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How to Fall in Love with Reading Groups again. The Applicious Teacher

Fall In Love with Your Reading Groups Again- And here’s a Day-By-Day Guide for How!

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What should I teach at my teacher table during small group reading lessons? I get asked this question A LOT! And honestly, I know why… it doesn’t matter if you’re a brand-spanking new teacher or have been around the whiteboard a few years… Teacher-led reading group lessons are always a challenge. Especially with all the changes happening in reading instruction! But today, I’m sharing my daily small group reading lessons for 2nd grade. This is literally a day-by-day guide that’s been working really well for me over the past few years.

How to Fall in Love with Reading Groups again. The Applicious Teacher

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So before we launch into the day-by-day reading group lessons, let’s touch base on a few things.

Number One-

I *try* to see every group every day. It doesn’t always happen, but it is a goal, every.single. day. You can click here to read more about how I structure my small group reading time.

Number Two-

Students are in homogenous groupings when they come to see me at the teacher’s table. It just makes it easier to differentiate if students are working on their level.

I sometimes switch a few students based on phonics/comprehension skills. For example, suppose a student is struggling with phonics but is doing well with comprehension. In that case, I might pull them to a lower-level group for the more intensive phonics lessons but then group them with similar comprehension abilities for later in the week. This is also true vice-versa.

Number Three-

I know “Guided Reading Groups” are a bad word now. But meeting with students in small groups is good practice. Honestly, the majority of my career was spent working in a district that was pretty big into phonics instruction and the terms “Balanced Literacy”, “Guided Reading”, or “Reading/Writing Workshop” were almost non-existent. That being said, please know I am always learning, growing, and researching, so what I’m sharing with you blends what we know from Science of Reading research AND what has worked in my class for years!

Day-By-Day Small Group Reading Lessons

Ok, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… let’s dive into the day-to-day lessons of my small group reading lessons!

Monday-Phonics Focus

Our curriculum includes weekly spelling words that focus on a phonics pattern. I’m going to use that term loosely because we have quite a few weeks of blends, and blends are not necessarily a phonics pattern. (Let’s just say Wonders and their “Workshop” style leaves much to be desired for this SoR-aligned educator.)

phoneme graphing activity for 2nd grade

Anyway, on Monday, I use that time to dive a bit deeper into the phonics pattern for the week.

I like to pull out the letter tiles and do “make and breaks” of our words. Make and breaks are where we’re sounding out and creating words with the letter tiles.

We might also do word chaining if our words lend themselves to continued patterns.

Word chaining example:

  • away->way
  • way->sway
  • sway->stay
  • stay->say

Then, we work on Phoneme graphing for our target phonics pattern words for the week.

If we have time, we read a decodable text that includes our target phonics pattern.

Tuesday-Phonics Focus and Heart Words

On Tuesday, we continue the phonics instruction by finishing the decodable text. After reading, we go on a pattern hunt, where students write the words on a whiteboard of the example phonics patterns they found in the text. From their list, we practice reading the words. Then, we answer some comprehension questions by writing the answers on the whiteboard.

If we have time, we’ll work on heart words (Sight words!) to help build some automaticity with reading.

Wednesday-Time to Read!

I know what you are thinking… Leigh, these are READING CENTER activities, when are your students going to actually read-read?

Well, here’s your answer: Wednesday! Now, my higher groups with a strong phonics foundation and know their sight words, we get to reading by Tuesday.

Here is our time to read trade books/ leveled/decodable text based on where students are in their reading acquisition. Remember, decodable books are great, but we need to eventually transition students into REAL BOOKS! This is where we work on reading fluency and comprehension. I try to align our comprehension work to the reading strategy of the week.

Click here to check out some of my favorite books for 2nd grade!

That comprehension strategy might include filling out graphic organizers, hunting through text for evidence, or generating questions to ask each other about what we read.

Thursday-Time to Write!

By Thursday, we finish the text or find a good stopping place if we’re reading a chapter book. Then, we work to write to answer deeper questions about the text we read.

We’re talking heavy hitters here! Compare and contrast, main idea and details, author’s purpose ( or any of the reading strategies we’re focusing on for the week)

This is where we’re taking what we discussed and working to write. This is where I can help my students form letters, mind their conventions, and help them organize their thoughts while they work to close the literacy loop.

Seriously, if you take nothing else from this post, PLEASE.PLEASE.PLEASE! Write in your reading groups at least once a week!

Friday- Catch-Up and Pickles!

On Fridays, I do not pull groups. It’s Catch-Up and Pickles time!

Instead, while students work to complete their unfinished work or their “choice activity”, I pull individual students for fluency/DRA/phonics data check.

I might also play sight word games to review sight words or pull groups to finish unfinished work.

Either way, I leave Fridays open so that I can use that time to get all the things done!

Day-by-Day Small Group Lesson Activities for 2nd Grade

So there you have it, friend! A detailed guide to small group reading lessons to help your awesome 2nd graders grow! The aim here is to make every day at the teacher’s table a day of growth and discovery. To nurture confident and proficient readers who can decode, comprehend, analyze, and express their thoughts effectively. Happy teaching! 📚📝

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Hi, I'm Leigh.

The Applicious Teacher is all about creating hands-on and engaging lessons that align with the standards while still having time for your life. This is your place for ideas, tips, and resources for the REAL teacher!

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