In this blog post: Find out how to organize and put together a Science of Reading Small Groups binder for your guided reading and phonics groups, and get the SoR Small Group Binder full of planning templates as a free download!
One of the most challenging parts about planning for guided reading small groups is definitely organization. Especially organizing and planning for all of the moving parts! It can be super overwhelming if you’re a type b teacher like me.
A small groups binder is a great way to organize and plan for your Science of Reading small groups and stop that feeling of overwhelm.
In this blog post, I will show you what you can include in your Science of Reading small groups binder and how to best organize it. You will also be able to download all of the small group materials shown for free at the end of this blog post!
Setting Up Your Small Groups Binder
When you set up your Science of Reading small groups binder, you will want to consider how much you are going to end up actually putting in there.
Will you only use it to plan your small groups?
Will you keep all of your lesson plans in there or just an overview?
Do you want to have a section for student notes and assessments?
The more you want to have in your guided reading binder, the larger it will need to be. 2″ is always a safe size, although you might be able to get away with 1-1.5″.
Grouping Your Students
The first page I included in the Science of Reading Small Groups binder was a page to help you sort your students in differentiated small groups.
You can laminate this page and write on it with a wet erase marker, or use sticky notes. I like the sticky notes because they are easy to remove and change when you need to swap students around.
Scheduling Your Groups
The next pages will help you organize and schedule when you will actually meet with each group. You can write group numbers, names, or just use colors on here to easily see when you have scheduled each small group.
Version with 1-5 small groups are included in these templates. There is also an editable version in Google Slides if you need to add more or less groups.
A Daily Overview
The next pages in the Science of Reading small groups binder will help give you a quick snapshot of what you have planned for the day. If you just need a quick reference, or need something to show admin, this is a great option for that.
There are quite a few options for this section so you will be sure to find a page and format that meets your needs.
Science of Reading Lesson Plans
Of course, I created this small groups binder to go along with my Science of Reading Guided Curriculum. However, if you can’t use that curriculum for any reason (or you just want to add in an additional lesson), there are editable Science of Reading small group lesson plan templates.
There are a few different options for these lesson plan Science of Reading small group lesson plan templates, but my favorite gives you the daily focus, apply, book and vocabulary, encoding and guided writing.
Student Notes and Assessments
The last section in the Science of Reading small groups binder is for student notes and assessments. You can divide this section up even further by having a tab for each student. This makes it easy to just stick their notes and assessments right in.
You can also add in any assessments, running records, and student samples that you want. It makes it easy to grab at report cards and parent teacher conferences!
Your Science of Reading Binder
Ready to set up your own Science of Reading small group binder? You can download all of these materials for free below.
This download also includes a digital version in Google Slides that you can use to digitally plan, or to edit the pages to fit your needs.
Grab the Science of Reading small group binder here:
Do you love free stuff?
SOR Small Group Binder
Grab all of the materials needed to set up and organize your own Science of Reading Small Groups binder.
Natalie Lynn
Love it ! Can’t wait to download it.
great stuff