To complete all of the units in one year, you will need to plan to teach almost a full 180-days. It is common for schools to skip a unit.
A strong reading program takes advantage of every day, and every minute to get kids reading! To teach the full curriculum, you will need to commit to teaching reading everyday. This means starting unit 1 the first week of school, and planning to finish unit 5 the last week of school. It also means teaching reading even on 1/2 days, and days with other interruptions (fire-drills, assemblies, and holiday parties).
For some schools, this is a lot to ask! Which is why you have the flexibility of skipping a unit if you need to.
The first year with the program, you will not have your pacing down. Plan to skip a unit your first year; give yourself some grace! 💝
If you skip a unit, be thoughtful about which unit you skip. For example, don't skip the nonfiction unit. Your students will need this critical practice!
Why teach reading everyday?
- To teach students to instill a daily reading habit. Hopefully will be a habit that will continue throughout their life.
- Strong readers show strength in other subject areas. Committing the school day to reading will reap rewards in all other areas.
- Minutes matter. Reading research suggests 90-minutes of reading instruction a day. This should include at least 20-minutes of daily independent reading.
- Volume of reading matters. Students who read 10 books a year show strong reading scores.
Read more about the importance of daily reading instruction: