As a special education teacher, there are literally NEVER enough minutes in the school day. I do my best to make the most of the precious minutes that I have with my students during their reading intervention groups, even if it’s only thirty minutes.
For my reading groups, I typically have thirty minutes on my daily schedule. Now, we all know that we never have a full thirty minutes. With transition time, I often have about 25 minutes or so to split between reading and spelling.
Phonics: Decoding and Encoding
For each group, I begin with phonics. For many of our students, this is a huge weakness and one of the number one reasons they are with us.
Each group can have a different phonics pattern that you focus on, depending on their IEP goals and needs. The key is to have a systematic approach that incorporates spiral review.
Decodable Readers & Comprehension
After decoding, it is time for to put those skills to work with a decodable reader that has the same (and previously learned) phonics skills. All decodable readers are the same. I like to have decodable readers that can also be used for good, solid reading comprehension instruction as well.
Vocabulary, Fluency, and Writing
I think one thing that *really* bothers special education teachers is that they feel like they have SO much to cover and not enough time. And this is 100% true. In thirty minutes, you cannot teach the same volume of content as general education teachers do in a whole day.
Repeat after me: I cannot teach the same volume of content as general education teachers do in a whole day.
To remedy this, I like to have a good variety of skills that we are covering routinely! It may only be once or twice a week, rather than daily, but students are hearing and seeing it with accommodations and support.
Do we wish we could do more? Of course! We’re teachers, after all. Take time to focus on explicitly teaching phonics and applying it to reading.
Want to download a sample of these booklets?
Did you notice that I referred to that leveled reader several times? Well, they’ve been a lifesaver for me. It helps me ensure that I’m doing all that I can for my students. It also saves me time when it comes to planning each week.
If you want to give it a shot, I have a free week! You can download it by clicking here.
If you’ve already gotten the free week, you might be wondering where you can get MORE! If you’d like to check them out, click here to see them on TpT.
THis is great! It helps me to see how you do it like this. When do you work in the books and graphic organizers that you do?
I love the looks of this program:) Is there any way to get just one level… like the yellow?
Hello! They actually come in a bundle with other levels. Here is the link to the first 10 weeks: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Special-Education-Reading-Curriculum-Intervention-Digital-Learning-Files-5314398
Can you describe your instructional model? Are you responsible for giving grades based on the work that you are doing or is the work you do based on what is going on in the gen ed classroom. In my district, I used to teach a true resource class, meaning I pulled my students out of their reading class and replaced their gen ed instruction in order to teach them at their level (I LOVE this model) but for the past 3 years resource looks a bit different. I pull small groups (according to their grade level) out of social studies for 30 minutes and do an intense phonics program with them. I then pull my 4th graders every day for a 45 minute tutorial to work on IEP goals. I am thinking your program would work there better but not every kid has spelling goals or phonics goals. Most of mine, by 4th grade, have comprehension or vocabulary goals. I love your reading program and ideas but I would just like to know in what way you use the program. I hope my question makes sense. It just seems that SPED teachers all do something different or at least we call it something different.
Hello. I was wondering what product in your store sells readers and are they leveled. And I liked your sight word assessments too. Wondering if I need the big bundle? I’m of course willing but those are the two things I’m looking for.
Hello! The readers in the TPT store are leveled. Here is the link for those readers in the growing bundle: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Special-Education-Reading-Curriculum-Intervention-Bundle-5662433