Book excerpt: Make the most of every instructional minute with engaging literacy activities Time--or lack thereof--may be the most precious commodity in the classroom. From covering all the necessary curriculum and imparting life skills to attending meetings and answering emails, educators are faced with real challenges when there never seems to be enough time to do it all. Although teachers don't have the power to create more minutes in the school day, they do have the power to be effective and efficient with the time given. Molly Ness asks teachers first to examine their use of time in the classroom in order to make more space for literacy. She then introduces 40 innovative activities designed to replace seatwork. These literacy-rich alternatives for classroom transitions are presented alongside Research on instructional time in K-5 classrooms Strategies for how to maximize every minute of instruction Suggestions for improving efficiency to expand independent reading and writing time Reflective practices to help teachers examine how they use the time they have The instructional day is ripe for redesign with a thoughtful and authentic time audit. Every Minute Matters guides educators through that process by outlining literacy-rich activities to optimize transitional times and minimize lost instructional minutes.