This summer I have been updating my small group toolkit and I wanted to give you a brief overview of what I have so far! It's definitely a work in progress!
A small group toolkit is a collection of ready-to-go charts, tools and resources that teachers could use while conducting small groups, conferences or even whole group lessons. I had one previously made but it wasn't up-to-date. I thought about what would be some predictable small groups that I anticipate this year as a focus for my toolkit.
To start, I used the comprehension skills from the first couple of reading units that I will be teaching in third grade- predicting, retelling/summarizing and character work and created tools and scaffolds that would make the teaching of the unit more clear for students.
I use the toolkit as a demonstration toolkit as well. I will model how to use the specific chart or tool using a familiar story that they students know. This could be a picture book that we read during read aloud, a menor text or even a Pixar short film that we watched as a whole class. Then, students will try the chart or tool using either another familiar story or their independent text during the small group/conference.
You'll notice numerous story mountain templates in my toolkit. I noticed last year that a lot of my small groups were around tracking events, problems or characters across a story. Some third graders are new to chapter books or some are reading chapter books with multiple problems or characters and it's hard for them to keep track of these elements in a longer story.
It's SO much fun to create these tools! Who wouldn't love fun post it's, bright colors and flair pens?! It can be time-consuming, yes. You can always print off already made charts and add it to your toolkit. When I was a Language Arts Consultant we had a "toolkit making" professional development day. Some of these charts are from Melanie too! It's great to share ideas and charts from colleagues to add to your toolkit!
Look for more updates on our toolkits on the blog and on our Instagram page! We are looking forward to sharing more about them and how we use them with our students!
