Course | Bricks & Mortar: Filling Literacy Gaps

Prices

The price listed reflects a one time payment with 1 year access to the course (including tax). An additional pricing option is 4 payments of $59/month.

The final tax and total will be confirmed in your invoice after you place your order.

For further information, please visit The Six Shifts website.

Description

A self-paced online class and a flexible, ready-to-use framework—built to help you provide intentional, targeted literacy support in grades 3–5+.

Upper elementary is where gaps become impossible to ignore.
Expectations rise fast in grades 3–5+—but many students are still carrying unfinished learning from earlier years. You see it every day, especially in small groups.

• Students who still stumble over multisyllabic words and rely on guessing instead of decoding.
• Readers who lose the thread as sentences get longer and more complex.
• Students who shut down the moment writing is required—even when they understand the content.
• Wildly varied needs in every group—and never enough time to make plans feel clear or effective.

Free Video Session

The Missing Bridge Between Phonics and Fluent Reading
Are your students struggling to make the jump from sounding out words to reading with fluid comprehension?

What you'll learn in this session:
• Why traditional fluency speed-drills consistently fail struggling upper-elementary readers.
• The explicit science behind orthographic mapping and cultivating immediate reading automaticity.
• 3 practical, actionable small-group instructional routines you can use tomorrow.
• How to confidently guide structural transitions from simple decodables to advanced, fluent texts.

You can request this free video session to The Six Shifts's team.

Help Students Build the Skills They’ve Been Missing Without Burning Yourself Out.

Bricks & Mortar is a no-nonsense, research-aligned online class for educators supporting learners with unfinished reading and writing skills. It gives you a clear, practical framework for small-group instruction without scripts, excessive prep, or added programs.

The Online Class

Guidance, modeling, and clarity.
Modeled instruction and video lessons.
The Bricks & Mortar online class walks you through the framework step by step, so you know what to teach, why it matters, and how to apply it in real classrooms.

• Short, on-demand video lessons you can revisit anytime
• Modeled instruction for word, sentence, and passage work
• Clear explanations that build instructional confidence
• Support for moving from theory into daily small-group practice

The Framework

Classroom tools you can reuse all year.
Reusable lesson templates and classroom tools.
Bricks & Mortar gives you a flexible instructional system you can return to again and again, without planning from scratch or rebuilding your small groups.

• Reusable, flexible lesson templates that adapt to student needs
• Teacher tools for planning, grouping, and prioritizing instruction
• Student tools for word work, meaning-making, and written response
• A structure that flexes with the time you actually have

Three components. One flexible, repeatable system.
Bricks & Mortar organizes small-group instruction so skills build logically— from the smallest units of reading to connected text—while giving teachers a structure they can return to again and again.

1. Word Work
Laying the Bricks
Rebuild missing decoding skills so students can approach complex words with confidence.

• Identify decoding gaps
• Build accuracy and automaticity
• Teach syllabication and morphology

2. Sentence Work
Binding with Mortar
Help students follow meaning as sentences grow longer and more layered.

• Track sentence structure
• Follow ideas across clauses
• Use punctuation as meaning cues

3. Passage Work
Raising the Walls
Bring everything together through connected text, fluency, and writing.

• Read with stamina
• Build fluency intentionally
• Write with clarity and evidence

The Bricks & Mortar Framework Helps You Fill the Gaps

Bricks & Mortar gives you a clear, research-aligned system for small-group instruction— designed specifically for the realities of upper-elementary classrooms. An online class that comes with teacher tools, student tools,and resuable lesson templates you can use all year!

Flexible Classroom Use

Designed to work with the time you actually have.
Bricks & Mortar isn’t something you “get through.” It’s something you return to—adjusting the size and focus based on your students, your schedule, and the day you’re actually having.

• Whole Framework
When you have the time to connect it all
Use all three components in one session to help students see how word work, sentence work, and passage work support each other.

• Mini Framework
When focus matters more than coverage
Work with one or two components based on what students need most, without losing the structure that keeps instruction coherent.

• Micro Routine
When time is tight but instruction still matters
Use a short, targeted routine to address a specific gap— without abandoning the framework or starting from scratch.

Who Bricks & Mortar is For

Bricks & Mortar was created for educators and practitioners supporting learners who need more than surface-level reading instruction—at any age.

This class is for you if you:
• Teach grades 3–5 and support students with unfinished literacy learning
• Work with older students who still struggle with decoding, fluency, or comprehension
• Teach adults who are learning to read or rebuilding foundational literacy skills
• Provide small-group instruction, intervention, tutoring, or pull-out support
• Want a clear framework instead of another scripted program
• Believe literacy instruction should be responsive, intentional, and human

What’s Included

Clarity, Structure & Practical Tools

• On-Demand Video Lessons
• Companion Guides for Active Learning
• Planning Tools & Routine Blueprints
• Word Work & Morphology Tools
• Sentence Work Tools
• Fluency & Written Response Tools
• Formative Assessment Tools
• Bonus Lessons: Using AI Power Tools