Let’s cut to the chase, having the right tools is half the battle.

But remember, you don’t need to purchase every item on your own. Look for opportunities to promote your Science of Reading initiative among your school families, community, and websites like DonorsChoose.org.

Here are my 25 most used items in Science of Reading instruction:

Manipulatives

1. Letter Tiles: These letter tiles from Hand2Mind are great for building and substituting letters in words. The red vowels help reinforce decoding skills.
2. Pop Its: Every student loves a good fidget toy, and these alphabet pop-its allow students to build words, identify letter sounds, while fulfilling their sensory needs.
3. Tracing Boards: Sensory tracing boards are another great option to engage students without the mess of a sand or rice bin. Students can practice letter formation and sound to letter identification skills with quick prep.
4. Reading Pointers: Reading pointers reinforce the one-to-one correspondence of the spoken word. These highlighters from Hand2Mind provide a focus tool for students who struggle keeping their place in a text.
5. Magnetic Letters: Having a variety of alphabet letters available, keeps lessons engaging. These magnetic letters are cut out to shape and magnetic!
6. Elkonkin Boxes: A must-have in the Science of Reading are Elkonkin or sound boxes. These mats are dry erase, and work great in conjunction with magnetic wands & chips or mini erasers!
7. Magnetic Wands & Chips: A fan favorite among students is magnetic wands and chips. Use chips to identify sounds, and the wands scoop them up! Change out colors to keep it themed for the month.
8. Mini Erasers: Cute mini erasers are popular in classrooms as they have so many uses! One way these can be used in SOR instruction, is to identify and count sounds in a word or words in a sentence. Change up the erasers to the season and keep students engaged!
9. Rubber Dice: Roll and read activities are great for small group and center work! Rubber dot dice are a tactile, larger, quieter option to the standard dice.
10. Dry Erase Pockets: Endless possibilities in dry erase pocket uses. If you are looking for a way to simplify prep time, these are it! Make a small group set of copies instead of a full class! Stuff the pockets, students write, you check, wipe, and you’re ready for the next group! Pockets are double sided, so they could contain 2 activities or scaffold levels at once.
11. Magnetic White Boards with Lines: Non-negotiable when it comes to a student white board – it must be magnetic, and it must have lines! These boards from Gamenote are a great option, and include markers & erasers.
12. Dry Erase Markers: You’ll need replacement markers, so stock up early and keep your planning low-stress.
13. Dry Erase Erasers: More than likely, you’ll also need replacement erasers. This black option is great as it helps eliminate student need to doodle on them.

Kits

1. Word Work Set: This phonics small group set includes letter tiles, magnetic trays, and dry erase activity mats. This is a great set that I use daily in my groups!
2. Reading Essentials Set: This small group toolkit includes a variety of reading tools such as magnetic chips and wands, google-eyed reading pointers, sound boxes, and more to keep students engaged!

Games

1. The Fidget Game: This tactile game keeps learning fun and exciting! The simple design of popping mats and 5 levels of sight word cards make prepping a fun lesson stress-free!
2. . Mystery Alphabet Box: The Mystery Alphabet Box comes with 52 objects to match to letter sounds on an uppercase and lowercase double sided board. For more variety, add decodable words or pictures that match your lesson inside the box.
3. What’s In Ned’s Head?: Really want to engage your learners? Try reaching inside Ned’s ears & nose! While this game comes with it’s own set of objects, you can easily add your own objects, sight words, sentences, or even picture cards to have students decode in sound boxes.
4. Pop for Sight Words: Learning Resources’ series of “Pop for…” games are always a hit in SOR groups. These quick play games provide easy play to reinforce vocabulary and fluency…just don’t pull a POP!

Organization

1. Create a Space Storage Center: This storage center from Learning Resources has been a game changer in storing the manipulatives for my small groups. It keeps my teacher zone organized, and everything has a space. It also helps me remember what tools I have available to keep students engaged.
2. Large Mesh Zipper Pouches: Prep once, use often, and store in an organized space. Use these large mesh pouches to keep your Science of Reading lessons together and organized. Keep word cards, picture cards, lesson plans, passages, and more conveniently grouped in these reusable file bags in your teacher zone.
3. Double Sided Dry Erase Desktop Easel: Modeling for students is a large part of any small group. This double sided table-top easel is not only convenient…it’s magnetic!
4. Photo Storage Box: Organizing sight words, task cards, manipulative kits, student centers, out of season/theme tools, dry erase markers and erasers…How can you use a photo storage box in your classroom?
5. Book Boxes: Promote at-level decodable independent reading with student books boxes. These Really Good Stuff storage bins are sturdy, and promote student efficiency, origination, and discipline by keeping your classroom not only aesthetic, but also structured.
6. Classroom Carts: Classroom carts like this makerspace cart are sturdy, and can be used for either storing differentiated center activities or teacher prepped resources for small groups. Not only are these carts mobile, but they provide endless organizational opportunities!

And there you have it, my top 25 Science of Reading small group must-haves! What are your must haves?