As you probably know, phonics is an essential component of reading instruction. Before you read this loooong post all about how to teach ph...
What does a strong reading intervention lesson look like from start to finish to ensure students meet their literacy goals? Here's a sample lesson to show you!
In this post, I'll show you a peek inside my 2nd Edition No Prep Reading Intervention Binder. I have been working on this intervention binder for
Many teachers are familiar with decoding strategies that may emphasize the use of picture clues, meaning and self-monitoring.
Follow these five steps to teach a child to read. Helpful for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers that are teaching beginning readers.
Learn the essentials of research-based reading instruction! Understand its components, structure, and how it differs from traditional approaches. Share crucial insights with stakeholders to support student success effectively. Explore how to implement this approach for optimal literacy growth!
Phonics Based Decodable Readers
A weak foundation in phonics will affect a student's ability to read with appropriate fluency and comprehension. Students must be able to automatically identify common words and recognize phonics patterns within words to read with proficiency. With struggling readers, especially, it's important to dig deeper with assessments to determine if phonics is an area that needs targeting. If it is, there are many phonics interventions you can incorporate into your small group instruction to boost these skills and develop their phonics knowledge. Many school districts have formal research-based programs they use for phonics interventions and lessons, but if you're an
Discover effective reading intervention activities tailored to your students' needs! Learn to target weaknesses in phonology, orthography, and semantics without spending hours prepping. Practical strategies for phonemic awareness, handwriting, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Explore research-based instruction and data-driven practices in literacy education. Learn how to structure your lessons using the Science of Reading principles without feeling overwhelmed. Discover step-by-step guides, scope, and sequences for effective lesson planning. Download free resources for c
Discover effective reading intervention activities tailored to your students' needs! Learn to target weaknesses in phonology, orthography, and semantics without spending hours prepping. Practical strategies for phonemic awareness, handwriting, vocabulary, and comprehension.
I have always believed the time my students and I spend at the small group table is THE most important time of our day. If you have followed my blog for
How do you plan for your small group instruction? Do you follow a program where all students receive the same strategies, or do you customize the interventions you teach to meet the needs of your students? As a Literacy Specialist, my students are placed into flexible, target-specific reading groups based on multiple assessments at the beginning of the year. Our pull-out program is very flexible, so targets and groups often change as students make progress and meet their goals. We do not have a formal reading program for every group, so it's up to each interventionist to determine targets, goals,
Structured Literacy is an approach to reading instruction that is explicit and systematic, with a focus on the structure of the English language.
In this post, I'll show you a peek inside my 2nd Edition No Prep Reading Intervention Binder. I have been working on this intervention binder for
Decoding drills for building fluency helps students apply phonics skills when reading. Perfect warm ups and a great tracking tool, too.
My preschooler is obsessed with magnetiles and I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't love them. They are perfect for STEM exploration, math....ANNNNNNDDD, reading intervention! :) When I was tutoring this summer, I used these magnetiles to help with sight word recognition and early reading skills. Let's chat about using these awesome manipulatives in reading in first grade!
Intervention. We all use this word and hear it on a daily basis. As teachers, when we hear "intervention resources" our ears perk up a li...
This is a visual for how students work their way up the Reading Ladder. Kindergarten is working within the levels 1 and 2 throughout the year. When working with your child, please focus on these skills so that they have a solid reading foundation. Success is earned and needs to be worked for. Thank you to Katelyn's Learning Studio for this amazing resource.
WHAT DO WE TEACH IN STRUCTURED LITERACY? We know that phonics instruction is critical to supporting all students including those with dyslexia and other reading disabilities but the problem is R…
Adding some fun games for reading in the classroom schedule will instantly get your kids excited to read! These 5 fun reading games are...
Have you ever heard the term phonemic awareness and wondered what it is? I get a lot of emails from parents who are ready to teach their child how to
Create confident readers.
Searching for the most effective strategies for phonics instruction and intervention? Here's a list of 13 effective and engaging phonics strategies that...
Orton-Gillingham is an approach to teaching reading that is highly effective for people with dyslexia. Find out why I believe in Orton-Gillingham.
My last post was all about phonemic awareness. Make sure you read that post before you read this one. This post is a just a short follow-up to show you my phonemic awareness intervention kit. (All of the activities in this kit are already in that post. This just offers you that post in a ... Read More about Phonemic Awareness Intervention Kit (Part 1)
Teaching phonemic awareness is important for all readers, especially those who struggle. Check out my top tips with sample activities!
Discover the ultimate guide to scheduling your literacy block! Maximize time with whole group reading and small group instruction. Explore strategies for differentiated learning to meet the needs of all students. Get your free Suggested Literacy Block Organizer now!
It is difficult for a kid with dyslexia to stay motivated. We list 17 activities to support kids with dyslexia & help them improve skills & self-confidence.
In this post, I'll show you a peek inside my 2nd Edition No Prep Reading Intervention Binder. I have been working on this intervention binder for
Creating plans for reading small groups can be a daunting task. Read how I plan and prep for the year and week by week for my small group reading lessons.
Structured Literacy is an approach to reading instruction that is explicit and systematic, with a focus on the structure of the English language.
Fluency tends to be a commonly overlooked skill, but you can change that by learning about strategies for teaching fluency with your elementary students!
Discover the essence of phonics instruction! Unravel the complexities, learn the systematic approach, and master multisensory teaching techniques. Explore the SMARTER Research-Based Instruction Framework for effective reading intervention. Dive into the science and practice of phonics with clarity a
Learn about the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. Then get a FREE resource that provides you with actionable steps for bringing Science of Reading-aligned instruction into your classroom.
Fluency tends to be a commonly overlooked skill, but you can change that by learning about strategies for teaching fluency with your elementary students!
A hands on Pop-its Syllables activity that allows students to use Pop-its to break apart the syllables of a word.
What is a nonsense word anyway? Nonsense words are 3 letter words (CVC) that you can sound out but they are not "real" words. LUP is a great example. When I was first introduced to nonsense words as a form of assessment in kindergarten I thought it was RIDICULOUS. Why on earth would I teach my kids words that aren't real? What a waste of time right? Wrong! You and I read nonsense words without hesitation, even though they are not real words because we have the ability to process all 3 letters at one time (because we are great readers!) When students are learning to read they have to read each letter individually L-U-P. In the very beginning they may not even get all of the sounds. Using nonsense words gives them many different combinations of letters that they might see later in larger words. Nonsense words are parts of whole words Conifer, decompose, retina.....think about the chunks within those words that are nonsense words. When students have the ability to blend sounds naturally instead of struggling though each one larger words become less of an obstacle for them. Using nonsense words to assess gives multiple different perspectives in one assessment. When I listen to student decode nonsense words I can tell you a couple of different things about them right away. Do they know their consonant sounds? Are they mixing up b's and d's, is there a specific letter giving them trouble (Y, H, N?) or do they just struggle on all of them? Do they know their vowel sounds? Listening to a child read nonsense words is the one time that I can hear explicitly what sounds they struggle with. Are they ready to start blending the sounds? Is their processing speeding up to the point that they can blend two sounds without a lot of effort? How is their confidence? When the processing and the confidence picks up they are ready to fly and reading all around them really opens up from that point forward. Using nonsense words to practice these skills is NOT teaching to the test. The processing that happens during this practice is what helps students become better readers. Do they improve on the assessment, yes! If you stop looking nonsense words as a ridiculous exercise in data collection and instead as a way to reinforce a skill that will make students better readers your entire perspective will change. Here is a simple run down of the changes I see in students from the beginning of kindergarten to the end. I created these practice pages for students to use during their independent reading time and have them for FREE HERE. I also use lots and lots of regular WORD FAMILY resources too. This is just one way we practice in our classroom. Want to save this post for later? Here you go!
Discover the top 10 must-have materials for effective literacy instruction aligned with the science of reading. From whiteboards to games, letter tiles to graphic organizers, find essential tools to engage students and enhance learning. Plus, explore tips for organization and practical strategies fo
Everything you need to teach a mini unit on two syllable closed syllable words. This resource includes an anchor chart, no prep printables, an assessment, and easy to set up literacy centers! Students receive plenty of practice to have a good understanding of multisyllabic words that include close...
How do you plan for your small group instruction? Do you follow a program where all students receive the same strategies, or do you customize the interventions you teach to meet the needs of your students? As a Literacy Specialist, my students are placed into flexible, target-specific reading groups based on multiple assessments at the beginning of the year. Our pull-out program is very flexible, so targets and groups often change as students make progress and meet their goals. We do not have a formal reading program for every group, so it's up to each interventionist to determine targets, goals,
Transforming struggling learners into fluent readers | Science of reading resources for parents and educators
We know fluency is important. We know fluent reading is the bridge to comprehension. But.... what can we do to help disfluent readers? To best help a disfluent reader, we must first determine what stage the student is at. This will help us find the best strategy for the reader. Is the student a beginning reader (kindergarten or first grade)? Is the reader one who is making adequate progress? Or, is the reader one who is struggling? Lets look at a beginning reader first. A beginning reader is someone in kindergarten and first grade who is attaching letters to their sounds and blending them into simple words. To improve reading fluency for these students a teacher should: Spend a significant amount of time on accurate text reading Implement a systematic daily practice for learning to read words accurately Model fluent reading. Give students lots of opportunity to read and re-read decodable text Encourage students to read "like they are talking." Now, lets look at a reader who is on-level or making adequate progress. These are students in grades two or higher who are average and making adequate gains. How do we keep the momentum going? How do we maintain their progress? To do this a teacher should use: Choral reading Echo Reading Cloze reading Partner reading Readers' theater Poetry readings Finally, lets look at struggling readers. Disfluent readers need a mixture of what beginning readers and on level students need. The best way for disfluent readers to become more fluent is by reading! These students need: Focus on ACCURATE text reading. Use decodable text Repeated readings Systemic daily practice of reading words accurately Modeled fluent reading Encourage students to read like they are talking LOTS of opportunities to read text (at their level) using choral, cloze, echo and partner reading. If you would like to know how to define fluency and why being a fluent reader important, check out the first post in the series by clicking here. There are a ton of great articles written by reading gurus on the topic of fluency. Check them out by clicking below. Everything You Wanted to Know about Repeated Reading by Timothy Shanahan via Reading Rockets Using Poetry to Teach Reading via Reading Rockets Developing Fluent Readers by Jan Hasbrouck via Reading Rockets I hope you will join us next time to discover ways you can fit daily fluency practice into your schedule!
