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| ISSUE 52 | SEPTEMBER 2024 |
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We hope the new school year has started smoothly and you and your students are settling into a solid routine. As you are becoming acquainted with your students’ personalities and interests, it is also likely you are starting to document their academic strengths and weaknesses. Through formal Superkids assessments, designed to be implemented as the year begins, and your informal assessment of students as they work through daily instruction, the need to challenge some students—and reteach skills with others—is beginning to inform your planning.
In this issue of The Superkids Bulletin, we review resources provided in The Superkids Reading Program that are ideal for delivering differentiated instruction to individual children or small groups of students. Be sure to read this month’s issue carefully! The NEW freebie is a hidden gem.
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In Superkids, the word work portion of lessons are taught to the whole class, so all children are taught the same foundational reading skills. Teacher’s Guides offer point-of-instruction differentiation tips throughout the core lessons to help you support children working at different levels as you teach the whole group. Some children will benefit from additional teacher-led activities to reteach a skill they have not yet mastered or extend a skill when they need a challenge. Here are Superkids resources you can use to assist with planning differentiated activities outside of the core lesson.
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Building Blocks of Reading
Some children enter kindergarten with limited oral language skills, little exposure to print materials, and little or no knowledge of letters. The Building Blocks of Reading book, found in the kindergarten Teacher Materials, contains activities that will reinforce auditory discrimination, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, print awareness and letter recognition skills. Kindergarten teachers use the Building Blocks of Reading activities at the beginning of the year to help assess children’s skills and then continue to use the activities in small groups with the children who need additional support and practice as needed.
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Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins
Located after core lessons in the Teacher’s Guide, Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins are activities intended to reinforce or extend the skills taught during the lesson. Activities are intended for small groups, but some activities can easily be done with the whole class if needed. Some Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins utilize hands-on Classroom Resource Kit materials while others use reproducible Practice Pages. For each unit, some activities are available as interactive whiteboard activities in MyZBPortal.com.
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Teacher Tip: Superkids teachers recommend previewing the unit’s lessons before teaching and preparing Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins prior to beginning a new unit. After teaching, store the activities in labeled baggies to save time when planning the following year.
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Practice Pages
Practice Pages are reproducible skill pages tied to the core lessons. Some pages may be selected for all students to complete, while others may be ideal for only the students who need extra practice with the skill. Pages can be completed during independent work time or with a teacher-led group.
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Teacher Tip: Many Practice Pages can be laminated and turned into independent activities that will provide repeated practice with a particular skill. Once an activity is introduced, children can complete the activities while you are working with small reading groups.
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Activity Pages
Activity Pages are ready-made, printable word cards for games that reinforce phonemes taught during each unit. Additionally, some sets of cards reinforce memory words for the unit. These game resources are found on the Materials page for grades 1 and 2 in MyZBPortal.com.
The fishing game Activity Page is one of the most popular! We are frequently asked if we can make an editable version for teachers to create their own word cards to differentiate games for students. We are happy to announce—we did it! This month’s new freebie is an editable version that will allow you to create cards to accommodate your students’ needs. Enjoy!
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Superkids Skill-Building Book
The comprehensive collection of activities and resources from the Superkids Skill-Building Book, found in the Classroom Resource Kit, provides additional skill instruction and practice for children who need it. It is designed so you can quickly find activities that will support the needs of your students. The book is divided into sections—each focusing on an essential strand of skills.
In addition to activities, the Superkids Skill-Building Book includes assessment activities and resources to plan for targeted skill instruction.
For students working above grade level, the Superkids Skill-Building Book includes Challenging Workouts to help your advanced students stretch their skills. These activities are found at the back of each skill strand section.
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Teacher Tip: The final section of the Superkids Skill-Building Book includes resources to accompany the activities you may choose to teach, including several printable, ready-to-use resources. Be sure to check them out!
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Superkids core text is intended to be read in small groups of students with similar reading abilities. This allows you to use appropriate mediation techniques to make the text accessible for each reading group. Repeated reading of previously introduced text—with a teacher, with a partner, or independently—is a recommended practice to improve fluency, increase comprehension, and build confidence.
For students who need more practice with decoding at the word-level, repeated practice using the Superkids big book resources are ideal.
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Big Book of Blending and Big Book of Decoding
The Big Book of Blending and Big Book of Decoding are excellent resources to use with small groups of students who need additional practice with reading words in isolation. Printable book pages, found on the Materials page in MyZBPortal.com, can be used at a literacy station for independent or partner decoding practice. Printed pages can also be sent home with students for extra practice.
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Teacher Tip: The printable book pages are great for creating decodable word cards for practice activities and games. Just print, laminate, and cut out the words to create a set of cards that aligns to the phonics focus of the current unit.
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Repeated Reading of Decodable Text
Returning to read Student Book stories in kindergarten or Reader stories in grades 1 and 2 is a great way to provide practice reading connected decodable text. Multiple reading experiences with core text is highly encouraged, particularly for the students who struggle with decoding.
Backpack Page Fluency Passages are printable short stories from the Reader and provide additional practice with reading decodable text. Passages are available for grades 1 and 2 and can be copied from the Backpack Pages reproducible book found in your Teacher Materials or can be printed from the Materials page in MyZBPortal.com.
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Teacher Tip: For children who are easily overwhelmed by a full page of text, passages can be physically cut into manageable chunks. Children can practice repeatedly reading one section of text during teacher-led group time, with a partner, and/or independently until the section can be read fluently with little assistance. Once a chunk is mastered, move to the next cut section.
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The multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework suggests tier 2 instruction should be closely linked to tier 1 instruction. We recommend that providers of tier 2 instruction and intervention be knowledgeable about Superkids resources and pedagogy. Tier 2 providers are encouraged to meet frequently with the educators teaching the Superkids core lessons to ensure that their support activities align with the skills the students have been taught. Resource teachers interested in exploring Superkids lessons and learning more about the effective, evidence-based instructional strategies of the program can attend a free on-demand implementation training for any grade level.
The K–2 Superkids Resource Teacher Support Kit provides learning support and intervention teachers with Superkids resources for differentiated individual and small-group instruction.
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