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Phonemic Awareness is a critical building block to early literacy.

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Before a child is able to start pronouncing whole words, they need to be able to break those words down into individual units of sound first. After all, even a word as simple as 'cat' has three unique sounds - the /k/ initial sound, the /a/ middle sound, and the /t/ ending sound. Bottari (2020) explains, "Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made of individual sounds called phonemes" (n.p.). As children explore those phonemes and become aware that different letters (and letter combinations) correlate to different sounds, they lay the groundwork for becoming better readers and developing an affinity for phonics.

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There is always value in recognizing sounds

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Reinforcing Phonemic Awareness During Reading Instruction

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Reinforcing Phonemic Awareness During Reading Instruction

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At any point in reading instruction, phonemic awareness can be emphasized. However, this pillar is especially useful when encountering new vocabulary and unfamiliar words that may seem difficult to pronounce. By segmenting those difficult words and breaking them into individual sounds, it can become easier to get students to decode vocabulary and become more fluent.

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Reading and writing are inextricably linked.

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How Does Reinforcing Phonemic Awareness Support Writing?

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How Does Reinforcing Phonemic Awareness Support Writing?

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Since phonemic awareness requires readers to notice how letters represent sounds, this inherently helps them become better writers. As they read and see that a word like 'dog' has three unique sounds, this can translate into their own writing and help them to write in a manner that is phonetically accurate. For instance, a second grade student may have trouble spelling a word like 'hamburger,' but they can break it down reasonably well into those individual units of sound and therefore write in a manner that is comprehensible.

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Phonics moves students beyond individual sounds and into the realm of reading actual words.

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Even though phonics can appear to be incredibly similar to phonemic awareness, it builds upon the recognition of individual phonemes and helps students to become better readers of actual words (and subsequently better writers, especially when it comes to spelling). Blevins (n.d.) from the Scholastic website offers this helpful understanding: "Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and their spellings. The goal of phonics instruction is to teach students the most common sound-spelling relationships so that they can decode, or sound out, words. This decoding ability is a crucial element in reading success" (n.p.). This ultimately produces the groundwork for enhanced fluency.

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Breaking words into syllables can be a wildly successful phonics approach.

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Reinforcing Phonics During Reading Instruction

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Reinforcing Phonics During Reading Instruction

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One element of phonics involves knowing where a word is broken up (sometimes called syllabification). When students encounter unfamiliar words or terms that may be difficult to pronounce, breaking them into syllables is a phonics-based approach that can seriously aid in helping students grow in their decoding and reading skills.

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A critical early component of writing involves accurate spelling.

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How Does Reinforcing Phonics Support Writing

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How Does Reinforcing Phonics Support Writing

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Possibly more than any other pillar of reading instruction, phonics is most easily linked to writing. According to the team at the National Literacy Trust (n.d.), "Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language" (n.p.). In essence, understanding phonics helps children know which letters to use when they are writing words, which makes them better spellers, better writers, and easier to comprehend.

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Sometimes a ruler can be much more useful for ELA than math.

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Reinforcing Fluency During Reading Instruction

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Reinforcing Fluency During Reading Instruction

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As students venture beyond early elementary books and into chapter books, a common issue connected to fluency involves losing their place. If students utilize a ruler or other straight-edge tool, they can have that device act as a 'line reader' of sorts and help them navigate throughout an entire page. Because fingers can sometimes drift while students are reading, having that ruler can provide a more stable backdrop for kids.

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Fluency, in many regards, brings reading to life.

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If reading is ever going to be an incredibly enjoyable experience for a child on an individual level, they must work to gain fluency. According to the literary team at Reading Rockets (n.d.), "Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression" (n.p.). Everyone has experienced reading that is slow, choppy, and dry, and it is no wonder that such reading doesn't evoke enthusiasm. Fluency works to bring reading to life in a meaningful and engaging manner.

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Comprehension is the end result of a long journey towards literacy

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It is one matter to read a story. It is quite a different matter to comprehend, internalize, or even apply a story to one's life. Reading comprehension relies upon the other pillars (even something as simple as phonemic awareness) and seeks to ensure that whatever has just been read has also been understood. From a standards perspective, reading comprehension is essentially the be-all and end-all of literacy (although arguments could be made for application and synthesis following comprehension). However, it remains clear that understanding is critical.

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There is actually such a thing as reading fluency AND writing fluency

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How Does Reinforcing Fluency Support Writing?

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How Does Reinforcing Fluency Support Writing?

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Fluency is all about staying organized while you read - not losing your place or getting confused and lost throughout the process. As students grow in their appreciation for speed and efficacy with reading, the same standards help with their writing. Fluent readers tend to be more organized writers who are clean, efficient, and to the point in what they put on paper.

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An expanding vocabulary is now more accessible than ever.

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How Does Reinforcing Vocabulary Support Writing?

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How Does Reinforcing Vocabulary Support Writing?

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Growing vocabulary while reading tends to immediately create more impressive writers. After all, if vocabulary is taught in-context and readers are given a chance to decode the meaning of a word and see it applied in the text, they are more likely to synthesize that word into their own writing. This becomes even easier if they have worked on phonemic awareness and phonics to the point where their spelling is ready to effectively manifest itself in their writing of newer and better vocabulary wrods.

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If reading comprehension is the ultimate reading goal, where does writing fit?

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How Does Reinforcing Reading Comprehension Support Writing?

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How Does Reinforcing Reading Comprehension Support Writing?

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One of the best ways to improve as a writer is to practice, and reading comprehension calls for students to articulate their responses to difficult questions... generally by writing them. In other words, reading comprehension offers an invitation for students to bolster and solidify their writing skills by demonstrating just how much they have comprehended by answering questions.

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Sometimes students need a boost in the middle of reading.

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Reinforcing Reading Comprehension During Reading Instruction

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Reinforcing Reading Comprehension During Reading Instruction

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Summative assessments certainly have their place in reading, and they provide an excellent opportunity to check for comprehension. However, that comprehension check can come at almost any point in a text by using formative assessment techniques. Everything from quick class discussions to small little quizzes can be utilized to ensure that students understand what is happening in a piece of literature, and this can be done throughout the entire reading process (not just at the end).

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As students enhance their phonics and fluency skills, they are undoubtedly going to encounter unfamiliar words along the way. Whether looking those words up, counting on context clues, or internalizing them using some other reading technique, acquiring an enhanced vocabulary is another key component of literacy. This pillar doesn't even necessarily have to include longer words; instead, better and more succinct words are the hallmark of vocabulary. After all, it is fairly basic for a person to describe themselves as 'hungry' after a long day of work. It conveys an entirely different emotion to describe them as 'famished.'

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Vocabulary is currently transitioning from something altogether separate from reading to full integration.

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Vocabulary is taught best in context. In other words, as students are interacting with a particular text and they come across as unfamiliar word, this is the best time to cover that vocabulary word. This prevents vocabulary overload since it happens one-at-a-time, plus it enables students to use the selected text (and surrounding context) to try and define the new term. Beyond that, students have a chance to see the usage of the word in action (since it is literally used in their text).

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This Padlet wouldn't have been possible without...

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Blevins, W. (n.d.). Understanding phonics. Scholastic.
Bottari, M. (2020). What are phonological awareness and phonemic awareness? Hegerty.
Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Fluency.
National Literacy Trust (n.d.) What is phonics?