Bridging Literacy

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Bridging Literacy

Training and Consultation Staff Developer | Literacy Coach | Author of Building the Literacy Block

09/03/2026

Small group isn’t the main event. 👀

Whole-group instruction is where we want students accessing grade-level learning, engaging with their peers, participating in rich conversations, and building shared knowledge.

So what’s the role of small group?

Use it strategically to help students be more successful when they get back to whole group.

One way to do that is to get ahead of the learning:

📅 3 weeks before a unit: Give a brief pre-assessment and look for specific skill gaps.

🔎 2 weeks before: Begin pulling students who share those needs.

🎯 During small group: Keep instruction short, targeted, and specific. Some groups may only need a few focused minutes.

Then, when that skill shows up during whole-group instruction, students aren’t encountering everything for the first time.

The new learning has something to stick to.

And that can mean more confidence.
More participation.
More access to grade-level learning.
And ultimately, stronger outcomes.

One more important reminder:

Not every student needs to be in a small group.

That’s okay.

Every student still deserves practice, feedback, support, and opportunities to extend their thinking. Small group is simply one tool we can use when students need targeted instruction to close a gap, or when they’re ready to extend their learning.

Don’t create groups because your schedule says it’s small-group time. Create groups because the data tells you there’s something worth teaching.

💾 Save this as you plan your next unit.

TeacherTips MTSS UpperElementary EvidenceBasedTeaching

08/28/2026

Before you make your small groups… make sure you know WHY you’re making them. 👀

It can be tempting at the beginning of the year to assess students, sort them into groups, create a rotation schedule, and get small groups up and running as quickly as possible.

But a small group isn’t the goal.

Better instruction is.

And not every small group serves the same purpose.

You might use a group to support students through a text. You might provide additional instruction for unfinished learning. Or you might bring a few students together temporarily because they share one very specific instructional need.

The important part?

👉 The group should come AFTER the need—not before it.

Before you build your small-group schedule, ask:

What can I effectively teach whole group?

What are students showing me they still need?

Which students share that need?

What specifically will I teach them?

How will I know when they no longer need the group?

Because students shouldn’t earn a permanent seat at the “blue table” based on one beginning-of-year assessment.

Need changes → instruction changes → groups change.

That’s what makes small-group instruction purposeful *and* manageable.

💾 Save this before you start building your small groups this year.

And tell me below: Are your small groups already up and running, or are you still figuring out what students need?

UpperElementary LiteracyCoach ScienceOfReading TeacherTips ReadingInstruction

02/10/2026

Gotta give this a try. ❤️

09/25/2025

Sharing a day in my life as a former elementary teacher now educational consultants/staff developer ❤️

09/23/2025

I am OBSESSED with the brain and learning! 🧠

I got Your Fantastic Elastic Brain my last year in the classroom and my fourth graders loved it! It was a great way to have conversations about growth mindset, the importance of struggle in learning and how we can help our brain remember information.

Now, as a presenter to teachers, I cannot share this book enough. We all need to learn how important our brains are in learning… especially when we crafting our lessons.

And just the other day I was strolling through the book store and found the second book! This one is about what happens to our brains at night…. I seriously can’t get enough.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Tie this book in with;
• main idea and details
• cause and effect and sequencing structures
• sentence level comprehension
• text features
• author’s craft

09/06/2025

Building comprehension and grammar with a simple 5 minute literacy warm-up in upper elementary.

Full year of Syntax Scramble available in Bridging Literacy for members. The sentences are scaffolded to build complexity all year long.

08/14/2025

Do you have a favorite tool?

04/22/2025

Items added to the Bridging Literacy Community recently:

Not a member? Comment ‘BLC’ to signup and gain access to these and MANY MANY more resources… plus our summer ☀️ bonuses (cancel at anytime).

1. Testing Treat Tags! Print and add the treat on student desks. Comes with 12 options.

2. Reflection posters that also come with bulletin board letters.

3. NEW coaching calls and self-reflection on key literacy components.

4. Prefix mid— added with cards, student practice pages and more!

5. Proficiency rubrics for each grade (3rd-6th) on RI.3

6-8. Graphic organizers for teaching reading informational anchor 3

9. Earth Day poem 🌎

04/19/2025

If your students are forgetting, freezing, or tuning out—this might be why. 👇
 Cognitive load is real—and when we don’t account for it, learning suffers.
 Even the most engaging lesson can fall flat if we overload working memory, skip retrieval practice, or ask kids to passively absorb too much.

In this post, I’m sharing 3 of the most common ways cognitive overload shows up—and simple shifts you can make to support your students better.

Because if the brain can’t hold it… the student can’t learn it. 
Let’s teach in a way the brain can keep up with. 💡
  📌 Save this for your next unit review  💬 Drop a 💡 if you’ve seen one of these signs in your classroom  🎧 More strategies in Episode 001 of Teaching Made Simple (available on Apple and Spotify)

04/18/2025

You’ve heard of the Science of Reading… but have you heard of the Science of Learning?

The Science of Reading is essential. It helps us understand how kids learn to read—and how to teach them with clarity and confidence.

But reading is only one part of the bigger picture.

The Science of Learning pulls together research from psychology, neuroscience, and education to answer a different question:

🧠 How do students process, retain, and apply information—across every subject?

In my first episode of the Teaching Made Simple podcast, I’m breaking down the difference between the two, and why both matter.

Because if we want students to truly thrive, we have to go beyond decoding. We have to teach them how to learn.

💾 Save this for your next team meeting

👯‍♀️ Tag a teacher who’s ready to dig deeper

🎧 Listen to Episode 001 of Teaching Made Simple for the full breakdown!

Comment ‘podcast’ and I’ll send you the link!

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http://www.bridgingliteracy.com/

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