If you’re teaching literacy in K–2, you’ve definitely had “The Moment.”

It usually happens on a Sunday night (or a very caffeinated Monday morning) when you look at your literacy block schedule and think… How on earth am I supposed to fit all of this in?

We’re told to juggle phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and oral language. And we aren’t just teaching a “class,” we’re teaching a room full of kids with unique needs.

On any given day, you’re providing specific scaffolds for your English Language Learners, ensuring your students with IEPs are receiving their vital supports, and trying to bridge the gap between the student who is already reading chapter books and the one who is still mastering the alphabet.

There is a lot on your plate. And honestly? It’s okay to admit that the “juggle” can be exhausting.

Most of us start our careers with a love for picture books and a dream of cozy readalouds, only to realize the Science of Reading is a lot more technical than we expected.

And a lot of what I actually know about teaching reading didn’t come from a textbook; it came from the 22 tiny humans sitting on my rug year after year, each one showing me exactly where the gaps were.

In this blog, we’ll look at a few things many of us wish we had understood earlier about teaching literacy in the primary grades, from streamlining your centers to making explicit instruction actually stick.

Explicit Instruction is Your Best Friend

Early on in my teaching career, I didn’t understand the process of learning to read on a technical level.

I used to think that if I just read aloud to kids, they’d sort of “catch” reading by osmosis. Spoiler: They didn’t.

The biggest shift in my teaching happened when I embraced explicit instruction. It’s the most equitable way to teach because it doesn’t leave it up to chance whether my student has mastered literacy skills.

We don’t ask our students to guess based on a picture; we give them the tools to unlock the word.

As cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg (2017) puts it,

“Reading is not a ‘natural’ skill that children acquire the way they learn to speak. It is a skill that must be taught.”

Here are a few examples of what this looks like in my classroom:

• “I Do, We Do, You Do” Gradual Release of Responsibility: If we’re working on the digraph /sh/, I’m not just mentioning it. I’m having students watch my mouth as I say the sound, and then practice the sound. We brainstorm words with the sound. Then, I’m modeling how to decode words with “sh” and having students decode words with “sh” with support (before I ask them to do this independently). We also work on spelling words with “sh” and reading decodable texts with “sh” (more on that below).
• Guided Dictation: I don’t treat spelling as just a list to memorize for a Friday test. We use it as practice and a “check-up” for applying phonics learning. We practice individual words as well as complete sentences. For example, I’ll say, “The frog jumps on the log.” We count the words on our fingers before anyone touches a pencil. We segment words and talk about which letters we need to represent those sounds.
• Decodables for the Win: I traded leveled readers (which often encourage guessing based on repetitive patterns) for decodable texts that align with the phonics skills we are actually studying. This gives every student (especially those still building confidence) a text they can actually read.

As Nell K. Duke (2021) points out, the goal of this work is to build a foundation so strong that kids can actually move beyond it:

“When we teach children the relationship between sounds and letters explicitly, we aren’t just teaching them to bark at print—we are giving them the keys to unlock the meaning of everything they read.”

By working toward making the “how” of reading automatic, we finally give our students the mental energy to focus on the “what,” the story, the big questions, and the joy of a good book.

Simplify Your Centers (for Their Independence and Your Sanity)

We’ve all seen those Pinterest-perfect centers with fifteen moving parts and color-coded glitter.

But here’s the truth: if a center requires a 10-minute explanation, it’s not a literacy center, it’s a classroom management nightmare waiting to happen.

I learned that for my students who thrive on routine, predictability = success. When the “how” of the center never changes, they can put all their mental energy into the “what” (the literacy skill).

In my room, certain core center routines stay consistent:

The Word Work Center: We always use resources like magnetic letters, sound mats, modeling dough, and word-building mats, like the ones shown below from the Literacy Clubs. One week, they’re building CVC words like cat; the next, we’re working on vowel teams like boat. Because they know the routine, they just grab their materials and get to work.

The Phonics Game Center: I love using game templates that stay exactly the same (like “Spin and Cover” or “Roll and Read”), where only the target skill changes. Since the kids already know the rules, they can dive straight into practicing the week’s phonics pattern without asking me for help. This is one of my favorite parts of the Literacy Clubs; members get fresh, skill-based games like these every month, so the “novelty” stays high but the directions stay the same.

The Reading/Fluency Center: This is where students reread familiar favorite texts or decodable passages we’ve already mastered in small groups. This is huge for building fluency and that “I am a reader!” confidence. I usually pull from the library of decodable readers that come with the Literacy Club materials. These readers are perfect for ensuring kids practice the exact phonics skills we’ve covered in class/small group.

The Writing Center: I keep these activities as simple as possible. For example, I might use a “Look and Write” prompt. I might put up a picture of a busy park. My higher-flyers might write a whole story, while my students still working on phonics might label words like “sun,” “dog,” and “mom.” Prepping this center doesn’t need to take a ton of time! Here’s an idea (below) from the Literacy Clubs; these centers are engaging for the kids, help them practice sentence writing, and are consistent. They’re easy to explain and simple for kids to remember how to do.

When centers are simple, I don’t get interrupted. That means I can give my full, undivided attention to the small group sitting at the kidney table with me.

Use Data as a Compass

Years ago, I spent way too much time winging my way through reading groups, guessing what my kids needed. Now, I let small, daily “check-ins” tell me exactly where to go. This isn’t about more standardized testing; it’s about active kid-watching.

Think of assessments like a GPS: if you don’t know your starting point, you’re just driving in circles.

• Digging Deeper into Fluency: When I have a data point like “words read correctly per minute,” I want to go deeper than that. What’s the reason behind this score? Are they reading fairly quickly but making a lot of mistakes? If so, what kind of mistakes are they making? (The next bullet point covers how I dig into this.) And I also want to make sure I check comprehension – if they can’t tell me a single thing about the story, that’s a language comprehension gap and requires more comprehension-focused instruction.
• The Phonics Check: We have to get clear on exactly what phonics patterns our students have and have not mastered – both in decoding and spelling. A word reading assessment at the end of each week can help us stay on top of this. So can a dictation, where students spell words with the target pattern (and a few review words). If half the class writes “sip” instead of “ship,” I don’t need a formal report to tell me what’s wrong. I know exactly what my mini-lesson needs to be tomorrow morning: a review of phonemic discrimination (hearing the difference between /s/ and /sh/).
• Nonsense Words: Occasionally, I’ll check students’ abilities to read nonsense words (like vop or shup). Why? Because it’s the ultimate guess-proof check for reading. If a child can read vop, I know they’ve actually mastered the blending skill and aren’t just recalling words they’ve seen before from memory.

Using this data helps us be intentional with our interventions. It ensures that the student struggling with blending doesn’t get stuck in a group practicing “main idea”.

You Don’t Have to Rebuild the Wheel Every Sunday

Teaching literacy is a marathon, and some miles are definitely harder than others. The secret to solid literacy instruction isn’t a magic curriculum; it’s clear instruction, simple routines that give kids independence, and using your observations to guide the way.

But I also know that “knowing” what to do and “having the time to prep it” are two different things.

If you’re tired of spending your Sunday nights scouring the internet for centers that actually align with the Science of Reading, come hang out with us in the Literacy Club. We’ve already done the heavy lifting—the small group lessons and materials, and the differentiated centers are ready to go.

Join the Literacy Club Waitlist Here

Let’s get you your weekends back so you can show up for your kids with a full tank.

Happy Teaching!

References

• Duke, N. K. (2021). How the science of reading informs literacy instruction. Literacy Research Association.
• Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can’t, and what can be done about it. Basic Books.