How To: Catch-Up

• Lesson Objective: Allocate time for students to revisit, complete, or improve upon unfinished or unsatisfactory work.

• Grouping:  Small-group or Independent

• Methodology: Students complete work as needed, with or without support.

• Duration: 20-25 minutes

It's time to "ketchup." Get it? Get it??

I couldn’t resist the pun. I’m sure it’s brand new to you (wow, I am absolutely on fire).

Anyway, I debated whether a “catch-up day” even needed its own blog post—after all, the name kind of explains itself. But I think it’s worth a closer look. Why? Because no matter their age, students work at different paces. One of the ongoing challenges of teaching is meeting those pacing needs without leaving anyone behind—or holding others back. By this point in the unit, I can almost guarantee I’ll have students who need to finish work, need extra support, or are ready for enrichment.

I refuse to just plow ahead thinking, "They’ll catch on eventually."  That mindset is exactly what lands many students in intervention in the first place. So, yes—catch-up days matter. They’re purposeful, planned, and essential. Below, I’ll outline a few ways I manage them in my classroom.

🖍 How the Routine Works

The most obvious option: students complete, or improve upon unfinished or unsatisfactory work. Students know that they can resubmit any assignment if they're dissatisfied with their grade. They know I may require them to redo their work if I'm dissatisfied.

The reason I strive to grade assignments within 48 hours is twofold: first, to provide students with timely feedback, and second, to collect meaningful data. Everything they turn in functions as a formative assessment. With multiple check-ins, small-group sessions, and their submitted work, I’m able to keep my finger on the pulse of understanding. Catch-up days aren’t just about “finishing”—they’re about refining and reinforcing learning. My co-teacher and I will determine if the student simply needs time to finish or if they need support.

Students who are caught up. What do they do? They have a few options:

• Play Bananagrams in partners or solo using this week's morphemes or graphemes. They love this game, especially if I add a competitive twist by offering candy prizes to winners.

• Work on assignments for other courses. I know some teachers loathe this idea, but prioritizing is a life skill. As long as students are up to date in my class, I'm happy to support their productivity elsewhere.

• Free Time. I only allow it if the student has satisfactory GPA. If so, I figure they've earned it.

What am I doing on catch-up days? Pulling students one on one for phonemic awareness instruction.

Check out the Interactive Unit Guides to see how this lesson fits within each unit. There, you’ll find links to the unit-specific lessons and my Bananagrams guidelines.