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Examples of Phases of Word Recognition (Linda Farrell)

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Examples of Phases of Word Recognition (Linda Farrell)

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Reading Rockets YouTube channel

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Sound Wall on UFLI

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AIS Riyadh G1 WW Session 4 (November 2022) 

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DecodeBuddy on Poe

ProjectRead

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G1 S2 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023)

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Consider this list of materials to plan for setting writers up for success.

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molly@erinkentconsulting.com

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Connect with educators around the world!

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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From A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences of The Classroom Essentials Series
Invite students to have a real give-and-take with you.

Even though in conferences you're a teacher talking to students, you're also a (more experienced) writer talking to (less experienced) fellow writers about what writers do-come up with topics, make a plan for a piece of writing, write a lead, develop a section
with detail, use commas in a series, and so on. In this give and take, you learn about what students are trying to do as writers and how well they're doing it, and the students learn how they can do their work better.

Speak in a conversational tone.

Tone is the foundation of the good relationships you want to develop with students over the course of the school year. Speaking in a warm, friendly manner puts students at ease and makes it more likely they will talk with you about what they're trying to do as writers. What you learn from this talk helps you assess students and decide what you should teach to help them grow.

Sit alongside students, at their eye level.

How you sit with students helps you establish a positive tone in conferences. You might grab a nearby empty seat or sit on one that you carry with you around the classroom. As you sit, it's important to make frequent eye contact with students and make sure that your
facial expressions show an interest in what students are telling you.

Use "active listening" strategies.

For example, give some wait time after asking a question so that students have the time and space they need to come up with a response. Ask students to "say more" about what they tell you. And repeat what children say to check that you're hearing them correctly.
Using these strategies shows that you have a real interest in what students are saying and that you're really trying to understand them. Students will usually respond by talking to you more.

The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

Learn more at Heinemann.com

Carl Anderson is one of the nation's leading experts on teaching writing to students in grades K-12. He dedicates his energies exclusively as an education consultant and writer.

Carl recently worked for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University as a Lead Staff Developer, providing staff development in the teaching of writing grades K-8. He spent school days in New York City elementary and middle schools demonstrating effective teaching in the writing workshop and coaching teachers. He gave day-long workshops for teachers at Teachers College on launching the writing workshop, conferring with student writers, mini-lessons, and developing curriculum for the writing workshop.

Carl is the author of numerous books including the bestselling How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers, as well as Assessing Writers and the series Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move Young Writers Forward Grades 3-6.

His latest book, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, is part of the Classroom Essentials series. Full of classroom video, the book helps teachers understand the underlying principles and reasons for conferring with students, and how to make writing conferences a part of teachers' daily routines.

Follow Carl on Twitter @ConferringCarl

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The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

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Common Patterns for K-2 Writers- Carl Anderson

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Common Patterns for K-2 Writers- Carl Anderson

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Every teacher or coach worth their salt knows that there's no moment more important than the moment feedback is delivered. Do it correctly, and the learner takes a step forward. Do it poorly, and the reverse happens.

The deeper question is, what's the secret of great feedback? We instinctively think that effective feedback is about the quality of the information - telling the learner to do this and not that. But is this true, or is there something else going on?

A team of psychologists from Stanford, Yale, Columbia, and elsewhere recently set out to explore that question. They had middle-school teachers assign an essay-writing assignment to their students, after which students were given different types of teacher feedback.

To their surprise, researchers discovered that there was one particular type of teacher feedback that improved student effort and performance so much that they deemed it "magical." Students who received this feedback chose to revise their paper far more often that students who did not (a 40 percent increase among white students; 320 percent boost among black students) and improved their performance significantly. (See the study here.)

What was the magical feedback?

Just one phrase:
I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.
That's it. Just 19 words. But they're powerful because they are not really feedback. They're a signal that creates something more powerful: a sense of belonging and connection.

Looking closer, the phrase contains several distinct signals:

1) You are part of this group.

2) This group is special; we have higher standards here.

3) I believe you can reach those standards.

The key is to understand that this feedback isn't just feedback - it's a vital cue about the relationship. The reason this works so well has to do with the way our brains are built. Evolution has built us to be cagey with our efforts; after all, engagement is expensive from a biological standpoint. But when we receive an authentic, crystal-clear signal of social trust, belonging, and high expectations, the floodgates click open.

I think the lessons for teachers and coaches are pretty simple:

First, connect: like John Wooden said, they can't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Highlight the group: seek ways (traditions, mantras, fun little rituals) to show what it means to belong in your crew.

Don't soft-pedal high standards. Don't pretend that it's easy - do the opposite. Emphasize the toughness of the task, and your belief that they have what it takes.

If you have any ideas, stories, or examples to share about how coaches and teachers achieve this kind of connection, I'd love to hear them.

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The Simple Phrase that Increases Effort 40% - Daniel Coyle

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Every teacher or coach worth their salt knows that there's no moment more important than the moment feedback is delivered. Do it correctly, and the learner takes a step forward. Do it poorly, and the reverse happens. The deeper question is, what's the secret of great feedback?

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AIS Riyadh G1 WW Session 3 (November 2022) 

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AIS Riyadh G1 WW Session 3 (November 2022)  (1)

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AIS Riyadh G5 Writing- Small Group Planner Templates 

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AIS Riyadh G1 WW Session 4 (November 2022)  (2)

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Goal Setting Conference -- Writing -- First Grade

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Writing Research Decide Compliment Teach Conference

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AIS Riyadh G1 RW Session 3 (Apr 2023) (1)

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ISF Intro to Reading Workshop-Session 2 (October 2022) (1)

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (1)

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ISF Intro to Reading Workshop-Session 2 (October 2022) (2)

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023)

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AISR G1 Reading Workshop Checklist & Ideas

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (2)

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (3)

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (4)

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KG2 S1 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (5)

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A couple of years ago, and I wrote a collection of guided reading books to go with the Who's Doing the Work? K-2 Lesson Sets (Stenhouse, 2018). Carnegie Learning has graciously agreed to let me share the fiction titles from this collection with you, here on this site.

There are 15 titles ranging from Level A to Level J. I have built flipbooks with each title, and embedded them here on the site. The text below, one of my favorite in the collection, is an example of the set-up for each book, and will show you how the flipbooks in the collection work. Missing Socks, like all the books in the collection, includes illustrations designed to engage students and deepen the story.
​

Mindfulness:
​There are three titles in the collection that relate to mindfulness. Happy (Level C) is about a little girl who is exploring different kinds of happiness, such as the calm happiness of a breeze vs. the palpable happiness of a surprise birthday party. Hurry Up, Slow Down (Level D) is about a little girl who is walking to school with her father and is caught up in the simple beauty around her. Finally, Everyday Beautiful (Level H) is about two boys who have been asked to find something beautiful. One boy overlooks the natural beauty around him while another shows him how simple things can be beautiful.

There are five titles in the collection that use science related to light and shadows to tell a story. They range in levels from C-J. We wrote these to align with science standards. If you teach light and shadows, you may find these texts a nice way to integrate your science content into your reading instruction.

The books are all in flipbook format and are free to use and share with children, but they require a password to access them. To get the password, complete the form below. When you hit submit, a password will pop up on the screen. Use that password in step 2 (below) to access the books.

If you already have the these digital versions of some of the books should be helpful. Although you don't need the lessons to use the books, if you are interested in the lessons that go with the books, they are available from .

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Free Virtual Guided Reading Book Collection

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This posts describes a collection of WHO'S DOING THE WORK? guided reading books for K-2 that are available for free on this site.

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Phonological and Phonics Skills by Early Reading Levels

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Phonological and Phonics Skills by Early Reading Levels

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Phonological and Phonics Skill By Early Reading Levels (1)

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KG2 S2 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023)

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KG2 S2 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (2)

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G1 AISR Guided Reading Planning Template

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Guided Reading Planner Example - Packing My Bag

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G1 S2 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (1)

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G1 S2 AIS Riyadh Reading Workshop (February 2023) (2)

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Blank template
R-controlled Vowels
Inflected Ending S
CVC
<oi> and <oy>

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Many children with literacy difficulties find it hard to blend phonemes together. Word Chains games allow a child to focus on sounds without the distraction of graphemes, as each sound is represented by a counter. A single phoneme is changed and the child 're-blends' to make a new word. The Word Chain lists progress from simple CVC words, like 'dog' and 'cat', to more complex words with initial and final blends, like 'stand' and 'crisp'. This allows targeted practice of a very specific skill in just a few minutes.

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Blending Phonemes - Word Chains - Dyslexic Logic

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Resources and word-chains (also called word ladders or word chains) to support teaching blending skills for children with poor phonological awareness, from basic CVC blends to CCVCC words with long and short medial vowels.

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Lesson Resources

The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

Some of the companion lesson resources you will find below include:

Lesson slide decks (in PowerPoint and Google Slide formats)

Decodable passages

Homework sheets

Games and activities for additional practice

We have grouped the lessons into smaller units so you can access these resources more easily. Scroll down to use the buttons below to find the resources for each lesson or groups of lessons.

Please note that we are still building out these free resources, and we will be editing this page over the next few weeks. We wanted you to be able to access some materials as soon as possible, but be sure to come back later to see the rest!
New to UFLI Foundations? Learn about its development, check out a sample lesson plan, view the scope and sequence, and more.

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The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

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On-site visits: March 2023, March 2024, Sept 2024

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AIS Riyadh G1 RW Session 3 (Apr 2023) (2)

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Make a copy of the document, share with collaborating teaching team for each class

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Make a copy of the planner for each G1 class. Share with collaborating teaching team.

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Open a personal copy of this progression. Highlight where you and your students currently are on the progression. Look ahead to see what is possible next step or goal.

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Conferring and Small-Group Work Progression - Teacher Reflection

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AIS Riyadh G1 RW Session 4 (May  2023) (1)

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AIS Riyadh KG2-G2 Keep/Shed/Modify Reflection - Google Jamboard

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The word mapping tool lets you type in a word and see its graphemes and phonemes mapped out. It’s great for teaching phonics!

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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

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Reading Above the Fray- Lindsey
A Fresh Look at Phonics- Belvins
Shifting the Balance- Burkins & Yates

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Example

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PA & Phonics Application Word Study Planner - Blank

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Accompanying 8 post blog series

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Explicit Phonics Lesson Framework - Updated 4-04-22.pdf

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Word Chaining List from Burkins and Yates

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Word Chaining List from Burkins and Yates

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Word Ladder - Blank Word Ladder - 3-Letter Blends Word Ladder - Digraphs

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Today we're going to talk about blending lines - a powerful, easy-to-use tool that will help your students become masters at decoding!

It's the fourth post in our 10-part series about teaching phonics.

Blending is the stringing of letter sounds to read a word.
There are two main types of blending:

Successive blending

Final blending

*Weird but important note: Some phonics experts use the terms "successive blending" and "final blending" differently. Beck and Beck ( Making Sense of Phonics) use the terms as I will use them in this article. Wiley Blevins, in his book ( A Fresh Look at Phonics) switches the terms around.

Successive and Final Blending
Successive blending
Successive blending is an excellent way to introduce blending to your students, and children who struggle will benefit from extended use of this approach.

The power of successive blending is that it helps students keep the sounds in their heads; short-term memory issues are a real problem for students who sound out p-a-t and come up with "tan."

While you should phase out successive blending after a few weeks, Beck and Beck recommend temporarily bringing it back when students start reading words with beginning blends (such as flat and swim).
Final blending
Final blending (which I like to call "sound by sound blending") is more efficient and the method you should use when your students understand the concept of blending.

However, if you are working with an individual student who is struggling, switch back to successive blending.
Watch this quick video to understand both types of blending.
(For a longer video of successive blending, see this post.)

Best practices for teaching blending

In his book, A Fresh Look at Phonic s, Wiley Blevins share these tips for teaching blending:

Model and practice blending often (every day for early readers).

When starting blending with new readers, use words that start with continuous sounds (such as mmmm and sssss).

Practice blending before reading a story (at least 20 words in 1st grade and up).

Select blending lines that include minimal contrasts so students have to fully analyze the words.

Create lines that allow you to informally assess your students.

Make sure your lines contain differentiated practice to meet everyone's needs.

Include sentences in your lines.

What are blending lines?

Blending lines are lines of words that students sound out using their phonics knowledge. Blending lines allow students to practice the new focus skill and review previously learned skills.

Students should read the these lines after the lesson but before reading their decodable book.

You can use the lines with a whole class or in a small group phonics lesson.

Sample blending lines
Wiley Blevins' tips for using blending lines

Model only one or two words at the beginning of the word set. You want your students to do the work.

Have students read the words chorally the first time through (observe to see which students drop out as the words become more challenging).

Revisit the lines by pointing to words in random order and calling on students to read them. Remember to call on struggling readers for the easier lines and advanced readers for the challenging ones. Keep the whole class engaged by having them give a thumbs-up to indicate when a word is read correctly.

Use the lines for multiple days of instruction as a quick review or warm-up.

Make copies of the week's lines for students to take home and practice.

Make sure that the time spent on the lines is no more than 5 minutes at a time.

More sample blending lines
So what do you think?
Are you ready to give blending lines a try?

It can be tricky to write your own blending lines, but I've made it easy for you!

As you can see in the above image, I've created a planning sheet for you that reminds you what to focus on for each line.

After you type in the words on the planning sheet, they auto-populate into the student page.

The page prints without the blue boxes, making it the perfect practice sheet for your students.

Just sign up below to get the freebie!

Check our the rest of our phonics series!

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Are you wondering how to use blending lines in your phonics lessons? We're here to help - with editable blending lines!

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Grouping with Phases of Word Recognition