Today we are talking all about small group organization and chapter 2 of Making The Most Of Small Groups! So, show of hands….who struggles with being organized?! If you could see me, both of my hands are in the air!!! So this is a necessary chapter for me!
Takeaway 1: Don’t stack things on your guided reading or small group table!
Clearly, I fail epically at this! Yes, that’s a Sonic drink and yes, that’s peanut butter on the shelf. For those times, when you know, I get hungry and need some peanut butter! Don’t judge. There are also Hershey Kisses back there to dip in the peanut butter.
Here is my small group area when it’s fairly clean and organized:
The yellow caddy keeps pencils, crayons, dry erase markers and erasers ready for small group use. The drawers behind the table keep other supplies and daily work organized (allegedly!)!
My small group area is set up so I can see all areas of the classroom so I can keep an eye on my students and make sure they’re on task and doing what is expected! I love my table but it’s a little wide so I usually end up laying on the table to work with students! I wish I had a skinnier table! BUT recently I saw a teacher doing her small group instruction on the floor!! So I’m very curious about that!
Takeaway 2: the key to small group organization is find an area for materials and keep it organized!
That is something I’ve been working on this year and definitely feel like I’m on the right track! My small group organization mission started with this purchase:
I purchased this unit at Michaels for $65 when it was half off! I like the colored drawers and I like how sturdy this thing is! The top drawer is used for guided reading supplies like letter cards, cvc blending cards, magnetic letters, etc. The second drawer is for math supplies like dice, counters, ten frame cards, etc. The third drawer is for supplies such as crayons and markers and scissors, etc.
The next four drawers are for my guided reading groups. Each group is color coded. Each group member has a folder that matches their group color. The folders and books for that group are stored in the drawers! This keeps them from being stacked on the table!
Here are some examples of what’s included in my drawers:
CVC Blending cards! (Click the link to see these on TPT!)
These are our word building trays. Cookie sheets from the Dollar Tree. Spray painted and magnetic letters from the Target Dollar Spot. (Note: these letters are uppercase because that’s what I had on hand. I will be switching them to lowercase this year!) We use these for word work and word building activities during guided reading instruction!
Sitting on our table is also our mini anchor chart stand made from PVC pipe! On this I have laminated cardstock that matches the colors of the groups. This is where we write tricky words, sight words and vocabulary words from our books!
Click the image for directions on making this mini anchor chart stand!
Takeaway 3: Don’t bother me!
Ya’ll, I’ve tried everything to get my students not to interrupt me during small group instruction. I wore a hat…a tie…used a tap light on the table. Nothing worked. They just kept coming. It reminds me of the show, The Walking Dead, where the zombies keep coming. Then it hit me. Kids are so visual that they need a strong visual signal. And since all kids know red means STOP, why not a stoplight?
When this light is on my kids know to stop. Ask friends for help. Unless: you’re hurt, you’re in danger or you’re dead. If you’re sick you must go to the bathroom because if you get sick on Mr. Greg, he gets sick on you and we have a horrible situation!
For more on the stoplight, check out this post:
Takeaway 4: A Binder
I love the binder setup described in this chapter! Currently I have one binder for lesson plans. I put my weekly plans and small group plans in this binder. For anecdotal notes I write on Post It Notes that match the colors of the groups. Attach the notes to the back of my small group plans! After reading this chapter, I’m going to switch to a binder described in this chapter! And finally, I love that we have permission to dispose of lesson plans after a while!
Finally, here are some questions for discussion: (Leave your answers and pictures in the comments section on this post and you can also join the conversation on our Facebook page!)
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Show us your small group instruction area!
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Do you have a signal for students to know they can’t interrupt your small groups?
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What is an area of small group organization you want to improve?
Also make sure to visit Kindergarten Chaos for her post and thoughts on Chapter 2!
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15 comments
1. I don’t have pictures of my small group area but I can describe it.i have a u-shaped table to sit at, on the wall behind the table is a GROUPS poster that tells who is in each group, I also have their books, extra pencils, dry erase markers, etc ready for use. I can easily see everyone else who,eat my table
2. My signal is rather simple, if they come back to interrupt me I hold my hand up and they know to go to their seats. This doesn’t always work but when it doesn’t my other students tell that student to go back to their seat and that works well too.
3. I don’t have a specific area of organization I want to improve, I would like to improve in all areas and this book and group will help me do that.
One area that I NEED to work on is not stacking piles on my small group table! I don’t have a teacher desk so everything gets piled on my table.
I do not have a signal yet! I saw a teacher friend have a box (4 tiles taped off) on the floor for those children who just can’t help themselves.;)
I wear a sparkly crown when I have small groups. My kids know not to talk with me when I have my crown on. Sometimes I forget to take it off and the kids remind me. LOL!!
I wear a tiara to remind my students not to interrupt.
I don’t have ay pictures, but I use a kidney shaped table. We have tables in our classroom and this year it was difficult because I had 27 students and needed to use the kidney shaped table for seating. However, I was able to use it for small group instruction too. I lke it better when I have a smaller size class and can keep it separated.
I use a stop sign for a signal and we talk about what is or isn’t an emergency. I like the other ideas for signals , too.
I need to work on keeping things close at hand. I am a great one for using something and putting it down and than forgetting where I put it. Love the drawer ideas. Amazon here I come.
To answer your question about making sure kids know not to bother me. I wear headbands. I have them theme related and I change them monthly. I have a unicorn, bunny ears, panda ears, many colors eyes 9 my favorite), 4 leave clovers, stars …… can’t remember the others. When they see the headband they know to ask a friend for help. 🙂
I don’t have any pictures of my small group area and can’t get into school to take any right now….I have a kidney bean table and a bank of windows behind it with a counter. On the counter is the big book for the reading series and 2 3 drawer sterlite containers that are numbered. I keep small group materials in the drawers (magnetic letters, whisper phones, pointers, flashcards, dice, etc.) I have baskets on top for each small group but they are not color coded. I need to color code my groups and stick to my system, make a color coded binder like Debbie suggested, and KEEP CLUTTER OFF OF MY TABLE, LOL!! As far as kids respecting that I am with a small group and not bothering me…the struggle is real. I haven’t found anything that consistently works…still looking for the magic solution!
I use a place card holder with a laminated red stop sign (6 inches) and place it on the corner of the table facing towards the rest of the classroom. I have a colored coded craft cart for supplies. A binder that is sectioned by days (M-F) holds post-its/notes that are reviewed daily and moved based on student needs to be addressed.
Hi Greg,
What do you keep in the seat sacks?
I don’t have any pictures but I have a too big kidney table. Whenever we play a game I’m constantly sliding the game board so everyone can reach, it is what it is. I also have a counter behind this with a giant open shelf. It’s difficult to describe but it needs to be split into 2 shelves, then it may be useful. This year I acquired some rolling carts with drawers and tried to keep my small group things in there. It worked…sort of. Organization of the materials is definitely a goal for me, as well as not stacking things on this table! I’m always shoving things to the side as the kids are coming over! I still haven’t figured out how to keep the interruptions down, I may try this stop light idea this next year. I also like the binder idea for plans and notes.
I liked a lot of the ideas that Debbie Diller mentioned in chapter 2 and what I am reading hear in the comments. For this chapter, I am trying to get ideas as next year will be the first year that I will be doing small groups for reading. Now we just use them for letter formation and workbooks.
I sit on the floor with my kids. While I cannot see every kid while I am on the floor, it greatly deters them from interrupting me. It allows my kids to sit in further spaces away from each other when they are practicing reading so they are not listening to what others are reading and copying their reading. I NEED to improve all of the items needed at the guided reading area (markers for everyone, white boards for everyone, enough pencils and post it notes for myself so I am not constantly up trying to find them!)
Hello! I am enjoying following your blog and this book study! Thank you! Being summer, I don’t have any pics to post about my small group area. I also use the colored drawer system. I found mine at Sam’s Club for under $25.00! Such a find, I bought TWO! I use one for Guided Reading and the other for my math stations. I think most teachers struggle with not letting things get piled up on their tables. For me, the struggle is real! I try to tell myself, it’s because I am so focused on the kids during the day. I loved her idea of the binder and how she had it organized. I have also tried to keep everything together in one notebook and that just doesn’t work. I especially liked using the post it notes and then adding them to the binder. I am really good at making notes on whatever I can find so my goal is not only to work at keeping my table clear but to make sticky notes more readily available ALL OVER the room! Thanks again for sharing!
I am the worst at keeping my kidney table cleaned! Ugghh….that is definitely on my list. My (type A) principal probably cringes every time she walks into my (type B) classroom. Organization is number 1 on my list this year, and my biggest takeaway thus far. You should see the chapter in my book…lights of highlighting and notes scribbled in the margins! Great chapter!
I use headbands, too! Mine are also theme/seasonally-related. The Dollar Tree is my go-to headband place! They know to ask 3 before me, and only to interrupt in an emergency. My GR table is round, which I was a little dismayed about in the beginning, but am now happier with it than the kidney shape. I’ve been fortunate enough to have small classes the last few years and only have 3-4 kids in a group. From that vantage point, I can see my classroom door (lots of interruptions aka “visitors”) and can see the rest of the room. I also have a 10-drawer rolling cart with my GR materials by leveled group as well as supplies such as pointers (wands, Starbuck’s coffee stirrers, Swiffer dusters minus the Swiffers, finger lights, witchy fingers, etc.), 8X11 copies of posters, flashcards, snap (sight) word rings, slinkies for word stretching, etc. that I can roll right up to the table when needed. I regret that there is no display/bulletin board area in this part of the room, but I am hoping to make a PVC chart stand (thanks to YOU!) so I can display charts and hang a mini pocket chart. I am planning to use a post-it note system like yours but transfer the post-its to individual student sections in my GR binder. When finishing a particular book/concept/skill, I can move the notes to a section in my binder dedicated to that particular student and it will serve as a living “timeline” of the child’s progress. This will certainly be a ready reference at conference time (we have no interim reports or report cards for K). This year I did individualized centers the students could swap out at will, but last year, my leave replacement had made a Powerpoint indicating to which center the students should work on and it chimed when it was time to move to the next center. I like both but my current group had a hard time focusing on completing an “independent” task together. Individualized choices were a lot of prep, but (now I have them) and they were worthwhile because they were EXACTLY what each child needed.