How to Start Planning Your ELA Block

Hey there, teachers! Welcome back to the sixth installment in our twelve-part series on setting up your Literacy Blocks. I’m thrilled to have you join me as we dive into today’s topic: getting started with Planning a Literacy Block Schedule.

Planning can sometimes feel overwhelming, but with the right tools and strategies, it can become a manageable and even enjoyable part of your routine. In this post, I’ll share my favorite tips for creating effective to-do lists and pacing guides that will keep you on track and ensure your literacy block runs smoothly.

From breaking down tasks into manageable steps to mapping out a pacing guide that aligns with your curriculum, these strategies will help you set up a literacy block that meets your students’ needs and fits seamlessly into your day.

So, grab your planner and let’s get started on creating a foolproof plan for your literacy block. By the end of this post, you’ll have all the tools you need to make your planning process a breeze and your literacy block a success!

Want to take notes while reading this blog series? Grab this FREE collection of note-taking sheets!

Click HERE to download the free guide!

Let’s Start Planning a Literacy Block Schedule

How to set up your reading and writing time when planning out ELA block with a to-do list.

You’re going to make a massive to-do list! Write down everything you need to do before planning your ELA block. I like to do a “brain dump” first, writing every single thing down. Then, I take that brain dump list and organize it into more structured to-do lists. You’re going to write down things you need to buy, things you need to organize, things you need to get in place for a structure to occur.

Download a FREE Pacing Guide or Create Your Own

How to set up your pacing guides when planning out ELA block.

Your next step is going to be locating or creating those ELA pacing guides. Your school or district may already have pacing guides to follow, or you can grab my FREE pacing guides here.

The goal is to plan how you’re going to incorporate each of the CCSS (or your state) ELA when you’re planning to teach them throughout the year. You can create your ELA pacing guide by using the standards that you printed from yesterday’s blog tasks! Highlight or check them as it’s worked into your pacing guide to make sure all standards have been hit at least once during the year.

Plug Standards Into Monthly/Weekly Plans

Now, you want to plug those standards or unit topics into your monthly and weekly ELA block plans. You can use the free templates that are linked at the bottom of the blog post (or here) to ensure you have everything covered!

Write in pencil! Typically you will start planning out the standards and realize you either need to double up weeks or shorten the time. It’ll probably take a few drafts to get your perfect ELA block plan. Start plugging in your topics/standards for each of the six domains. If you do this now, your weekly lesson planning will be SO much simpler and less time-consuming!

During Year, Track Standards

Keep a checklist of all ELA standards throughout the year to keep pace.

We all know that plans are adapted and changed from our long-rang plans! So, it’s essential to keep track of what you’ve taught throughout the year. This checklist is in the 30-page download that you can sign up to get for free. The sign up is at the bottom of this blog post too! This checklist is a great way to track your progress! You don’t want to get to May and realize you still need to teach six of your ELA standards!

Let’s Talk Resource Collection to Help with Planning a Literacy Block Schedule

Planning your ELA block - Evaluating materials and resources.

Now, you want to look into your ELA materials. Think about all of the ELA block preparation you’ve just done, all of the components you’ve just considered: Mini-lessons, partner and group activities, exit slips and assessments, small group lessons and materials, literacy work stations and centers, etc. Look at the materials that you organized in one of our previous blog post tasks. What materials do you have? Which standards are covered? Which standards still need materials?

You want to start building your resource collection so you have materials that cover every standard you’re required to teach. Consider looking into “standards-based” materials so that your lessons can be more explicit and your students will gain more direct skill mastery.

(This checklist is also part of the 30-page download!)

Ready-made Standards-Based Resource Collection

If you found that your resources are lacking in the last step, I do have standards-based resource collections for K-4. These are CCSS units for each ELA standard (for all six domains). They can be purchased individually. For example, if you have resources for most of the standards, but are lacking in RL.7, you can just grab the individual unit for that standard! Or if you have loads of Reading Informational and Literature resources, but you don’t have enough to teach all of the language standards, you can purchase a language bundle, which is a money-saving collection of units in one place. Or if you’re ready to get a full year’s curriculum, those are available for 5-grade levels. Look below for links!

Each unit comes with mini-lessons and activities, graphic organizers, reading passages, interactive notebook pieces, task cards, and an assessment.

Click the links to buy the all-year ELA bundles:

Also, to make it even easier for you, if you click the “ELA Units” tab at the top. It will take you to a page with all the different purchase options for ELA Bundles, including on TPT, a payment plan on Elementary Nest, or a membership!

Getting started planning your ELA block.

Thank you so much for sticking with us through this ELA Planning Journey! I hope that this blog series has helped you organize your ELA block, offered engaging resources, and helped you fit all of your content in! Good luck in this back to school season! Happy teaching!

If you missed any of the previous content, here are all the links just for you!

How to set up your reading and writing time. Your next steps when planning out ELA block. How to set up your pacing guides, planners, schedules, and more.

Looking for more Reading & Writing materials? Check out the All-Year-ELA Membership!

With this membership, you will get all of my ELA standards-based units. This includes my standards-based materials for Reading Informational, Reading Literature, Writing, Language and Grammar, Vocabulary, Foundational Skills, and Speaking & Listening!