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Running a phonics small group at different lessons
A practical shape for a small reading group whose students are not on the same lesson: shared routines, split new material, and a record that stays individual.
· 2 min read · Literacy Trail team
In short
Anchor the group on the lesson of the student furthest behind for the new sound, run shared routines at each student's own level, and give the students ahead extension practice rather than new sounds. Rate every student separately after every session so the record shows who is actually where.
The ideal small group has four students on the same lesson. The real one has four students on three lessons, one of whom was absent last week. Regrouping every time is not practical. Here is a shape that holds a mixed group together without pretending it is uniform.
Anchor low for new material
The new sound for the group is the one the furthest-behind student needs. Students ahead of it get a fast review they will not resent for five minutes, and it costs them nothing. The reverse, teaching the top student's sound to everyone, leaves the bottom student decoding words they have no tools for.
Shared routines at individual levels
- Sound cards: each student has their own set, including their own review sounds.
- Dictation: same routine, different words. Two lists prepared in advance is enough.
- Connected text: a passage at the group's shared level, with the top students reading more of it.
Extension for the students ahead
Longer words with the same pattern, a spelling challenge, reading the passage to a partner. What they do not get is a new sound the others have not had; that is how a group of four becomes four groups of one.
Regroup on evidence
A student rated Secure while the rest of the group is at Developing for three sessions in a row is ready to move up. A student rated Needs support on the group's sounds twice is ready to move down or out to individual time. The ratings make the regrouping conversation about the record rather than about the child.
In Literacy Trail
A group session records the lesson once and asks for one rating per student, so each child's page shows their own history even when the teaching was shared. Groups are on the Educator plan.
Keep the record while you teach
Set up your students, pick the lesson each one is on, and the ratings you tap after each lesson do the rest.