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You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls

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Sound walls support students with learning those tricky high-frequency words. They also support students in retaining and learning to read unfamiliar words on their own. A sound wall does the work of matching our articulation of speech sounds/phonemes to the letters/graphemes that represent those sounds.

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When I started teaching first grade almost 15 years ago, I had a stack of decodable readers in my classroom that just collected dust.

Why? Because they weren't meaningful texts. They were boring to read. There was little picture support. And I was a teacher determined to emphasize reading comprehension, not robotic readers.

So the phonics readers just sat in the back of my cabinet because I would've gone to teacher jail if I'd thrown them away.

But I began to notice a shift in my own teaching about 2 years before I left the classroom for a mom-break. That year, 2014, the district I was in purchased a phonics curriculum. An actual phonics curriculum. And I was reluctant at first because in my book.

At least to 2014 Whitney.

But they asked us to teach it so I tried. I really tried. And by the end of the second year, I had found a rhythm with phonics. I had taken what worked from the curriculum, with what I also had found to work in my own classroom, and developed a 20 minute phonics routine that was engaging to my firsties and....

Wait for it...

MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN THEIR READING!

Fast forward 3 more years and I started doing some personal research while out of the classroom on my mom-break on the Science of Reading and the RISE initiative in my state, Arkansas.

And what I found between that research and my experience as a long-term resource sub and long-term kinder sub last year is that decodable readers have an important place in the primary classroom.

Why Decodable Readers?

The evidence based data that I found in my research of the science of reading showed that when we teach students strategies like "look at the picture," and "skip the word and come back" along with other MSV cues, we are teaching them to guess using skills that aren't actually reading skills.

Think about that for a minute. If I ask my ELL kiddo to look at the picture for a clue to read the word, I'm asking him to use language skills that he may or may not have. And even if she can guess the word from one picture clue, does not mean that she can guess it from the next one....it all depends on his vocabulary. Not his decoding skills.

Instead, if I front load my learners with decoding skills and teach them the 44 sounds in the English language, that is transferrable. If I can crack the decoding skill, I can read any book....regardless of my language skills.

Decodable texts remove the language comprehension requirement and give kids an opportunity to just practice segmenting and blending to gain fluency and become automatic readers who can THEN focus on comprehension.

But What About Comprehension?

Do not. I repeat DO NOT hear me say that comprehension is not important. I'm a reader who struggles with reading comprehension. Who can decode quickly and read 5 pages out of my favorite chapter book at night before realizing I have no idea what I just read.

So I understand the importance of the end goal in reading...to understand, learn from and enjoy what we are reading.

Comprehension is still very present in the primary classroom. But it is done whole group through read alouds and VERBAL comprehension. It's doing what we tell parents to do with their kids at home...read and talk about the story.

And this is exactly what my 12 weeks in kindergarten last year as a long-term sub taught me. Comprehension early on is VERBAL. It's studying vocabulary words through read alouds and text talks. It's reading stories together and asking questions and retelling together as a whole group. And it's modeling thinking aloud about stories. All of those things still exists in the primary classroom. And are ESSENTIAL.

But another essential part of reading in the primary grades is decoding. After all, if I can't decode as an adult (or 3rd grader) you can just forget about comprehension anyway.

Independent reading in K & 1 is the time for kids to practice their decoding skills. And what the evidence shows (both formally from the Science of Reading data and informally from my observations in the classroom) is that as our decoding skills and verbal/language comprehension skills grow, they meet together to form reading comprehension.

Let's Talk ELL Kiddos

Decoding + Verbal Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

Think about that for a second.

That was a lightbulb moment for me for my ELL kiddos when I began to see this in the classroom.

I spent so many years early on asking my ELL babies to use their English Language skills (which by the way were basically zero) to "read" or guess words. What a HUGE disservice!

Instead, I should have spent my time building up their verbal language comprehension skills and teaching them decoding skills during their small group intervention times...knowing that formula would eventually produce reading comprehension. I was trying to make them swallow the whole apple (decode and comprehend) instead of cutting it up into smaller pieces.

As a result, I've created kindergarten decodable texts and first grade decodable texts that align with my first grade Super Phonics Curriculum. And I'll be blogging soon about how I used these in the classroom!

And find a free sample of decodable readers here!

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Why Decodable Texts Are Essential in the Primary Classroom - The First Grade Roundup

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When I started teaching first grade almost 15 years ago, I had a stack of decodable readers in my classroom that just collected dust.

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The Science of Reading: How the Brain Learns to Read

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Last week, we chatted about why decodable texts are essential in the primary classroom. Missed it? Catch up here and come on back. I'll wait for ya! 🙂

Now that we are clear on WHY we use decodable readers, let's talk about HOW to use them and what the routines look like in the classroom...and I'll share a big freebie, too! 🙂

Decodable Readers

Decodable readers are used at the end of the Super Phonics lessons in my classroom as an extension and independent practice time.

On Tuesdays, I show the digital reader and I model read the book. Then, we go back and choral read together if we have time.

On Wednesdays, students get a paper reader and take it back to their desks. The first thing they do is read the sight words on the title page...

Thursdays, we buddy read the decodable readers by sitting, "Elbow to elbow, knee to knee, book in the middle so both can see." Then, with each page they take turns with I read, You read, We read. We model this a LOT in the beginning so they know what to do.

As they buddy read, I walk around and listen in again and make any new notes!

Decodable Passages

Decodable passages are for additional practice in small groups. If I have noted that some students need extra practice decoding, we use the passages. One of the passages in each resource is the same as the reader. The other 2 are new texts with the same focus sound. These are great for kids who just need to practice the fluency with decoding.

In our small groups, we start by reading the sight words together.

Then, they highlight the sight words...just like in the readers.

Then, they read the passage independently as I listen in. After I've listened to each one in my small group read and taken notes or running records, we all choral read together.

Assessing Decoding

On Fridays during our small group time, I can use these checkups to see how kids are doing decoding with the skill we practice during the week. I make one master copy of the checkup for the students to use.

And another one for me to make notes on...just like this sample below! This is great to keep as additional data for RTI purposes or for parent conferences!

You can find these short a decodable texts FREE here and the bundle of Kindergarten decodable texts and first grade decodable texts for 36 sounds HERE.

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How To Use Decodable Readers - The First Grade Roundup

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Last week, we chatted about why decodable texts are essential in the primary classroom. Missed it? Catch up here and come on back. I'll wait for

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The best approach to beginning reading instruction is one that incorporates explicit instruction in five areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000). These are known as the "5 Big Ideas" in beginning reading. While the research is clear on what to teach, how you teach these pieces can be challenging. This Educator's Toolbox provides practical ways to incorporate fluency instruction within your classroom.

What is Fluency?

Fluency has been defined as "reasonably accurate reading, at an appropriate rate, with suitable expression, that leads to accurate and deep comprehension and motivation to read" (Hasbrouck & Glaser, 2012, p. 13). To be fluent readers, students must master word recognition skills to the point of becoming so automatic-or fluid-that decoding no longer requires cognitive effort or conscious attention.

Fluency in oral reading includes:

accuracy, which is reading with few errors

rate, which is the pace at which a student reads

expression, which is reading aloud with proper intonation and phrasing

To be considered a fluent reader, all three of these components must be in place. Simply being an accurate reader is not enough. It is important to remember that fluency is not an end in itself, but rather a critical gateway to comprehension. Fluent reading frees cognitive resources to process meaning, and in turn, helps with text comprehension.

Things to Consider when a Reader is Not Fluent

When there is a fluency issue, the first thing to investigate is if the student is not reading connected text fluently because they cannot decode words fluently (accurately and automatically). If they are not able to decode words accurately and automatically, they will never be able to read connected text fluently. To determine if a student is reading fluently, start by assessing how many words the student can read correctly per minute. If the student's words correct per minute score is below the benchmark for their grade level, use diagnostic assessments to identify the factors that are contributing to the difficulty with fluency. Letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness should be assessed to determine if the student is able to identify and manipulate the sounds in words and state letter-sound correspondences accurately and with fluency. Phonics knowledge should also be assessed to determine if the student is able to read individual words accurately and with fluency. If these assessments show that students are not fluent with letter-sound correspondences, phoneme awareness, or phonics, then laborious and inaccurate word reading is impacting their fluency with reading connected text. Systematic phonics instruction, targeting the student's weakest skills, should be provided. If diagnostic assessments show that the student is fluent with foundational reading skills, then fluency practice and instruction should be provided (see the Fluency Flowchart for more information on providing effective fluency building instruction).

Fluency research says that successful readers:

rely primarily on the letters in the word, rather than context or pictures, to identify familiar and unfamiliar words

process every letter

use letter-sound correspondences to identify words

have a reliable strategy for decoding words

read words a sufficient number of times for them to become automatic

Four Steps to Building Fluency with Text

Fluency develops through plentiful opportunities for practice in which the task can be performed with a high rate of success. Repeated readings, goal setting, corrective feedback, and graphing performance are four strategies that teachers can also use to build students' fluency with text:

1.Repeated Readings

Read the same passage several times.

Aim to reduce the time and number of errors with each attempt.

Use this strategy with students individually, with a peer, or in small groups.

2.Goal Setting

Identify the number of correct words to read per minute.

Set a goal to read farther in the passage or make fewer errors.

Define weekly learning targets to monitor progress over time.

Identify an end-of-year grade level target for the number of words read per minute.

3.Corrective Feedback

Give immediate feedback if a student makes an error.

Have the student sound out and repeat the word.

Have the student go back and re-read the sentence.

4.Graphing Performance

Let students see their progress by having them graph their performance.

Have students compare their first read-through to the next read-through.

Have students track their targets and progress over time.

Sample Fluency Routine

This is an example of an instructional routine (University of Oregon, 2013) for practicing fluency with decodable text. In this sample, bold text provides teachers with the specific language of the instructional routine, including how to introduce the task ("You will whisper read to yourself..."), model for the students ("My turn..."), distribute practice to students ("Your turn..."), and conduct checks for understanding. The lesson also provides specific information to the teacher about how to correct errors.

Decodable Text Fluency Practice

Materials Needed: Copy of decodable text listed for each student

Instructor says:

"You will whisper read to yourself the story that we just read. Your job is to read without making any errors. I will listen to some students read while everyone continues whisper reading until I say stop. I'll show you what it looks and sounds like to whisper read. My Turn."

Model what whisper reading to yourself looks and sounds like.

" Your Turn."

Hand out decodable texts and have students whisper read and then provide some additional fluency practice.

Practice for students only:

Students will individually whisper read the text again two to three times.

Listen to individual students read and check for accuracy and fluency. If an individual student makes an error, use the correcting student errors procedure below.

Additional Fluency Practice

At least two more times, use one of the following options to have students reread the story.

Individual Reading: Provide more time for students to whisper read while the teacher monitors and checks accuracy and fluency of individuals.

Partner Reading: Students read with a partner while the teacher monitors and checks accuracy and fluency of individuals.

Correcting Student Errors

1. My turn. This word is [word].

2. Your turn. Word? Student repeats the word.

3. Start at the beginning of the sentence and read this sentence without making any errors.

Adapted From Enhanced Core Reading Instruction © 2013 by The Center on Teaching and Learning

Summary

Fluency with connected text is a critical piece of beginning reading instruction. Fluency develops through plentiful opportunities for practice in which the task can be performed with a high rate of success, including repeated readings with immediate corrective feedback, goal setting and graphing performance. If a student is not reading fluently, it is important to first assess possible underlying issues that may be impacting the student's ability to fluently read connected text. Fluency instruction alone will not be effective without also addressing any underlying issues, including a lack of fluency with foundational reading skills.

Infographic

Click to Enlarge

Suggested Citation

National Center on Improving Literacy. (2023). The Educator's science of reading toolbox: How to build fluency with text in your classroom. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org.

References

Harn, B., & Chard, D. (2008). Teaching tutorial 6: Repeated readings to promote fluency. Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD).

Hasbrouck, J. (1998). Reading fluency: Principles for instruction and progress monitoring. Professional development guide. Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts.

Hasbrouck, J., & Glaser, D.R. (2012). Reading fluency: Understanding and teaching this complex skill. Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates.

Kuhn, M.R. & Stahl, S.A. (2000). CIERA Report #2-008. Fluency: A review of developmental and remedial practices. US Department of Education.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

University of Oregon. (2013). Enhanced core reading instruction. Center on Teaching and Learning. University of Oregon, Center on Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Big Ideas in Beginning Reading. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from http://reading.uoregon.edu/.

Abstract

This Educator's Toolbox, developed in Partnership with The Reading League Journal, provides practical ways to incorporate fluency instruction within your classroom.

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The Educator's Science of Reading Toolbox: How to Build Fluency with Text in Your Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The best approach to beginning reading instruction is one that incorporates explicit instruction in five areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000). These are known as the "5 Big Ideas" in beginning reading. While the research is clear on what to teach, how you teach these pieces can be challenging.

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How To Set Up a Sound Wall in Your Classroom

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A step-by-step guide and plenty of tips.

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The Reading League has compiled a list of options, not recommendations, of frequently requested decodable texts.