# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dear Readers,

We have run into some complications with the final steps of getting the Decoding Inventory for Growth (DIG) into the hands of teachers.

We are truly sorry for the delay. If you are on our mailing list, you can look for an email announcement when the DIG becomes available for purchase on our site. Otherwise, please check back in a month or so.

Thank you for your patience.

Jan and Kari

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dear Readers, We have run into some complications with the final steps of getting the Decoding Inventory for Growth (DIG) into the hands of teachers. We are truly sorry for the delay. If you are on our mailing list, you can look for an email announcement when the DIG becomes available for purchase on our site.

# data[].attributes.body
Wiley Blevins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wiley Blevins, Ed.M. – The value of accountable text

# data[].attributes.headline
Blog - Make Phonics and Word Study MEANING-full

# data[].attributes.subject
Blog - Make Phonics and Word Study MEANING-full

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 EASY Ways to Embed More Meaning Into Decoding Instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This blog post addresses the importance of systematic and explicit phonics instruction, emphasizing the need for lessons to move from simpler to more complex sounds and to provide high-volume practice for students. While phonics instruction is crucial, the post criticizes a common trend where lessons focus solely on decoding without integrating meaning-making activities. It argues that decoding skills should not overshadow comprehension and vocabulary development. The post offers ten practical strategies to incorporate meaning into phonics lessons, emphasizing the significance of connecting decoding practice with understanding word meanings. Additionally, it introduces the concept of “Magic Words” blending lines to integrate meaning into phonics instruction. The post concludes by cautioning against overemphasizing phonics at the expense of comprehension, advocating for a balanced approach that integrates decoding practice with meaningful engagement with texts.

# data[].attributes.headline
Podcast: Jennifer Seravallo & Wiley Blevins

# data[].attributes.subject
Podcast: Jennifer Seravallo & Wiley Blevins

# data[].attributes.body
What's important for phonics instruction? Whole class? Small group? What does responsive phonics teaching look like?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Listening to Jennifer Serravallo in Conversation with Wiley Blevins | Everand

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Phonics Lesson Planning Template - Editable

# data[].attributes.headline
Whole Group vs Small Group Phonics Discussion

# data[].attributes.subject
Whole Group vs Small Group Phonics Discussion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Small Group Phonics in the Classroom – Good Idea or Not? | Shanahan on Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This blog explores whether it makes sense to differentiate phonics instruction so students can be taught at their levels. The research does not support the idea.

# data[].attributes.body
Here are some favorite websites for finding grade level texts connected to classroom learning:

ReadWorks

Dirigible balloon (poetry)

Wonderopolis

Commonlit

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Suggested Phonics Scope and Sequence KG-G2 (UFLI).pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Analyzing sentence and text structure, writing about reading. Tips for connecting reading and writing to enhance both.

# data[].attributes.body
You can use this resource, or your students can use this resource to learn more about the etymology of words.

# data[].attributes.body
Erika Olson

erika.olson@gmail.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
k-2 Coaching Readers- Prompts & Questions

# data[].attributes.body
A series of read alouds with free downloadable activities for studying words.

# data[].attributes.body
Decodable passages with boxes for pictures are at the bottom of the page.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following:

phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme,

labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and

grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

We have also provided printable version of the Individual Sound wall charts. You may choose to glue them into a file folder for each student or print them front/back to laminate. These may also be enlarged and printed as posters if your classroom space does not allow for the full UFLI Sound Wall displays.
Individual Sound Wall: Consonants Individual Sound Wall: Vowels

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Printable Resources | UF Literacy Institute

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following: phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme, labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Literacy Consultants & Consulting Services | Erin Kent Consulting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Literacy Consultants & Consulting Services | Erin Kent Consulting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
EKC provides literacy consultants, consulting services, and literacy professional learning for schools.

# data[].attributes.headline
Conferring Cheat Sheet (language comprehension)

# data[].attributes.subject
Conferring Cheat Sheet (language comprehension)

# data[].attributes.body
A bit of advice from the EKC community

# data[].attributes.body
UFLI Passages
The Measured Mom-Fiction  Nonfiction
Core Knowledge Student Readers
Beyond Decodables
Speld Phonic Books
Open Source Phonics (Passages)
Flyleaf Publishing
Starfall

Other decodable books to purchase

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The PAST can be downloaded above. Please also download and carefully read the instructions before using. Information can also be found in the manual “Equipped for Reading Success” by David A. Kilpatrick, Ph.D in chapter 11 on how to effectively use the test. Make sure to also practice using the test before using it with […]

# data[].attributes.body
From Shifting the Balance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Multi-Year Morphology Plan Example - The Six Shifts    .pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Downloadable slides here

# data[].attributes.body
https://erinkentconsulting.com/community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Literacy Consultants & Consulting Services | Erin Kent Consulting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
About the Community | Erin Kent Consulting (EKC)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A few special gifts for signing up now: a strategy call with Erin Kent or an EKC Senior Strategist to get started using the EKC Community to support your current literacy initiatives; and 5 free spots in our live, virtual winter courses ($1495 value!)

# data[].attributes.body
From Shifting the Balance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3-5 Download_Template for Planning Interactive Text Experience.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
Universal
Benchmark (Acadience or DIBELS are popular assessments that are based on the science of reading, different for each grade, AIMSWEB is also well-researched but is not free)

Informal Diagnostic Tools
Phonics Screener
Dictation/Spelling Screener
Phonological Awareness Screeners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mahindra IS SS Teachers MLL Language Development 2024

# data[].attributes.headline
5 Tips for reading and writing - Blog Article

# data[].attributes.subject
5 Tips for reading and writing - Blog Article

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Opportunities to Make Learning to Read and Write Easier for Your Students This Year

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
5 Opportunities to Make Learning to Read and Write Easier for Your Students This Year

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Blast from the past: Teacher question: Shanahan response:
I teach 4th-grade general education. I have read several of your articles the last few days because I have a growing frustration regarding guided reading. I believe a lot of your ideas about what does not work are correct, but I don't understand what you believe we SHOULD be doing. I am confused about how to give students difficult textbooks to read without reading it to them. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I do not know how to scaffold science or social studies text for students that are 2 years behind without reading it to them. I also feel pressure in these subjects to read it to them because I thought it was more important for them to understand the information thoroughly by reading the text aloud, having thoughtful discussions, and follow up activities. Every time I think I know what I should be doing, I read another article and realize that I am doing that wrong too. So, please give me guidance on how to best to teach nonfiction and fiction text to my class whole group. What strategies and types of activities are the best? Originally posted February 2, 2013; re-issued October 12, 2024. Over the past 15 years, I have issued several blogs concerning the value of teaching students to read more challenging texts than we have used in instruction in the past. Despite a growing body of evidence showing that teaching students at their "instructional reading level" provides no learning benefits - and that sometimes it limits learning - most teachers continue to avoid challenging text by moving kids to easier text, reading texts to the students, or replacing texts with other sources of information (e.g., videos, teacher presentations). Given that I thought it would be a good idea to reissue this one. Oh, and by the way, I just completed writing a book on this topic. It will be published by Harvard Education Press early in 2025.
I feel your pain. What would it look like to scaffold a fourth-grade lesson from a social studies book with children who are reading at second-grade level? There are several possibilities.

First, I would "level" (pun intended) with the kids. I would not try to hide from them that I was going to ask them to read a book that in the past we would have avoided. The point here is motivation. People like a challenge and kids are people. When you ask them to take on something hard, let them in on the secret so they can take on the challenge with the right mindset and so they can be proud of themselves when they manage to meet the challenge - and we will make sure that they meet the challenge.

Second, it is essential that the teacher read the chapter before the kids do. We need to identify the linguistic, conceptual, and textual features that may be the source of their difficulty. Look out for ideas that you think will be especially complicated, subtle, or abstract, assumptions of background knowledge that you think your students lack, unknown vocabulary, complicated sentences, cohesive links that might be hard to track, organizational structure that students might ignore, and so on. Basically, you are trying to figure out what might make this text hard for your students to comprehend.

I'm willing to head off or avoid a problem if I think the students cannot surmount it. For instance, if there is a word that I think the students will not know and the author doesn't define it, the context doesn't reveal its meaning, or it can't be figured out from morphology, then I am willing to familiarize the kids with it prior to reading. However, if it is possible to gain its meaning from the text, I will not try to avoid the problem. I'd rather that they miss it, which will allow me to teach kids how to take it on successfully. Teachers must decide which problems to solve for the kids and which to guide them to fix themselves. The real learning will come from the latter.
References
Third, the scaffolding described above will likely require some rereading-either of the whole chapter (fourth-grade science and social studies chapters can be surprisingly short, so rereading the entire chapter is usually not that big a deal). Thus, they try to read it; I question them and help them work through the problems; and then they reread it (perhaps more than once), to see if they can figure it out the second or third time.

Fourth, if your kids' reading levels are more than a year or two below the level of the book that you are trying to teach, consider starting with fluency work. Have those students read the text aloud, once or twice before the lesson aimed at comprehension of the text. This can be done many ways (e.g., having partners practice reading the social studies text during their ELA fluency time, getting parents involved, including this kind of practice in a Tier 2 intervention). The point of the fluency work is to reduce the amount of basic reading struggle - the reading of the words - that these students may face. Once they have engaged in the fluency practice, these students should read the text along with the rest of the class. They will benefit from the same comprehension scaffolds noted above.

What you are trying to do with this encouragement, fluency work, and comprehension scaffolding is to enable the students to read the text that they are sure to struggle with. You can monitor their learning by how much improvement you see in their reading of each text. But remember your goal is not to avoid difficulty but to enable students to surmount difficulty. That means that you don't shift kids to texts at their supposed levels, you don't read the texts to the kids, and you don't go around the text by telling them what it says.

Shanahan, T. (In press). Leveled Readers, Leveled Lives. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Can I Teach with Books that are Two Years Above Student Reading Levels? | Shanahan on Literacy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This blog explains how teachers can teach students to read with books that are at the students’ supposed “instructional level.”

# data[].attributes.body
A 3rd grade example of determining importance to write about reading and craft strong sentences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Summary Sentence: A 3rd grade lesson based on the work of Judith Hochman and the Writing Revolution

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UFLI Foundations: Progress Monitoring and Differentiation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The newest addition to Scholastic's "Science of Reading" collection is an early literacy handbook written by a teacher for teachers. This book is about decoding and phonics. Lindsey uses her impeccable body of research to create a powerful translational work interpreting reading science. She employs a scaffolded approach to teaching foundational skills, starting with decoding and oral language, moving through phonemic awareness and sound-spelling knowledge, and ending with fluency. Of particular value is the focus on bridging to practice: activities and lessons presented here can be used immediately in the classroom. The book is predicated on the "Essential Instructional Swap" of substituting ineffective activities for more effective, evidence-based routines. For example, "Fewer Rhymes, More Phonemes" and "Less Pointing to Text in Predictable Books, More Engaging in Shared Reading." The depth of research backing this text cannot be overstated. Lindsey refers to the findings of meta-analyses throughout, and the book sports a beefy and current reference section. VERDICT This title can be used as a handbook for professional educators; its clear organization and focused language will be useful for early literacy teachers.-Jennifer Townesα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

" Reading Above the Fray is a wonderful resource, a book I read from cover to cover. The scholarship is impeccable, citing the central and most impactful studies surrounding foundational skills and their importance to reading acquisition. Authored by a passionate educator, the book is rich in stories, lessons, activities, and ideas. It is a joy to read and will become a well-worn guide for teachers and students of reading!"Book Smart: How to , Julia masterfully connects the deep research base on how kids learn to read to what teachers can do tomorrow in their classrooms. What I love even more about the book is her focus on the joy of helping students develop the tools they need to achieve reading success."

- ANNE E. CUNNINGHAM, Professor, Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of California, Berkeley; author of Develop and Support Successful, Motivated Readers Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work

"This book speaks to something near and dear to my heart-the power of early literacy to lead to lifelong learning and immeasurable opportunities. With clarity and precision, Dr. Lindsey cuts through the distracting noise around reading instruction. Her book should be required reading in preservice and inservice programs. With it, we can chart a course forward to literacy for all."

- SHARIF EL-MEKKI, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Black Educator Development

"One of the best books I've read on decoding and phonics. With passion for teaching, Dr. Lindsey interprets reading science in ways that are directly transferable to the classroom. Her book is chock full of techniques, activities, and strategies-a veritable 'go-to' resource. This is exactly the kind of translational work the field needs!"

- SUSANNE NOBLES, Chief Academic Officer, ReadWorks

"Accessible, timely, and easy to use, this is a book that needed to be written for teachers, literacy coaches, and school administrators looking to develop efficient and effective literacy instruction. Dr. Lindsey simplifies the complexities of foundational skills instruction, synthesizes research by bridging it to practice, and provides routines that can be implemented the very next day. I predict it will become a primary resource that educators return to time and again."

- REBECCA MILES, Early Literacy Consultant and Coach Coordinator, Berrien Regional Educational Service Agency

"If you think a professional book about decoding and foundational skills can't be engaging, think again! Dr. Lindsey artfully combines wit, wisdom, and classroom realism with evidence-based routines that we can implement immediately. Most important, she centers each chapter on children, calling us to value and build upon the strengths, perspectives, and cultural assets they bring. This book is a win for educators and, by extension, the children and families they serve!"

- ANNIE PETROZZELLI SPEAR, Literacy Specialist, Consultant, and Author

"Elementary teachers have been waiting for this one! Dr. Lindsey explains not only the 'why' behind the essential elements of decoding, but also provides explicit guidance and routines to help any teacher swap out ineffective practices for more effective and efficient research-based ones. She makes it easy to align instruction to reading science
and teach 'above the fray.'"

- KATHARINE NOONAN, English Language Arts Instructional Coach, District of Columbia Public Schools
- HEIDI ANNE MESMER, Professor of Literacy Education, Virginia Tech; author of Reading Above the Fray

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills (The Science of Reading in Practice)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Julia Lindsey's evidence-backed routines help young readers decode words efficiently so they can spend more energy on comprehending--and enjoying--what they read! You'll find:1. need-to-know essentials of how kids learn to read.2. principles of high-quality foundational skills instruction.3. teac...

# data[].attributes.headline
Bilingual Families: A Practical Planning Guide

# data[].attributes.subject
Bilingual Families: A Practical Planning Guide

# data[].attributes.headline
ELC+ Conversational Framework for Working with Kids (supporting LC)

# data[].attributes.subject
ELC+ Conversational Framework for Working with Kids (supporting LC)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Phonics Data Collecting FORMATTED TO COPY