How I Structure my French Literacy Block in 3 Easy Steps

When you are organizing and setting up your French literacy block, it can feel overwhelming. What are the key components you need every day? And what will help you make the most of your time? After lots of trial and error, I have found a French literacy block routine that works really well, and I want to share it.

Part 1: Phonics

This is a key component to my French primary literacy block. Phonics is a part of my daily literacy routine. We work on phonics for about 5-10 minutes a day, except for Friday, which is our dedicated phonics day. On Friday, we really take some extended time to practice and review.

I like to teach phonics through stories. During whole-group lessons, we do shared reading using my pocket chart stories. I model decoding strategies, we play with the words and sentences, etc. In small groups, my students use my French phonics mini readers. The mini readers are the same stories as the pocket chart version, but are perfect for students to read in small-groups and even at home! I love having students highlight the target sound in their books.

In centers and for independent practice, I like to use this French Phonics Bundle. It’s enough activities and resources to get you through an entire year. Activities include things like word searches, orthographic mapping, write the word, and more. I often use these as morning work and center activities.

I also want to share a sample of the phonics instruction I use. This free resource includes five days worth of lessons for le son /a/ as well as all of the resources you need. This free guide is over 70 pages!

Part 2: Silent Reading

A key part of my French literacy book is silent reading. We start this at the very beginning of the year, and we work on building stamina throughout the year. Essentially, you won’t start off with students reading for 10 minutes, but you can work up to that goal. While my students are reading independently, I also pull small groups and work on specific skills with students.

Silent reading is made super easy with a few systems. My students keep all their literacy materials in plastic bins. Each student is assigned a number, which is on their name /tags (that way I don’t need to relabel my bins each year – work smarter not harder..!) After silent reading, students put everything back in their bin. We practice this a lot at the beginning of the year to make things run smoothly.

Part 3: Focus Work

The specific French literacy focus changes every day. Focus work includes a quick whole-group lesson and independent work (or sometimes group work) afterwards.

Here is what a typical week looks like for my class:

• Writing: 2-3 days a week. I like to run it Writer’s Workshop style. I wrote a blog post about French narrative writing with primary students, if you want to read more.
• Reading comprehension: 1-2 days a week
• Phonics: 1 day a week on Friday

Want to check out the resources listed?

All the links above lead to TPT, but the resources are also available on our website. Here are the resources available here for purchase in CAD. Don’t forget you can also buy credits for an additional discount (up to $15 off).

I hope by sharing my French literacy block, you have an outline and some ideas for creating your own! I have several other blogs all about French literacy, which you can read here.