K-5 Small-Group Literacy Instruction: Sample Schedule and Activities

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Here are four examples of teacher-directed small group instruction in:

  • Alphabet and Concepts of Print
  • Decoding
  • Fluency
  • Reading Comprehension

Each plan emphasizes different components of reading and are designed to help students progress along the literacy continuum. Remember, not all components of reading are addressed within your small group time. The other components of reading and writing are addressed throughout the ELA block. 

Most teachers allot between 10-20 min. to meet with each of their small groups. You may meet with every group every day or meet with varying groups on alternating days. Adjust the components and times to match the assessed needs of your students. Try to provide struggling readers with the lowest teacher/student ratio and the most time possible. Ideally, these students meet with you daily, regardless of any other interventions they receive — it’s the accumulated time, frequency and intensity of reading practice that helps struggling readers. If students have difficulty sustaining attention for more than 10-15 minutes, consider breaking components apart or giving students a short brain break.    

Using the sample schedules

Read the explanations below to choose a planning template that best fits your students’ assessed needs.  All of the times in each plan are suggestions — not hard and fast. Make adjustments to the components and times as needed to match the targeted needs of your students.  

Focus on alphabet

Who needs this plan?

  • Pre-reader or emergent reader
    • Limited or no alphabet knowledge
    • Rudimentary or limited phonological awareness skills
    • Limited or some concepts of print
  • Student’s writing may range from random marks/scribbles, using random numbers and letters and may lack left-right and top-bottom directionality.
  • Some students on this plan may represent initial, final or salient sounds in words but spelling lacks vowels. Example: mop might be spelled:  M, P, or MP.     
  • Student cannot decode words on their own.   
  • Student cannot read back their own writing, and sentences lack spaces between words.     

When can I move on? 

  • When a student reads accurately and smoothly at or above Preprimer B with minimal teacher support. 
  • When a student knows about 10-12 or more letters of the alphabet.
  • Student represents previously taught beginning and ending sounds consistently and begins to use a vowel in spelling. 
  • Student acquires concepts of print, e.g., able to track a text accurately or self-corrects tracking if s/he loses their place. Has directionality in reading.   

Highlights of plan

  • Focus is on teaching skills necessary for later reading: oral language, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge (letter names, sounds, and formation).          
  • Use rereading to foster concepts of print such as concept of word and directionality (L-R and top-bottom). 

Focus on alphabet: sample schedule and activities

ComponentEstimated TimeSample Activities
  • Phonological Awareness
    (choose one area to target at a time. Based on assessment. 
3-5 min.
  • Word and Sentence Awareness: Listen to a spoken a sentence and segment into individual words.   
  • Syllable Segmentation: The onset of cat is /k/, the rime is /at/
  • Onset-Rime Blending: What word is made up of the sounds /k/ /at/? Cat.
  • Onset-Rime Segmentation: What are the sounds in cat? /k/ /at/ 
  • Alphabet
    (names, sounds, formation)
  • Phonics 
5-8 min.  
 
  • Cumulative review (flash cards — letter name, sound, formation. Use images or mnemonic if needed).
  • Explicit direct instruction on letter names, sound, and formation
    • Picture and word sorts (closed sorts)
    • Writing sort
    • Build words with letter tiles
    • Daily handwriting of letters
  • Dictated Words/Sentences
2-3 min.
  • Teach letter formation and pencil grip.
  • Dictated words (student push a penny for each sound, say the letters, write it).
  • Dictated sentence: use words with targeted letters and draw lines as “anchors” for each word.   
  • Teacher Directed Reading
    (student reads with teacher supporting concepts of print, tracking and decoding)

    Patterned texts that can be memorized will support concepts of print for pre-readers who cannot decode yet due to limited alphabet knowledge

    As soon as students acquire some alphabet knowledge, introduce decodable texts to apply taught letter sounds.   
5-10 min.

Before Reading: Introduce the title and elicit oral prediction. Teacher reads text aloud to students and models accurate tracking. Provide dots at the beginning of the line or under words to support tracking as needed. 

During Reading: Echo or choral read the text with teacher. Monitor for accurate tracking.   

After Reading: Ask students to read and track text (or selected part of text) on their own. 

Give students a sentence from text on a sentence strip. Point and reach each word. Cut apart into words. Mix and fix.    

Total time10-20 minTotal time and components may vary across the week

Focus on decoding

Who needs this plan?

  • Student reads at or below a 1st grade level 
    • Fails to meet benchmark on an Oral Reading Fluency task
    • Performs at or below a 1st grade level on timed graded word lists 
  • Student is learning  to read and spell words with initial/final consonants, short vowels, digraphs/blends in closed syllables (CVC,  CCVC,  CVCC).  
  • Student is learning to read and spell high-frequency words. 

When can I move on? 

  • When a student reads accurately and smoothly at or above a 1st grade level
  • When a student masters most or all of the phonics features for the closed syllable
  • When a student no longer needs to focus on decoding each word and has developed a sight word vocabulary  

Highlights of plan

  • Focus is on teaching decoding and word level skills: phonemic awareness, explicit phonics, and developing a sight word vocabulary.  
  • Use rereading to foster accurate and automatic word identification. Students may reread books 3-5x before retiring texts. Provide text-only versions of texts to remove picture supports and support decoding once a text is familiar/fluent.  
  • Teacher-directed reading — use decodable texts to apply phonics skills previously taught. Focus on accurate word recognition.      

Focus on decoding: sample schedule and activities

ComponentEstimated TimeSample Activities
  • Fluency
     
2-3 min.
  • Rereading  
  • Word hunts
  • Choral/echo reading
  • Paired/partner reading  

  • Phonological Awareness
    (choose 1-2 areas to target at a time. Based on assessment. Align examples used with phonics).   

     

3-5 min.   
 
  • Syllable segmentation: The onset of cat is /k/, the rime is /at/
  • Phoneme blending: What word is made up of the sounds /k/ /a/ /t/? Cat.
  • Phoneme segmentation: What are the sounds in cat? /k/ /a/ /t/
  • Phoneme deletion: What is cat without the /k/? At.
  • Phoneme manipulation: What word would you have if you changed the /t/ in cat to an /n/? Can.
  • Phonics

5-10 min.

  • Cumulative review (flash cards — letter name, sound, formation. Use images or mnemonic if needed).
  • Explicit direct instruction on letter names, sound, and formation.
    • Picture and word sorts (closed sorts)
    • Writing sort
    • Build words with letter tiles
  • Teach a decoding strategy: e.g., blending with 2 or 3 phonemes 
  • Dictated Words/Sentence
2-3 min.
  • Dictated words (student push a penny for each sound, say the letters, write it).
  • Dictated sentence: use words with targeted phonics feature and dictate 1-2 sentences.
  • Have alphabet reference handy for student.
  • Teacher Directed Reading 
    (student reads) 

    Decodable texts will support application of taught phonics. Use at least 2x/week.    
5-10 min.

Before Reading: Introduce the title and make a prediction. Remind student of decoding strategies that can be used. Set the purpose for reading. 

During Reading: Wait 3-5 seconds and correct all miscues with student. Encourage accurate reading.     

After Reading: Check student prediction and do a response activity.   

Examples:

  • Go back and reread 1-2 pages.
  • Choose 1-2 words that were challenging — discuss decoding strategies used. 
  • Do a word hunt for 1-2 high-frequency words. Build with letter tiles or write/spell. 
Total time10-20 minTotal time and components may vary across the week

Focus on fluency

Who needs this plan?

  • Student reads between a 1st and 3rd grade instructional level     
  • Student reads accurately but too slowly for age norms 
  • Student is learning  to read and spell words with common and less frequent vowel patterns (VCe,  Vowel teams, R-controlled, etc.) in the stressed syllable and can read many multisyllabic words.       

When can I move on? 

  • Students who read at or beyond a 4th grade level with accurate, quick, and smooth/expressive reading can move to the next plan.   
  • Note: Students who read above 3rd grade but whose decoding skills are lagging may need to stay on this plan longer, especially if they read at/below 100wpm.   

Highlights of plan

  • Focus of effort is on developing fluency: accuracy, reading rate, expression, phrasing, and building stamina to read longer, more complex texts.
  • Focus of effort is on supporting reading comprehension with teacher guidance.   

Focus on fluency: sample schedule and activities

ComponentEstimated TimeSample Activities
  • Fluency 
     
3-5 min.

Choose one:

  • Timed repeated reading (accuracy and reading rate)
  • Rereading selected portion of texts  
  • Use poetry, speeches, and other texts for practice with phrasing and expression
  • Teach punctuation and how to read the “signals.”
  • Reader’s Theater (prosody)
  • Timed word/phrase reading drills to work on targeted areas of need for accuracy and speed at the word level
  • Word Study
    Choose 1-2 areas based on assessed need:
    • Phonemic awareness + Phonics 
    • Syllable Types / syllable division rules
    • Morphology (prefixes, bases, affixes)  

 

5-10 min.    
 
  • Phonemic awareness — deletion, substitution, manipulation of phonemes in words (as needed)
  • Target up to 3 new spelling features or patterns, for example:
    • Word sorts, writing sorts
    • Dictated words/build with letter tiles
  • Introduce and teach how to read and write multisyllabic words.
  • Morphology — teach high frequency prefixes/suffixes (at least 2x/week).
  • Teacher Directed Reading  
    Identify a focus for comprehension instruction: 
    • Title 
    • Reading Level 
    • Genre
    • Format: oral, silent, mix of oral and silent 
8-10 min.

Before Reading: Set a purpose for reading. 

  • Activate prior knowledge and introduce 3-5 key vocabulary words.
  • Make a prediction.   
  • Demonstrate, explain any strategy /skill for this lesson (if applicable).

During Reading: Monitor and make repairs.

  • Do a combination of oral/silent reading (Gr 1-2). Gradually shift to all silent reading.  
  • Oral reading: wait 3-5 seconds and correct all miscues with student.
  • Designate stopping places to check for meaning. 
  • Use think-alouds to monitor progress and model thinking.  

After Reading: Discuss and respond. 

  • Check remaining predictions.
  • Discuss what students learned/understood.
  • Clarify any points of confusion.  
  • Retell or summarize the text.
  • Ask or answer comprehension questions — use evidence from text to support responses.
  • Practice and revisit vocabulary: 
    • Do thumbs up/down for examples/nonexamples.
    • Use in conversation. 
    • Use words with sentence stems.
  • Finish any graphic organizers. 
Total time10-20 minTotal time and components may vary across the week

Focus on comprehension

Who needs this plan?

  • Student reads at 4th grade level or beyond 
  • Student reads accurately and smoothly for age norms (120wpm+)
  • Student reads and spells multisyllabic words and learns common syllable patterns, inflected endings, and derived spellings. Morphology is a large focus of their spelling/vocabulary instruction.
  • Note: Does a student have a reading comprehension problem? If a student with poor comprehension is on this plan, then it may be due to insufficient prior knowledge, weak vocabulary, or other unknown language/linguistic causes. Be sure that word reading accuracy and reading rate (decoding and fluency) were ruled out as potential sources of the problem first!   

Highlights of plan

  • Focus instruction mostly on promoting reading comprehension, building vocabulary, and developing written response to texts.       
  • Encourage  a close reading of the text.
  • Comprehension strategies are reviewed, but the focus of reading is on building content knowledge about the topic. 

Focus on comprehension: sample schedule and activities

ComponentEstimated TimeSample Activities
  • Fluency  
     
N/ANot required for this plan.
  • Word Study 
    Choose one area per lesson:
    • Advanced phonics or spelling
    • Develop vocabulary
    • Morphology (prefixes, bases, suffixes)

 

5-10 min.     
 
  • Morphology: Teach simple prefixes/suffixes (see example here ).
  • Advanced Phonics/Spelling 
    • Spelling Patterns within/across syllables (e.g., inflected endings, vowel patterns in accented syllables, schwa in words, etc.)
  • Vocabulary Development
    • Introduce academic vocabulary or Tier 2/3 words with kid-friendly definitions, images.
    • Concept sorts
    • Word maps (Frayer model)
    • Semantic feature analysis
    • Structural analysis of words
    • Sentence Review: Partners create sentences using words assigned by the teacher.
    • Examples and Nonexamples: Explain scenarios or shows pictures and students respond chorally to each scenario, indicating whether it is an example or nonexample.
    • What Word Fits? The teacher asks a question and student partners hold up an index card with the word that fits or answers the question.
  • Teacher Directed Reading   
    Focus on: 
    • Title 
    • Reading Level 
    • Genre
    • Format: silent

You may opt to first do a 1-min oral to spot-check accuracy and prosody.  

10-15 min.

Before Reading: Set a purpose for reading. 

  • Activate prior knowledge and introduce any key vocabulary.
  • Make a prediction.   
  • Demonstrate, explain the focus for understanding the text.

During Reading: Monitor and make repairs.

  • Designate stopping places to check for meaning. 
  • Use think-alouds, questions, or a graphic organizer to monitor and model thinking at stopping points.   
  • Use questions or a graphic organizer to  support inferencing skills. 

After Reading: Discuss and respond. 

  • Discuss what you learned/understood.
  • Clarify any points of confusion.  
  • Check any remaining predictions.
  • Oral or written summary of text.
  • Ask or answer comprehension questions — use evidence from text.
  • Completed any  graphic organizers. 
  • Assigned written response to text
Total time10-20 min 

See K-5 Whole-Group Literacy Instruction

Learn more about small-group instruction

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