First Day Lesson Plans for Reading Intervention Groups (Part 2)

Are you curious about how the first days in intervention or pull out groups go?  Make sure you check out post 1, by clicking here.  On the first post I shared what I do on the first day of pull out intervention. Perhaps a quick read through will help you get some ideas of your own....

Day one is all about about building relationships and teaching your new students the routines, procedures and agreements that are in place to maximize your time together. 

Day 2 is a review of the routines, procedures and agreements.  Reviewing and re-teaching expectations is important to keep your year running smoothly.  In fact....beyond the first few days in small group, I still review...especially after a long weekend or a holiday break.

One effective way to review behavior expectations is having students brainstorm what a "ready to learn" student looks and sounds like using a t-chart.   Younger students can draw pictures, or teachers can scribe as students share their answers.  Older students can write bulleted lists with a partner, and then share whole class.  

After the reviewing classroom expectations, I continue to build the culture I want to have in my classroom by reading Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen. 

This is a great read to build a sense of community within your small group.  It helps the students learn that our classroom will be a place that is safe to be themselves, make mistakes and be a good friend to others.  

After reading the story, we stop to dialogue about how we are classroom family even though we aren't related.  Students share what makes them special and unique, and we make a commitment to be loving family members. 

Our Class is a Family flows right into making a collaborative class puzzle.  I use the free collaborative class puzzle from TeachEZY on Teachers Pay Teachers.  

I explain that individual puzzle pieces are all beautiful and unique.  Each piece has different shapes, colors, patterns and prints....but it takes ALL of the puzzle pieces to create one stunning, complete image.   The puzzle is just like our classroom family---one complete, amazing picture and the pieces are each of you--wonderfully unique!

Next, each student gets a blank puzzle piece which they decorate to represent themselves.  I love seeing their creativity and passions on paper!

While students are working on their puzzle pieces, I take the opportunity to complete some diagnostic testing.....because small group instruction will be happening the next day! 

What do the first days of your small groups look like?