Small Groups 1

This year, I've really tried to pull small groups more often. I always struggle with what to do, lesson wise, with my small group kiddos. There are a ton of resources for reading and math, but very little for writing. In addition, finding the time has been very difficult.

At our school, we have what we call Eagle Time. It is 45 minutes and part of our daily schedule. Each grade level decides how they want to use the time as long as it's not a study hall. After our fall benchmarks, we decided to use it as tutoring. This is mainly when I pull small groups.

I'm still working on lessons for my small groups, but I've been trying to get some STAAR practice in. I've used short passages with questions and answers. I've also used these great test prep cards I found at our teacher's store. They're called "Language Arts Test Prep in a Flash." The questions on these cards are fantastic!

I enlarge the cards so everyone can read them and have the students read and answer the questions. They will either write their answers on notebook paper or we'll use white boards. I prefer to use the notebook paper, so I can put it with my documentation.

Below you'll see my wonderful student teacher with one of the small groups using the enlarged test prep cards.

While I am working with a small group, the rest of the students are working on various task cards. They keep track of the task cards they have completed and their answers/work. I check it all on Thursday and on Friday, if they've been on task, we will do a group activity (like I Have, Who Has) or play Language Arts games in smaller groups.

My other difficulty with small groups was how to document it. I've seen a lot of different forms, but never found one I really liked. So, I made my own.

I wanted a quick check-off for the specific subject I was teaching and how the student was being taught (individual or small group). I also wanted a section for notes. Below, you'll see one of the forms I created.

Since I only teach the writing side of Language Arts, that's what I put in the form. However, since I wanted to make it available to other teachers, I added reading on a separate form.

This form is currently available on my Teacher's Pay Teachers store for free. You can get it here.

As I come up with more small group lessons and ideas, I will post them. Until then, I hope this helps at least a little bit.


Beth