Guides

One skill, one routine, written out in full

Short guides for the part of the day that is hardest to plan: the small-group block. Each one walks a single routine minute by minute, with the actual pages it uses printed alongside, so you can decide whether it fits your group before you print anything.

Letter sounds

Why We Chose Tent, Not Tree, for the Letter T on a Poster

A tree on a T poster teaches the wrong sound — kids hear tree starting with /ch/. Here is the rule we used to pick a picture for twenty-six letters.

Math fact fluency

Why a Ten Frame Beats a Number Line for First Grade Addition

On a number line, first graders count ones. On a double ten frame they watch the ten fill up — that is what turns 8 + 5 into a strategy, not a count.

Decodable passages

How to Run One Decodable Passage in a 12-Minute Small Group

A twelve-minute plan for one decodable passage: a minute on the sounds line, three on the word list, six on the passage, two to hear one reader alone.