, or roll and read, were some of my students' favorite whole group lessons and could easily be used for a small group too.
Some activities worked better in a whole group setting, like anchor charts or write and wipe, where all students and the teacher needed to participate. While other activities, like clip cards or worksheets, worked better in a small group or at a center station.
Do you have any additional questions about whole group vs small group phonics instruction?
Great information! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to applying some of your ideas into my small instruction.