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Choral reading is a great way for students to practice reading fluently. By reading aloud together, students can improve their speed, accuracy, and expression. This activity can boost their confidence and make reading more enjoyable. Poetry 4 kids has lots of different short poems you can project on your Chromebook, Smartboard, TV, etc.

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Here are my newest funny kid’s poems for you to read and rate. I post new poems as I write them, so please check back often. Have fun!

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This document has the first 100 of Fry´s instant phrases typed up. All you have to do is print and cut them up into strips. Start with just 5 or so at a time. Make sure students are NOT reading it one word at a time. Practice reading as a phrase. Each week add more. They can then practice this independently while you are working with another group or as a warm up activity.

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Browse fry first 100 phrases resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources.

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All passages are already downladed for you and organized by reading level. Students practice reading the same passage up to six times. There is recording space for WPM, CWPM, accuracy rate, goal rate, and more.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Reader's Theater- Link to over 50 short plays

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Reader's Theater- Link to over 50 short plays

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Reader's Theater engages students in reading scripts aloud. This activity helps with fluency and allows students to practice their inflection and pacing in a fun, interactive way.

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Reader's Theater Scripts and Plays

Readers Theater is a dramatic presentation of a written work in a script form. Readers read from a "script" and reading parts are divided among the readers. No memorization, costumes, blocking, or special lighting is needed. Presentations can easily be done in a k-3 classroom. Scripts are held by the readers. Lines are not memorized. The focus is on reading the text with expressive voices and gestures. Making comprehending the text meaningful and fun for the student! Once you start Reader's Theater in your classroom you and your students will be loving it!!!

"Reader's Theater proved to be almost a magic solution for Griffith: In just 10 weeks of using RT, every child in her class had gained a full grade level in reading. After a year, the children's gains had jumped to three years of growth. Griffith calls the transformation in their reading fluency totally remarkable." Quote taken from The Power of Reader's Theater, Scholastic Instructor

Update - July 08

Plays and Scripts To Print and Read

Reader's Theater Resources!!

Click the books to learn more...

Look what THOUSANDS of Teachers Use and Love!!!
Teaching Heart - 2001-2008

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Reader's Theater Scripts and Plays for the Classroom

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Reader's Theater Scripts and Plays Readers Theater is a dramatic presentation of a written work in a script form. Readers read from a "script" and reading parts are divided among the readers. No memorization, costumes, blocking, or special lighting is needed. Presentations can easily be done in a k-3 classroom.

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Sight words are frequently used words that often don't follow regular phonetic patterns. Use flashcards or sight word apps to help students recognize these words instantly.

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Last updated on June 2, 2020

Using flashcards has become almost taboo in our classrooms, but they still have value! These three sight word flashcards drills are research-proven to increase mastery!

Contrary to popular belief, flashcards are not evil. 😉

When used in the right ways, they can really help beginning readers achieve sight word mastery and reading fluency. These sight word flashcard drills are research proven and teacher approved.

Reading sight words quickly is a foundational skill for reading. These sight word drills are quick, super simple and are research-proven to increase sight word mastery.

Three Sight Word Flashcards Drills to Increase Mastery

These three sight word flashcards drills are research based interventions that have been adapted from Intervention Central.

If you're interested in more research about sight words, click here to read the 5 Things All Teachers Should know Before Teaching Sight Words!

Each drill can be used for 1-1 intervention or within a small group. Due to the amount of time I have available in my classroom, I almost always do these sight word flashcards drills in a guided reading group. They each have 3-4 students who are working on the same words.

Drill 1: Single Response

For this drill, you will be drawing from a stack of 5 sight word cards. Before starting this drill, determine what mastery will look like. For example, I might say "Mastery is reading each word correctly 3 times within 3 seconds."

In my guided reading group, I hand each student their own set of 5 cards. I tell them to shuffle them up and place them in a stack in front of them.

Next I say "We are going to practice some words. I will flip your top card over. If you know what the word is, I want you to read it to us."

Each student takes a turn flipping his or her card over. If they read it correctly within 3 seconds, I say "Yes, that is the word ____." Then everyone looks at the card and repeats the word.

If they do not read it correctly or say they do not know the word, I say "This is the word ____. Say ____." Then all of the students say that word.

We go around the table, reading one word at a time. If a student reaches my initial goal of mastery, he or she is ready to move onto 5 new words.

Drill 2: Direct Instruction

This drill uses 10 sight word cards. These 10 cards are made up of 3 "unknown" words and 7 "known" words from previous testing.

Just like with the drill above, you want to determine what mastery looks like. We'll use the same example as above: reading a word three times in 3 seconds or less.

For this drill, I use a single stack of cards and drill round robin with the students at my table. Before starting the drill, I directly teach the three unknown words.

We look at them and make observations such as the number of letters, which letters are in each word, the starting sound, etc. We do not want our students to need to think of all of these things to read the words, of course, but these tools help many of our students recognize, and ultimately remember, each of the words.

Next, we go through the stack of 10 sight words round-robin, giving each student the chance to read cards one at a time. I use the same language from the single response drill "Yes, that is the word ___" or "That is the word ____. Say _____. "

Note: it is not always easy to make a group of 10 cards with 7 known and 3 unknown words when making it for 3-4 students at a time. Sometimes it works out perfectly but other times there isn't enough overlap. In that case, you can either modify the number of known/unknown as you see fit or make a different deck for each student.

Drill 3: Folding-In

This sight word flashcards drill uses the same deck from above with 7 known words and 3 unknown words. You run through the cards with your students the same way as well. You use the same vocabulary and look for the same mastery.

Rather than directly instructing on the unknown words, you are simply going through the flashcards. After you go through your 10 cards, you fold three more known words into your stack of words.

The size of your stack will increase as you continue to fold-in more known cards but the number of unknown cards will stay the same. This increases students' confidence as they see how many they truly know.

Note: It's helpful in this drill to mark one of the cards as the "starter" card so you can remember which word to fold-in on. I will do this by adding a sticky note to the back or printing it in a different color!

Sight Word Flashcards

I know these drills all seem very simple and straightforward. That is actually the beauty of them. Yes, I 'm really saying you don't have to have ton of random materials and you don't need to print and laminate a bunch of pages. (Although you know that I love doing those things, too! 😂).

Memorizing sight words is really a straightforward task when you think about it. What it takes is time and repetition. Using these drills consistently does increase mastery (despite being so very simple) because you're giving students what they really need! 👏

If you need sight word flashcards to use for these drills, look no further! These are completely editable so you can type in the exact words you need, print and go!

If you want some super engaging, hands-on activities your students can do with sight word flashcards, check this post out! These are some of my favorite activities to do in guided reading groups or to add to literacy centers because my students love them so much.

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Three Sight Word Flashcards Drills to Increase Mastery

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Learn how to use sight word flashcards to increase mastery with these three sight words drills. They are quick, simple and research based!

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Story maps help students break down the elements of a story, such as characters, setting, problem, and solution. This visual aid can enhance their understanding of the text. This resource has videos showing how to use story maps and has differentiated versions of story maps you can download.

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Adler, C. (2004). Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension.

Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J. (2001) Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read kindergarten through grade three. Washington, DC: The U.S. Department of Education.

Boulineau, T., Fore, C, Hagan-Burke, S. and Burke, M. (2004). Use of Story-Mapping to Increase the Story-Grammar Text Comprehension of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Spring, 2004), pp. 105-121

Nell K. Duke, P. David Pearson, Stephanie L. Strachan, and Alison K. Billman (2011) Essential Elements of Fostering and Teaching Reading Comprehension . From What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction (4th ed.), International Reading Association.

Nell K. Duke, Alessandra E. Ward, and P. David Pearson (2021). The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction , The Reading Teacher, Vol 74, No. 6 (May-June 2021).

Dunst, C, Simkus, A, Hamby, D. (2012). Children's Story Retelling as a Literacy and Language Enhancement Strategy. CELLreviews 5(4). Asheville, NC: Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute, Center for Early Literacy Learning.

Santa, C., Havens, L., & Valdes, B. (2004). Project CRISS: Creating independence through student owned strategies 3rd Edition. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Timothy Shanahan et al., Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (2010). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.

Trabasso, T., & Bouchard, E. (2002) Teaching readers how to comprehend text strategically. In C. Block and M. Pressley, (Eds.) Comprehension instruction: Research-based practices (pp. 176-200). NY: Guilford Press.

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Story maps use graphic organizers to help students learn the elements of a book or story. The most basic story maps focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story. More advanced organizers focus more on plot or character traits.

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Teach students to ask questions before, during, and after reading to monitor their understanding of the text. This strategy encourages students to differentiate between Thick and Thin questions. Time frame: 3, 30-minute lesson.

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Questioning: A Comprehension Strategy for Small-Group Guided Reading

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In this lesson, the teacher explains the difference between thin (factual) and thick (inferential) questions and then models how to compose question webs by thinking aloud while reading. Students observe how to gather information about the topic and add it to question webs in the form of answers or additional questions.

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A word wall is a collection of words displayed in the classroom that helps students improve their vocabulary. Add new words weekly and encourage students to use them in their writing and speaking. Dr. Julie Jackson is a professor who provides resources on using interactive word walls in the classrooms. The website provides samples, vocabulary planning documents, and pages and pages of word meanings for affixes and root words.

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Interactive Word Wall Expectations 5 Steps for Creating Interactive Word Walls RULES test taking strategy English-Spanish Science Cognates Vocabulary Planning Document 5-E's of Inquiry Learning Expanded Scientific Discourse Patterns Building Vocabulary Prefixes, Roots, Suffixes

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Lessons vary in complexity from replacing overused words to being able to articulate various strategies used to identify the meaning of unknown words.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Incorporate grammar games into your lesson plans to make learning fun. These can include board games, online games, or interactive activities that target specific grammar skills.

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Browse Grammar Games. Award winning educational materials designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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Sentence diagramming can help students understand the structure and function of sentences. This visual method breaks down the parts of a sentence for easier comprehension.

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Everything You Need to Know About Sentence Diagramming | Grammarly

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Diagramming a sentence is a great exercise to gain a deeper understanding of its grammatical structure. A sentence diagram is a visual representation of a sentence's structure and its words' functions. When doing this exercise, you put each word in its respective place within the diagram, which uses lines to represent which words relate to each other and how. With practice, this skill of breaking down and diagramming a sentence will not only help you understand the underlying principles of sentence structure but also help keep your writing mistake-free.

Although sentence diagramming is not a necessary part of language learning, it is great for practicing and understanding grammar and syntax, especially for visual learners. Below, we explain how to diagram a sentence, including some sentence diagram examples so you can see for yourself.

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What is a sentence diagram?

A sentence diagram is a visual organization system that you can use to see how the parts of speech like nouns, verbs, prepositions, and articles work together and relate to each other in any given sentence.

We'll explain everything you need to know below so that you, too, can understand sentence diagrams. Knowing how to identify what roles each word plays in a sentence based on their function and placement is an excellent practice for both improving your English and learning how to write better sentences .

Sentence diagramming uses a fixed set of rules and a standardized "code" of line types (e.g., diagonal lines, dotted lines, etc.) so that anyone who knows how to diagram a sentence can read other people's sentence diagrams. The most commonly used method is known as the Reed-Kellogg system, which is what we discuss here.

What grammatical components you should be able to identify before diagramming?

Before we get down to actually diagramming sentences, let's review the technical elements that sentences are composed of: parts of speech and sentence constituents. Sentence diagramming deals heavily with the functions of words, and you need to identify each word or phrase's role so you know where to put it on your sentence diagram.

You might recognize some of these are parts of speech like articles and conjunctions, but others are concepts that describe the constituents of a sentence like predicates or subordinate clauses. Constituents can be a single word or a collection of words that form a single function.

Subject noun or noun form: The subject is the doer of the action in a sentence.

Subordinate clauses: Subordinate clauses contain a subject and a predicate but need to join an independent clause to form a complete sentence. These can include both noun clauses and infinitive clauses.

How to diagram a sentence in 5 steps, with examples

To show you how to diagram a sentence, let's start with simple sentences and work up to more advanced constructions. For this section, we'll use the example sentence:
The dog brought me his old ball in the morning.
1 Diagram the subject noun and main predicate verb first

The subject and main verb are the core of all sentence diagrams, so start there. Begin by drawing a long horizontal line (the "base line") below the sentence and then draw a short vertical line down the middle of the horizontal one. The subject noun, , goes on the left side and the verb, , goes on the right side.

The direct object, , goes on the base line after the verb. The verb and the direct object are separated by another vertical line that sits on top of the base line and does pass through it.

3 Then add the indirect objects

Indirect objects (in this example: ) go on a small horizontal line under the verb, connected by a diagonal line.

4 Put the prepositions in place

For a prepositional phrase like in the morning , draw a small horizontal line under the word it modifies and connect it with a diagonal line. In this case, in the morning refers to the time that the action took place, so the horizontal line would go under the verb . Then write the preposition ( ) on the diagonal line and the preposition's object ( ) on the horizontal line.

Placing prepositional phrases correctly on the diagram can be tricky because prepositional phrases don't always go next to the words they modify. This is especially true with sentence starters . For example, let's say you were diagramming this sentence:

Even though it is right next to the subject, , the prepositional phrase in the morning would still go under the verb because it describes when the action happened.

5 Finally, add the modifiers and articles
In the morning, the dog brought me his old ball.
Place modifiers and articles on diagonal lines beneath the words they describe.

Advanced rules for diagramming sentences and examples

Once you can handle the basics, it's time to move on to more advanced sentence diagramming. There are dozens of complex constructions in English grammar. Here are a few with their own particular method when it comes to diagramming sentences.

How to diagram a sentence with linking verbs

Linking verbs like , , and have special rules for sentence diagrams when they're followed by a predicate adjective or predicate noun, which describe the subject. Write the verb normally and then write the predicate adjective/noun after it on the same base line. Then, separate the verb and predicate adjective/noun with a vertical line slanted to the left. Just like with direct objects, the line does intersect the base line.

How to diagram a sentence with noun clauses, noun phrases, and infinitive phrases

Noun clauses, noun phrases, and infinitive phrases are distinct ideas nested within another sentence and are diagrammed as extensions from the main diagram base line. To do this, you will use "pedestals"-long vertical lines with triangular bases-to connect it to the main diagram. Put pedestals directly on the base line where a single noun would go; then draw a horizontal line on top of the pedestal. On the new horizontal line, you can diagram the noun clause or phrase just like a separate sentence.
She seems happier after the breakup.
How to diagram a sentence with conjunctions

Conjunctions are tricky in sentence diagramming because the method is different depending on how they're used. Let's look at some sentence diagram examples for the different uses of conjunctions.
I bet it will rain in the evening.
For compound subjects, separate the subject line into two or more horizontal lines and use conjoined diagonal lines to connect them to the base line where the main predicate verb sits. Write each subject on one of the horizontal lines, with their respective modifiers below each. At the point where the diagonal lines start, draw a vertical dotted line and write the conjunction sideways on the line.

For correlative conjunctions like or neither . . . nor , write both conjunctions sideways on the dotted line, one on each side.
Compound subjects
Compound predicates use a mirrored version of the construction for compound subjects. You'll likely need to make the horizontal lines longer to fit more words.
Both the teachers and the students wanted a half day.
If you're diagramming a compound sentence with two independent clauses, diagram each clause individually and then connect their verbs with a dotted line that looks like a step. On the horizontal part of the dotted line, write the conjunction.
Compound predicates The cat woke from its nap and went to its food bowl.
If a conjunction connects two or more nouns that the subject, diagram the nouns on separate lines stacked like a list and draw a dotted vertical line between them. Write the conjunction sideways on the dotted line.
Compound sentences
For multiple modifiers, write each adjective or adverb separately on diagonal lines under the word they modify. Then, draw a dotted horizontal line between them near the top and write the conjunction on that line.
English is a good language, but Spanish is easier.
How to diagram a sentence with subordinate clauses
Multiple nouns
Similar to compound sentences, start by diagramming each clause individually, with the independent clause on top. Then, connect the clauses with a diagonal dotted line between the verbs and write the conjunction on that line.
Nothing scares me except snakes, darkness, and bugs.
How to diagram a sentence with gerunds

are written on a stepped line.
Multiple modifiers The turtle ran slowly and steadily.
How to diagram an imperative sentence with no subject

Imperative sentences , or commands, generally don't have written subjects because it's assumed the subject is whomever the speaker is talking to. When making a sentence diagram for an imperative sentence, simply put "(you)" in the subject place.

How to diagram a sentence with appositives
If you do not vote, you should not complain.
Appositives have their own special diagramming rules that can seem confusing. When diagramming, it's useful to remember that appositives are a form of renaming-because of this function, the noun of the appositive is written in parentheses on the same line as the noun it describes or modifies. Modifiers of the nouns are on diagonal lines below, extending from whichever noun they modify.

Sentence diagram FAQs

What is a sentence diagram?
My favorite activity is sleeping.
A sentence diagram is a visual tool to help understand sentence structure, which reorganizes a sentence's words along interconnecting lines in order to demonstrate each word's function.

What is the purpose of a sentence diagram?

Sentence diagrams are a learning aid to help simplify complicated sentences by grouping words visually.
Give me your money! A human-made waterway, the Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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Everything You Need to Know About Sentence Diagramming, With Examples

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Diagramming a sentence is a great exercise to gain a deeper understanding of its grammatical structure. A sentence diagram is a visual representation of a sentence's structure and its words' functions. When doing this exercise, you put each word in its respective place within the diagram, which uses lines to represent which words relate to each other and how.

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Make a copy and modify the top with all the different goals you will be working on with your student groups. Then track your intervention work by listing the number of the goal you worked on with which students. You can you this to plan your lessons and then record any progress monitoring along side.

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Check out all of these print and go activities from Reading A-Z and Institute of Education Sciences to work on decoding skills.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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This sample chapter provides 9 word sorts and an assessment for adding -s,-es, -ed, and -ing

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Print and Go from this Google Drive folder utalizing Reading A to Z resources. Use with your small group and then incorporate into independent work stations. Tasks are at end of second grade reading level.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Click on this website for 8 different ideas on ways to work with students on using syllables to help with decoding skills.

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Marker activity

This activity, from our article How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities, is an example of how to teach students to use a marker (i.e., token) to count syllables.

The marker activity often used for word counting can be adapted for use in counting syllables. Teachers can provide each child with tokens and two or three horizontally connected boxes drawn on a sheet of paper. The children place a token in each box from left to right as they hear each syllable in a word.

Multisyllabic manipulation

This example includes several activities and a chart of multisyllabic words. One specific activity from this page is the Multisyllabic Words Manipulation Game. Teachers can divide words from reading selections into syllables, write each syllable on a note card and display the syllables in jumbled order. Have students arrange the syllables to form the words.
Multisyllabic words manipulation ›
Clapping games

Associating syllables with a beat can help students to better learn the concept of syllables within words. Here's a clapping game to help young learners understand about dividing words into syllables.
Basic words clapping game ›
Using mirrors

The following link includes information on introductory activities such as using mirrors for teaching students about syllables. Information is also provided about the different syllable spelling patterns.
Using a mirror to understand syllables ›
Jumping syllables

This activity teaches student to separate words into syllables. Students move syllables around to create new "silly" words which gives them practice manipulating different sounds.
Jumping syllables ›
Find many more syllable activities developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research.

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As students progress in their literacy understanding, they move from reading and writing single syllable words (often with consonant-vowel-consonant constructions) to reading and writing multisyllabic words. Instruction focused on teaching students about syllables often focuses on teaching different types of syllables (open and closed) and what occurs when syllables join together within a word.

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Pg 8-10 provides 8 different small group activities to work on affixes and root words. A link to the Florida Center for Reading Research for even more activities is also provided.

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Download lessons from Florida Center for Reading Research on character descriptions, traits, etc.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Download lessons on plot (elements of story, retelling, summarizing, etc.) from FLORIDA CENTER FOR READING RESEARCH

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Down load lessons on identifying details, important details, how to find the main idea, summarizing non fiction text, and paraphrasing in their own words from FLORIDA CENTER FOR READING RESEARCH

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Download lessons on cause and effect, identifying text features, reviewing text structures from FLORIDA CENTER FOR READING RESEARCH

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Teach students how to monitor their own comprehension by asking questions before, during, and after reading with these downloadable lessons from FLORIDA CENTER FOR READING RESEARCH

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There are passages for Grades 2,3,4 with questions focused on developing ideas around character and character traits. The articles go with fiction units but most articles have real or nonfiction structures. However questions are still focused on character traits using real life figures. Passages cover variety of cultures, regions and events based on complexity of targeted reader.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Activities and games to identify/ match vocabulary words building word knowledge around these three topics

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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These activities and games will build student understanding around word parts: root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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F1-4 are on word parts, F5-8 work on words, F9-10 work on phrasing, F11-13 work on chunking the text, F14-24 work on connecting fluency to text.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Words students should be able to spell by the end of 2nd grade. They are typed in order they are taught in Fundations so least to most complex. Print for flash cards or print 2 sets for a matching activity.

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Words students should be able to read and spell by the end of 1st grade. Print for flask cards. Print 2 sets for matching activities. Use the words to make Roll and Graph sight word game (see seperate PDF).

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Several pages have some easy sight words to spell. Open in Kami to edit the last page using any trick words students need to work on. Consider using list from Fundations Level 1 or 2. If you put it in a smart pal or laminate you can simply wipe of and rewrite new words each week.

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Can be used to monitor student progress with sightword recognition

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Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring 

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Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring 

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This resource provides fluency norms for grades 1-8 as well as direction about progress monitoring students, setting goals and what type of data to collect and how often.

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Screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring are essential to making sure that all students become fluent readers - and the words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedure can work for all three. The only aspect of the procedure that has to change is the difficulty level of the text.

For screening, passages are selected from text at the student's grade level. For diagnosing, passages are selected at the student's instructional level (which may be lower than her grade level). In this context, instructional level text is challenging but manageable, with the reader making errors on no more than one in 10 words (i.e., the reader is successful with 90 percent of the text) (Partnership for Reading, 2001). For progress monitoring, passages are selected at a student's individually determined goal level. For example, if an 8th-grade student's instructional level is at the 5th-grade level, the teacher may conduct the progress monitoring assessments using passages at the 6th-grade level.

Screening

Because empirical research clearly indicates the urgent need to provide high quality, intensive instructional interventions to students at risk of reading difficulty as soon as possible (Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998), schools should administer screening measures to every student through the 5th grade.

First-graders should be screened in the winter and the spring; second- through fifth-graders should be screened in the fall, winter, and spring. To determine if students are at the expected levels in their reading fluency, my colleague Gerald Tindal and I (2006) suggest comparing students' WCPM scores to the 50th percentile score on the norms table (below), given the students' grade placement and the approximate time of year in which the assessment was conducted.

A score falling more than 10 words below the 50th percentile should raise a concern; the student may need additional assistance, and further assessments may be needed to diagnose the source of the below-average performance. Depending on the age of the student and any concerns about reading performance noted by the teacher or parents, such additional testing might include assessments of oral language development, phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, and/or comprehension.

Diagnosing

If a student scores poorly on a fluency screening, or if the teacher has some other cause for concern such as poor performance in class or on another assessment, the teacher should take a more careful look at the student's strengths and needs. The student could be deficient in a variety of reading skills or in related areas like vocabulary and background knowledge, so administering some informal diagnostic assessments would be helpful for designing effective instruction, providing evidence of the need for a reading specialist, or referring the student for further evaluation.

Typically, if a student's fluency level is low, but word reading accuracy in grade-level texts is adequate, a teacher can place the student in an intervention focused just on improving fluency. But if diagnostic assessments indicate other areas of weakness, a more comprehensive intervention may need to be developed. ( See example below)

Monitoring student progress

If a student's diagnostic assessment reveals concerns about one or more areas of reading, additional, targeted instruction should begin right away. WCPM procedures can be used to monitor the student's progress. Many educators have found WCPM to be a better tool for monitoring students' progress than traditional standardized measures that typically are time-consuming, expensive, only administered infrequently, and of limited instructional utility (Good, Simmons, and Kame'enui, 2001; Tindal and Marston, 1990).

For students reading six to 12 months below grade level, progress monitoring should be done frequently, perhaps once or twice monthly for as long as students require supplemental instruction. Progress monitoring should be done as often as once per week for students who are reading more than one year below level and receiving intensive intervention services, including special education. This regular monitoring assures that if the intervention is not working well, it can be modified.

When monitoring the progress of these struggling readers, the standard procedures are expanded by graphing the student's WCPM scores. A progress monitoring graph, for perhaps a grading period or a trimester, is created for each student. Teachers can use the average weekly improvement (AWI) data in the norms table to select an ambitious, yet reasonable, instructional goal; for example, a fourth-grader's goal could be to improve by 15 WCPM over 10 weeks of intensive instruction. An aim line is placed on the graph to represent the progress a student must make to achieve a preset fluency goal. Each time the student is assessed, that score is added to the graph. If three or more consecutive scores fall below the aim line, the teacher must consider adjusting the instructional program (Hasbrouck et al., 1999).

Teachers should also consider having the students record their own WCPM scores on their graphs - it increases their motivation and investment in their reading progress (Shinn, 1998).

These procedures for screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring have been available for many years, but have not been widely used in schools (Hasbrouck, et al., 1999). This situation will likely change as educators become more aware of the importance of preventing reading difficulties and providing intensive intervention as soon as a concern is noted.

Using fluency norms to set appropriate goals for student improvement and to measure progress toward those goals can be a powerful and efficient tool to help educators make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students, particularly the lowest performing, struggling readers.

Examples of a diagnosis

Andrew (a pseudonym), is an eighth-grader who recently moved to a different town where he entered a new school in March. It soon became evident to his teachers that Andrew was having difficulty with his academic work.

At a weekly meeting during which teachers discuss any concerns about their students, several teachers brought samples of Andrew's work to share. The teachers agreed that the school's reading specialist should determine if reading problems were contributing to Andrew's struggle with his assignments in several classes.

The reading specialist conducted an IRI (informal reading inventory) and planned to follow up with additional assessments if Andrew's performance on the IRI indicated possible deficits in phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, vocabulary, and/or comprehension. The specialist built a fluency assessment into the initial IRI by using a stopwatch to determine how many words Andrew could read in the first 60 seconds of each IRI passage.

The reading specialist began the IRI using a sixth-grade passage, two years below Andrew's grade. The passage was at a frustration level for him: He had difficulty with decoding, phrasing, and expression, and was only able to correctly answer four of the eight comprehension questions. Because the passage was at Andrew's frustration level, the WCPM score was not calculated. The specialist then repeated the assessment using a fifth-grade passage; Andrew was able to read it with 94 percent accuracy and correctly answer six of the eight comprehension questions.

The specialist calculated Andrew's WCPM score for this passage and compared his score, 131 WCPM, to the norms for fifth-graders in the spring (Hasbrouck and Tindal, 2006). The 50th percentile in the spring of fifth grade is 139 WCPM. Because Andrew's score fell less than 10 words below it, his fluency is within the expected range for fifthgrade readers in the spring.

The reading specialist's conclusion was that Andrew appears to be reading approximately three years below grade level, but that his fluency skill level appears to be appropriate for his overall reading level. Before designing Andrew's reading program, the specialist plans to administer a diagnosticassessment focused on phonics and decoding, and a more comprehensive assessment of vocabulary and comprehension.

She suspects there may be some underlying weaknesses in Andrew's decoding skills contributing to his delay in overall reading development. His intervention will likely include fluency instruction and practice to keep him on track, and may also include decoding and comprehension instruction, depending on the results of the other diagnostic assessments.

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Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring for Fluency: The Details

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Screening, diagnosing, and progress monitoring are essential to making sure that all students become fluent readers - and the words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedure can work for all three. Here's how teachers can use it to make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.

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These reading passages from Readworks are sorted into grade level folder based on Lexile bands into Grade 2,3,4. The question sets primarily focus on plot type question such as setting, problem, solution, recall of details. However other types of questions may also be included. These passages can used for instructional purposes or progress montitoring.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Organized by reading lexile into grade 2,3,4 this folder has reading articles and question sets that focus on main idea and details

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Word Wall/ alphabetized list of most common mispelled words in 4th grade. Make a copy and edit or use for students to edit their own writing. Fits on just one page. Print 2 pages per sheet to fit nicely in composition notebook

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From the Mississippi Department of Education is an advanced paced word study (7 weeks) set of lesson focused on encoding multi syllable words. The lessons begin with syllables then move on to vowel teams, silent e, schwa, and affixes. A fast paced option for those who need a review.

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1. Preview each picture by naming them so everyone in the group knows what each item is. 2. Game based- turn a card over say the picture, put it with the correct vowel team. If correct it stays if not correct it and return to pile. Win- first to get 3 in a row, etc. 3. Individually- sort the cards by the vowel teams. Consider making an answer key by completing one yourself and glueing them in correct spot and then making photo copy.

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Read Naturally provides examples of how to use a provided template and structure: teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring to build automaticity with word recognition. Be sure to read how to use the template as students read down the collumns and across the rows. Words are chosen based on patterns.

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Developed from the research lab at the University of Florida

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Instructions to print and make your own word work mats. Warning- involves heavier amount of prep, consider if needed for a group throughout the year

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Lessons for Weeks 1-8 begins with counting phonemes, syllables and sound deletion

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Weeks 9-18 begins with manipulating phonemes

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This link takes you to over a dozen games and practice activities. If you click on one it will take you to a new page. You can copy and paste the specific URL into Google Classroom if there is a specific game you want students to practice.

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EE and EA Vowels Team - /au/ and /aw/ sentences - Vowel Team Syllable WordWheel - Vowel Team Syllable Quiz - /au/ & /aw/ words - vowel team review

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R controlled Matching Game - R- Controlled sentences - Bossy R Among Us Gotcha - R-Controlled Vowel Sort - R Controlled Vowel Sort Phonological Awareness

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Alpine Schools offers both printable and online games to practice work with r-controlled vowels

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Beginning with consonant doubling these complete phonics lessons include model reading passages and practice passages for a variety of phonics rules. By 3rd grade the lessons review phonics rules in context of student text.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
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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If you prefer, read the text-version of the infographic.

Enlarge Infographic

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 overtime.

Identify an end of year grade level target for number ofwords read per minute.

3. Corrective Feedback

Give immediate feedback if 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 overtime.

Suggested Citation

National Center on Improving Literacy (2020). 4 Steps to Building Fluency with Text. 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.

Abstract

Repeated readings, goal setting, corrective feedback, and graphing performance can help build Fluency with Text.

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Four Steps to Building Fluency with Text

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If you prefer, read the text-version of the infographic. Enlarge Infographic 4 Steps to Building 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.

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How to Teach Phonics using a Research-Based Approach | SMARTER Intervention

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In the field of reading - phonics is a pretty common term. However, there is much more to phonics & teaching the skills it encompasses than you might think. Today, we are going to break down what exactly phonics is, and how we ACTUALLY should be teaching these skills to our students.

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Phonics blending: An evidence-based literacy strategy

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Phonics blending is an effective, evidence-based word reading strategy to help all readers decode words.

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Defining phonics and providing effective practices from the Massachusetts Dept. of Education

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Reading is the act of processing text in order to derive meaning. To learn to read, children must develop both fluent word reading and language comprehension (Gough & Tunmer,1986). Fluent word reading stems from underlying skills: phonological awareness, phonics and decoding, and automatic word recognition.

What Are Phonics and Decoding?

Phonics is a "way of teaching the code-based portion of reading and spelling that stresses symbol-sound relationships; especially important in beginning reading instruction" ( Massachusetts 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Framework ).

Decoding is "the ability to translate a word from print to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences; also the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out" ( Foorman et al., 2016 ).

How Phonics Contributes to Reading Development

All readers of an alphabetic language such as English use phonics knowledge and decoding skills to read words (Seidenberg, 2017). Readers know the relationships between letters or groups of letters and their sounds (called sound-symbol correspondences or phoneme-grapheme correspondences) and rules for how words are spelled. Readers can decode words, which involves using phonics knowledge and phonemic skills to turn a printed word into sounds. Becoming a proficient reader requires these skills.

"In alphabetic systems, the phonemes of the language are represented by letters or groups of letters (graphemes, e.g., b → /b/, ph → /f/). If a child learns to decode that symbol-to-sound relationship, then that child will have the ability to translate printed words into spoken language, thereby accessing information about meaning" ( Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018 ).

The National Reading Panel (2000) conducted an exhaustive review of research on phonics, and drew the following conclusions:

"An essential part of the process for beginners involves learning the alphabetic system, that is, letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns, and learning how to apply this knowledge in their reading."

"Systematic phonics instruction makes a bigger contribution to children's growth in reading than alternative programs providing unsystematic or no phonics instruction. Phonics instruction taught early proved much more effective than phonics instruction introduced after first grade...These results indicate clearly that systematic phonics instruction in kindergarten and 1st grade is highly beneficial and that children at these developmental levels are quite capable of learning phonemic and phonics concepts."

"Systematic phonics instruction has been used widely over a long period of time with positive results. A variety of phonics programs have proven effective with children of different ages, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. These facts should persuade educators and the public that systematic phonics instruction is a valuable part of a successful classroom reading program."

Susan Brady (2011) conducted a well-respected review of research on phonics instruction in the 10 years following the National Reading Panel, to determine what new findings had emerged. Based upon an additional 10 years of research, her report found:

"Systematic, explicit methods of code instruction are more effective than approaches that are less explicit and/or less systematic."

"Normally achieving students, students at risk, and severely disabled readers all have been documented to benefit from systematic, explicit instruction."

"Research outcomes are pointing to the value of extending code-based instruction beyond first grade, not only for struggling readers but also for those with stronger prowess in basic skills."

"You can listen to Mozart or Beethoven for many, many years. But if you were sitting in front of the piano, it doesn't mean that you can then play the piano. [You need] explicit instruction to practice and develop this skill. It's something that happens over a prolonged period of time. It's not something that happens overnight and it's for sure not something that happens naturally."

Nadine Gaab
Associate Professor of Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

Effective Phonics and Decoding Practices

Plan Systematic Instruction

For systematic instruction, lessons build on previously taught information, from simple to complex (Brady, 2011). A carefully planned sequence for instruction, similar to a builder's blueprint for a house, generally starts with regular spelling patterns and progresses intentionally to more challenging patterns.

Use a Gradual Release Approach

A gradual release approach involves explicit instruction and modeling; followed by active guided practice; and finally, independent application and transfer to text (adapted from Pearson & Gallagher, 1983).

Deliver Explicit Instruction

"The process of learning to read written words is a new process in the evolution of humans and we are using different parts of our brain than we have for processing language to do this task. So reading is not something that comes naturally to children. It requires explicit instruction."

Tiffany P. Hogan
Director of the Speech and Language (SAiL) Literacy Lab
MGH Institute of Health Professions

Explicit instruction involves direct explanation. The teacher's language is concise and specific. Explicit instruction means that the actions of the teacher are clear, unambiguous, direct, and visible. This makes it clear what the students are to do and learn. Nothing is left to guess work. ( Florida Center for Reading Research Glossary of Reading Terms).

Examples of Explicit Instructional Routines

Provide Interactive Practice

Interactive practice is hands-on, engaging, and multimodal, such as moving tiles into sound boxes as words are analyzed, using hand gestures to support memory for associations, building words with letter tiles, or assembling sentences with words on cards. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are often paired with one another to foster multimodal language learning (adapted from International Dyslexia Association). Effective guided practice includes corrective feedback to students.

Examples of Interactive Practice Activities

Integrate Encoding With Decoding

Linking direct and explicit instruction in decoding with encoding produces positive gains in both reading and spelling. Providing practice with decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling and writing) of letter-sound correspondences positively impacts reading, writing, and spelling (Weiser & Mathes, 2011).

Promote Transfer of Decoding Skills to Text

To support beginning independent reading success, students need to practice reading recently taught letter-sound correspondences in connected text. When students have the opportunity to immediately apply newly learned skills to their reading, they are more likely to use decoding strategies to read unfamiliar words and are more skillful at decoding (Hatcher, Hulme, & Ellis, 1994; Cheatham & Allor, 2012).

Learn More About Phonics and Decoding

Considerations for Students Learning English

English learners should have equal opportunity to meaningfully participate in all foundational skills instruction. These recommendations and resources will further support English learners to develop phonics and decoding skills. Also, please refer to WIDA Can Dos and WIDA Instructional Supports.
Taking Bilingualism into Account

English learners may have alphabet knowledge in a home language with similarities and differences from English. A child's home language may use the same letters as English, but have different names and sounds for letters (e.g., Spanish). Or, a child's home language may use a different alphabet and English letters are not yet familiar (e.g., Cyrillic alphabet).

Systematic phonics instruction is effective in helping ELs learn to decode words, even at lower levels of English language proficiency. However, decoding alone does not facilitate reading comprehension if students' oral language proficiency is not developed to the level of the texts they are expected to read (Helman, 2004; Droop & Verhoeven, 2003).

Teachers should consider if the heritage/home language of the students is logographic or syllabic (Bialystok, 2002; Durguno&gbreve;lu, 2002) to inform plans to introduce the child to English letters and to make supportive connections to their home language based knowledge.

ELs may feel anxious and/or frustrated about attempting to produce sounds in English. A supportive environment helps lower affective filter and promotes risk taking (Krashen & Terrell, 1983).

Supports for English Learners

"An effective phonics program for English language learners uses a synthetic approach that follows a defined sequence and includes direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships" (Linan-Thompson & Vaughn, 2007).

Plan instruction that provides many opportunities to see, play with, and compare letters. Include games, songs, and other activities that help children identify and name letters, provide activities in which children learn uppercase and lowercase forms of letters, and point out differences and similarities among the letters (Schickedanz & Collins, 2013).

Empower students by explicitly teaching English letter-sound correspondences. Teach phonics explicitly using a multi-sensory approach, which may include tools such as manipulative tiles (Foorman et al., 2016 ).

Combine phonics and decoding instruction with intensive development of the oral language English learners need for comprehension (Gersten & Geva, 2003).

Plan writing activities that encourage children to practice making the letters they are learning and provide them opportunities to experiment with and manipulate letters to make words and messages (Blevins, 1998).

Teach the meaning and use of high-frequency words when teaching students to recognize them in print (Foorman et al., 2016 ).

5 Classroom Elements that Provide Opportunity for Dual Language Learners

5 Practical Strategies for Supporting Dual Language Learners' Language and Literacy Skills

References

Bialystok, E. (2002). Acquisition of literacy in bilingual children: A framework for research. Language Learning, 52 (1), 159-199.

Blevins, W. (1998). Phonics from A to Z: A practical guide. New York: Scholastic Professional Books.

Brady, S. (2011). Efficacy of phonics teaching for reading outcomes: Indications from post-NRP research. In Brady, S., Braze, D.,& Fowler, C., eds. Explaining Individual Differences in Reading: Theory and Evidence. New York: Psychology Press.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5-51.

Cheatham, J. P., & Allor, J. H. (2012). The influence of decodability in early reading text on reading achievement: A review of the evidence. Reading and Writing, 25(9), 2223-2246.

Droop, M., & Verhoeven, L. (2003). Language proficiency and reading ability in first- and second-language learners. Reading Research Quarterly, 38 (1), 78-103.

Durguno&gbreve;lu, A. Y. (2002). Cross-linguistic transfer in literacy development and implications for language learners. Annals of Dyslexia, 52, 189-204.

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov.

Gersten, R., & Geva, E. (2003). Teaching reading to early language learners. Educational Leadership, 60 (7), 44-49.

Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, Reading, and Reading Disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 6-10.

Hatcher, P. J., Hulme, C., & Ellis, A. W. (1994). Ameliorating early reading failure by integrating the teaching of reading and phonological skills: The phonological linkage hypothesis. Child Development, 65, 41-57.

Helman, L. A. (2004). Building on the sound system of Spanish: Insights from the alphabetic spellings of English-language learners. The Reading Teacher, 57 (5), 452-460.

Krashen, S.D., & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Linan-Thompson, S. and Vaughn. S. (2007). Research-based Methods of Reading Instruction for English Learners, Grades K-4. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Pearson, P. D. & Gallagher, M.C. (1983). The Instruction of Reading Comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 1983, pp. 317-344.

Schickedanz, J. and Collins, M. (2013). So Much More than the ABCs. National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the speed of sight: How we read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Disclosure Statement: Reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Our office is not responsible for and does not in any way guarantee the accuracy of information in other sites accessible through links herein. DESE may supplement this list with other services and products that meet the specified criteria. For more information contact: RMB252@mass.gov. Last Updated: December 23, 2020

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massachusetts department of elementary and secondary education

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Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

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The goal of the Massachusetts public K-12 education system is to prepare all students for success after high school. Massachusetts public school students are leading the nation in reading and math and are at the top internationally in reading, science, and math according to the national NAEP and international PISA assessments.

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By developing the visual and auditory skills children need to be successful readers, these fun phase 1 phonics games help young children acquire essential pre-reading skills.

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Phonics is the science of sounds, a technique used to teach young readers to pronounce words and read by learning the sound of letters, group of letters, and syllables.

Phonics is a foundational reading approach that focuses on the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. It helps kids decode words by recognizing the sounds of individual letters or groups of letters.

Example: We blend the different sounds in a word together (individual sounds and their corresponding letters), such as 'h', 'a', and 't' to make the word 'hat.'

Phonics aids in reading fluency and spelling accuracy, enabling kids to independently decipher new words by applying their knowledge of letter-sound connections.

Online Phonics Games for Kids

Phonics is taught to preschoolers and kindergarteners at a young age to help them decode sounds from letters. This helps them subsequently to start reading and recognizing unfamiliar words. Somewhere between pre-K and grade 2 are the ages where children pick up phonics. These four years are crucial to draw attention to words and letters and help children pick up the sounds based on which they are formed.

Online phonics games for the classroom help children to learn and practice phonics with ease. Games like letter sequence games, letter sounds games, reading words games, rhyming words games, letter names games, vowel teams games, trigraphs games, diphthongs games, three letter blends games and more can help your little one master the concept of phonics.

Other ELA games you can explore are: reading games, writing games, sight words games, letter tracing games, etc.

How Do We Introduce Phonics to Kids?

Phonics helps children to master the art of identifying alphabets, string alphabets together to form words, and understand sounds in order to make verbal speech. They basically help students to spell, read, and write.

Phonics can be introduced to kids with interactive phonics games online. These games allow children to identify and sequence letters, identify letter sounds, and practice reading and rhyming words. Children also get to work with trigraphs, initial and ending consonant blends, bossy R, soft sounds, three letter blends and much more. They learn how to form words and sentences and learn the meaning as well as the pronunciation of words. These games can be utilized to introduce the concept of phonics to kids to help them develop a long-lasting relationship with language.

How Can We Make Phonics Fun for Kids?

Interactive phonics games online do a great job of combining learning with fun. Parents and teachers often look for exciting and engaging ways to enable kids to learn phonemes to improve their reading and spelling fluency. Since the English language contains 44 phonemes derived out of 26 letters, many letters have different sounds.

The idea behind 'learn phonics games' is to bridge the gap between academic struggle and fun learning. These games are interactive, engaging, and digitally vibrant. They help children easily segment sounds to identify words.

How Can Games Help in Better Understanding of Phonics?

Recognizing sounds and words are essential for children as most of the things they read, even as they grow older, are unfamiliar. Phonics go a long way into building a foundational construct towards a child's reading, writing, and speaking abilities.

While flashcards and books are excellent to help children learn words, incorporating a unique set of educational learning games can be very successful to help kids understand phonics in an engaging and interactive way.

What Are the 5 Best Phonics Games and Activities for Kids?

Here are 5 fun and engaging Phonics games and activities for kids by SplashLearn:

1. Can you Find the Letter B Game

2. Practice A and its Sounds Game

3. Guess the Word: Whiz and Thin Game

4. Explore the Words with the Second Sound of C

5. Listen and Master Rhyming Words Game

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Phonics Games for Kids Online - SplashLearn

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Explore interactive phonics games for kids and help your child enhance their ELA skills with these fun phonics learning games with ease. Get Started for Free!

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Reading Games | Free Educational Computer Reading Games for Elementary Students | RoomRecess.com

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Free educational online readibng games for children. Our games reinforce reading skills that are vital to elementary students.

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Learn new vocabulary words and play games with your favorite PBS KIDS characters like Molly of Denali, Super Why, Curious George, Clifford, and Elmo!

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Literacy Sample Lessons to Support Intensifying Intervention

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Literacy Sample Lessons to Support Intensifying Intervention

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NCII provides a series of reading lessons to support special education instructors, reading interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with reading. These lessons, adapted with permission from the Florida Center for Reading Research and Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, address key reading and prereading skills and incorporate research-based instructional principles that can help intensify and individualize reading instruction. The reading lessons are examples of brief instructional routines that may be used to supplement reading interventions, programs, or curricula that are currently in place. These lessons are designed to illustrate concepts and supplement, not supplant, reading instruction and interventions for struggling readers. They do not represent an exhaustive reading curriculum. It is expected that teachers would customize these lessons to meet the needs of their target students.

The NCII reading lessons are organized around the five components of reading identified by the National Reading Panel (2000): phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal or phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Intervention programs for struggling readers may focus on just one or a few of these components, or may include all five components.

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Reading & Literacy Lessons: Instructional Strategies | NCII

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A series of reading lessons to support special education instructors, reading interventionists, and others working with students who struggle with reading.

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Over 400 pages of lessons ¨For Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia¨ in areas of phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

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When my youngest stepson chose to come live with me and my husband, he had just turned 16. He'd attended more than 12 schools in the previous six years and had lived in three different states. He had been held back and was repeating his freshman year in high school. All those things we knew. What we didn't know was that he could barely read. My stepson clearly needed reading interventions.

His English teacher called us in to break the news. The first thought that popped into my head was, "How? How could a kid make it this far and not know how to read?"

I was fully aware that NAEP reading scores were consistently low for grades 4 and 8, but for some reason, it never clicked that those low scores weren't just related to lack of understanding. I realized that they were very likely related to the fact that some students couldn't even read the passages, much less answer the comprehension questions about them. According to a 2017 study, issues with fluency were present in 80% of a sample of adolescent students who had difficulty learning to read. My stepson's frequent moves from school to school only made things worse.

The root of the problem

As a former elementary reading specialist, I knew how to teach young students to read. But I had no experience teaching older students. My stepson, who read at a third-grade level, desperately needed to catch up to his peers, and I didn't have a clue about how to help him. When I asked his teacher for guidance, he was very honest and admitted that his professional training had never focused on how to help high schoolers needing support with reading fluency; it had been more about furthering comprehension. And since he was new to teaching, he hadn't run across a situation like this one before. Thus began the journey to find ways to support my child and ensure he would be career and college ready by the time he graduated.

We know that reading skills improve over time, as long as students meet some essential milestones. It all starts with early literacy skills at home. Families introduce unfamiliar words and concepts via oral language while conversing with their children. Children are exposed to environmental print, like stop signs or the large golden arches of McDonald's, and they begin to understand those stand for words and have meaning. Research also shows that reading to children increases their reading achievement, so children who get to experience being read to at an early age are at an advantage.

Begin by prioritizing fluency without neglecting comprehension.

When children start school, they should be taught the foundational skills of reading, such as phonemic awareness and phonics. These are the building blocks that help shift their trajectory from attaining literacy skills to developing reading skills. As they progress through the grades, the demands on their reading abilities should increase as they navigate more challenging texts that come in a variety of formats. According to a 2006 report from ACT, the ability to process complex texts is the largest factor in helping students become college- and career-ready. By the end of high school, students should be able to read and comprehend texts that mirror what they will see in college or their field of interest.

But what happens if one of the required steps is skipped? That's all too common, and that's exactly what happened to my stepson.

If you're a middle or high school teacher, where do you even begin when you want to help students who need extra support in reading? The bad news is that there is no magic formula; one approach may work for some students and not others. The good news is that teachers are usually really good at determining the areas giving their students the most trouble, even if those weren't part of their professional training. I encourage you to begin by prioritizing fluency without neglecting comprehension.

Begin by prioritizing fluency

Let's focus on reading fluency first, as that is often the main problem. Here are two specific approaches I recommend for reading interventions for fluency.

1. Use repeated reading

Have students read a grade-level text multiple times. This is called repeated reading, and you can learn more about it in the Reading Rockets article by Timothy Shanahan titled "Everything you wanted to know about repeated reading."Our "Fluency protocol" can also help you plan a whole week's worth of lessons focused on a single text.

Repeated reading can take many forms. You may read a text for your students first. You could also use echo reading (where students repeat after you), choral reading (where you all read a passage in unison), partner reading, and independent rereading. Whatever your approach, exposing students to the same text multiple times allows them to really dig deeply into ways to navigate it, which will help them improve comprehension.

Here's a challenging sentence freshmen may encounter from Frederick Douglass's speech "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?": "O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke."

The first time you model a text like this, some of the words may be unfamiliar to your students, such as "ridicule," "reproach," "withering," and "rebuke." "Nation's ear" may also cause confusion. The second reading might be an echo reading: you read one sentence aloud and your students repeat it. At this point, every student will have heard the text modeled twice by you, with expression and correct pronunciation, which will help them when they read independently.

If any students are still working on their fluency after their independent reading, make a recording of you reading the passage and allow your students to use it whenever they feel they need to. Note that if a text is very long, this approach should be used with chunks of text rather than the entire text, to maximize effectiveness.

2. Make time for word analysis and syllabication

It's important to help students figure out the meaning of challenging words. Let's revisit the Douglass speech. "Ridicule," "reproach," "withering," "rebuke," and "nation's ear" may all be hard for them to understand. I encourage you to explore context clues with your students-and to also talk about roots and affixes.

When discussing context, ask your class, "Is there any context in the sentence or the surrounding paragraph that would provide clues as to a word's meaning?" Your students are likely to understand the word "sarcasm," for example. What might that suggest about "ridicule," "reproach," and "rebuke"?

Zeroing in on roots and affixes can be helpful, too. Let's look closely at "rebuke." Ninth-grade students have seen the prefix re- many times over the years. Talk to them about its meaning. Then talk to them about how it changes a word it is added to. Next, look at "buke." This is not a common root word, so it's unlikely your students will know it means "mouth" or "mouthful" in Latin. With a little more guidance from you, your students can now piece together that "rebuke" means "a strongly worded statement back to someone."

Another way to navigate challenging words is to chop up long words into syllables. Some students see long words and just skip them. Have them divide the word into syllables instead. Make sure they understand that each syllable has a vowel sound in it. For example, earlier in the speech, Douglass uses the word "immeasurable" to describe the existing inequality between Black people and white people at the time. When "immeasurable" becomes "im-mea-sur-able," it can be much easier to read.

Don't forget comprehension

As your students' fluency improves, so should their comprehension; they will no longer have to focus on the word level and can concentrate on the information or message of the text they are reading. There are many reading interventionsto help students improve comprehension. I encourage you to focus on grade-level texts and practice chunking texts.

1. Use grade-level texts

Students must be exposed to texts appropriate for their grade level. Offering them only texts below their grade level doesn't give them enough opportunities to strengthen their reading ability. An abundance of research has shown that students make more gains in reading when they interact with complex texts appropriate to their grade level.

Texts below grade level can serve to scaffold up to grade-level texts. Those lower-level passages that are linked to the grade-level text you're studying as a class can introduce students to background knowledge on the topic as well as new vocabulary, building a stair step of knowledge that will then help them access the grade-level text. See "Building background knowledge through reading: Rethinking text sets" by Sarah Lupo et al. for more on this.

The Douglass speech I mentioned earlier is a prime example of this. It's often taught in high school, but exactly when varies. It's likely ninth-grade students will need more scaffolding than seniors, for example.

Students needing extra support, either because they're early in their high school career or simply need more support with reading, could start with a biography about Douglass with a lower reading level; it explains one of the reasons he is so passionate during his speech. You could also give your class a set of questions about Douglass and ask them to use their digital literacy skills to find the answers. In heterogenous groups, the students who did the research could share their findings while the more confident readers could do the first out-loud reading of the text. Once you observe all students have captured the important ideas that will help them understand the grade-level text, they can all focus on the speech itself.

2. Chunk texts

With my stepson, I noticed that he gave up on longer texts before he even tried them. All those pages and all those words were extremely intimidating for him. So, we chunked them. I would read aloud one paragraph and then he would summarize that paragraph in one sentence, which we wrote down. When I felt he was ready, we would chunk two paragraphs at a time and he would write down the summary for those. At the end of a study session, he would read me the summary sentences and I would ask him questions about the text.

In the beginning, I did all the reading and he followed along in his book. But by the time we got to Night by Elie Wiesel, he was able to read more of the text himself. Was it perfect? Not at all, but it was a grade-level text, and he was productively struggling. We did this for months on end with every text he interacted with.

Keep exploring

The approaches outlined here are not a comprehensive list of reading interventions; rather, they are examples of what helped my stepson. There were things his teacher and I tried that didn't work well for him, even though they were evidence-based.

The solution to getting students who fell through the cracks back on track isn't going to be an easy one. But not finding a solution is unacceptable. I'm happy to report that by the end of the school year, my stepson was reading at a seventh-grade level, which means he gained four years during that one school year. He also went on to pass all of his state summative exams.

Students deserve to get the support they need to be prepared for life after high school. Scaffolds must be in place to ensure that reading is, indeed, a lifelong endeavor.

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Reading interventions after grade 4 should focus on both fluency and comprehension - Teach. Learn. Grow.

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Too many students in fourth grade and above need literacy support. Reading interventions focused on fluency and comprehension can help.

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Using the Science of Reading with Big Kids - Out of this World Literacy

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Here are some specific strategies you can use when teaching reading to upper elementary students using the science of reading approach

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I made 3 differentiated word blending mats I called "Zap It". They progress in length and difficulty in what students do with the word. Simply print and put in a smart pal or Zip Loc and reuse with multiple words and a dry erase marker. Students can also do independently with stack of word cards.