Organization – Simply Split Creations

First Year Teachers, Organization, Teacher TIps

8 Back to School Tips

July 18, 2026July 18, 2026 simplysplit

Going back to school can be a fun and exciting thing, but also a very hard thing. Let’s be honest, we all enjoy some time off. Now, I don’t necessarily have a solution for you if you’re dreading going back to school, but I have compiled some tips to help make back-to-school time smooth, easy, and fun for your students.

1. Prep for back-to-school night early

If you’re a procrastinator (like me 😬), this may be a difficult task for you, but I promise you will be so relieved if you can get your back-to-school prep done early. If I have enough energy and pep, I usually do this at the end of the school year; that way I’m already ahead when I go back to school. It makes the summer a lot more enjoyable knowing that I already have one thing knocked off my to-do list.

I keep all my prepped materials in my handy dandy prepping bin, ready for me to pull back out in the fall.

2. Use Avery Labels

Avery labels are my best friend at the beginning of the school year. They make labeling and adding students’ names to things SOO easy. I use them for student lunch numbers, student name tags, labeling notebooks & folders, labeling my materials “property of…,” and classroom library book genres. Honestly, the possibilities are endless.

I’m not sure how it works at your school, but we usually get our class list a week or so before school starts, and then the race is on to get everything labeled and ready quickly so I might have a chance to relax for at least a day or two before school officially starts. These student name labels make everything SO easy. I type my class list once, and they autofill to every page! These labels fit on Avery labels #8160, which makes applying them really easy. I just peel and stick them to student materials.

Grab these student name labels to make back-to-school labeling a breeze!

Student name labels

3. Keep Extra Materials & Blank Labels

I highly recommend keeping extra materials on hand with ready-to-go blank labels. This makes it super easy to grab materials for new students you might get throughout the school year. I stick the blank labels right on the materials and store them in my closet just in case. Then I simply write the new student’s name on the label, and they are all set to go.

4. Build Your Student Checklist

I use student checklists daily, it seems. They are great for grading, building seating charts, field trips, and so much more. I highly recommend creating a student checklist template and keeping a bunch of printed copies on hand. It can save you so much time and be so helpful throughout the school year.

If you’d like a template, check out my teacher essentials pack that includes student checklists, teacher to-do lists and SOO much more!

5. Generic Bulletin Board Subject Titles

I am a big advocate for utilizing bulletin board space for learning rather than cutsy things. Plus, bulletin boards can be hard to change out seasonally because, honestly, who has time for that? If you want simple bulletin boards to use for learning, I recommend titling your bulletin boards with different subjects and using them to display things you are learning, like anchor charts, work examples, etc.

My favorite way to title bulletin boards is to use banners, rather than individual letters. Banners are easy to prep, easy to hang, and easy to reuse year after year. I keep my premade bulletin board banners strung, folded up in baggies, so they are super easy to store as well.

If you want to shop around for a banner style that matches your classroom theme, check out the bulletin board banner options in my shop. Each banner set includes the following phrases in several patterns and colors:

“Welcome Back!”
“Math”
“Reading”
“Writing”
“Grammar”
“Science”
“Social Studies”

6. Write Students’ Names on their Desks in Sharpie

Seating charts are a must, in my opinion, to keep the chaos away. If you are like me and hate name plates that students pick at and ruin, then you may want to try this method. You can directly write students’ names on their desk or table spot with a Sharpie. This may seem a little scary at first, but trust me, it won’t last forever and won’t remain permanent. The names typically fade and go away within a month or two just from student use.

If you need students’ names gone from their desks sooner than that, hand sanitizer does the trick.

A classroom table with writing supplies including pencils, markers, and scissors in a green container, with names labeled around the edges.

7. Create Desk Partners

You may have been wondering what the colored letters and numbers are for that are written next to the student’s name in the picture above. Those are to form partners or groups really easily. You can easily assign tasks to a specific partner or group member this way. You can mix up partners too by saying, colored partners (reds go together, greens go together), letter partners (A’s go together, B’s go together), ect.. Other examples might be…

“Group member #1, get glue sticks for everyone”
“Number 2s may line up”
“Partner B will start first in the partner game”
“Group member #3, gather papers and turn them in to the tray”

A green container filled with various school supplies including pencils, scissors, and glue sticks, on a table marked with names and letters associated with students.

8. Let Students Get to Know You

One of the best ways to build classroom community and help with classroom management is to build strong relationships with your students. Letting students get to know the real you helps make connections with students and is a great way to start building strong relationships. There are a lot of small things I do throughout the year to make this happen, but one simple thing I do at the beginning of the year is share a short video all about me.

Students love learning about your hobbies and family this way. Check out my “all about the teacher” video template to make it quick and easy to make and fun for your students to get to know you.

Organization, Teacher TIps

How to Build Your Own Teacher Planner

July 6, 2026July 10, 2026 simplysplit

A colorful planner open to August 2025, displaying a monthly calendar layout with event stickers, beside decorative items like pens and a plant. The title reads 'How to Build Your Own Teacher Planner'.

Lesson planning can be such a chore, which is why it’s important to find a system that actually works for you. Most teacher planners include pages I don’t need & lack the pages I do need, which is why my life changed when I finally found a way to build my own teacher planner with exactly the items I need. This makes my lesson planner a lot smaller to lug around, more personalized, and easier to use.

Find a Printable Digital Planner

First, you need to find a printable digital planner that works for you. There are lots of great options on TPT. I recommend finding one that has all the components you’re looking for. I created a big teacher planner that includes lots of great options. You can purchase the full bundle or just grab the areas you want. It includes…

LESSON PLANNER & SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR (curriculum mapping, monthly checklists/goals etc, month at a glance, year at a glance, batch lesson planning, class schedule, important dates, specials class schedule, digital stickers, & more)
PLANNER COVERS, SECTIONS, & TABS ( 60+ customizable cover options, premade & editable section pages & tabs)
TEACHER ESSENTIALS (to-do lists, student checklists, class list, grading, party planning templates, class birthdays, volunteer sign-up sheets, parent communication forms, goal planning, PD tracking, notes, student seating chart template, passwords, & more)
SMALL GROUP PLANNER (reading & math group formation, small group lessons, small group notes, etc.)
FIELD TRIP PLANNER (brainstorming ideas, field trip planning notes, transportation planning, field trip schedule, chaperone guide, emergency sheet, student list, student name tags, etc.)
SUBSTITUTE PLANNER (class schedule, specials class schedule, classroom management plan, sub plans, emergency protocols, emergency phone numbers, etc.)
PERSONAL PLANNER (weekly family schedule, grocery list, meal planning, gift planner, b-day list, book/movie/TV show recommendations, healthy habits tracker, nutrition & wellness, etc.)

Below are some of my favorite pages from the planner:

How to Build Your Planner

You’ll need to decide what materials you want to use for your planner. Below are some options (listed in my favorite order).

Disc Ring Binder: This is my FAVORITE option! You’ll need to purchase a few items to make this work, but it’s super durable, easy to add or get rid of pages, as condensed as you make it, plus it turns out really cute! I’ll go into detail below about what items I use to build my disc ring teacher planner. You can even re-use the materials year after year.
Binder: This option works well too and is easy to add or remove pages. The downside is that it is super bulky.
Spiral Bound: This can be expensive and is a more permanent option. It doesn’t make sense to figure out how to add pages, but you can remove pages if needed; it just might take some time to remove several pages. This is very slim and easy to carry around, though, plus it looks really cute and professional.
Folder: A folder only really works for an extremely small planner. If you just need a few items, this can work out really easily with a binder hole punch. The downside is that it can be difficult to keep a particular page open.

Disc Ring Binder Supplies

Digital/Printable Planner: HERE’S A LINK to the digital/printable planner I made.
11 Disc Binder Hole Punch: HERE’S A LINK to the hole punch I use. HERE’S A LINK to a more affordable option.
Discs: You’ll want to decide how many pages you think you will be printing so you know the size of disc rings you will need. Below are the links to my favorite options for various sizes.

*Keep in mind that if you use cardstock paper or a heavyweight paper, you may not be able to fit as much paper in your planner.

Extra Supplies that are Helpful

Disc Transparent Covers: You can simply laminate your cover page, but if you want your planner to be more durable, I would recommend using a 10 mil laminating pouch, OR, getting the transparent disc covers. HERE’S A LINK to the ones I use.
Disc Paper Pockets: If you like storing other papers in your planner, it can be really nice to have a pocket in your planner. HERE’S A LINK to the pockets I use in my teacher planner.
Month Sticker Tabs: If your planner doesn’t come with printable tabs, or you just don’t want to print and cut your own tabs, I would recommend using these month sticker tabs. HERE’S A LINK to the month sticker tabs I have used.
Pen Holder Adhesive: I love keeping a pen or pencil with my planner, so this pen holder adhesive is a must in my opinion. You can grab a pack and use them year after year, or you can reuse the same transparent cover & pen holder on your planner each year. HERE’S A LINK to the pen holders I use.

Printing Tips

Print the calendar on cardstock: I like having a heavier feel to my calendar pages. I use cardstock for the calendar pages as well as my cover page.
- If you want to add pages in between the cardstock calendar pages, DO NOT PRINT THEM FRONT & BACK. Instead, you can add pages in between the calendar months manually after printing. You can tape the calendar pages together to the next page so that the pages flow more nicely if the blank pages bother you.
Duplicate one document to build your printing file: You’ll want to duplicate or make a copy of the planner, then copy & paste the pages in the order that you want them to appear in your planner. This helps you be able to print front & back. If there are pages that specifically need to print on the left page or right page, you’ll want to pay attention to that when printing so that they line up nicely. You can add a blank page if needed to fill in as a placeholder. You can assign ODD numbers to appear on the LEFT SIDE and EVEN numbers to appear on the RIGHT SIDE or vice versa.
Test Print: I recommend test printing a couple of pages to make sure they are lining up the way you want them to in your planner.
Think before you punch holes: It can be super easy to punch holes on the wrong side of your pages. I recommend lining the pages up and test “opening” the pages before actually hole punching them. This way, you can make sure you are happy with how the pages will lay in your planner.

Below are a few pictures of the final product.

EL Skills Block, Literacy Centers, Phonics

Frequently Asked Questions About EL Skills Block

May 19, 2023July 10, 2026 simplysplit

Are you new to EL Skills Block? Are you having difficulty understanding how Skills Block is organized and set up? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Just a few years ago, I was in your shoes, ready to pull my hair out because I was so frustrated and unsure how to make this new program work. I was frustrated trying to figure out how to make my reading centers align with Skills Block and frustrated trying to navigate all the manuals Skills Block provided. I have found some great ways to help make this program work for my classroom and am here to share all the secrets I discovered and hopefully, this can help you feel more comfortable as you implement the Skills Block program. Below you’ll find some frequently asked questions that I hear many Skills Block users ask.

CURRICULUM

If you are a classroom teacher, you may not get a whole lot of say in what will be purchased for your classroom. Luckily, however, there are ways to make Skills Block bearable with or without the manuals. It is nice that all of Skill Block can be found FREE on EL Education’s website. The downside is that it is not extremely user-friendly and can be hard to lesson plan from a digital manual. I’ll explain the workarounds for Skills Block regardless of your skills situation and ability to purchase all the materials.

K-2 Manuals for each teacher – It would be very ideal to purchase the k-2 manuals for every teacher. You may not realize the importance to begin with, but when it comes to centers, it is so much easier to lesson plan small group lessons with ALL THE MANUALS. This is because during small groups, you will differentiate your instruction based on students’ skills. A 2nd grade teacher might have kindergarten level students in their classroom, therefore, during small groups, they may be teaching a kindergarten lesson to a group.
Grade-level manuals for each teacher – The next best thing is to purchase just the grade level manuals for each grade level teacher, meaning the 2nd grade teacher only gets the 2nd grade manuals. This will help the grade level be able to plan their whole group lessons more easily. Small groups lessons will be somewhat of a struggle though without having a physical copy of all the lessons you may be teaching. What I recommend doing is checking out these Skills Block lesson summary resources found in my shop. I specifically made this resource to help simplify my small group planning time and found it to be so helpful. You can buy these separately by grade level or buy the k-2 small group bundle that also includes EL’s phonics assessment along with data tracking documents. With the use of the small group lesson plans, I was able to easily find the lesson that each group needed during small group time by keeping them all in one binder. This makes it nice to not juggle between 20+ manuals. It has all the information you need in a simplified format making it easy to follow along. I have gotten to a point where I no longer plan small group lessons beforehand and I don’t prep any materials. During small groups, I can now look at the title of the activity and adapt it to work with just whiteboards. The small group lesson plans are definitely an economical way to access EL’s materials AND will save you lots of lesson planning time. Links can be found below.
Don’t have funds to purchase any manuals? – Not a problem! All of EL’s lessons can be found online. I highly recommend downloading all the manuals and materials and organizing them into google drive. This way you can access the lessons from anywhere and easily print materials without having to navigate through EL’s website constantly. Also, like mentioned above, I definitely recommend getting the small group lesson plans especially if you aren’t purchasing any manuals.

The consumable decodable books are a nice idea. It’s cool that students can write in them and take them home to read more later. However, in my experience, students don’t appreciate them or care about taking them home. Plus, they are expensive and hard to store. I recommend using the printable version that EL provides on its website. These are easy to print and can still be written on and taken home, but are much cheaper.

If you are finding that you are using too much paper printing the decodables from EL’s website, I have a solution for you. I re-formatted EL’s decodable books to fit onto one page to help save paper. I have also included some practice words with the phonics skill for each cycle at the beginning of the decodable. These are sold separately by grade level, plus there are some k-2 bundling options. Check them out below:

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If your school decides to purchase the consumable books after all, the easiest way I’ve found to store the books is in clear sterilite storage boxes. The consumables fit perfectly in the sterilite storage boxes on its side (spine up). To make it easy to find the books, place the first book of each cycle vertically.

All of EL’s manuals can be very overwhelming at first. It can be tricky to figure out which manual a particular cycle or lesson is found in and it can be hard to navigate where the lessons actually are. I recommend putting stickers on the spine of each manual. I put 2 stickers on each spine. One sticker is numbered in the order the books should be used. For example, module 1 book 1 would be labeled #1, module 1 book 2 would be labeled #2, module 2 book 1 would be labeled #3 etc. This can really help you keep all the manuals straight. The other sticker I put on the spine says which cycles are included in that particular book. For example, module 1 book 1 contains cycles 1 & 2, module 1 book 2 contains cycles 3-5 etc. This is really helpful when it comes to planning small group lessons.

Next, I suggest using sticky tabs to tab each cycle and lesson in each book (also write the cycle number and lesson number on each tab). This will help you quickly find the lesson you need to teach and help you find the cycle words quickly.

FYI: If you’d like to have the cycle words all in one place or a premade cycle word list to send home to students, check out the EL cycle word lists I made. They are sold separately by grade level, plus there is a k-2 bundle. Check them out below:

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Tab each lesson starting with the back of the book. This will help you line up your tabs more easily (trust me!)

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Keep the boxes the manuals come in. This makes it really nice to store them on a bookshelf or table. (SEE PICTURE)

There are several manuals for each grade level. There are about 8 per grade level. There are a few cycles included within each manual. There is also a resource manual that includes the assessment and other activities (read the section below titled “What’s in the resource manual” for more information).

There is a summary of each cycle just before all the lessons within that cycle. The cycle words and high-frequency words for that cycle are listed on the first page of the cycle summary (SEE PICTURE BELOW).

All of the materials provided by EL for the lessons will be found at the end of each lesson. They can be printed from the PDF manual, copied from the hard copy manual, or downloaded individually from EL’s website. It is helpful to have all of the documents from EL’s website downloaded and uploaded to google drive or whatever file storage system you use. This helps to save at least a little bit of time in the long run.

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I would not recommend printing every lesson material provided by EL. It can be a pain to prep. Most activities included in each of EL’s lessons can actually be adapted to work with students using whiteboards. If you are low on prep-time, definitely figure out which activities work well on whiteboards (without printing the materials) and which ones you actually need the printed materials for. This will help you save a lot of time.

The resource manual is where you’ll find EL’s assessment. The resource manual also includes an activity bank. The activity bank is full of games and activities you can use perhaps during small groups or as an intervention to help with a particular skill. Most of these activities require a good amount of prep.

ASSESSMENT

The most important thing to note about the assessment is that it is the KEY to reading centers. The assessment is what you need in order to form reading groups and it helps you know which cycle each group needs to work on. Students may be taught a curriculum from another grade level. For example, the assessment might show that a 2nd grader is below grade level and therefore should be taught a 1st grade lesson in small groups. I have a whole blog post all about Skills Block’s assessment, which you can read by CLICKING HERE.

I also have created a more user-friendly version of EL’s assessment that includes data tracking documents which will help you measure student growth easily. You can check that out by CLICKING HERE or clicking on the image below.

CENTERS

The first step is to complete the assessments which will help you systematically form reading groups. The most important assessments to complete in order to figure out each student’s microphase are the decoding & spelling assessments. Once you have each student’s microphase, group students within the same microphase together. Then plan your actual center activities.

The centers that EL suggests to include are below:

Fluency
Word Work
Writing
Accountable Independent Reading (AIR)
Teacher-led small group lesson

I have seen different schools approach centers differently. Some schools will make centers geared towards whatever cycle is being taught in whole-group and then use small group time to teach differentiated lessons based on each group’s microphase. However, I find this approach not to work as well because students aren’t able to get adequate practice on their individual level. I find it better to differentiate activities for each group based on the microphase and cycle each group is on. This helps meet students’ needs and students are able to work independently more easily because they are actually doing work on their own level. This can seem overwhelming to prep all the differentiated work, but I promise I have some simple suggestions to make your life easier. You can see these suggestions under the “What activities can I use in my centers that align with Skills Block” section.

EL provides an activity bank which can technically be used for centers, however, in my opinion these activities are not feasible for a few reasons:

First off, the activities require quite a bit of prep which is not feasible especially if you are differentiating for each group’s specific cycle.
Secondly, the activities are not sorted by center type (fluency, word work, writing & AIR). This makes it hard to know which center is the best to put each activity in.
Lastly, the activities are not labeled by grade level or cycle number. This requires you to match the skill with the correct cycle which is especially difficult to do for teachers new to Skills Block.

If you need some ideas for centers, keep on reading – I’ve worked hard to try and make Skills Block be a little easier for you.

I have spent years (literally-since 2018) working on materials to make Skills Block be a bit easier for myself and other amazing teachers. My main focus has been to help make Skills Block centers easy to prep as well as effective for students so they can grow throughout the program. I have many options you can choose from that all align with Skills Block and continue to create more and more resources to help you out. The bundle I recommend the most is my LOW PREP growing bundle. This includes a bunch of print and go activities that all align with Skills Block that are perfect for centers. I have these listed by individual grade level as well as a K-2 bundle. The K-2 bundle is heavily discounted and makes it really easy to differentiate. The really cool thing is that this is a GROWING BUNDLE meaning that you’ll pay a lower price now, but gain access to new resources that will be added. I will continue to add more and more resources to this bundle that are low prep and align with Skills Block. As I add more products, the price will continue to go up, but you gain access to them as they are released without paying extra. You can check out these links below:

I have also created a buyers guide to make it easy for you to figure out which resources would best fit your needs. This buyer’s guide is constantly being updated as new resources are released. You’ll find great resources for ALL CENTERS for Skills Block. You can check out the latest version of my buyers guide by CLICKING HERE or below:

I hope this blog post has been helpful to you as you try to navigate Skills Block. If you have questions that weren’t mentioned in this post, feel free to drop them below and I’ll do my best to briefly answer them AND I may also include a more detailed response in upcoming blog posts. Make sure to follow my blog so you can be notified when new blog posts are released. You can also join my email list AND get the FREEBIE pictured below — the K-2 Scope & Sequence for EL Skills Block. Click below to gain access to this FREEBIE.

Organization

How to Plan and Prep Effective Small Group Lessons in 5 Minutes or Less

January 26, 2022July 10, 2026 simplysplit

If you feel like you never have time to complete all of your teacher tasks, you are not alone. This is a common feeling amongst teachers and because of this, teachers often get burned out very quickly. In order to avoid feeling burned out and still get all the important things done, it’s important to figure out how to streamline your processes to make better use of your time. In order to save my sanity, I figured out a great way to help save me time when it comes to planning my small group lessons that has worked really well for me. I’m going to share some of my favorite secrets to help you get more accomplished and hopefully feel less burned out.

Keep in mind that in order to make this a streamlined process, it will take some initial prep. This initial prep will end up saving you SO much time in the long run though. Once you have things organized, you will thank yourself in the future when you are able to successfully prep your small group lessons in 5 minutes or less.

Also note that it is possible to completely bypass a good majority of the prep work and skip steps 1-4. If you’re looking for less upfront prep work, skip to the end of step 4 and read the section labeled “Want something even more streamlined and with less up-front prep work?”

First, you will want to figure out what phonics scope and sequence you are going to follow within your small group lessons. If you have a phonics program that your school has adopted, use the scope and sequence provided and follow the order that each phonics rule is taught.

If you don’t have an adopted program, I would suggest choosing a program that is research based and follows the science of reading (SOR).

I highly recommend following the EL Skills Block curriculum. You can access all their manuals online for FREE and it is research based. This is a K-2 program. I have made several activities that align with this program which you can use to supplement any lessons or use in centers.

Another great scope and sequence to follow is the one that LETRS includes in their manuals. Their scope and sequence is laid out very nicely and specifies when each phonics skill should be mastered for reading and for spelling (they are at different times). Their scope and sequence is planned for K-3 students.

Next, you’ll want to create word lists that follow each of the phonics skills in your scope and sequence. This may seem silly, but it can be hard to think of words right on the spot and you’ll want to have this already figured out to streamline this process.

If you are using the EL Skills Block curriculum, I have pre-made spelling word lists that align with their scope and sequence. You can grab a copy for the grade level you teach from my TpT shop. However, I highly recommend getting the K-2 bundle, the reason being that you will have students that are above or below grade level and you will want to be able to accommodate them and have materials and resources already prepped.

I keep a stapled copy of all the word lists at my small group table that I can quickly reference when needed during small group lessons.

You may already have some great phonics activities up your sleeve which is great. You can skip this step if you feel strong in this area already.

Some of my favorite low prep activities to do during small group lessons are:

There are some additional small group activity ideas you can check out here. This is a FREEBIE from my teachers pay teachers shop. There are so many great ideas to use as a small group lesson. Most lessons can be adapted by just using a whiteboard which I LOVE because there is no prep needed.

It may be helpful to record the phonics activities you have already and figure out what phonics skills you may be lacking in your resource collection. This can also be used as your lesson guideline that you can use down the line. Feel free to use this FREE template I created to help you organize and analyze what you have and need to still get.

After you have been able to analyze all the materials you have and what you might need, you’re going to want to get all those materials fully prepped. You can enlist help from others so this can be a smooth quick process. Here are a few suggestions:

Contact the education department of a local college. Some colleges may require students with an education major to complete a related service project. Some students may just want to get involved with working with a teacher to gain experience. You can use this to your advantage and ask for volunteers to help prep materials for your classroom.
Ask teachers at your school if they have any students that may have spare time to help. Some teachers may be wanting to do a class service project or may have students that finish with their work early that can volunteer and help in your classroom. It never hurts to ask and see if you can get any help.
Ask for parent volunteers. Parents often want to get involved in the classroom but aren’t always available during school hours to help. I usually get a lot more parent volunteers to help prep materials on their own time rather than volunteers to help in the classroom. It is a great solution and can help save you so much time. One of my favorite ways to get parent volunteers is by using the ClassTag app. I use ClassTag as a way to communicate to all parents and it has a great method for asking for volunteers. When you ask for volunteers on the app, parents can see if the volunteer spot has been filled or not. ClassTag will automatically send out the volunteer opportunity again after a while if it has not been filled to make sure the volunteer opportunity isn’t lost. Since using this app, I was ALWAYS able to get a volunteer opportunity filled.

You may be facing a lot of challenges or feel stuck if you are just starting out with teaching small group lessons or are teaching a new grade level, or maybe small group lesson planning is just not your thing and you are trying to improve. You may just not have time to do the upfront prep work. Whatever problem you may be having, I can help you out. I have made small group lesson plans for the whole year that you can use. They follow the EL Skills Block Phonics Curriculum which is research based. All you need to do is print it out and get familiar with the different activities used throughout the booklet and your small groups are set! There are learning targets, word lists, and great research based activities to teach each phonics skill. You can adapt most activities to work with just a whiteboard. There are 1st grade and 2nd grade options to purchase. If you have students on various levels, you may want to grab both 1st and 2nd grade levels. This will help save you quite a bit of time and make it possible to skip over steps 1-4. Click below to see more details about these resources.

Before starting centers, you need to assess students, this is so you know how to group students AND what skill each group needs to work on. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to assessing and grouping students, I have another blog post all about this. You can check out this blog post by clicking here.

I personally really like to use the assessment that EL Skills Block provides with their curriculum. It systematically helps group students after they are assessed AND it tells you exactly what skill that each group should focus on next. It aligns with the other helpful resources talked about in this post. You can check out my version of this assessment by clicking here.

After you have been able to assess all your students, put them into groups, then comes the easy part. All you need to do is find the matching skill each group is working on. You should be able to easily find this if you filled out the FREE TEMPLATE or if you purchased the small group lesson activities. I like to place a tab for each group next to the lesson they are on. It looks something like this:

Now my weekly prep is literally moving each group tab marker up to the next phonics skill and pulling any pre-made materials if needed for the included activities. It really is that easy.

Where it does take initial prep which may be daunting, I promise you that in the future, you will thank yourself for making things streamlined. You can then use these materials year after year and will save so much time!

Organization

How to Differentiate EL Skills Block Literacy Centers with Phonics Packets

January 5, 2022July 10, 2026 simplysplit

If you are new to EL Skills Block and are trying to figure out how to get your literacy centers set-up and ready aligning with the Skills Block program, you’ve come to the right place. There is a big learning curve when it comes to implementing the EL Skills Block program and it can be quite overwhelming when you’re getting started. I have made dozens of phonics resources that align with the EL Skills Block program to help get new teachers started in the program and feel confident while they are implementing it.

If you have already administered the appropriate Skills Block assessments AND grouped your students accordingly, please skip to #2.

If you have not been trained on how to administer and group your students using the Skills Block assessment, I would suggest reading my previous blog post that explains this first step in great detail. You can view this post by clicking here.

This is a crucial step so you can group your students correctly, PLUS see what skill each group should focus on. Below is a shortened version of what you need to do.

Perform appropriate assessments

The appropriate assessments will vary based on the grade that you teach. The 2 most important assessments when it comes to grouping your students are the spelling assessment AND the decoding assessment. You may need to give a student a second spelling/decoding assessment if they master the spelling list/word list OR if they struggle too much. This helps you hone in on the precise level they are on.

Determine each student’s microphase.

The spelling and decoding assessments can help you determine each student’s microphase. Each of the microphases are listed on the conversion chart inside the resource manual. I like to abbreviate each microphase making it quicker to group and see their exact level. I abbreviate like so in ascending order: (E=Early; M=Middle; L=Late)

-Pre-Alphabetic: Pre-E, Pre-M, Pre-L

-Partial Alphabetic: PE, PM, PL

-Full Alphabetic:FE, FM, FL

-Consolidate Alphabetic: CE, CM, CL

Write each student’s name in the appropriate microphase.

I created a sheet to make grouping easy that looks like the picture shown. You can purchase this sheet along with the full EL Skills Block assessment + data analysis sheets by clicking here.

I would suggest printing two copies of the blank conversion chart and labeling one as “spelling” and the other as “decoding.” Then write each student’s name in the appropriate microphase. This will help you visually see how students can be grouped.

Make Literacy Groups

You’ll have to decide which data you’d like to use to group your students. Students will usually score lower in spelling and higher in decoding. For this reason, I like to use the spelling data to group students and I use the decoding information to help me make more specific decisions if needed. If a group is too large, you can look at the decoding list to see what student would be best to move to a higher or lower group.

You can see how I grouped these students based on their microphase in the picture.

EL Skills Block makes this extremely easy. Once you have grouped your students, all you need to do is look at the conversion chart to see what lesson each group should focus on. For example, if you have a group in the Full Middle (FM) microphase, they would be on Grade 1 Module 3 Cycle 18 which focuses on CVCe (2 syllable words + suffixes). They would next move to Cycle 19 which focuses on r-controlled vowels (ar & or).

This is what the conversion chart looks like:

You can see how I grouped and leveled my students by watching the video below.

FREEBIE ALERT!! Grab this freebie to help you organize your group information and what needs to be prepped each week. There are three different options included in the freebie depending on how many groups you may have. There are 4, 5 & 6 group options. It also includes a poster of each group that you can use for labeling purposes if needed.

There are a few different ways you can use these organizational sheets. You can print several copies and cut off the bottom part on all but 1 copy. I would suggest laminating the full sheet copy (after you have written who is within each group). Then you can write what microphase & cycle each group will be working on each week, along with the number of copies you need, plus what needs to be printed & prepped.

You can laminate one sheet and use a dry erase marker to write what needs to be prepped each week. This option can be a bit trickier if you have a lot to write down and prep.

I have made several literacy centers that align with EL Skills Block. If you are just starting out and need something low prep, I would highly recommend using the 5 Day Phonics Packets I have listed in my store. They are print and go, making it super manageable while you’re getting the hang of EL Skills Block. They are also easy to differentiate. There is 1 packet for each cycle which includes 5 activities to do for the whole week. There are kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade options available with lots of bundling options.

Above is a video preview of the kindergarten packets. Click below to view product.

Above is a video preview of the 1st grade packets. Click below to view product.

Above is a video preview of the 2nd grade packets. Click below to view product.

Note that it may be helpful to buy a multi grade bundle so you can easily differentiate. With the EL Skills Block program, it is common for you to have students in kindergarten, 1st grade OR 2nd grade levels all within one class.

In the kindergarten packets, you will find the following activities:

phonics skill explanation
spelling words
secret words/message
spelling word sorting
write the word to match the picture
draw a picture to match the word
sentence writing with spelling words
decodable book
find the spelling pattern in decodable book

In the 1st grade packets, you will find the following activities:

phonics skill explanation
spelling words
spelling word sorting
write the word to match the picture
draw a picture to match the word
sentence writing with spelling words
decodable book
find the spelling pattern in decodable book

In the 2nd grade packets, you will find the following activities:

phonics skill explanation
spelling words
spelling word sorting
syllable sleuth (decoding words-grapheme mapping)
draw a picture to match the homophone
sentence writing with spelling words
decodable book
find the spelling pattern in decodable book

I am currently making dozens more centers that align with EL Skills Block. Below are the items that align with EL Skills Block and are already posted and ready to be purchased:

Phonics Tic Tac Toe (available for 1st & 2nd grade)
Small Group Lesson Summary (available for 1st and 2nd grade)
Fluency Word (& letter) Strips (available for kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade)
Phonics Speed & Read Board Games – works great in conjunction with the fluency word strips (available for 2nd grade – kindergarten & 1st grade will be released at the beginning of 2022)
Spelling Word Lists – perfect for a word work center (available in kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade)

Phonics packets are bundled by grade level and multilevel. Below are the details:
- Kindergarten (full year)
- Kindergarten & 1st grade (full bundles)
- 1st grade (full year)
- 1st & 2nd grade (full bundles)
- 2nd grade (full year)
- Kindergarten, 1st grade & 2nd grade (full bundles)
Mega EL Skills Block Bundles for 1st & 2nd grade includes:
- Phonics packets
- Phonics tic tac toe
- Small Group Lesson Summary
- Spelling Word Lists
- K-2 Reading Assessment & Data Analysis
- BONUS: Sight word cards are included as a bonus (not sold anywhere else)
Spelling Word Lists are bundled by grade level and multilevel. Below are the details:
- Kindergarten (full year)
- 1st grade (full year)
- 2nd grade (full year)
- Kindergarten, 1st grade & 2nd grade (full bundles)
Rule Explanation Sheets are bundled by grade level and multilevel. Below are the details:
- Kindergarten (full year)
- 1st grade (full year)
- 2nd grade (full year)
- Kindergarten, 1st grade & 2nd grade (full bundles)

Rollercoaster Blend & Read CVC Words (this is particularly helpful for those students just starting to read CVC Words)
Rollercoaster Blend & Read Digraph Short Vowel Words
Short Vowel Matching Games
Accountable Reading Response Sheets (This is great to use in a read to self center to hold students accountable)

If you’d like to see an updated list of products that align with EL Skills Block, click here to view items from my store.

Organization

Classroom Library Organization

July 30, 2021July 10, 2026 simplysplit

Are you a first year teacher? Or just frustrated with your classroom library organization? You’ve come to the right place then. Learn how to organize your classroom in an easy way for your students to visually see and pick up books; plus help students take ownership and put books away on their own.
My secret little weapon is using these library labels. You place stickers on the spine of each book and a matching label on the book bin. This helps students know exactly where to find the book they are looking for and where to put it away again. If book bins are not your thing, you can also place the coordinating book sticker on the shelf itself so students can see the area that those books are found in.

I personally like to have my classroom library organized by both reading level and topic. This way students can find books they are interested in by topic as well as books that are on their reading level. These labels can be purchased either bundled with both topic and reading levels or separately.

The following reading levels are provided:

-Fountas & Pinnell
-Accelerated Reader (AR)
-Lexile
-Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)

If you want to make any adjustments to the labels feel free. These are EDITABLE and tutorials are provided so you know exactly how to edit them or make your own to match. The color coding for the reading levels can even be adjusted. Edit them to fit your classroom!

You can also choose the size that you want each book bin label to be. They are set to fit one per page, but you can request to print 2 per page, 4 per page etc. The labels pictured were set to print 6 per page. Because they are made 1 per page, this makes it easy to pick and choose what labels you want printed without wasting paper. Whoooo!!

The labels are set to print on avery labels #8160. You will need to purchase these in order for the stickers to align correctly when printing. Here is a link to the labels I purchased to print on.

Once you have everything printed, I would suggest laminating the labels and placing packaging tape over the book spine stickers to ensure durability. Then you are all set. You will love the way this helps to increase functionality in your classroom and increase students’ interest in your library.

Interested in downloading these organizational library labels?? Click below.