These small group reading instruction materials are designed to help you organize and plan your literacy instruction.

This is another free resource for teachers from The Curriculum Corner.

We hope this collection will help make planning and implementing your small group reading instruction easier.

Welcome to The Curriculum Corner!

We are so happy you stopped by to learn more about getting started with your reading workshop.

If you are new to our site, welcome! We are so glad you found us. 

Everything you find on our site is created by us, Jill and Cathy.

We are two teachers who created this site in hopes of providing free, quality resources for teachers. As teachers, we all know we don’t make enough to be constantly buying the newest and trendiest resources!

We often receive questions from new teachers or teachers who are looking at implementing small group instruction in their classroom.  

On our site we have a variety of resources to help with this but if you are new to this type of instruction, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.  For this reason, we have put together this guide to help you get started.

We have included links to the coordinating resources on our site (all free) when appropriate.

If you already know what you are looking for, search here…

Search

---

You will find the links for each piece of our small group toolkit in this post below.

Using our Small Group Toolkit

These resources are designed to be a starting point. You will most likely find additional instructional materials that fit your classroom to add to your own toolkit.

They have been created so that they can be used with a variety of  texts and levels. This will make it easier for you to adapt the materials to be just right for your groups.

Our thought is that you can spend some time printing, laminating and organizing all the resources ahead of time so that they are ready to go when you need them.

We have provided most of the small group reading instruction resources in color and in black & white.

We like to print on heavy card stock so the pages are a little more durable.

Why should I try small group instruction?

There are many benefits to implementing small group instruction in your classroom.

If you are new to the approach, this is a time when you will work with small, skill focused groups.

During this time, other students will be working at independent literacy centers or reading independently. 

Small group instruction gives you the opportunity to get to know your readers better.

It also helps you meet your students where they are. Working with smaller groups gives your students individualized instruction based on their needs.

At first, planning and implementing can seem overwhelming. Once you get going, you will quickly see the benefits. It will also become easier for you to manage.

One key to a successful small group time is setting appropriate expectations. Students must know your expectations for them when they are not with you. We believe strongly in practicing what this time looks like when you are not working with small groups.

Getting your small group reading instruction toolkit ready

After downloading the files, spend some time thinking about which resources you feel you would use.  Print those pages on card stock and then laminate them for durability.

Next think about how you would like them to be organized.

They will need to be easily accessible and possibly portable if you will be meeting with groups in various locations.  We suggest using a file box so that you can easily organize and label everything.

Small Group Planning Forms

How will these small group reading instruction forms help you?

• These have been designed to help you get started with planning.
• Use them to help your planning run smoothly.
• The forms will give you a place to record your observations and track student growth.
• Also, the forms will guide you through ideas for each day of your weekly instruction.

Create your own toolkit!

Download your free small group reading instruction planning forms here:

Planning & Recording Forms 

Some of the resources in this download are great to print and have available for instructional assistants or guest teachers.

We also created these fun Binder Covers for your Small Group Planning Binder!  

(This is editable using the newest version of Adobe Reader which is a free download.)

You might also like our Reading Conference Guide to help you with questioning during your small groups and/or conferences.

This guide was created in order to help you as you are developing your one-on-one conferencing skills.

Each of the posts for small group instruction have downloads for the materials you can make ahead of time.

Some other resources you might be able to use to make your ultimate guided reading toolkit for your small group reading instruction are:

• 211 Graphic Organizers for Reading
• Fry Resource Collection 
• Readers Notebook
• Informational Text Vocabulary Graphic Organizers
• Inferencing in Reading

Be sure to bookmark this page so you can easily return in the future! Not sure how to bookmark pages? Read here: Bookmarking in Chrome.

---

This free small group reading instruction toolkit is designed to be a free classroom resource for teachers. Please feel free to copy and use in your classroom. You may send home with families and share with your colleagues.  

You may not sell or modify and sell these resources in any form. These must remain free resources for teachers. If you have any questions, please contact us.