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Raeding Instruction for Secondary Grade Students with ED and Behavioral

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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WWC | Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade

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This practice guide provides four recommendations for teaching foundational reading skills to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Each recommendation includes implementation steps and solutions for common obstacles. The recommendations also summarize and rate supporting evidence. This guide is geared towards teachers, administrators, and other educators who want to improve their students’ foundational reading skills, and is a companion to the practice guide, Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade.

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Achievethecore.org :: Early Reading Accelerators (K-2)

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Reading science emphasizes two critical pieces in systematic early reading instruction: securing foundational skills and building knowledge and vocabulary. These “Early Reading Accelerators” are essential content that all readers need access to in order to become proficient. While each student and their experiences are unique, we can accelerate the development of reading proficiency for all students by implementing these practices strategically through classroom instruction and materials. On the page below, you’ll find information about these critical concepts and resources you can use to turn these ideas into actions.

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Teachers are always on the hunt for great sight word activities. Sight words are any words readers recognize automatically "by sight"-for fluent readers, that's almost all words! High-frequency words, the most commonly occurring words in written English, like those on the Dolch list, are often thought of as the most crucial sight words.

It's a myth that blindly memorizing every letter in a sight word is the only way to learn it. The science of reading tells us that linking sounds and letters is the most effective way for kids' brains to learn any word. Many common words are easy to tackle using beginning phonics skills (like "at," "can," "him," etc.), so staying true to a strong phonics curriculum is one way to support kids' sight word learning. Even irregularly spelled words have decodable parts, e.g., kids can use the sounds of "s" and "d" to help with "said," even if the "ai" is unexpected. Experts often call these words "heart words" to call out for kids that they should learn the unexpected word parts "by heart." (If all this is unfamiliar to you, it can feel overwhelming, but you've got this! Check out teaching guru Jillian Starr's explanation for more help.)

Read: What Are Sight Words?

Check out these low-prep and engaging sight word activities for both teaching and practicing words.

These activities are great when you are introducing new words or when students need a reminder of the letters and patterns that make up each word.

1. Map it and drive it

This is a genius way to introduce words with appealing materials: Say the word, represent each sound with a LEGO brick, write letters for each sound, and "drive" to read it.

Learn more: @droppinknowledgewithheidi

2. Smush play dough for each sound

Set up a routine that works for any word. Play dough squishing for each sound is the ultimate multi-sensory component.

Learn more: @playdough2plato

3. Map words with a magnet wand

It is so super-satisfying to drag those magnetic dots around! Watch the video below for lots of tips on introducing a word using this process.

Learn more: @warriorsforliteracy

4. Make a mini book

Create a mini-book they can take home with them to read on their own.

Learn more: @hughesheartforfirst

5. Tap it, pop it, learn it!

Hardwire those words in kids' brains with this comprehensive word intro routine. (You had us with the Pop-Its!)

Source: @hellojenjones

Once students have learned a word, it's all about practice, practice, practice! These activities will help students learn words by "heart."

6. Find and swat words

An oldie but such a goodie. Find a word in an array and whack! Swat it with a fly swatter!

Learn more: @kids_play_learn_laugh

7. Flip word pancakes

Serve up sight word pancakes while practicing spelling them aloud.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato

8. Wear heart word bracelets

Make kids feel like sight word VIPs and keep sight word review on hand.

Learn more: @teachingmoore

9. Search for sight word balls

Write sight words on ball pit balls with a chalk marker or dry-erase marker. Kids can race around hunting for balls to read and toss in a basket, or hunt through a big tub of balls for a certain word.

Learn more: @preschoolforyou

10. Start a sight word band

Loud but oh-so fun! Feel the rhythm while tapping and reading sight words stuck to homemade percussion instruments.

Learn more: @earlyyears_withmrsg

11. Drive on a sight word path

This is one of many fun ways to use magnetic tiles for learning! Kids love "knocking down" word tiles with a toy car as they read each one.

Learn more: @travisntyler

12. Use sticky notes to inspire sight word sentences

Have kids stick words on items that give them ideas for sentences. "My Mom said to wear a helmet!" = so good!

Learn more: @kinneypodlearning

13. Write words on a sensory bag

So easy: Fill a zip-top bag with a small amount of kid-safe paint, seal well, and have kids practice "writing" sight words with their finger or a cotton swab.

Learn more: @makeitmultisensory

14. Wear a sight word crown

Wear your word proudly and practice reading others' words. Fun in person or virtually.

Learn more: @mrsjonescreationstation

15. Play a magnetic-tile board game

We love new ideas for ways to use magnetic tiles for sight word activities. Easy to set up and fun to play.

Learn more: @twotolove_bairantwins

16. Spell words to a familiar tune

Get sight words stuck in everyone's head, in a good way. We'd add a line for chanting the sounds in the word!

Learn more: @builditbre

17. Feed a word monster

Nom, nom, nom.

Learn more: @ecplayandlearn

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18. Search for the pom-pom under sight word cups

Read all the words as you try to find the cup that hides the prize.

Learn more: @la.la.learning

19. Play sight word Kaboom!

This classroom classic is perfect for sight words. If you need a refresher on the rules, Jillian Starr covers them.

Learn more: @essentiallykinder

20. Roll and write words

Roll, write, repeat.

Learn more: @mylittlepandamonium

21. Write words with rainbow colors

Bonus points for aromatic markers.

Learn more: @mylittlepandamonium

22. Trace words with flashlights

Stock up on batteries because kids never get tired of this!

Learn more: @giggleswithgerg

23. Find words in plastic eggs

Give kids a checklist of words to find as they open each egg.

Learn more: @blooming_tots1

24. Spy words around the classroom

Just add a magnifying glass and clipboard to make kids feel like supersleuths!

Learn more: @readingcorneronline

25. Find words in the morning message

Don't forget about old standbys! This is one of our favorite ways to get kids to recognize sight words in connected text.

Learn more: @tales_of_a_kinder_classroom

26. Build words with bricks

Such a great use of extra building bricks!

Learn more: The Printable Princess

27. Write words in sand

Easy-peasy to set up and keep neat if you use plastic pencil boxes.

Learn more: @teacherhacks

28. Spell words on a construction site

Bulldozing over each word to read it is the best part!

Learn more: @planningplaytime

29. Spell words with toy cars

Drive on over!

Learn more: @lozlovesprep

30. Park in a sight word "parking lot"

This one is easy to modify based on whatever toys are available in the classroom or at home.

Learn more: @msbendersclassroom

31. "Plant" words in play dough

Watch those reading skills grow!

Learn more: @planningplaytime

32. Build words in a sensory tub

Because spelling is just more fun when your hands are covered in beans!

Learn more: @coffeeandspitup

33. Write words on a magnetic drawing board

That eraser track makes for a perfect word card holder!

Learn more: @moffattgirls

34. Or write words on the window!

Everyone wants a turn to write on the window!

Learn more: @kindergarten_matters

35. Shhh! Discover words written in invisible ink

Write words in white crayon and reveal them with watercolors on top!

Learn more: @teachstarter

36. Dot-paint words with a cotton swab

Calming and effective.

Learn more: @sightwordactivities

37. "Type" words on a keyboard

Busy day at the sight word office! Use a keyboard cover or any old keyboard.

Learn more: @lifebetweensummers

38. Read words before heading through the door

The line leader can double as the word pointer during transitions.

Learn more: @ms.rowekinder

39. Read the word the teacher's wearing!

Wait, is there something on my shirt?

Learn more: @theprimarypartner

40. Take a sight word cakewalk

Choose a winning word when the music stops!

Learn more: @joyfulinkinder

41. Play sight word hopscotch

If you can't get outdoors, tape on the floor works just as well.

Learn more: @wheretheliteracygrows

42. Play tic-tac-toe

I'll be team "look."

Learn more: Boy Mama Teacher Mama

43. Go sight word bowling

No bowling pins? Use half-filled plastic water bottles instead.

Learn more: @thecreativeteacher_

44. Ready, aim, read

Just throw a beanbag at a word target if foam darts are a no-go.

Learn more: @laurens_lil_learners

45. Play muffin tin ball toss

Toss a ball or pom-pom into the muffin tin and read the word. It's easy to use colored muffin cups to prep different sets of words.

Learn more: @fun_with_lynda

46. DIY sentence flash cards

Authentic use of words in context for the win.

Learn more: @teachertipsandtales

47. Play sight word checkers

King me! If kids don't have a partner available, they can "play" with a stuffed animal and get double practice.

Learn more: @sightwordactivities

48. Play sight word Guess Who?

Set up this game once and use it forever.

Learn more: @RebekahPoeTeaching

49. Sight word jars

Students organize a big jar of letters into words and pack them into smaller jars. Or put the letters you need for each word into a jar and students pour out the letters, then spell.

Learn more: No Time for Flash Cards

50. Sight word fishing

Put paper clips on notecards with sight words written on them, and have students go fishing.

Learn more: A Teachable Teacher

51. Sight word balloon toss

On those hot days, take students outside and write sight words on the pavement. Fill water balloons and have kids toss them at the words they read.

Learn more: No Time for Flash Cards

52. Sight words on the menu

Put sight words in the pretend-play center and have students request, and then be served, sight words.

Learn more: The Kindergarten Connection

53. Sight word dominoes

Create sight word dominoes out of note cards and have students play dominoes, matching sight word with sight word.

Learn more: No Time for Flash Cards

54. Sight word caterpillar

Write letters on bottle caps and have students build sight words by adding letters to the caterpillar's body.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

55. Sight word rubbings

Create raised sight words using a glue gun. When the glue is dry, students can use the cards to color over and see sight word rubbings.

Learn more: The OT Toolbox

We'd love to hear-what are your favorite sight word activities? Share in the comments below.

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We found the best low-prep, effective sight word activities for your classroom, aligned with the science of reading. Check out our mega-list!

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Supporting Kindergarteners with Phonemic Awareness Activities Introduction: As a kindergarten teacher, helping children develop phonemic awareness is a critical component of teaching reading. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It is an essential step in the process of learning to read and... Continue reading Supporting Kindergarteners with Phonemic Awareness Activities

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Reading Resources - Elementary Teaching Program - Reading Teacher

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Supporting Kindergarteners with Phonemic Awareness Activities Introduction: As a kindergarten teacher, helping children develop phonemic awareness is a critical component of teaching reading. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It is an essential step in the process of learning to read and...

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Word recognition plays an important role in learning to read. Although not a substitute for the critical skill of being able to decode unfamiliar words (referred to as word identification), recognizing some words automatically, or on sight, contributes to reading effortlessly and with understanding (McArthur et al., 2015). Words that can be recognized this way by a reader are known as sight words. Learning certain kinds of sight words enables children to devote their energy to decoding words that are more difficult.

What Are Sight Words?

There are two types of sight words. The first type includes decodable words that frequently occur in printed English (e.g., "and," "like," "get"). These high frequency words can be read by sounding them out, but they appear so often in text that learning to read them on sight will increase children's reading fluency (Joseph, Nation, & Liversedge, 2013). Moreover, these words can provide a student access to connected text in advance of learning the phonics principles otherwise necessary for decoding them (Ehri, 2014).

The other type of sight words cannot be decoded because they do not follow the typical letter-sound correspondences (e.g., "have," "there," "of"). These are irregular words and because they cannot be identified, they must be recognized automatically.

What Sight Words Should Be Taught?

Several research-based lists of sight words are available for teachers to use when planning instruction or for families to use when working with their children at home. One of the most popular lists is Edward Dolch's (1936) list of 220 basic sight words. Commonly referred to as the Dolch words, this list was developed as an alternative to longer sight word lists of 500 or more words. To be included on the list, a word had to appear on all three popular word lists of the early 1900s:

The Child Study Committee of the International Kindergarten Union's (1928) list of 2,596 words

The Gates (1926) list of vocabulary for primary grade children

Wheeler and Howell's (1930) list of 453 words most frequently used in beginning readers published from 1922 to 1929.

The final Dolch list excluded all nouns, which are concrete and easily referenced in illustrations, and included an additional 27 words not found on the three lists mentioned above. Dolch cautioned that his list of words did not include all the sight words children might need to learn in the elementary grades, but the words represented the minimum that children should be able to read automatically.

Another popular list of sight words is Edward Fry's (2000) 1000 Instant Words. Fry's list differs from Dolch's (1936) in a few key ways. First, Fry's list has been revised several times. What originally began as a list of 1000 words (Fry, 1957) was condensed to a list of 300 words (Fry, 1980) and, most recently, reintroduced as a modified list of 1000 words (Fry, 2000). In comparison, the Dolch words have not been updated since they were first introduced. Second, the longer list compiled by Fry is broader in scope. Among the resources used to develop the Fry list were the Dolch words and The American Heritage Word Frequency Book (Carroll, Davies, & Richman, 1971). As a result, the Fry list includes nearly all of the Dolch Words, with 19 exceptions:

The other words contained on Fry's (2000) list represent the most common words in the English language organized in groups of 100. Fry suggested that his list of 1000 Instant Words be used as part of the comprehensive literacy instruction provided to beginning readers in elementary school as well as struggling readers in middle and high school.

How to Teach Sight Words

Now that you know about some of the validated sight word lists, there are several research-based recommendations to remember when teaching sight words (e.g., Ayala & O'Connor, 2013; January, Lovelace, Foster, & Ardoin, 2017). Lists ordered by frequency provide guidance for teachers and families in considering which generally are the highest priority for instruction. However, the words that children are about to encounter in a book should be considered alongside the sight word lists. For young children, choose one or two sight words from the book that appear in the first 100 on the list. Older children may be able to learn five to seven sight words from the book at a time, and those words should gradually be lower on the list of frequency. The following are additional tips for teaching sight words:

1. Introduce new sight words in isolation (i.e., the sight word by itself), but immediately follow this with repeated exposures to the same sight words in books and other text materials.

2. Do not introduce two sight words that are similar or easily confused at the same time. For instance, "will" and "well" should be introduced in separate lessons as should "on" and "no."

3. Provide brief (i.e., less than 10 minutes per session) but frequent sight word instruction, especially for beginning and struggling readers.

4. Offer students numerous opportunities to practice and receive immediate, specific feedback. For example, if a child reads the word "this" correctly, respond with positive feedback: "Yes! The word is this." If a child read "this" incorrectly, respond with corrective feedback: "The word is this. Say the word this."

Immediately encountering the words in a book provides an opportunity to practice reading them, but building the ability to read them with automaticity, or effortlessly upon sight, will take repeated practice. If a child is struggling to remember previously introduced sight words, continue practicing with those before adding new sight words. Finally, it is important to remember that sight word instruction is only one part of a comprehensive reading lesson and must be accompanied by instruction in phonics (Ehri, 2014).

Reading Racetrack: One Research-Based Sight Word Strategy

One research-based sight word activity to use as part of sight word instruction is the reading racetrack (Rinaldi, Sells, & McLaughlin, 1997; Sullivan, Konrad, Joseph, & Luu, 2013). Although implemented one-on-one in the Sullivan et al. study, the reading racetrack strategy has been modified here (see Supplemental Materials for Teachers below to access this resource) for implementation in peer pairs and small groups. Initially, a set of sight words is taught with feedback, and then the racetrack activity provides students practice with the sight words to build automaticity. Children read as many of the sight words as they can in 1 minute. The instructor then forms small groups of students who made similar errors, and provides direct instruction to each group. Children then practice reading the sight words again and graph their results.

Part of the Bigger Reading Picture

Given the need to recognize high frequency and irregular words automatically, sight word instruction remains one component of a comprehensive literacy program for early readers and, for older students experiencing reading difficulties, a part of reading intervention. To prevent students from becoming reliant on the ineffective practice of memorizing lists of words, the instruction should be delivered in small doses (i.e., less than 10 minutes) and occur alongside systematic phonics instruction. The sight words themselves should be drawn from research-based lists and be applied immediately to reading connected text. It is important to remember that sight word drills are not the route to skilled reading ability. Rather, most words become sight words when a reader is able to efficiently process the sound-symbol correspondences of the printed forms (Ehri, 2014). When implementing effective reading instruction, only a small set of words need be taught as sight words. Reading most words should be an effortless act.

Supplemental Materials for Teachers

Reading Racetrack Sight Word Activity

Teach sight word recognition using this exercise that involves multiple rounds of instruction and practice.

References

Ayala, S. M., & O'Connor, R. (2013). The effects of video self‐modeling on the decoding skills of children at risk for reading disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 28, 142-154. doi:10.1111/ldrp.12012

Carroll, J. B., Davies, P., & Richman, B. (1971). The American Heritage word frequency book. New York, NY: American Heritage Publishing Co.

Child Study Committee of the International Kindergarten Union. (1928). A study of the vocabulary of children before entering the first grade. Washington: International Kindergarten Union.

Dolch, E. W. (1936). A basic sight vocabulary. The Elementary School Journal, 36, 456-460. doi:10.1086/457353

Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18, 5-21. doi:10.1080/10888438.2013.819356

Fry, E. (1957). Developing a word list for remedial reading. Elementary English, 34, 456-458. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41384648

Fry, E. (1980). The new instant word list. The Reading Teacher, 34, 284-289. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20195230

Fry, E. (2000). 1000 instant words: The most common words for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Resources.

Gates, A. I. (1926). A reading vocabulary for the primary grades. New York, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.

January, S. A. A., Lovelace, M. E., Foster, T. E., & Ardoin, S. P. (2017). A comparison of two flashcard interventions for teaching sight words to early readers. Journal of Behavioral Education, 26, 151-168. doi:10.1007/s10864-016-9263-2

Joseph, H. L., Nation, K., & Liversedge, S. P. (2013). Using eye movements to investigate word frequency effects in children's sentence reading. School Psychology Review, 42, 207-222. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2015.05.008

McArthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., & Banales, E. (2015). Sight word and phonics training in children with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48, 391-407. doi:10.1177/0022219413504996

Rinaldi, L., Sells, D., & McLaughlin, T. F. (1997). The effect of reading racetracks on the sight word acquisition and fluency of elementary students. Journal of Behavioral Education, 7, 219-233. doi:10.1023/A:1022845209417

Sullivan, M., Konrad, M., Joseph, L. M., & Luu, K. C. (2013). A comparison of two sight word reading fluency drill formats. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 57, 102-110. doi:10.1080/1045988x.2012.674575

Wheeler, H. E., & Howell, E. A. (1930). A first grade vocabulary study. The Elementary School Journal, 31, 52-60. doi:10.1086/456516

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Teaching Sight Words as a Part of Comprehensive Reading Instruction

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Word recognition plays an important role in learning to read. Although not a substitute for the critical skill of being able to decode unfamiliar words (referred to as word identification), recognizing some words automatically, or on sight, contributes to reading effortlessly and with understanding (McArthur et al., 2015).

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Intervention Central offers free teacher resources including the oral reading fluency passages generator for educators and classroom leaders to use in classroom management

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning. In this way, fluency acts as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension, and this relationship is reciprocal. That is, when a student understands the meaning of the text he/she is reading, it is much easier to read that text with expression.

Prosody is a term that is frequently heard in discussions of fluency. Prosody refers to the appropriate use of intonation and phrasing in reading. Prosodic reading involves paying attention to punctuation signs like commas and periods, assigning appropriate stress to individual words within a sentence, and raising or lowering voice intonation to match the meaning of the text (e.g., raising the voice at the end of a question). Paying attention to the elements of prosody allows us to quantify and measure what we refer to as "reading with expression."

How fluency relates to ELLs

Instruction in fluency can be particularly beneficial for English language learners because activities designed to enhance fluency in reading can also contribute to oral language development in English. As students practice reading English text accurately, automatically, and prosodically, they are gaining valuable information about the sounds and cadences of spoken English, and they are also developing vocabulary skills that can contribute to oral language fluency, as well as reading and listening comprehension.

Assessing reading fluency

As with any type of instruction, fluency instruction depends upon ongoing assessment to identify individual students' strengths and needs. Effective fluency assessment must include measures of all three components of fluency: reading accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. It is important to note that the accuracy percentages and the reading rate ranges described in this article are based on research conducted in English and should not be applied to reading in other languages. Even languages that use the same alphabet differ in such characteristics as phonetic regularity, syntactical complexity, and even average word length, all of which can affect reading accuracy and rate. Additional research is needed to determine appropriate accuracy and rate ranges for other languages.

Assessing reading accuracy

Accuracy refers to the percentage of words a reader can read correctly in a given text. Measuring accuracy allows teachers to choose texts at an appropriate difficulty level for each student. In order to improve their reading, students need texts that are difficult enough to require them to practice using the reading strategies they are learning without being so difficult that the student is overwhelmed.

In talking about text difficulty, reading teachers often refer to three functional reading levels, which represent the amount of difficulty that a particular level of text presents for a student. Text that is at a student's independent reading level is text that he/she can read with 98-100% accuracy. That is, the student misses no more than two words out of every 100 words of text. At this level, the student can read independently with no support from the teacher. Text that is at a student's instructional reading level is text that the student can read and comprehend, but only with some assistance from the teacher. The accuracy range for instructional-level text is 90-97% for Primer-level text and above and 85-97% for Preprimer-level text. Text that is at a student's frustrational reading level is text that he/she can read with less than 90% accuracy (less than 85% at Preprimer level). At this level, the student would have difficulty reading and comprehending the text, even with the support of the teacher.

Teachers should target a student's instructional reading level for classroom reading instruction. When students read text that they can read with 90-97% accuracy, they encounter enough challenges to require them to practice the strategies they are learning, but the text is not so difficult that students are overwhelmed. Independent-level text can be used for independent reading and for practicing reading speed and prosody, and frustration-level text is great for comprehension instruction during teacher read-alouds.

Here is a quick way to measure reading accuracy:

Find a short reading passage, and ask the student to read it aloud to you.

Make note of any errors the student makes while reading. Errors include: substitutions (substituting an incorrect word or a nonsense word for a word in the text), reversals (reversing the order of two words in the text), omissions (leaving out a word), or words you have to provide to the student. If the student self-corrects after making a mistake, count the word correct.

Divide the number of words the student read correctly by the total number of words in the passage. This number will be a percentage.

Example: The student read a 200-word passage and missed 14 words.
200 - 14 = 186 words read correctly
186 Â Ã· 200 = .93
The student read the passage with 93% accuracy, which is within his/her instructional reading range.

Assessing automaticity

Automaticity is usually measured as reading rate, or the number of words a student reads per minute (WPM). You can measure rate at the same time that you assess a student's reading accuracy. Here's what you do (you'll need a stopwatch):

Select a short reading passage, and have the student read it aloud. Begin timing as soon as the student reads the first word of the passage, and stop the stopwatch as soon as he/she reads the last word. (To measure silent reading rate, let the student know that you will begin timing as soon as he/she looks down at the passage, and you will stop when he/she looks up at the end. Students should not be expected to read silently until they are reading at second-grade level).

Convert the time on the stopwatch to seconds by multiplying the total number of minutes the student read by 60 and adding the number of additional seconds.

Multiply the total number of words in the passage by 60, and divide by the student's reading time in seconds:

Example: The student read a 200-word passage in 2 minutes and 32 seconds (2:32 on stopwatch).
2 minutes x 60 seconds each = 120 seconds
120 + the remaining 32 seconds = 152 seconds
(200 x 60) Ã· 152 seconds = 79 words per minute (wpm)

Many different researchers have suggested guidelines for how many words per minute students should be reading at particular stages of their reading development. Although there is no one accepted scale, the following ranges, developed by Dr. Darrell Morris at Appalachian State University, can be used as guidelines:

Average End-of-Year Reading Rate Ranges (Grades 1-8)

Grade

Oral rates (wpm)

Silent rates (wpm)

Source: Morris, D. (2008). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems. New York: Guilford.

Note: Reading rate is not assessed until students are reading in Primer-level text and above. Students reading below primer level are still reading word-by-word, focusing all of their attention on decoding the text.

Assessing prosody

Teachers often use rubrics to assess whether students are reading with appropriate pitch variation, intonation, phrasing, and expression. One such rubric is the Oral Reading Fluency Scale created for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To use this rubric, simply have a student read a short passage of text, and assign a score of 1-4, based on the descriptions below.

NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale

Level 3

Reads primarily in three- or four-word phrase groups. Some small groupings may be present. However, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author. Little or no expressive interpretation is present.

Level 1

Reads primarily word-by-word. Occasional two-word or three-word phrases may occur - but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax.

SOURCE: U.D. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Oral Reading Study.

Comprehension caveat

Even though fluency instruction is important, teachers must remember that many ELLs can be deceptively fast and accurate while reading in English without fully comprehending the meaning of the text they are reading. That is because reading comprehension depends upon a variety of complex skills that are not as important to word reading. These include deep vocabulary knowledge, syntactical knowledge, and background knowledge of the subject discussed in the text. For this reason, it is always important to pair fluency instruction with good instruction in comprehension.

For some great ideas on both fluency and comprehension instruction with ELLs, see Reading 101 for English Language Learners.

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning.

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Vocabulary Development Resources from TeachersFirst

This collection of reviewed tools and resources from TeachersFirst promotes vocabulary development and skills for students to improve and master daily vocabulary, subject matter terms, speech/language vocabulary, and ESL/ELL language. Some are tools for study and practice of terms in any class--including world languages, while others focus specifically on written and spoken English. Be sure to check "In the classroom" for ways each resource might help in your teaching area. Share your favorites on a free TeachersFirst public page for students and parents to use for vocabulary practice outside of class.

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This collection of reviewed tools and resources from TeachersFirst promotes vocabulary development and skills for students to improve and master daily vocabulary, subject matter terms, speech/language vocabulary, and ESL/ELL language. Some are tools for study and practice of terms in any class--including world languages, while others focus specifically on written and spoken English.

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Greetings, felicitations, and welcome!

We're back with a bundle of vocabulary resources to help you advance the lexicons of your burgeoning wordophiles! Although some of these pieces were designed to be used in connection with our Jargon Journal program, they can easily be adapted for other vocabulary activities.

To quickly assess your students' depth of vocabulary knowledge about a set of words, we've added our take on the Fist-to-Five activity. Students rate their knowledge of words on a scale from "I've never heard this word before" to "I can tell you everything about this word." The students relay their rating by showing a certain number of fingers. If a child is unfamiliar with the vocabulary word, he would display a fist (0 fingers) to match "I've never heard the word before." If a child is very comfortable with this word and used it in a story last week, she would show all 5 fingers.

If you see a bunch of 1,2,3 fingers, you know this is a word unfamiliar to your students. If you see mostly 4 and 5 fingers, this is one most students know. I use these posters each week with our Jargon Journals. I hang the posters on the board and display one of our vocab words. After the kids rate the word, I share a kid friendly definition (or have one of the kids who showed 5 fingers share what they think). We discuss examples and usage. Then I show the book and we predict how that word will be used in the story. These steps are repeated for the remaining 3 words.

Self-assessment is an important piece in our vocabulary work, not just because I'm curious about my students' word knowledge, but because it gets the kids thinking about their connection to each word. Even if the word is entirely new to them, they're getting the validation of seeing that other kids may not know the word either. I'm also fueling a curiosity to learn more. Because some kids may not be comfortable publishing their lack of knowledge to their peers, I encourage everyone to keep their Fist-to-Five rating right in front of their chests as opposed to waved in the air. In our Tools for Vocabulary Instruction pack we also provide some paper self-assessments.

Using these forms not only preserves privacy, but gives you a written record of student thinking. These may be useful in place of the Fist-to-Five activity or you may use them as a vocabulary pretest before starting a science unit or to see which Jargon Journal words are remembered from November. They're versatile forms to have on hand.

Interactive Notebook Flap

Another component of our weekly Jargon Journal routine is completing our Vocabulary Flap. The paper is folded vertically into a gatefold and a bottom strip is cut off (so the page will fit in the notebook). Four little lines are snipped on each fold, which is why my students refer to these as " Vocabulary Flaps ". There is one flap for each word and another flap next to it for the definition.

If you're having students make these, have them cut off the bottom strip. Then stress FOLDING BEFORE CUTTING. It will save you a lot of headaches if the word flaps are all folded first. Also, point out the little octagon on each line. That's the STOP CUTTING! mark.

As a class, we generate a very simple, kid friendly (2-3 word) definition of each word. I write these on the board and the kids write it on the right side of their vocabulary flap.

On the inside is a place to mark the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective or adverb).

They also include a personal connection, "What meaning does this word have in your life?" They may use the word in this connection, but I don't mandate it. And I don't require that they use the word in a sentence. That's because these activities are just an introduction. It takes a lot of experiences before children know these words well enough to use them in context.

Think about the word thaw. If a student understands the meaning to be, "something frozen melting" They may write this sentence: My ice cream is thawing. It's technically right, but it lacks an understanding of nuance-an understanding that only comes with time and repeated exposure to the word. A more mature learner would understand that thaw often connotes something returning to its normal state after being very cold; therefore, melt would be a more appropriate word to use in the context of ice cream becoming soup. (This is the same reason why, in the Morning Work, I provide a sentence stem before asking children to use the word in context.)

Anyway, continuing on with the Vocab Flaps...

On the right is a place to draw a picture of the word or connection. Visual representations provide vital support for helping kids internalize words. Of course, at the beginning we go through all of this together. We brainstorm ideas for an appropriate picture and talk about why a simple sketch-just to help your brain remember-is more important than a detailed drawing that will take 45 minutes to finish!

Resource Organization Tools

Vocabulary Flaps are a great tool to help students organize a lot of information about words. If you're needing to organize a lot of word information we have some tools to help. If you're a binder fan, we have a cover and monthly divider pages to help you contain your vocabulary materials. These may be your monthly Jargon Journal lessons or anything else you do for vocabulary. Remember, in order for it to be effective it has to be routine, and in order for it to be routine the teacher has to have a plan. Keeping materials organized is an important part of any teacher's instruction plan.

While I'm typically a binder organizer, I found the files worked best for my Jargon Journals. I had a hanging folder for each month and then 4 manila folders inside for each week's lesson. The nice thing about folders is that I could plop the books right in with the lessons. No more scrambling to find things on Monday morning! A few of the books were hard cover and were too cumbersome in the folder. I found they fit nicely (and didn't tip) when I set them right behind their month's hanging file. We've included labels for each book we've done so far and we will update the file when we're done with the year to include all the books. We also have blank labels. Also included is small monthly labels you can put on the hanging file folders if you wish.

We don't have a photo of the file organization yet but here's how we organize our morning messages, which is the same idea. Monthly hanging file folder, then manila folders inside for each unit you do each month.

Because we want students to retain and use the words we're teaching, it's important to include review activities in your vocabulary study. In our Tools for Vocabulary Instruction pack is a review game called PAW. It stands for Pick-a-Word. For this activity you need a list of vocabulary words and a set of questions. Students take turns choosing a question and the teacher leads a brief discussion of words that could be an answer. There are open-ended questions like: pick a word you might use on a good day. There are also questions with multiple possible answers, but with a narrower focus. For example, "Pick a word that is an adverb."

There are a couple different formats for this game. One is a set of question cards. Just decide if you want black and white or color. The print, cut, and play. If you want a little more work, the questions are also formatted to fit on craft sticks. A little more labor intensive, but don't they look nice!

Regardless of the format you choose, each set contains the 30 discussion-starting questions. The more kids think and talk about words the better they remember them!

Interactive Notebook Resources

Hopefully you make vocabulary notebooks an important part of your classroom routine. In Vocabulary Their Way, the authors have this to say:

Vocabulary notebooks are a critical tool in student learning, providing a single place for students to record...vocabulary activities...Because students are collecting all of their vocabulary work in one place, vocabulary notebooks can serve as a portfolio of work-similar to an artist's portfolio-that can be used to document and assess their vocabulary growth over time.

The notebook can have sections for whatever is most useful in your class, but there should be at least three parts:

1. Teacher chosen words. This is (probably) the largest section and where students glue their weekly Vocab Flaps and Jargon Journal cards, if you use our program. This can also include practice with any other words that would be beneficial for your class.

2. Word Bank. This is a place for students to collect words that interest or inspire them. These words may be collected from books or conversations. We have some glue-in pages to organize the words that students find. To keep interest high with this activity, make sure to discuss students' word banks from time to time or provide a space (like a poster) for students to share favorite found words with the class.

3. Word Roots. Students need strategies for learning how to determine word meanings independently. Working with roots is one of, if not the absolute, best ways to do this. Whether it's second graders practicing the un- prefix or fifth graders working on the base word aqua, roots are an important vocabulary focus. This section of the notebook gives students a place to store and study words according to their roots (a word part that carries meaning, i.e. prefix, suffix, base). We've included word a basic version and an advanced version for practicing prefixes and suffixes.

A vocabulary notebook is the perfect place to collect all a student's vocabulary activities. If you're doing a word web, have students glue the page into their notebook.

Anytime you have students practice a word, have them include it in their notebooks. In the Tools for Vocabulary Instruction pack there are two printables to help students study (and hopefully retain!) a word. This Word Portrait graphic organizer guides students to analyze a word and connect it to their prior knowledge.

There are 2 versions of this form. Although both look similar, they have different questions to allow you to differentiate the activity for different ability levels.

If all this talk of word study has left you thinking, "Okay, great, but where do I get these words the kids are supposed to study?" We've got you covered. Words from books, either ones you read aloud to the students or ones they read to themselves, are the best source for collecting vocabulary words. In the Tools for Vocabulary Instruction pack, we also have a list of 300 Tier 2 words that would be appropriate for study at almost any grade level.

We're confident that these are tools that will help vocabulary become a hot topic in your classroom!

Here is a list of everything included in the pack:

300 tier 2 words list

A guide for assessing word knowledge

6 assessment forms

13 pages for making a binder to organize your vocabulary resources

6 fist-to-five posters, full color

6 graphic organizers, perfect for interactive notebooks

Blank name labels for student notebooks

Labels for hanging file folders to organize your vocabulary resources

Labels for manila file folders to organize your vocabulary resources

Pick-A-Word review game (formatted as cards or as labels)

Prefixes and Suffixes word bank (1 page each for beginner and advanced, 4 total pages)

Word Bank (6 pages)

That's over 50 pages of resources included in this pack!
See all our Jargon Journal units and resources here.

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Tools for Vocabulary Instruction: A Teacher Resource Pack

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Greetings, felicitations, and welcome! We're back with a bundle of vocabulary resources to help you advance the lexicons of your burgeoning wordophiles! Although some of these pieces were designed to be used in connection with our Jargon Journal program, they can easily be adapted for other vocabulary activities.

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It's hard for students to read and understand a text if they don't know what the words mean. A solid vocabulary boosts reading comprehension for students of all ages. The more words students know, the better they understand the text. That's why effective vocabulary teaching is so important, especially for students who learn and think differently.

In this article, you'll learn how to explicitly teach vocabulary using easy-to-understand definitions, engaging activities, and repeated exposure. This strategy includes playing vocabulary games, incorporating visual supports like graphic organizers, and giving students the chance to see and use new words in real-world contexts.

The goal of this teaching strategy isn't just to increase your students' vocabulary. It's to make sure the words are meaningful and relevant to their lives.

Watch: See teaching vocabulary words in action

Watch this video of a kindergarten teacher teaching the word startled to her students:

Read: How to use this vocabulary words strategy

K-5 (CCSS ELA Literacy Anchor Standard L.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases)

K-5 (CCSS ELA Literacy Anchor Standard R.4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text)

Before you dive in, it's helpful to know that vocabulary words can be grouped into three tiers:

Tier 1 words: These are the most frequently used words that appear in everyday speech. Students typically learn these words through oral language. Examples include dog, cat, happy, see, run, and go.

Tier 2 words: These words are used in many different contexts and subjects. Examples include interpret, assume, necessary, and analyze. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has a partial list of Tier 2 words, broken down by grade levels.

Tier 3 words: These are subject-specific words that are used in particular subject areas, such as peninsula in social studies and integer in math.

When choosing which vocabulary words to teach, you may want to pick words from Tier 2 because they're the most useful across all subject areas.

Come up with student-friendly definitions. Find resources you and your students can consult to come up with a definition for each word. The definition should be easy to understand, be written in everyday language, and capture the word's common use. Your definitions can include pictures, videos, or other multimedia options. Cambridge Learner's Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary, and Wordsmyth Children's Dictionary are all good resources to help create student-friendly definitions.

For English language learners (ELLs): Try to use cognates (words from different languages that have a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation) when you introduce new words. For more information about using cognates when teaching vocabulary to ELLs, use these resources from Colorín Colorado. You can also ask students to say or draw their own definition of the words - in English or their home language - to help them understand each word and its meaning.

2. Reflect. Allow time for students to reflect on what they know or don't know about the words. Remember that your class will come to the lesson with varying levels of vocabulary knowledge. Some students may be familiar with some of the words. Other students may not know any of them. If time permits, this could be a good opportunity to use flexible grouping so students can work on different words.

3. Read the text you've chosen. You can read it to your students or have students read on their own (either a printed version or by listening to an audio version). As you read, pause to point to the vocabulary words in context. Use explicit instruction to teach the word parts, such as prefixes and suffixes, to help define the word. If students are reading on their own or with a partner, encourage them to "hunt" for the words before reading. Hunting for these words first can reduce distractions later when the focus is on reading the text.

Word associations: Ask students, "What does the word delicate make you think of? What other words go with delicate?" Students can turn and talk with a partner to come up with a response. Then invite pairs to share their responses with the rest of the class.

Use your senses: Ask your students to use their senses to describe when they saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled something that was delicate. Allow students time to think. Then ask them to give a thumbs up if they've ever seen something delicate. Call on students to share their responses. Do the same with each of the senses.

A round of applause: If the word is an adjective, invite students to clap based on how much they would like a delicate toy, for example. Or students can "vote with their feet" by moving to one corner of the room if they want a delicate toy or another corner if they don't. This activity works especially well if you pair the new adjective with a familiar noun.

Picture perfect: Invite students to draw a picture that represents the word's meaning.

Examples and non-examples: Give one example and one non-example of how the word is and isn't used. For instance, you could tell students that one thing that is delicate is a teacup. One thing that isn't delicate is the cement stairs into the school. Then invite students to share their own examples of things that are and aren't delicate.

After students do one or more of the activities above, have them say or draw the word again.

Understand: Why this strategy works

Rote memorization ("skill and drill") isn't very helpful when it comes to learning new vocabulary. Students learn best from explicit instruction that uses easy-to-understand definitions, engaging activities, and repeated exposure. Teaching this way will help students understand how words are used in real-life contexts and that words can have different meanings depending on how they're used.

This explicit approach helps all students and is especially helpful for students who learn and think differently. This includes students who have a hard time figuring out the meaning of new words when they're reading. It can be difficult for them to make an inference or use context clues to figure out what a word means.

Explicit vocabulary instruction with student-friendly definitions means there's no guesswork involved. Repeated exposure and practice help to reinforce the words in students' memories.

Share with families this resource they can use at home to help students grow their vocabulary. You can model some of these strategies for families at back-to-school night or another family event.

Research behind this strategy

About the author

About the author

Cheryl Lyon, MAT is a PhD student in educational psychology with a focus on special education and literacy.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Allison Posey, MEd, CAST, Inc. is a curriculum and design specialist at CAST.

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Literacy Strategy: How to Teach Vocabulary Words

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It's hard for students to read and understand a text if they don't know what the words mean. A solid vocabulary boosts reading comprehension for students of all ages. The more words students know, the better they understand the text. That's why effective vocabulary teaching is so important, especially for students who learn and think differently.

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How to Teach Reading Comprehension: Resources for Educators | Resilient Educator

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Activity ideas for teaching spelling, vocabulary, and text fluency skills. And discover strategies to help students overcome reading difficulties.

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Free reading comprehension worksheets

Use these printable worksheets to improve reading comprehension. Over 100 free children's stories followed by comprehension exercises, as well as worksheets focused on specific comprehension topics (main idea, sequencing, etc).

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Free printable Reading Comprehension worksheets for grade 1 to grade 5. These reading worksheets will help kids practice their comprehension skills. Compliments of K5 Learning

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Writing in school poses a unique challenge for ELL students. Beyond the obvious hurdle of using a new language, many ELL students come from oral cultures, so their writing experiences in general may be limited. Now inside English-speaking classrooms, they are expected to write up to grade-level standards while using unfamiliar words and grammar.

It should come as no surprise, then, when ELL students are reluctant to write. But you can change that. Through support and scaffolding, you can grow ELL students into capable, confident writers.

What practices grow confidence?

Although ELLs may lack writing experience, they don't lack experiences. Whenever possible, invite them to write about their own background, culture, interests, and memories. ELLs shouldn't be expected to write well about new subject areas without first having a chance to write about knowledge and vocabulary they already possess.

Next, adjust your expectations. Because of limited vocabulary and unfamiliarity with English grammar, ELLs' writing can be difficult to understand. Your first instinct might be to correct as much as you can, but that will make the situation worse. Overcorrecting overwhelms students and saps their confidence. Instead, read for, mark, and celebrate the "small" victories-incremental improvements that can be repeated in future writing.

You can help ELL students achieve more and more "small" victories through scaffolding.

What scaffolding builds competence?

ELL students benefit from scaffolding throughout the writing process. Start with these prewriting scaffolds, which help students build vocabulary, generate writing ideas, and understand common writing moves:

Mentor Texts

To introduce ELL students to a new writing activity, present simple models that students can emulate. Read through at least one model out loud, highlighting features or techniques you would like your students to practice.

Write-Aloud Models

After sharing mentor texts and reading models, talk through your own process for completing the same writing activity as students. Follow these steps:

1. Introduce the lesson by explaining what you are modeling and why.

2. Model brainstorming. Use a quick list or other graphic organizer.

3. Model your writing process. Explain what you are thinking as you write each part of a paragraph: a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence.

4. Allow students to follow the pattern of your model when they write.

Prefilled Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers help students gather and organize writing ideas prior to writing. ELL students may need extra time to fill out organizers effectively. By prefilling parts of the organizer, you save students time and introduce useful sentence models and high-frequency words they can apply to their writing.
See an example of a prefilled cause-effect organizer.
When students are ready to begin writing, introduce these scaffolds.

Sentence Frames

Sentence frames (or sentence starters) are partially completed sentences with blank spaces for students to fill in. Frames work well for students who struggle to write complete sentences or need practice with new sentence structures.

One of my favorite family traditions is ______________.

We always ______________, ______________, and ______________.

While other people may think ______________, the truth is ______________.
See a sentence-frame activity.
Paragraph Frames

You can integrate sentence frames into a larger paragraph framework for students to complete.

Traditions bring families together. One of my favorite family traditions is ______________. The tradition started when ______________. As a part of this tradition, we always ______________, ______________, and ______________. What I enjoy most about ______________ is ______________. For example, ______________. While other people may think ____________, the truth is ______________. I wish everyone could experience ______________ because ______________. I hope this tradition ______________.
See a paragraph-frame activity.
As the year goes on, make your frames less prescriptive, giving students more freedom to test out different sentence patterns on their own. The goal, of course, is for students to eventually write with no frames at all.

Signal Words

Experienced ELL writers may be ready for a less rigid form of framing. Instead of giving them a set of sentence structures to fill in, present a bank of related signal words as building blocks for a full paragraph.

A writing prompt might look like this:

Describe what your ideal classroom would look like. Include at least four location signal words somewhere in your description: above, below, near, between, on top of, under, beside.

How else can I use scaffolding?

Scaffolding, as shown above, is an essential component of any writing instruction-and not just with ELL students. You can and should use the same scaffolds with other reluctant writers. Through extra modeling and guidance, you help all students see that writing is something they are capable of doing and even enjoying.

Teacher Support

Consider this support as you help ELL students with writing.

Level

3-12

Learning Objectives

Use graphic organizers to gather details for writing.

Create different types of sentences.

Build paragraphs using different types of sentences.

Acquire and use grade-appropriate academic and domain-specific words and phrases.

Teaching Tips

When giving ELLs writing feedback, first highlight "small" victories. Show students what they are doing well.

When offering suggestions for improvement, focus on one skill at a time, particularly when it comes to grammar.

Give ELLs regular chances to reflect on their writing, asking what they're doing well in writing, what challenges they face, and what strategies help them work through problems.

Create opportunities for collaborative writing. When ELLs work with peers, they see how other students write, which often feels more authentic and achievable than writing produced by a teacher.

Check out additional writing support for ELL students:

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Blog post: 6 Ways to Scaffold Writing for ELLs

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Writing in school poses a unique challenge for ELL students. Beyond the obvious hurdle of using a new language, many ELL students come from oral cultures, so their writing experiences in general may be limited. Now inside English-speaking classrooms, they are expected to write up to grade-level standards while using unfamiliar words and grammar.

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Techniques for Teaching Writing

In order to have an effective writing program, it is important to use a variety of teaching techniques.

Modeled Writing

Use the think-aloud strategy- Talk aloud as you are writing so students can hear your thought process. Link to their prior knowledge. Use the resources around the room.

Work with the students on a piece of writing. Collaborate with students and scribe for them. You may use this technique in large or small group settings. It is very effective in all subject areas. Always display the finished product in the class so students can use it as a resource.

Interactive

This technique is similar to shared writing except the teacher and students share the pen. It is helpful for reluctant writers!

Small-group setting then apply the skill through independent writing. It is used for reteaching skills previously taught to students who are struggling with that particular skill. This skill works well across the curriculum.

Collaborative

Students work with a partner or group of students to create a piece of writing together.

Independent

Students write on their own. It may be teacher-selected or chosen by the student. Keep in mind that independent writing should follow a lesson on a skill. It should not always be comprised of going through the whole writing process. This allows them to develop their writing skills, take risks, and be creative.

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Techniques for Teaching Writing In order to have an effective writing program, it is important to use a variety of teaching techniques. Modeled Writing Use the think-aloud strategy- Talk aloud as you are writing so students can hear your thought process. Link to their prior knowledge. Use the resources around the room.