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09/09/2026

I don’t want students to sit down at each table and practise a completely different set of skills that don’t relate to my explicit teaching lessons🙅🏻‍♀️.

Instead, I like to create a little progression across the rotations.

For Long O this week, you’ll see:

👉🏼 Memory to practise reading the Long O words
👉🏼 Roll, Read & Race for repeated reading and blending
👉🏼 Cut & Match to consolidate those same words in a different format

So while the activities look different, the learning is connected.

Students aren’t constantly starting from scratch with a new set of unrelated phoneme words. They’re seeing, reading and applying the same phonics knowledge in different ways across all the phoneme grapheme correspondences we need to tick off within our syllabus.

And then again at my grammar and writing table, I’m doing something similar.

Last week, students were working with four adjectives to describe a noun.

This week, I’ve increased the complexity by reducing that to two adjectives and introducing verbs.

They then use their words and ideas to build their own sentence ✍️ ✏️.

It’s a small progression, but that’s exactly what I want.

I don’t need to make the activity harder by making it completely different. I can keep the routine familiar and gradually increase the learning🙌.

Three long vowel sounds down, two to go! 👀

📥 Comment WEEK 7 if you’d like the links to these resources.

07/09/2026

Okay, I’m going to say something that might sound very boring… but I LOVE repeating activities 🙂‍↕️.

Not because I’ve run out of ideas. It’s actually, quite the opposite.

I think there’s something really valuable about giving students an activity they already know how to do, then changing what they’re learning within it.

Think about my memory games.

My students already know the routine.
They know how to turn over the cards.
They know how to read them.
They know how to find a match.
They know what’s expected of them.

So when I swap the phonics focus from one week to the next, I’m not asking them to learn how to play the game AND the new phonics concept at the same time🙅🏻‍♀️.

The routine is familiar.

The learning is new.

And honestly, that can make such a difference for our little learners 💯.

You’ll see me doing the same thing with my writing activities too.

Last week we focused on adjectives.

This week, I’ve kept the familiar Bump It Up structure but added verbs.

So instead of completely reinventing the activity, I’m gradually increasing the vocabulary and grammar demands.

That’s something I’ve become much more intentional about over the years👩🏻‍🏫.

New learning doesn’t always need a new activity.

Sometimes the familiar activity is exactly what allows students to focus on the thing that actually matters… their learning!

And that’s definitely something I’ll keep coming back to in these Literacy Group ideas because I think it’s one of the easiest ways to make your groups more purposeful and more manageable.

Okay let’s get down to the nitty gritty- here’s what I’ve got out for Week 7 👇🏼

1️⃣ Long O Memory
2️⃣ Long O Roll, Read & Race
3️⃣ Long O Read & Match
4️⃣ Bump It Up Writing with adjectives + verbs

📥 Comment ‘WEEK 7’ if you’d like the links.
🫶 Follow for more weekly Kindergarten Literacy ideas.

05/09/2026

I’ve always said that I’m an open book, and when I have a story that might help someone feel a little less alone, you better believe I’m going to share it. 🤍

Father’s Day can be such a beautiful day, but I also know it can bring up a whole mix of emotions.

For some, it’s filled with love, laughter and happy memories. For others, it can bring grief, sadness, complicated relationships and all the what ifs.

When I was two, I lost my dad. My mum became both my mum and my dad overnight, and Father’s Day has always been a little different for me.

So today, I’m thinking of those who:

❤️ Wish to be dads.
❤️ Have lost their dads.
❤️ Have a distant or complicated relationship with their dad.
❤️ Are dads who have lost a child.
❤️ Find today difficult for a reason that others might not see.

If today feels a little heavier than you expected, you don’t have to pretend that it doesn’t.

My DMs are always open. 🫶🏻 x

02/09/2026

Let’s talk about what Literacy Groups are achieving doing in my classroom.

Because I think sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking every group activity needs to be new, exciting and completely different from the week before.

Mine definitely aren’t all things new and shiny ✨ .

These groups are happening after my explicit whole-class phonics lessons, so I’m using this time to consolidate Long A and see whether students can actually apply what they’ve been learning.

And you’ll notice something pretty obvious in this week’s activities…

I’m using the same words again and again.

Memory ➡️ Roll, Read & Race ➡️ Cut & Match.

Same Long A words. Different ways to practise them.

That repetition is intentional.

I want my students to become really familiar with those AI, AY and A-E representations so they can spend less time thinking “What am I supposed to do?” and more time thinking “How do I read this word?”

I’ve also brought back Bump It Up Writing, because when I’m asking students to work hard on a new phonics concept, I don’t need every single table to be a brand new experience.

Sometimes familiar is exactly what they need.

And this is why I love having a strong bank of Literacy Group activities. Once students know the routines, you can keep the activities and simply change the content as your teaching progresses.

So no, you absolutely do not need to reinvent your Literacy Groups every Monday morning for the week ahead🙅🏻‍♀️.

Comment ⭐️WEEK 6⭐️if you want the resources I’ve used this week and follow along for more Kindergarten Literacy ideas.

01/09/2026

Same games. New phonics focus. And honestly, I’m very okay with that 🙂‍↕️.

If you’ve been following my Literacy Group ideas this term, you might be having a little déjà vu right now.

Memory? Seen it.
Roll & Read? Seen it.
Cut & Match? Yep, seen that too.

And that is completely intentional 💯!

I’m a big believer in having a bank of activities that students know well, then changing the content to match what you’re currently teaching.

Because when the game is familiar, students can spend their energy on the learning rather than working out what they’re meant to do.

This week we’ve moved from Long I to Long A, so the activities stayed familiar but the phonics content changed.

That means less explaining, less confusion and more time actually practising the skill.

And when I’m consolidating something new like Long A, I’ll often throw in a familiar grammar activity too.

It’s simple. It works. And no, I’m not reinventing the wheel 🙅🏻‍♀️.

Swipe through to see this week’s ideas 👇🏼

1️⃣ Long A Memory (AI, AY, A-E)
2️⃣ Long A Roll, Read & Race
3️⃣ Long A Cut & Match
4️⃣ Differentiated Bump It Up Writing

💌 Comment ‘WEEK 6’ and I’ll send you the details.
🫶 Follow along for more weekly Literacy Group ideas.

26/08/2026

Okay, Long I has officially entered the chat. 👀

And because it’s a relatively new concept for my Kindergarten students, I’m not about to throw four brand new activities at them and hope for the best. 😂

Here’s what I’ve got out this week 👇🏼

👉 Long I Memory
We’re focusing on four different ways to spell the Long I sound:

i-e, igh, y and ie

Students flip over cards, read the words and match the pairs. I’ve also included answers and instructions, so they can work pretty independently.

👉 Long I Roll, Read & Race
This one is all about reading and blending.

Students roll the dice, move around the board and read the word they land on. If they can’t read it correctly, they move back to where they were.

It’s a fun way to get lots of repeated reading practice without it feeling like a worksheet.

👉 Long I Read & Sort
Here’s where we’re applying what they’ve just been practising.

The words and pictures are the same ones from the Memory game, but this time they’re jumbled up. Students cut, read and match them correctly.

I love using activities that build on each other like this because students aren’t learning a completely new set of words every time they move tables.

👉 Build a Silly Sentence
And here’s my familiar activity for the week.

Yep, you’ve seen this one before. 😂

But that’s the point.

When we’re introducing something new like Long I, I like to keep at least one activity familiar. The students already know how to play, so their brains can focus on the new learning instead of trying to work out a whole new set of instructions.

It’s a small thing, but I find it makes a BIG difference.

Long vowels are only just getting started around here, and I’ve got plenty more coming your way!

📥 Comment WEEK 5 if you’d like these activities.
📲 Follow along for more weekly Kindergarten Literacy ideas.

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