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What's a takeaway for you from today's session?

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What's a takeaway for you from today's session?

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Word Study Focused Reading Group Planner - Example

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Word Study Focused Reading Group Planner - Example

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Example Planner & Google Slides for Example Plan
Blank Planner - Make a Copy

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"Finally, a book that has the power to stop the literacy pendulum swings! In Shifting the Balance, Burkins and Yates skillfully explore 'balanced literacy' and 'the science of reading' to find the sweet spots where they overlap, connect, and actually complement one another. The result is a resource that raises our level of instruction while helping children discover and reap the joyful rewards of reading."

"What are the research-based, critical elements for teaching reading? In Shifting the Balance, Jan and Kari give you the information, classroom examples, and tools to help you make the best decisions around six key shifts for instruction. After reviewing the misunderstandings, the science, and the needs of your students, you will be able to audit your current practices (individually, in a PLC, or system-wide) to provide responsive and effective literacy learning for all your students."

"In Shifting the Balance, Jan and Kari invite us to reflect and reexamine our beliefs about teaching reading. They gently nudge us to rethink and possibly adjust our early literacy practices. Jan and Kari have taken on this controversial topic by embracing vulnerability and modeling what it means to be truly reflective practitioners. This book is a must read for new and veteran teachers!"

"In Shifting the Balance, Kari and Jan have masterfully dispelled many of the myths and misunderstandings associated with reading instruction. Additionally, they offer classroom teachers and coaches six simple, practical shifts that have the power to transform the way we teach children how to read. Indeed, balanced literacy and science do exist in harmony, and we practitioners can offer our children both concurrently. Thank you, Kari and Jan, for this important work that is sure to change lives!"

"In Shifting the Balance, Jan Burkins and Kari Yates provide a safe space for teachers to courageously examine some long-held balanced literacy practices and turn a critical eye to where those practices have gotten out of balance. If you're willing to be vulnerable and move towards resolving the gap between research and practice, this book provides actionable steps you can take to shift your thinking and bring instruction into alignment with the scientific evidence."

"Shifting the Balance is a welcoming opportunity to reexamine our familiar teaching practices. Without judgment, Burkins and Yates invigorate these practices by inviting educators to make scientific shifts in the systems that have been in place for years. This book will revolutionize reading instruction and in turn, the lives of countless students."

"This book speaks to teachers. It is overwhelmingly clear that Jan Burkins and Kari Yates have been and are immersed in the world of today's classrooms. Shifting the Balance will help many rethink instruction in ways that will support all students. In the current version of the Reading Wars, it is difficult for any of us to say we were wrong about some of our beliefs or practices. And thus, few do. However, Jan Burkins and Kari Yates have done just that. This is as commendable as it is unusual."

"This book found me at just the right time! Shifting the Balance gives voice to the questions I've had in my mind about Balanced Literacy and the Science of Reading and provides clear insights on how to connect the best parts of both to benefit early readers. Throughout the book, Jan and Kari confirm practices worth holding onto while providing actionable next steps I can't wait to implement with students to strengthen my reading instruction."

Dr. Jan Burkins was an elementary classroom teacher for seven years and a literacy coach for seven years. She has worked as a part-time assistant professor, a district literacy leader, and is currently a fulltime writer and consultant.

Kari Yates is an author, speaker, consultant and staff developer with a passion for helping busy literacy educators thrive. Her experiences include classroom teacher, special education, Reading Recovery teacher, elementary principal and district literacy coordinator.

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Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom

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Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom

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Large snap shot, helpful for decision making and vertical alignment.

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Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work (The Research-informed Classroom)

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Amazon.com: Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work (The Research-informed Classroom): 9780325105444: Mesmer, Heidi Anne, Duke, Nell K: Books

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Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers

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Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers : Moats, Louisa Cook: Amazon.sg: Books

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Guide to lessons for whole class and small group instruction based on phonics concept.

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Lucy Calkins and Colleagues Units of Study

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Home / Our Series - Phonics

To create these new phonics units, Lucy and her coauthors have drawn on all that they know from decades of teaching reading and writing in thousands of classrooms across the world, and they've relied on proven, research-based practices-especially on the work of Isabel Beck, Donna Scanlon, Pat and Jim Cunningham, Rollanda O'Connor, Marilyn Adams, Tim Rasinski, Donald Bear, Wiley Blevins, and the late Marie Clay.

The new Units of Study in Phonics, Grades K-2:

provide a lean and concise instructional pathway in phonics that is realistic and doable, and that taps into kids' skills and energy for tackling the fabulous challenge of learning to read and write,

introduce high-leverage phonics concepts and strategies in a way that keeps pace with students' reading and writing and helps them understand when, how, and why they can use phonics to read and write,

offer delightfully fun and engaging storylines, classroom mascots, songs, chants, rhymes, and games to help students fall head over heels in love with phonics and to create a joyous community of learners,

align with state-of-the-art reading and writing workshops for a coherent approach in which terminology, tools, rituals, and methods are shared in ways that benefit both teachers and kids.

In the hurly-burly of classroom life, every minute you spend on one subject is less time spent on another subject. Lucy and her coauthors aim to protect time for authentic reading and writing, while also helping you teach a rigorous, research-based phonics curriculum.

Units of Study

Small Groups to Support Phonics

Resource Pack & Mentor Texts

Online Resources

WATCH A SAMPLE MINILESSON VIDEO

Purchasing Options
Ordering Guidance:
Each teacher will need one set of Units and one Resource Pack. (Note: The Resource Pack materials for each grade level are extensive and come packed in two boxes.) In addition, schools will need to plan for some other resources including a stuffed elephant or lion (Mabel and Rasheed-our K and grade 1 mascots) for each classroom, plus some other classroom materials, such as white boards and magnetic letters, that many classrooms already have. For a complete list of resources, see inventory/shopping lists: Grade K, Grade 1, and Grade 2.

Phonics Bundles for Grades K-2

School Supply Shopping List (not available from Heinemann)

Phonics Units for Grades K-2

Resource Packs for Each Grade Level

A Note About Resource Packs: The Resource Packs are composed of resources made from good-quality card stock, all beautifully illustrated and printed in 4-color. Resources include alphabet charts, many other types of other charts, letter cards, word cards, picture cards, printed copies of poems and songs, other cards such as onset rime cards and vowel picture cards, and much more-about 40 pounds of resources per grade level! (Note: Resources for each grade level come packed in two boxes.)

Related Resources

Learn More

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Units of Study for Teaching Phonics Grades K-2

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Home / Our Series - Phonics To create these new phonics units, Lucy and her coauthors have drawn on all that they know from decades of teaching reading and writing in thousands of classrooms across the world, and they've relied on proven, research-based practices-especially on the work of Isabel Beck, Donna Scanlon, Pat and Jim Cunningham, Rollanda O'Connor, Marilyn Adams, Tim Rasinski, Donald Bear, Wiley Blevins, and the late Marie Clay.

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To help them understand language, connections between languages, and to be confident.

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To celebrate what they know, what they learn and what they still have to learn

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-be responsive to their needs.

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challenge all learners and making sure that everyone is learning

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to help them access new information in a safe space, where they are free to make mistakes and grow

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Good reminder of how important all the areas are.

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Some highlights from today's session:
- To keep a print rich environment in your classroom.
- To reinforce that words are interesting!
-To keep word study fun and engaging!

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Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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This portal is offered as a free resource through the 2023-2024 school year.

There are two areas of the site, one for Students and one for Instructors. Materials are organized by our Foundational Skills Scope & Sequence, and can be quickly navigated using the Menu at the top of the page.

If you would like more information about Flyleaf products, please visit flyleafpublishing.com.

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Home - Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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Online Materials PortalThis portal is offered as a free resource through the 2023-2024 school year. There are two areas of the site, one for Students and one for Instructors. Materials are organized by our Foundational Skills Scope & Sequence, and can be quickly navigated using the Menu at the top of the page.

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What support do you need with the Phonics Units of Study?

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What support do you need with the Phonics Units of Study?

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I really enjoyed learning new songs, chants and games we can use to reinforce our lessons! I want to learn more strategies for engagement and creative ways to incorporate words study across all subject.

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How to differentiate better.

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Kinder
Different ideas for engagement, and making word work fun.

How to support young learners who are still developing fine motor skills to help them write.

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What's a goal you have for your learners right now?

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What's a goal you have for your learners right now?

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phonemic awareness- hearing all sounds in a word, isolating sounds,

reading- using their phonics to help them read words.

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vowels - long and short and hearing the differences
(current unit is on the mystery of the silent e)

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To practice all 44 phonemes.

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EKC Phonemic Awareness Formative Assessment - Google Docs

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KG Unit 1 - Unpacking Phonics Unit of Study ISB

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Lesson Planning Sheet TC Phonics ISBeijing

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G1 Unit 1 - Unpacking Phonics Unit of Study ISB

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What do you plan to try based on today's session? What are you wondering?

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What do you plan to try based on today's session? What are you wondering?

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How might we support fine motor development?

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How might we support fine motor development?

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Supporting Motor Development for Handwriting.pdf

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I am curious about differentiated rug groups. rather than sending students off to rotations. Maybe starting with 2 differentiated groups and then branching to 3 differentiated groups. Also thinking about using the other adults in the room more purposefully.

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I plan on looking at the Small Groups to Support Phonics book in the Phonics kit to get some ideas for differentiated lessons.

I will also try to do some rug clubs based on the ideas that was shared today.

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I plan to experiment more with adding differentiation in my rug clubs. I have done something similar before in a few of my lessons, but I want to do this more consistently.

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How can we support students that don't have the vocabulary in English to do picture based sorts?
I would like to explore the small groups book. I like the idea of doing 1 lesson with teh mini lesson and the next day with extended rug club practice.

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GOTS - What's a takeaway for you today? WANTS- What are you wondering and/or what do you want to explore further?

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GOTS - What's a takeaway for you today? WANTS- What are you wondering and/or what do you want to explore further?

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Google Slide for another Small Reading Group

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Google Slide for another Small Reading Group

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Gots: "kids need to practice phonics beyond mastery", ideas for incorporating phonics into morning meeting activities and morning message, text complexity cards are amazing.

Wants: I need to explore decodeables on my own more.

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Prepare smaller whiteboards to use for interactive writing

Plan more phonics practice in morning meeting and small group instruction

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I loved the different ideas for morning meeting. Thank you for the different ideas for small group and whole groups today.

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Word Study Focused Reading Group Planner - Example

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Word Study Focused Reading Group Planner - Example

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Google Slides for Example Plan
Google Slides for another CVC Example Plan
Blank Planner - Make a Copy
short a Google Slides

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Many thanks to for letting me share these books, co-authored with , as ebooks. For some ideas on how to use them and some descriptions of the ways they are connected, you may want to read this blog . These books are part of the Who's Doing the Work? collection for the K-2 Lesson Sets from Stenhouse. If you are interested in the lessons that go with them, you can download a set of free, sample lessons (reading art, read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading) and learn more about the lesson sets,

More books are coming! To receive notification when additional books are added to this collection or other resources are added to this site, complete the form below.

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Virtual collection of beginning reading texts by Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris

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This pages includes flipbooks of fiction beginning reading titles by Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris. They are companion books for lessons in the WHO'S DOING THE WORK? K-2 Lesson Sets.

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Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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This portal is offered as a free resource through the 2023-2024 school year.

There are two areas of the site, one for Students and one for Instructors. Materials are organized by our Foundational Skills Scope & Sequence, and can be quickly navigated using the Menu at the top of the page.

If you would like more information about Flyleaf products, please visit flyleafpublishing.com.

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Home - Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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Online Materials PortalThis portal is offered as a free resource through the 2023-2024 school year. There are two areas of the site, one for Students and one for Instructors. Materials are organized by our Foundational Skills Scope & Sequence, and can be quickly navigated using the Menu at the top of the page.

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The Guided Reading Planning Chart is a helpful resource for me that can help me really target skills at my readers level in my reading groups.

I also loved all the new book options for the students. A lot of my students are reading more often and this is great for them.

One question...can you send the link for the teachers college padlet? I'm definitely going to send some things out to my parents.

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I liked the reminder of text complexity and what is needed to practice at each level for students to make progress. All of the tools you provided are appreciated as our are great but getting stale. One thing I am wondering is... on the WTW assessment, I have students that are 'stuck' at the short vowel but demonstrate understanding of digraphs and blends. How do I help them transfer their understanding to writing?

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I liked the reminder of text complexity and what is needed to practice at each level for students to make progress. All of the tools you provided are appreciated as our are great but getting stale. One thing I am wondering is... on the WTW assessment, I have students that are 'stuck' at the short vowel but demonstrate understanding of digraphs and blends. How do I help them transfer their understanding to writing?

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I really appreciate some of the resources to help with online learning. Specifically the decodable readers, and EKC Text Complexity Cards. I am using some of the routines currently but it is always nice to have some new ideas! I want to add a daily warm up to phonics that they kids can get in the habit of doing!

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What's a takeaway for you today? What are you wondering?

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What's a takeaway for you today? What are you wondering?

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G1 - Unpacking Phonics Unit of Study Examples

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The previewing really helps to know where kids need to go and what we need to get ready for. We liked having the time to plan all together and seeing what other teachers were using.

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I can use this as a guide with my team when we do a unit preview so we can document the big ideas of the unit.

Wondering: Maybe the team and I can put together a bank of resources we might use for this unit.

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What if some kids just don't hear the difference between short vowels? What are some extra 1 to 1 or small group activities to target these kids?

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What's an action step you're planning to take? What do you want to explore further?

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What's an action step you're planning to take? What do you want to explore further?

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Phonemic Awareness (Kilpatrick PAST) diagnostic

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Phonemic Awareness (Kilpatrick PAST) diagnostic

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Transfer Phonics Small Group Progressions - Example

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Kindergarten and First Grade Student Center Activities Phonological Awareness | Phonics | Fluency | Vocabulary | Comprehension

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Flyleaf Publishing
Core Knowledge Student Readers
Starfall
Measured Mom Decodable Nonfiction
Speld Phonic Books (Thanks, Nancy!)

Other decodable books to purchase

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I would like to try to use the PA Screener with some of my kids who are stuck and see what other data I can get out of that.

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I am excited to try the PAST screener with some of my students! I think it will balance WTW nicely, and give me some additional data that could be useful in planning.

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I am excited to try a few different things to help my kids that are stuck in short vowels sounds my progress. 

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I am excited to try a few different things to help my kids that are stuck in short vowels sounds my progress. 

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I like the idea of the part by heart...having the students identify the part of the word that is different from the rule. I am also wanting to test a few students using the screener.