Skills Block Small Group and Rotations Resources | EL Education Curriculum

Skills Block Small Group and Rotations Resources

Last Updated: May 31, 2022

The Skills Block Small Group and Rotations Resources are designed to provide everything required to teach the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block hour in one convenient planning document. In response to feedback from teachers, resources have been consolidated into Cycle Planners to support materials management and organization. In the table below, click on the cycle currently being taught to the whole group. Each Cycle Planner provides an overview of and a link to the grade-level content, as well as a new, easy-to-use "Phonemic Play" warm-up to support students in building their phonemic awareness. 

For the 45 minutes of differentiated instruction, Cycle Planners organize and link out to small group and rotations resources for the microphases that teachers are most likely to have in their class at that point in the school year. Decodable Reader Routines, originally created as part of EL Education's Flex Curriculum, can be used during teacher-led differentiated small groups to engage students in fluency, word work, comprehension conversations, encoding, and decoding practices. Cycle Planners also link to Skills Flex videos, to use as a possible rotation or additional instructional opportunity. Lastly, each Cycle Planner includes a curated list of recommendations and links for differentiated independent student activities such as high-frequency word games, fluency practice, and word work.

Cycle Planners link to differentiated materials for students in the Late Pre-Alphabetic thru Late Consolidated microphases. For students needing more time with Late Pre-Alphabetic skills, see Pre-Alphabetic Microphase Guidance; for students who have completed the Late Consolidated microphase see Beyond Consolidated Microphase Guidance. Find more information and answers to common questions about the Small Group and Rotations Resources in the FAQs. For additional information about the microphases or the Microphase Chart, refer to the Assessment Conversion Chart, our About Skills Block page, or the Resource Manual located on our K-8 Tools Page.

Partial Alphabetic

Early

Middle

Late

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