In addition to our free word study warm-ups and our ever-growing bank of comprehension warm-ups, I wanted to give you four ways you can plan a daily spiral review into your literacy block. These schedules will help you whether you have 45 minutes or 2 hours to plan for literacy block.
— Click Here to Open the Schedules in a PDF —But first, a word on the importance of consistently planning time for daily spiral review.
Why Daily Spiral Review for Reading Comprehension
We covered the brain research behind spiral review, and we’ve discussed the impact spiral review has on long-term retention, so I’ll spare you the technical stuff (but I do recommend reading those articles).
The key here is a daily spiral review, but not spiral instruction. It must be systematic and consistent, and it must be short, not even a mini-lesson. The results are:
- improved mastery of skills that have been taught
- deepening of students’ background knowledge
- repeated exposure to a variety of genres
- increased fluency
You can more on results, with this case study where students had over 200% growth in daily spiral review!
Successful spiral review in reading requires one thing – it must be DAILY (and no-prep resources help).Click To TweetScheduling for Spiral Review
Reading comprehension, vocabulary, and word study all can be scheduled for spiral review, but it sure helps to have the right tools.
A good scheduling plan helps, but a no-prep spiral review resource makes it even easier, so you can focus on planning your core instruction knowing that your daily reading spiral review is taken care of.
— Click Here to Open the Schedules in a PDF —Literacy Block Schedule 1
The first sample schedule fits reading spiral review into the initial 3-6 minutes of class time. It’s a traditional warm-up. Then word study spiral review is scheduled into the word study time on an (as-needed basis).
Literacy Block Schedule 2
The next sample schedule follows Lucy Calkin’s Workshop Model, and the spiral warm-up is sliced between the reading workshop and writing workshop for a quick mental break for students – plus, it gives you 3-6 minutes to change gears and informally assess students.
Literacy Block Schedule 3
The third schedule is built around 30-60 minutes of student-centered work such as daily 5, stations, or centers, and the spiral review starts the day as a warm-up before a quick mini-lesson.
Literacy Block Schedule 4
The final sample literacy block plan is built for technology-rich classrooms, but the spiral review is in the initial 3-6 minutes as a spiral warm-up prior to a 5-15 minute mini-lesson and interactive read-aloud.
Reading Comprehension Warm-Ups FAQ
I hope you enjoy the sample literacy block schedules. In the next post, I’m going to answer all of the questions about the reading comprehension warm-ups from your survey responses and from the comments below, so please take a moment to leave a question in the comments!
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