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Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) Assessment Instructions 

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Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) Assessment Instructions 

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The five strands of reading instruction and how they relate to one another...

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The five strands of reading instruction and how they relate to one another...

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The Five Strands of Reading - 2015 Master Teacher Training, Part 1 #logicofenglish #scienceofreading

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A great review on how to accurately pronounce the 44 phonemes of English

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A great review on how to accurately pronounce the 44 phonemes of English

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This is my bible for phonics rules and refer to it constantly.  Eide states that 98% of all words are logical and follow a rule of English.  An amazing resource for K-6 teachers and beyond.

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This is my bible for phonics rules and refer to it constantly.  Eide states that 98% of all words are logical and follow a rule of English.  An amazing resource for K-6 teachers and beyond.

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Landmark book about how we are not programmed to read.

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Landmark book about how we are not programmed to read.

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Heart word magic...using orthographic mapping to teach high frequency words.  Here are the videos.

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Heart word magic...using orthographic mapping to teach high frequency words.  Here are the videos.

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Heart Word Magic - Read and Spell High Frequency Words | Really Great Reading

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight WordsHeart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren’t very decodable. Show your students the animations, then try these fun, hands-on free Student Practice

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Activities that Promote Orthographic Word Mapping

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Activities that Promote Orthographic Word Mapping

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This link includes many free resources for the summer.

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A love of reading starts with a solid foundation A love of reading starts with a solid foundation The Heggerty Way Bridge to Reading Our...

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West Virginia Phonics - Phonics and Syllabication Lessons

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West Virginia Phonics - Phonics and Syllabication Lessons

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Here is a file filled with free phonics lessons and lessons for teaching the different syllable types and multisyllabic words.

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West Virginia Phonics - Green Hills AEA 

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A Possible Sequencing Chart of Phonics Skills

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A Possible Sequencing Chart of Phonics Skills

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University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)

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University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)

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This is an absolutely AMAZING resource filled with lessons, decodables, a roll and read game, and home practice for each phonics skill/concept. Purchasing the manual can definitely help clarify things and teacher the PowerPoint lessons. It is $90 and worth every penny! The manual is the only required purchase.

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Lesson Resources

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

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

Lesson slide decks (in PowerPoint and Google Slide formats)

Decodable passages

Homework sheets

Games and activities for additional practice

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

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

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

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An amazing website filled with SOR information, ideas, and activities for the five components of literacy instruction for Grades K-5.

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Parents and children visiting the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System will find new resources awaiting them thanks to Book Nook Bundles provided by the Florida Center for Reading Research.

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English Language Arts Standards Revision

Nebraska Revised Statute 79-760.01 requires the State Board of Education to develop a plan to review and update standards for reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies every seven years. The current ELA standards, which cover the reading and writing requirements in the law, were approved in 2014. A group of Nebraska educators, led by the Nebraska Department of Education, is working to revise the 2014 standards, " Nebraska's College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts." Nebraska educators from pre-kindergarten to postsecondary, including public and non-public schools, helped develop the first draft of the proposed ELA standards.

With the State Board of Education approval, these standards create the framework for English Language Arts instruction in Nebraska. The ELA standards were approved on September 3, 2021.

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English Language Arts Standards Revision

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Nebraska Revised Statute 79-760.01 requires the State Board of Education to develop a plan to review and update standards for reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies every seven years. The current ELA standards, which cover the reading and writing requirements in the law, were approved in 2014.

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The Science of Reading as Explained by UFLI

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The Science of Reading as Explained by UFLI

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Using Sound Walls in Early Elementary Classrooms

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Sound walls guide students to investigate phonemes and make informed choices when they’re unsure how to spell out a sound.

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Louise Spear-Swerling - Structured Literacy Instruction for Tier 1

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Definitely worth a listen as you continue your journey into the science of reading...

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Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation - even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences - children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.

Sixty years ago, Marie Clay developed a way to teach reading she said would help kids who were falling behind. They'd catch up and never need help again. Today, her program remains popular and her theory about how people read is at the root of a lot of reading instruction in schools. But Marie Clay was wrong.
Sold a Story is an independent investigative journalism project from American Public Media. We rely on your donations to support this kind of rigorous reporting.
The controversial educational publishing company has sold instructional materials and professional resources in almost every state, earning at least $1.6 billion over a decade. Explore a map of school districts.

More states are now requiring districts to adopt curriculum that adheres to the science of reading. Look up the policy in your state.

At least 15 states have passed laws about how schools teach reading since the Sold a Story podcast was released in 2022, but there is pushback.

Here's a reading list put together by Emily Hanford.

This discussion guide, created by a teacher, invites educators, parents, community members and kids to have a conversation about the podcast.

Emails and voice messages poured in from people who listened to Sold a Story.

We'll let you know when we release new episodes of the podcast. Enter your address below.

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Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

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There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation - even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read.

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Great to use with ELL students and increase your understanding of your student.

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Languages across the world have unique phonemic systems. For individuals learning English as a second language, it is common for the phonemic system of their first language to influence the production of sounds in English.

Resources listed below are intended to contribute to foundational awareness of potential cultural and linguistic influences. There are variations within cultures, and regional and dialectal variances exist in all languages. Therefore, a single chart/page on cultural and/or linguistic features is not meant to provide a comprehensive overview. Clinical judgment, client/patient/student and caregiver input, and additional research are needed to ensure culturally responsive services.

How Can I Use This Information?

Speech-language pathologists can use this information to:

Identify sounds in a client's phonological system for languages other than English.

Determine phonemic influences of a client's native language on English.

Identify sounds from the client's first language that may not exist in English or identify sounds in English that do not exist in someone's native language.

Recognize that even if there are similar sounds across two languages, they may not be used the same way. For example, in some languages a sound may only be used at the ends of words and not as a word-initial sound.

Audiologists can use this information to:

Correlate the client's audiogram and the sounds of the client's language(s).

Recognize and respond to amplification needs.

Identify the effect of the individual's phonemic system on speech audiometry assessment.

Modify materials and procedures during speech audiometry assessment.

Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information

ASHA has compiled resources on the phonemic systems for the following languages:

Amharic

Arabic

Bosnian

Burmese

Chinese

English

English Phonemic Inventory [PDF]
Dialect
Haitian Creole

Hindi/Urdu

Hmong

Japanese

Korean

Navajo

Pashto and Persian

Polish

Russian

Spanish

Somali

Somali (Portland State University)

Tagalog

Vietnamese

Refugee Profiles/Information
ASHA's policy documents state that SLPs and audiologists must consider the sound systems of all the languages used by a client in order to provide appropriate assessment and treatment services.
Websites with Phonemic Inventories

If you have any questions, please contact ASHA's Office of Multicultural Affairs at multicultural@asha.org.

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Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages

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A list of phonemic inventories across multiple languages

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Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls

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A Padlet of decodables on a Padlet!

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Really Great Reading Summer School Lessons

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Really Great Reading Summer School Lessons

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Here is the link to take the 2-hour webinar to receive 25 free lessons with a manual with a student booklet, and online tools.  There are three levels for all striving readers. It must be completed by May 15.

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2023 Summer School Science of Reading Lessons & Training - Fully Digital

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Science of Reading Summer School Training & Lessons - Fully DigitalHow Do I Qualify for the Free Digital Lessons?March 20, registration opens.Simply click Add to Cart and check out.You must be an educator - The lessons are designed for trained educators.Checkout using a district email address - our system licenses by district/school.

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Phonics and Spelling Through Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping

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Phonics and Spelling Through Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping

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This book enhances orthographic mapping by teaching phoneme-grapheme mapping for consonants and syllable types. This is such a valuable resource for deep and meaningful word study. It provides the rules for your own professional growth and an endless list of words for each example.

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This practice guide was prepared for the WWC by Mathematica under contract ED-07-CO-0062.

The following research staff contributed to the guide: Kristin Hallgren, Scott Cody, and Cassie Pickens Jewell.

These videos were prepared by WestEd under the Doing What Works Contract (ED-PEP-11-C-0068).
All videos are based on recommendations from the WWC practice guides and are designed to complement the guides.

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response to intervention assisting students struggling with reading: response to intervention and multi-tier intervention in the primary grades beginning reading struggling reading elementary student reading multi-tier intervention tier 1 tier 2 tier 3 reading instruction progress monitoring screening explicit instruction supplemental instruction

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WWC | Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades

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This guide offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement.

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Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST)

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Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST)

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FREE Downloads for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Assessments

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FREE Downloads for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Assessments

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The primary assessments can be used to measure and monitor growth in phonemic awareness for students in first grade. These assessments can also be used for students in second grade or above to determine if phonemic awareness should be included as part of a reading intervention plan.

Students who struggle to decode words in print or who struggle to encode words when writing may benefit from explicit phonemic awareness instruction. The skills included in this assessment are aligned to the Primary level of the Phonemic Awareness curriculum.

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Primary Phonemic Awareness Assessments - Forms A, B, C | Heggerty

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The primary assessments can be used to measure and monitor growth in phonemic awareness for students in first grade. These assessments can also be used for students in second grade or above to determine if phonemic awareness should be included as part of a reading intervention plan.

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Here is an assessment that can help you gauge which if any phonics skills need to be addressed with your student.

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PHONICS ASSESSMENT - The Measured Mom (1)

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This can be downloaded for free to use for assessment!

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This manual includes information about DIBELS 8, how DIBELS 8 differs from previous editions of DIBELS, how to administer and score DIBELS 8 subtests, and how to use DIBELS 8 data to inform instructional decision-making.

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This manual includes information about DIBELS 8, how DIBELS 8 differs from previous editions of DIBELS, how to administer and score DIBELS 8 subtests, and how to use DIBELS 8 data to inform instructional decision-making.

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Information on the validity of using Acadience Testing

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Here is the link to download free assessment PDFs. There are training videos included at this site as well.

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Advantages

Acadience Reading has been trusted by educators for over a decade to help improve student outcomes. When your approach is backed by research, it means less guesswork in the classroom. Acadience assessments are:

standardized

reliable and valid

fast to administer and report

assess core early literacy skills

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Acadience Reading K-6 | Acadience Learning

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Acadience Reading makes it easier to detect K-6 students who are at risk for early reading difficulties to provide timely support and prevention.

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This is mentioned in our text and consistent with the simple view of reading. It has strong reliability and validity. Multiple forms that can be used for progress monitoring.

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Download the latest edition of the CUBED For Free! The paper/pencil version of the CUBED has always been, and continues to be, FREE to download...

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You must set up a free account, but the assessments, interventions, and record-keeping for intervention measures is amazing!

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Start measuring progress now. No strings attached. No credit card required.
Get Started Now
Teacher Deluxe

Start using the full version now. Only $49.99 per year! Restricted to 200 students / one teacher per building. (If you exceed these numbers, check out the District version to better meet your needs!)

Subscribe Now

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Start measuring progress now. No strings attached. No credit card required. Get Started Now Start using the full version now. Only $49.99 per year! Restricted to 200 students / one teacher per building. (If you exceed these numbers, check out the District version to better meet your needs!) Subscribe Now

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Here is a free download of the example mentioned in our text. There are many online articles confirming its validity and reliability as well.

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Here is another free phonics assessment with instructions. This is the same publisher of the textbook for EDU 550.

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A GREAT resource for how to break up high frequency words and teach them by rule and sound.

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A GREAT resource for how to break up high frequency words and teach them by rule and sound.

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Here is a helpful flow chart to help you determine which assessments, courses of action, and remediations are necessary.

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A great website for instructional strategies and fabulous lists for writing word chains with your students.

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

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Blending Phonemes - Word Chains - Dyslexic Logic

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

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A less primary-looking sound wall from the Louisiana Department of Education.

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A less primary-looking sound wall from the Louisiana Department of Education.

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I'm sure you heard the buzz about sound walls.

Most literacy experts are telling us to replace our word walls with sound walls.

And I agree. 🙂

But what exactly IS a sound wall, and how do you use it?

We've got the answers in today's post!

What is a sound wall?

A sound wall is a visual reference to help students when they are reading and spelling.

Unlike a word wall, where words are displayed by their beginning letter, a sound wall displays the 44 speech sounds by manner and place of articulation in the mouth.

(Plain English = A sound wall organizes and displays speech sounds based on what your mouth is doing when you make them.)

Sound walls usually include pictures to represent what the mouth looks like when making each sound. An anchor picture is included with the mouth card.

As students learn different phonics patterns that represent the sounds, these patterns (or words featuring the patterns) are added to the wall.

Why use a sound wall instead of a word wall?

A traditional word wall displays high frequency words by their first letter. Teachers direct students to the word wall to find words they want to spell.

The problem is that we have 44 individual sounds in the English language, but only 26 letters. A student may look for the word "the" on the word wall but not know where to look, because "the" doesn't begin with the /t/ sound.

A sound wall makes a lot more sense, because it starts with the SOUND instead of with print.

As you teach your students to use and become familiar with the sound wall, they will learn to use it as a reference when spelling.

Note: The image of "igloo" has been changed to "itch" based on advice from LETRS trainers.

Three things you need to understand to use a sound wall effectively
1. Understand the difference between phonemes and graphemes.
A phoneme is a sound. We represent sounds by putting a letter or letters between virgules (slash marks). For example: /s/ represents "sssss."

It's important that we can break words apart into their individual phonemes. The word "sand" has 4 phonemes: /s/ /ă/ /n/ /d/. The word "fox" also has 4 phonemes: /f/ /ŏ/ /k/ /s/. The word "eight" has only 2 phonemes: /ā/ /t/.

Graphemes are the letters used to represent a phoneme. In the word "eight" the grapheme "eigh" is used to represent the phoneme /ā/. Even though the word has 5 letters, it has only two phonemes.
2. Understand the vowel phonemes.
On a sound wall, the 19 vowel phonemes are arranged based on the place of articulation. In other words, they are arranged by the openness of the jaw and the tongue height/placement when you make each of the phonemes.

Note: The image of "igloo" has been changed to "itch" based on advice from LETRS trainers.

The vowel phonemes are arranged in a V shape ("Vowel Valley") to mimic the motion of your chin as you make the sounds. Notice that your mouth is most open when you make the short o sound, which is at the bottom center of Vowel Valley.

A few important notes: We count r-controlled vowels as single phonemes. For example, in the word "farmer" we have just 4 phonemes: /f/ /ar/ /m/ /er/. We also count diphthongs as single phonemes, even though a diphthong is formed by combining two vowels in a single syllable. For example, in the word "coin" we have 3 phonemes: /k/ /oi/ /n/.

Finally, did you know that the schwa is the most common vowel sound in the English language? It occurs in an unaccented syllable and usually sounds like a weak version of /ŭ/, as in b anan a. It can also sound like /ĭ/, as in cact u s.
3. Understand the consonant phonemes.
There's more to remember when it comes to consonant phonemes.

Sound walls organize the consonant phonemes into 6 categories: stops, affricates, nasals, fricatives, glides, and liquids. Each category contains both voiced and unvoiced sounds. A voiced sound is made from the voice box. Put your hand on your throat when you say a sound to feel if it is voiced (you will feel a vibration in your throat) or unvoiced.

Take a minute and read through the sounds in each column on the chart below. Put your hand on your throat as you say the sounds aloud; notice the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds.

How should I set up my sound wall?

I recommend choosing two areas in your classroom to display the consonant sound wall and vowel valley.

When you set up vowel valley, I recommend starting in the center of the display area and working your way up and out. This way it's easier to keep things lined up properly.
Important note!
Do not set up the consonant sound wall and vowel valley in their entirety unless students have already learned all the phonemes and their corresponding graphemes. This is highly unlikely unless you are teaching third grade or above. Instead, put up just the phonemes and graphemes that students learned in their previous grade.

If you are setting up a sound wall in kindergarten, the wall will be empty (or you will post the phonemes/graphemes and have them turned over or "locked" until you teach them). If you are setting up a sound wall in first grade, you will have short vowels and consonants posted to start the year. You will gradually add other phonemes with graphemes. If you are setting up a sound wall in second grade, you will have the consonants, short vowels, and many long vowel graphemes posted to start the year.

What order should I follow when teaching phonemes and graphemes?

This depends on your phonics scope & sequence. There is no perfect scope and sequence, but I have created my own sequence based on my experience and study. You can get it for free in this post.

What could sound wall lessons look like?

SAMPLE LESSON #1

When teaching a new letter sound-spelling, you can follow a routine like this one.

1. Introduce the phoneme and anchor picture.

(Hold up the /t/ card.)

This picture is a turtle. What is the picture?" (TURTLE)

The first sound in turtle is /t//t/ /t/. Say the sound. (/t/)

2. Talk about the formation of the sound.

Take out your mirror and look at your mouth when you make the /t/ sound."

What is your tongue doing? What are your teeth doing? Are your lips doing anything?

Feel your throat when you say the /t/ sound. Is this a voiced sound?

Put your hand in front of your mouth when you say /t/. What is the air doing? (It's making a little puff.) We call the/t/ sound a stop sound.

3. Practice forming the new letter.

"The way we spell the /t/ sound is with a t. Watch me make the letter t in the air."

"Now let's make a t in the air together."

4. Teach the key word for the sound-spelling.

Our key word for the t spelling is ten. What's the key word? (ten)

When you are writing a word and it has the /t/ sound, use a t.

I am going to say some words. Repeat the word after me. Then put your thumb up if the word begins with /t/. Put your thumb down if it does not. (ten, tiger, dog, toaster, pencil, turtle, top)

SAMPLE LESSON #2

When students already know the basic phoneme and are learning a new grapheme, it could look like this:

1. Review the header card with the anchor picture.

Today we are going to learn a spelling for the /k/ sound.

(Hold up the /k/ card.)

This picture is a key. What is the picture? (KEY)

The first sound in key is /k/. Say the sound. (/k/)

2. Teach the new grapheme and key word.

When the /k/ sound appears at the end of a word, it is sometimes spelled C-K."

Here is our key word for the ck spelling at the end of a word: DUCK. Say the word.

When a one-syllable word has a short vowel sound and the /k/ sound follows, we spell it with the letters c-k.

If I am spelling the word sack, for example, I can start by breaking the word into phonemes. /s/ /ă/ /k/. Repeat the phonemes of sack. /s/ /ă/ /k/

3. Practice spelling one or more words with the new grapheme.

I'm going to draw three lines to help me write the word. I'll spell one phoneme on each line.

S..... What letters makes the /s/ sound? Yes. I will write an "s" on the first line. Aaaaaa. What letter represents that sound? Yes, the letter a. I will write that on the second line. Now we are at the final sound, /k/. This is when I need to remember our new pattern. At the end of a single syllable word, when the /k/ sound follows a short vowel, I use ck to spell the /k/ sound. I will write ck on the last line. How do we spell sack? S-A-C-K

4. As time allows, do guided dictation.

We're going to spell the word PICK. What's the word? (PICK)

Let's count the sounds in the word pick. /p/ /i/ /k/

How many sounds? (3) Draw three small lines on your paper, one for each sound.

What's the first sound? What letter represents that sound?

What's the second sound? What letter represents that sound?

What's the final sound? What will you write to represent that sound?

How can I make the sound wall more meaningful to my students?

If you're anything like me, you've put up a word wall and mostly forgotten about it.

We don't want that to happen with our sounds walls!

In addition to regular, consistent sound wall lessons (even 5 minutes a day is helpful!), give your students their own portable sound walls to keep as a reference.

They might enjoy highlighting the key words as you add them to your large sound wall and vowel valley.

In fact, you can download FREE portable sound walls (pictured above) at the end of this post!

After you sign up for the freebie, you'll learn how to get my FULL set of sound wall printables.

P.S. If you're nervous about using a sound wall, or aren't sure you'll get it right, set aside your fears and just START. We all have to start somewhere, and I think you'll be amazed at how soon you get the hang of it!

Check our the rest of our phonics series!

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Have you heard the buzz about sound walls but aren't sure how to get started? This post is just what you need! Learn how to use a sound wall.

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A great PowerPoint on sound walls and how to implement them in the classroom from the Mississippi Department of Education

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A great PowerPoint on sound walls and how to implement them in the classroom from the Mississippi Department of Education

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Sound wall and spelling resources from the Colorado Department of Education

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Sound wall and spelling resources from the Colorado Department of Education

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Sound Walls: Using the Science of Reading to Help Students Spell Video
This video on Sound Walls presented by the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) walks teachers through the reasons for and how to set up a sound wall in the classroom. The video covers how learners perceive words, what a word wall is and how it is organized, the limitations of a word wall, and finally sound walls and how to incorporate sound walls in the classroom.

Sound Wall Cards
Printable sound wall cards to use in your classroom. Watch the presentation above by Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network and learn how to create a sound wall in your classroom, how to incorporate it into your instruction, and how to teach your students to use this as a spelling tool. There is a basic version of the sound wall cards that include the most common orthographic patterns, a more advanced version that includes more advanced spelling patterns, and a placemat or desktop version.

Most Frequent Spelling for Each Phoneme
This resource provided by Dr. Bruce Murray, Professor of Reading Education at the Auburn University, gives the top spellings for phonemes and percentage of occurrence. Understanding the frequency of spelling patterns can help both teachers and students when thinking about phoneme/grapheme correspondences.

Teaching Schwa
Schwa is the most common vowel sound in the English language and can be spelled with any of the vowel letters. In English, the vowel in an unstressed or unaccented syllable often reduces to schwa. Vowel reduction and schwa are prominent features of English. This resource covers what schwa is, why it's important to teach, and signs that a student might be struggling with the concept.

Common Spelling Rules
Phonics instruction teaches how the 26 letters represent 44 sounds in the English language. Quality phonics instruction includes encoding (spelling) practice as well as learning spelling patterns and rules. Learning that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters allows students to apply these concepts and read and spell both familiar and unfamiliar words. This resource includes some common spelling rules and the explanation of why the rule works.

Web Link Disclaimer
Because of their potential interest or usefulness to the education community or the general public, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) occasionally provides links from this site to external web sites. It attempts to monitor such links on a regular basis. However, the Department cannot be responsible for the content of any site external to its own.

Further, by linking to other sites, CDE is not endorsing any particular product, practice, service, provider or institution, nor does it necessarily endorse views expressed or facts presented on these sites.

In addition, neither CDE nor any of its employees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information linked to from this site.
← Back to READ Act Educator Resources

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Sound Walls: Using the Science of Reading to Help Students Spell Video This video on Sound Walls presented by the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) walks teachers through the reasons for and how to set up a sound wall in the classroom.

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MONSTER TEST - A Developmental Spelling Test

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MONSTER TEST - A Developmental Spelling Test

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We suggest printing out these word lists, posting them on your fridge (or somewhere you and your child will see them easily and often), and making a point of using one or two at a time in everyday conversation with your child. Feeling creative? Make learning these new words into a game! The more fun you and your child have learning what these vocabulary words mean and practicing using them in conversation (even silly conversation), the better.

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Vocabulary words for 1st through 12th graders

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Boost your child's reading skills with our grade-based lists of academic vocabulary words for kids in 1st grade through 12th grade.

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Grade level Marzano list -LA, SS, Sci, M94a1.pdf

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A great in-depth look at morphology!

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The LENA Study - Building Brains Through Talk

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The LENA Study - Building Brains Through Talk

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In 2019, LENA reached the milestone of serving over 10,000 children in just one year . T hat was cause for celebration, but it was also a call to action .

Caregivers - parents and child care w orkers alike - so often rely on intuition when it comes to deciding in the moment what's best for the children in their care. We want to see our data offer concrete guidance based on objective data. And more than anything else, we want to see that concrete guidance change adults' habits for the better.

That's the kind of thinking that set our newest report into motion. It's called Inside Early Talk, and it's .

We don't intend for Inside Early Talk to be an exclamation point on the data we've collected. To the contrary, this is a starting point. It's our first foray into digging into this data on an aggregated scale .

Have we been able to land on some intriguing and definitive findings about early language environments already? Yes. Do we want these findings to prompt questions that will lead us to dig even deeper into the data and draw ou t still more findings? Absolutely.

This isn't just a numbers game, and we're not just speaking the language of statisticians. W e want Inside Early Talk to make it easier than ever to translate big-picture science into individual action.

In short, children's brains need more talk. What can caregivers do to ensure they're getting that talk? Where do the opportunities and the challenges lie? What actions can policymakers, funders, and program implementers take?

What do we say in Inside Early Talk?

Finding 1: 40 conversational turns per hour is a new benchmark for caregivers.

Conversational turns are those back-and-forth interactions between a child and an adult - from speech-like, non-cry sounds in infants to full words and sentences in 2, 3, and 4 year olds . They're simple, but they're also incredibly important for a child's brain development. Looking at this new data tells us there's something particularly significant about reaching 40 turns per hour.

Finding 2: High-turn families demonstrate attainable patterns of talk.

After zeroing in on 40 conversational turns , we turned to the question of what "high-turn" families were doing to achieve that number.

It turns out that their behaviors, while impressive, are wholly attainable:

They're not talking nonstop. Rather, there are peaks and valleys throughout the day.

Even during hours with more than 40 turns, they're not talking for the whole hour.

They're successful because they double down. If they get one turn, they try to go for one more.

This is where translating research into practice comes into play. Adults may already have an inkling that they should be talking to the children in their care, but giving them data-driven goals makes improvement both easier to accomplish and more likely to actually happen .

Finding 3: Home settings are consistently higher in interactions than child care settings.

It's undeniable, and even unsurprising, that children generally experience more conversational turns at home - 73% more . After all, that's where they're with familial caregivers, that's where interactions with adults tend to be spread across fewer children, and that's where conversational interruptions aren't likely to occur as frequently.

In addition to policy resolutions, we need more immediate interventions - actions that both improve quality for individual children and add up to statistically significant improvements for all.

Finding 4: In child care , interactions are the lowest when they matter most .

In a 10-year longitudinal study we conducted in 2018, we concluded that the period between 18-24 months is a key window for adult-child language interaction. No other age range between birth and 3 years shows a greater correlation between conversational turns and verbal skills in middle school. Alarmingly, though, this is the precise window in which children in child care settings experienc e the least amount of back-and-forth interaction.

Finding 5: There are large disparities in the language environments children are experiencing in child care.

Every experience of each of the over 10,000 children whose early talk data contributed to Inside Early Talk is important. We don't want that reality to get lost amid all the statistics. Even in classrooms that have high levels of back-and-forth interactions between adults and children overall, some children spend large portions of their day in relative language isolation.

Finding 6: The effects of COVID-19 reveal reduced turn taking in child care .

We've already told several stories about how our partners have found success amid the pandemic's challenges. In this new report, we also face up to some of the stark realities. Among other things, we can point to an even more critical need to reduce child-to-teacher ratios, especially when teachers are facing new challenges or additional responsibilities.

What now?

At LENA, we're more convinced than ever that early talk is our most scalable and cost-effective point of leverage for improving children's academic futures. We also think that the case for investment has never been clearer. We've come out of the process of producing Inside Early Talk both optimistic and determined.

We want to reiterate that this analysis is a starting point, not a finish line. Greater collaboration and aggregation of early childhood data need to take place. That's how we'll come to understand the factors that drive differences in early language experiences. We also want to see LENA's data inform policy decisions that increase equitable access to rich language environments for all children. And we want to encourage large-scale partnerships between organizations that are in the position to create a tipping point of impact.

We invite your to read and share Inside Early Talk. We also invite you to let us know what you think and what questions you have - and we mean that.

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Inside Early Talk: Our point of greatest leverage for improving children's futures

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LENA has collected and analyzed its most expansive data set to date through the 10,000 children annually impacted by our programs for families and early childhood teachers...

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Hello, educators! Since our original " 30 Science of Reading Resources " blog post was published in December 2020, many NEW resources have been created. We would like to share ELEVEN additional resources that we have found helpful in our learning and growth around the Science of Reading.

💻 Blog Post: Read the original "30 Science of Reading Resources" blog post here! Our literacy specialists curated a list of 30 resources for educators who wish to further their knowledge about the Science of Reading.

Podcasts

1. Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast:

Is it part of your New Year resolution to listen to more podcasts and become more informed about literacy in the school systems? Whether you are an educator, administrator, parent, or just looking to learn more about literacy, Melissa and Lori have the podcast for you. The topics range from decodable books to dyslexia, reading to writing, applicable classroom practices, and everything literacy. Take a listen to four of our team's favorite episodes:
2. Sold a Story Podcast by American Public Media:
Another podcast worth adding to your "must-listen" list, is the Sold a Story Podcast, hosted by Emily Hanford. This six-episode podcast series digs into the history of balanced literacy and also shares how literacy instruction ended up where it is today. As a former classroom teacher who taught the Units of Study and Fountas & Pinnell curriculum, as mentioned in the Sold a Story podcast, there were many connections, aha moments, and opportunities to reflect on how my practice has improved and changed over the years.

📥 Free Download: "Supporting Early Reading Skills at Home" guide - your one-sheet guide to practicing early reading skills at home with your child!

Infographics

3. EAB Reports Infographic

In our earlier post, we shared this research brief for educators embracing the science of reading from the EAB District Leadership Forum. In this post, we wanted to highlight the visual below which illustrates that almost all students (95% of elementary students) have the cognitive capacity to read. While only half of students will learn how to read regardless of the type of instruction they receive, it is critical to notice that many students need high-quality Tier 1 instruction in order to become successful readers, and for even more students, additional intensive support is needed.

Websites

4. What Works Clearinghouse

Directly from the What Works Clearinghouse website, "the WWC has been a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. We review the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings. We focus on high-quality research to answer the question "what works in education?". Whether you are a parent, teacher, or educator working with children or adults in learning more around education, literacy or other content areas, this website is sure to have something new for you.

Webinar

5. The First Steps to Science of Reading: A Closer Look at Foundational Skills

Phonological Awareness, decoding, and sight recognition are essentials for reading instruction, but they're not always found in every classroom. Join Heggerty Literacy Specialist, Lauren Walsh, for a discussion on what foundational skills are and how you can bring these skills to your classroom in a fun and engaging way. In this webinar, Lauren defines each of the skills in the word recognition strand of Scarborough's Reading Rope, unpacks why they are important, and explores ideas on how to help your students grow in phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition!

📥 Free Download: Elkonin Boxes - Elkonin Sound Boxes are used as a visual aid to help children isolate and blend the sounds they hear in spoken words. This free printable provides a template to use with your Heggerty lessons.

Article

6. Print-to-Speech and Speech-to-Print: Mapping Early Literacy by Jeannine Herron, et al.

Do you work with early learners and are curious about what the essential components of early literacy instruction should be? Easing the debate of speech to print and print-to-speech, a group of researchers and practitioners gathered a summary of what they believe are the most important components of early literacy instruction. Read this article published by reading rockets to learn more about what children need to be successful with literacy.

eBooks

7. Science of Reading Defining Guide from The Reading League

The Reading League has developed a Science of Reading Defining Guide that shares information for anyone looking to learn more about the Science of Reading. This is a great conversation piece to use during professional learning sessions, as well as an excellent resource to learn more about the why and the importance of the Science of Reading.

We believe in a future where a collective focus on applying the science of reading through teacher and leader preparation, classroom application, and community engagement will elevate and transform every community, every nation, through the power of literacy.
The Reading League, Science of Reading Defining Guide

🛒 Heggerty: Learn more about our curriculum, download free resources & shop on our website.

Books

8. Reading Above the Fray by Julia Lindsey

Are you looking to learn more about the importance of foundational skills in helping students to improve their decoding skills? Julia Lindsey's book Reading Above the Fray is an excellent and easy-to-follow book to learn more about the importance of foundational skills in learning to read. Read to learn more about how oral language and vocabulary, print concepts, phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, and sound-spelling knowledge impact our early readers as they learn to tackle words at an early age.

"It's important to keep in mind that foundational skills are not an end in themselves, but rather a mean to an end."
Julia Lindsey, Reading ABove the fray

9. CORE'S Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 3rd Edition

The literacy bible, also known as the CORE's Teaching Reading Sourcebook, is an excellent resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of reading instruction. With over 15 chapters you can dig deeper into the what, why and how of each reading skill and walk away with practical takeaways. This sourcebook is a great tool for learning, full of resources for planning, and covers all things reading.

10. Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction by Elsa Cardenas-Hagan

The population of ELLs in the United States continues to grow and in 2019, 10.4% of students in the United States (5.4 million) were labeled English Learners ( Institute of Educational Sciences). Dr. Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, an early literacy expert, and an expert in working with the ELL population, recently published a book titled Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction. This book is a phenomenal resource for teachers and educators who work with students that are learning English as a second language and struggle to find ways to support their literacy learning.

🎥 Free Webinar: Phonemic Awareness with English Language Learners - Watch this on-demand webinar to learn more about the importance of phonemic awareness with English language learners in both Tier 1 and small group settings.

11. Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6 by Louise Spear-Swerling

This book shares the work of leading literacy experts on how to design and target structured literacy interventions, especially geared toward at-risk readers. Each chapter focuses on a different component of literacy instruction and features the evidence-based work of a leading expert. Chapters include phonological awareness, basic and multisyllabic word decoding, fluency, spelling, building vocabulary, oral and reading comprehension, and written expression. The chapters are written to share key features of instruction and include case studies, sample intervention activities, lesson plans, and end-of-chapter scenarios to give the reader the opportunity to check for understanding. Structured literacy approaches value explicit, systematic, and sequential instruction and this book is a wonderful addition to any K-6 teacher or interventionist's toolkit.

⭐️ Want to learn more? Don't forget to read the original "30 Science of Reading Resources" blog post here! Our literacy specialist curated a list of 30 resources for educators who wish to further their knowledge about the Science of Reading.

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11 Science of Reading Resources Every Educator Should Know About

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This blog post provides eleven additional resources related to the Science of Reading. It includes podcasts, infographics, websites, webinars, articles, eBooks, and books that educators can use to improve their knowledge about the Science of Reading. Resources such as Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast, Sold a Story Podcast by American Public Media, and What Works Clearinghouse website are highlighted in this post.

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A glossary of terms...ones that align with the Science of Reading and those that do not.

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A glossary of terms...ones that align with the Science of Reading and those that do not.

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Back to all FREE DOWNLOAD The Educator's Science of Reading Glossary This easy-to-use reference guide defines many common terms used in conversations around the Science...

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FREE Summer Lesson to Download from Heggerty!

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FREE Summer Lesson to Download from Heggerty!

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Back by popular demand! Heggerty's Summer Support lessons give parents, tutors, and summer school staff FREE access to high-quality phonemic awareness lessons straight from our NEW 2022 Editions of the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum.

6 weeks of phonemic awareness lessons reinforce students' knowledge while preparing them for the next step in their reading journey. Students will revisit key weeks from the grade they've just completed, providing them the opportunity to hear and work with the sounds in language and strengthen the connections they've made between letters and sounds. Lessons also include access to our daily lesson videos - so any child, anywhere, can receive quality instruction from a literacy specialist!

Download your free lessons and daily lesson videos below!

The resources below include activities that help students develop phonological and phonemic awareness.

Florida Center for Reading Research - Printable activities for Kindergarten and 1st grade to reinforce and practice rhyme, alliteration, phoneme isolation, blending, segmenting and manipulating sounds in words

Sounder & Friends - Phonemic awareness training videos for kids

The Literacy Nest - Ideas and resources for teaching phonological awareness

PreKinders - Literacy printables for Pre-K parents

Más Fonoaudiología - Un sitio con actividades para practicar la conciencia fonológica y la fonética.

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Phonemic Awareness Summer Support | Heggerty

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Heggerty Summer Support Watch Video Download Lessons Click Here Summer is More Fun with Heggerty Back by popular demand! Heggerty's Summer Support lessons give parents, tutors, and summer school staff FREE access to high-quality phonemic awareness lessons straight from our NEW 2022 Editions of the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum.

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A Fantastic and Informative PDF about the Science of Reading.

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A Fantastic and Informative PDF about the Science of Reading.

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A great template from greatmiddleschools.org to create peronalized and individualized vocabulary maps.

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Background Knowledge and Comprehension - Part 2 of this PDF...

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Background Knowledge and Comprehension - Part 2 of this PDF...

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Scroll down for Part 2. Absolutely fascinating research about how much background knowledge factors into comprehension.

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Fabulous for Orthographic Mapping practice!

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Simple and more complex - a free download from UFLI

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Remember how the "heart word" instructional technique promotes orthographic mapping and permanent storage in the visual word form area.

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Individual Sound Wall - Consonants from UFLI

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Individual Sound Wall - Consonants from UFLI

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A free download!

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Vowel Valley Individual Sound Wall from UFLI

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Vowel Valley Individual Sound Wall from UFLI

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A free download

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This is the one we created in class.

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To assist with letter naming fluency...

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Mentioned in our text and from greatmiddleschools.org

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NOTE: If you participated in the MSM-PREP research study and are looking for the toolkit used during your participation, please email christymurray@austin.utexas.edu so you can obtain the private link.

GET THE GIST is a reading comprehension practice to help students identify and write brief main idea statements about sections of text.
Download our New Infographic to Share with Teachers!
Students are taught to stop at predetermined points while reading and use a 3-step process to write their gist (main idea):

Step 1) "Who" or "what" is this section about?

Step 2) What is the most important information about the "who" or "what?"

Step 3) Write a gist (main idea) statement that combines the information from steps 1 and 2. (The gist should be in the students' own words, rather than a sentence copied from the text.)
Teaching students to Get the Gist is important for several reasons:
**It encourages students to monitor their comprehension while reading.

**It helps students integrate important information across sections of text.

**It helps students remember the most important information when they read.

PD Video using English/Language Arts Content (Middle School Matters)

PD Video using Social Studies Content (Middle School Matters)

PD Module: Identifying Main Idea Using "Get the Gist" Strategy (IRIS Center)

Research to Practice Article in Teaching Exceptional Children (Middle School Matters)

Get the Gist Routine in Grades 6, 7, and 8 (Texas Adolescent Literacy Academy)

Lesson Plan: Get the Gist - A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area (ReadWriteThink)

Get the Gist Log for Students (Middle School Matters)

Get the Gist Cue Card for Students (Middle School Matters)

Gist to Summary Log for Students, Electronic Version (Middle School Matters)

Gist to Summary Log for Students, Printable Version (Middle School Matters)

Email us at msmi-info@meadowscenter.org

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NOTE: If you participated in the MSM-PREP research study and are looking for the toolkit used during your participation, please email christymurray@austin.utexas.edu so you can obtain the private link. GET THE GIST is a reading comprehension practice to help students identify and write brief main idea statements about sections of text.

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As mentioned in our text...

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NOTE: If you participated in the MSM-PREP research study and are looking for the toolkit used during your participation, please email christymurray@austin.utexas.edu so you can obtain the private link.

QUESTION GENERATION is a reading comprehension practice that teaches students to write questions about important information or facts from a text while they are reading. This helps students pause, think about what is being communicated, and how informatin relates across paragraphs. Studies have shown that this practice can increase comprehension of content area text.
Download our New Infographic to Share with Teachers! Download our New Infographic! Students use a 3-step process:
Step 1) Read a text, either in small groups, pairs, or independently.

Step 2) Pause at regular intervals to generate questions and record them in a learning log or journal.

Step 3) Answer questions and indicate where the answer was found in the text.

Students are taught to write two different types of questions: specific questions and wide questions

PD Module-Secondary Reading Instruction: Teaching Vocabulary and Comprehension in the Content Areas (IRIS Center)

Research to Practice Article in Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (Middle School Matters)

Generating Questions Video Page (Texas Adolescent Literacy Academy)

Modeling Specific Questions (Middle School Matters)

Modeling Wide Questions (Middle School Matters)

Student Cue Card (Middle School Matters)

Question Log (Middle School Matters)

Classroom Poster (Middle School Matters)
Sources for Other Reading Passages
Contact us at msmi-info@meadowscenter.org

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NOTE: If you participated in the MSM-PREP research study and are looking for the toolkit used during your participation, please email christymurray@austin.utexas.edu so you can obtain the private link. QUESTION GENERATION is a reading comprehension practice that teaches students to write questions about important information or facts from a text while they are reading.

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"How to Teach Essential Words" and other great info about vocabulary

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"How to Teach Essential Words" and other great info about vocabulary

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From greatmiddleschools.org

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From greatmiddleschools.org

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High-quality support and resources for the middle grades

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From greatmiddleschools.org

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The Middle School Matters Institute (MSMI) is an initiative of the George W. Bush Institute in partnership with The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin.

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And why it's not so simple...

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Great practice - especially with position and spacing...

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Here is an example of a Story Grammar Marker that you could create to assist with oral language/retelling and comprehension of narrative stories.

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Teacher Manipulative and Mini-Poster

By Maryellen Rooney Moreau

Grades 3-8

24" braided tool with icons to represent and sequence basic story components. Helps students retell and write stories. 8½" x 11" mini-poster defines each of the icons. Grades 3-8.

This product may contain small parts.

24" braided tool with icons to represent and sequence basic story components. Helps students retell and write stories. 8½" x 11" mini-poster defines each of the icons. Grades 3-8.

More Information

Author(s)

Maryellen Rooney Moreau

Topic

Grammar and Syntax, Reading

Do your students need help learning to tell and write stories? The Story Grammar Marker (SGM) is perfect for helping students to visualize the elements of an episode within a story. The 24" braided tool uses icons that represent and sequence the components necessary to retell and write a story.

The icon with eyes at one end represents the character (or characters) in an episode of a story. The star represents the setting of the story. The shoe is the "kick-off" or initiating event (the action that gets the story going). The heart represents the character's feelings about the initiating event. The hand represents the character's planned response to the "kick-off"—Together they represent The Beginning of a Story. Each bead represents an attempt to achieve the plan—Together they represent The Middle of a Story. Finally, the bow at the end represents the direct consequence as it relates to the planned attempts, and the hearts represent the character's feelings about the direct consequence-Together they represent The End of the Episode within a story.

As you tell, retell, or read a story with your students, you provide them with the structure necessary to visualize the components of the story by pointing to icons on the SGM. Then, when students tell a story to you, they can hold the SGM to make sure they remember all the important elements. The 8½" x 11" mini-poster defines each of the icons and is the perfect companion to the SGM.

1. I'm extremely pleased with the Story Grammar Marker. My students are including more story elements when they retell a story after only a couple of weeks. But my favorite kid-moment came during Writers' Workshop. A student was writing a personal narrative and I mentioned he might like to end with a reflection. He went over to the story rope and held the little hearts on the bottom, signifying the lesson learned. "Like this?" he asked. Exactly, I replied.

2. Quality tool with great results.

I actually ordered this after my first one from the start-in kit started falling apart. I use the story grammar marker as part of a regular language lesson. I find he visual and tactile cues really help my students focus on the different elements of the story. The kids all line up to use it. Their ability to retell a story using a complete sentence has dramatically increased.

3. I really enjoy the story...

I really enjoy the story grammar marker and the chipper chap games.

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grammar and syntax reading reading comprehension

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The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Teacher Manipulative and Mini-Poster By Maryellen Rooney Moreau Grades 3-8 24" braided tool with icons to represent and sequence basic story components.

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Maybe to use now or in the future?

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Classroom Literacy Block - Lesson Planning Guides (2)

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A great graphic organizer to use with your case study student.

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Check out the West Virginia Phonics lessons for some great lessons on teaching the syllable types to help your case study student decode multisyllabic words.

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For Kindergarten - Possible Suggestions

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Possible suggestions for first grade.

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Possible suggestions for second grade.

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Possible suggestions for third grade.

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Possible suggestions for fourth grade

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Possible suggestions for fifth grade

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Six syllable types

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A way to support spelling and reading irregular words!

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When can students make the switch from decodable books?

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When can students make the switch from decodable books?

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A great routine for improving vocabulary and comprehension in read alouds

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A great routine for improving vocabulary and comprehension in read alouds

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A fantastic book to align reading assessments in the five components with research-backed interventions.

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An amazing handwriting video to watch for professional development.

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Literacy Academy 2020: Handwriting in the 21st Century - William Van Cleave

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A great article about how and when to teach comprehension strategies.

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The role of syntax in comprehension

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A great routine for vocabulary and comprehension