This article introduces SAIL, an instructional framework designed to help teachers optimize students’ learning during small‐group word study instruction. Small‐group word study interactions afford opportunities for teachers to engage students in thinking, talking, advancing vocabulary knowledge (including general academic vocabulary), and making connections to reading and writing while furthering students’ knowledge of orthographic features. Yet, often, these opportunities are not leveraged. The SAIL framework encourages attention to these areas through four components: Survey, Analyze, Interpret, and Link. First, the author describes the SAIL components; then, to reveal some of SAIL's potential for enabling more robust instruction, she presents transcribed vignettes from a first‐grade classroom. The highlighted classroom was part of an exploratory study of K–1 classroom implementation of SAIL. SAIL can also be applied with learners at more advanced elementary grades. A list of elementary‐appropriate general academic vocabulary words is included.