Must Have Reading Tools for Small Groups

1. Sound Segmenting Trays

These simple, yet effective trays align directly with the best practices of the Science of Reading.

You can use these trays with your beginner readers to help teach phonemic awareness in a tactile way.

They are versatile as you can use any type of manipulative to model the sounds and then a dry-erase marker or magnetic letters to spell the word!

Personally, I love switching out the sound manipulatives based on the season. Candy corns for October, red and green M&Ms in December…the options are endless!

2. Comprehension Cubes

For your groups that have comprehension goals, these cubes are a fun way to add a game aspect to learning.

After reading a story, have students take turns rolling the dice and answering the questions.

3. Finger Focus

I don’t use this highlighter with all my students, however, it’s extremely helpful for your students who have a hard time tracking or focusing on the text in front of them.

Sometimes, I will use it as a “magic decoder” to highlight longer words that we are working together to decode.

4. Reading Stick Pointer

Reading pointers are a super simple way to make guided reading more enjoyable! For some reason, kids are more excited to read when a fun pointer is involved.

I like to switch up which pointers I use throughout the year so these affordable and colorful pointers are great for the collection!

5. CVC Word Spelling Game

I absolutely love playing this game with my groups who have just mastered the blending of sounds. It gives them SO much confidence to spell and read words.

6. Whisper Phone

During my literacy centers, I almost always have a read-to-self group. Whisper phones are great at promoting actual reading as well as not disrupting others around them.

Tip! Label them before use with a student number to avoid the spread of germs.

7. Word Ladders

Word ladders have become a quintessential part of my weekly reading groups.

In short, word ladders are a sequence of words where, on each rung of the ladder, one sound or pattern is replaced at a time to make a new word.

Word ladders are designed to build phonemic awareness and support decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) skills. Students use higher-level thinking as they substitute sounds to make the next word.

8. Dry Erase Boards

I use dry-erase boards and markers every single day in my reading groups. These ones are perfect as they help students manipulate sounds.

Plus they are reversible and magnetic! This way, you can use them for more than just reading groups!

9. Desktop Pocket Chart

You can use this chart to build CVC, CVVC, CCVC, or CVCC words. All of my groups find it extremely helpful to see the word in front of them (in a different format) after blending the sounds or spelling the word on their own.

This is also a great tool for your students who are practicing isolating sounds as they can see the labels and the photo.

I especially love that you can store all the cards right in the back of the chart.

10. Table Spots

These table spots are versatile and helpful in organizing and managing your small groups!

You can easily assign a student a color for easy differentiation and your students can use them as dry erase boards to avoid unnecessary clutter on the table.