How to Teach Phonics in Small Groups

Teaching phonics activities in small groups either for intervention, daily review or practice, is an effective way to develop reading fluency, comprehension and foster spelling skills.

Of course, like everything, we need to assess. Phonics assessment will determine where the student is at in terms of phonics knowledge and provide us with information about targeting their specific learning needs in this area.

Once assessment data has been analyzed, it is time to determine how many students in one group. Then place students in small groups based on their assessment scores as this is evidence of their phonics knowledge.

Lesson Planning for Small Groups:

I have a 3 step phonics intervention methodology that I have followed for years. It caters for different learning styles, thus ensures student engagement:

1. Begin with a phonics game that is fun, interactive and learning with peers
2. Next, explicitly teach your phonics focus for the lesson by stating the learning the intention (eg. Today we will learn the  /ck/ sounds. /ck/ is a digraph. A digraph is when 2 letters represent one sound/phoneme etc..). Have students use their mini whiteboards to brainstorm words that end in /ck/ and then invite students to share their favorite word.
3. Finally, have students individually apply their new learning – word building activities, sentence strips, circling the focus sound in a reading passage etc (this completed work sample can be used as formative assessment to gauge student’s grasp of the learning objective).
4. Wrap up the small group session by linking back to the learning intention. Invite students to share what they learned about the /ck/ digraph (eg. I learned that words never begin with /ck/ etc)

Assessment as we know is ongoing. Hence, gathering and analyzing students’ work samples during these small groups will help you determine whether you will need to differentiate learning or move students into different groups.

Remember just like math groups, phonics groups are ‘flexible and fluid.’ Students can be moved into and out of groups and let your students know that this is a positive strategy because it means they get the opportunity to work with different peers.

How to Teach Phonics in Small Groups

Create your own 3 step methodology or if you’re time-poor and looking for no prep ready-to-go printables read on or click here

1. Phonics Assessment Packet:

• Science of Reading Scope and Sequence
• Letter-Sound Recognition
• One-on-one assessment
• Student Written Assessment
• VC
• CV
• VCC
• CVC
• CVCC
• CCVC
• Blends
• Digraphs
• Trigraphs
• ‘R’ Controlled Vowels
• Common Consonant Digraph
• Silent ‘e’
• Vowel Teams
• Single Syllable Clap
• Multiple Syllable Clap
• One Syllable Words
• Multisyllabic Words
• Adding a Common Suffix (ing)
• Spelling & Dictation Template
• Vowel Digraph
• Blends
• Digraphs
• Trigraphs
• 5 Checklists (Phonics & Reading Objectives)

How to use assessment packet:

1. Print all assessments and checklists and file in your ‘Phonics Intervention Binder’

2. Use as a one-on-one assessment tool or small group

3. Tick correct words and score assessment (score box provided)

4. If students gets all words correct, then move onto the next assessment

5. Assessments will clearly indicate where student is at in terms of phonics

6. Assessments can also be administered by Education Assistants!

2. Phoneme Graphing Elkonin Boxes & Word Mapping Mats:

Digraph and Blends Activities complete with teacher notes, decodable sentences, drawing matching pictures and digraph sorting activities. These ch sh th qu ph wh ng digraphs ideal for phonics lessons, morning work, early finishers and phonics Intervention:

• Teacher Notes
• Step by Step How to Use Resource
• CVC Elkonin Boxes with Pictures to Color In
• CCVC Elkonin Boxes with Pictures to Color in
• Blank Elkonin Boxes with Pictures to Color In
• Blank Elkonin Boxes with Pictures to Color in
• Create a Word Puzzle 1
• Create a Word Puzzle 2
• Teacher Answers

Also suitable for:

• Phonic Centers
• Morning Work
• Small Group
• RTI
• ESL Newcomers
• Assessment

3. Digraph Phonics Worksheets:

Includes decodables words, color by code worksheet, alphabet tracing, segmenting and blending, write the room and much more. Differentiated writing templates included:

• Completed work sample for students to view
• My Phonics Booklet (front cover page)
• Let’s Read and Color!
• Phonics Map (identify, read, write and color words)
• Write the Room
• Color by Code
• Be an Author & Write a Story!
• Differentiation Writing Template
• Visual Mind Map (brainstorm words, pictures and labels)

Skills covered in these worksheets:

• Tracing alphabet letters
• Beginning sounds
• Letter-sound recognition
• Identifying pictures and words
• Segmenting and blending CVC words
• Reading simple sentences
• Drawing and labeling pictures

4. Digraph and Blends Activities:

This no prep packet consists of Digraph and Blends Activities complete with teacher notes! Your students will love reading the decodable sentences, drawing matching pictures and doing digraph sorting. These ch sh th qu ph wh ng digraphs are ideal for phonics lessons, morning work, early finishers and phonics Intervention.

Consists of decodable sentence cards covering the following words:

• chips
• chicks
• chug
• church
• pack
• luck
• duck
• stick
• she
• shell
• shark
• ship
• three
• Thursday
• that
• thank
• phonics
• photo
• phew
• phone
• who
• what
• when
• where
• sing
• song
• ring
• king

How to use:

• Digraph Card Game (play in partners or small groups)
• Digraph Sort Activity (individual or partner)
• Read, Write & Draw Decodable Sentences

Suitable for:

• Phonics Centers
• Morning Work
• Early Finishers
• Phonics Centers
• Phonics Intervention

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