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Word Inquiry Scope and Sequence G3-G5 DRAFT

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6 Ways to Bring Joy to Every Reading Lesson — Jennifer Serravallo Author & Consulting

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Author Jennifer Serravallo shares tips for centering joy in explicit, engaging instruction.

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Images for Dialogic Conversation Scaffolds & Language Comp.

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Images for Dialogic Conversation Scaffolds & Language Comp.

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Intentionality is key! When thinking which small group structure/focus might work best for a student, one question we want to ask ourselves is this...

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The English spelling system, or orthography, is morphophonemic, representing linguistic information about how to pronounce a word (phonemic) and how to determine its meaning and usage (morphemic). Morphemes are the smallest units of semantic or grammatical information in a language. Morphemes are prefixes, suffixes, roots, and bases-the smallest meaning-bearing elements, the building blocks of vocabulary. Morphology is the study of word structure or word formation with morphemes. Finally, morphological awareness (MA) refers to "the ability to consciously consider and manipulate the smallest units of meaning in spoken and written language, including base words and affixes" (Apel, 2017). English words are morphophonemic. If phonemes are thunder, then morphemes are lightning, and they both exist in English words.

Many teachers capitalize on the morphophonemic nature of the English spelling system in literacy instruction. Students who learn both phonics and morphology will correctly decode tripod, for example, rather than saying trip-od (obliterating the meaning entirely). These students will recognize the prefix tri- and correctly parse tri-pod at the morphemic juncture. Hopefully, they will know the morpheme tri- means 'three' and, with context, gain a sense of the word.

Through phonics, children will learn that fetched has three sounds, or phonemes: /f/ /ĕ/ /ch/. Blending and segmenting sounds in words is key to learning to read and spell. Children will hear one syllable in the word fetched and therefore may want to spell it *fecht, until they learn the tch trigraph and the suffix -ed. When they learn about morphology, including the inflectional suffixes -ed and -ing, they will hopefully recognize two morphemes in fetch-ed.

Eventually-and sooner rather than later-youngsters need to learn the most common morphemes. By adding the suffix -ness to the end of a word, we create an abstract noun. The feeling of joyfulness. The concept of happiness. Keep in mind, ness is a closed syllable, readily decodable, learned early in phonics programs. The spelling of this suffix is always the same, and it is always placed at the very end of a word: -ness in neatness, sweetness, repleteness. The suffix -ness can never be placed in front of another suffix. Peace-ful-ness, not peace-ness-ful.

Prefixes and suffixes are collectively called affixes. The prefix sub- (also a closed syllable) means beneath, below, or less than in submarine, subtraction, subdermal. We affix sub- to the front of the base word human, resulting in subhuman. Understanding what is meant by subhuman relies not only on morphologically parsing the word into sub-human, but also on context and vocabulary nuance. This is veering into comprehension.

Recently, through a systematic review and meta-analysis by Liu, Groen, and Cain (2024), a stable association has been found between reading comprehension and morphological awareness (MA) in students learning to read English as a first language. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis that addresses this question, and the findings are telling, indicating a large (r =.565) and significant effect for the association between MA and reading comprehension in 13,790 students across the ages of 6-16.

So, once children have learned the basics of phonics and English orthography-once they have begun to read one-syllable words via a systematic, explicit, sequential approach to phoneme-grapheme correspondences (PGCs), we can begin to layer on the affixes, to add the meaning inherent in the morpheme. Do not delay. Do not wait until fourth grade or until fluency is achieved in all syllable types and phonograms. Many morphemes are easily decoded.

Consider the prefixes that mean not or negative for example: un-, non-, dis- ( untap, nonfat, disjoin). These prefixes are formed with basic closed-syllable patterns. Likewise with suffixes: When children can decode plant, they can-with lessons in morphology-decode and understand planted, planting, planter, planters-and eventually, the more complex notion of a plantation. This academic word ends in the derivational suffix - ion (sometimes taught in elementary curriculum as -ation, -tion, -sion). Indeed, derivations ending in - ion, such as pro-duct-ion and re-flect-ion, begin to crop up more frequently in mid-elementary grades and must be addressed to help establish advanced decoding skills along with vocabulary and comprehension (Anglin, 1993; Ebbers, 2017).

Empirical evidence shows MA is essential to literacy, and at a much younger age than once thought (Apel, 2017; Levesque, Breadmore, & Deacon, 2021; Levesque & Deacon, 2022; Liu, Groen, & Cain, 2024). Morphology instruction begins in K-1 with affixes and with compound words like sunshine and shoebox. Lessons in morphology begin in kindergarten and will likely make an even greater difference in second grade and beyond, when school texts contain more derivations, which are morphologically complex (Anglin, 1993).

read ing

read able

un read able

For children with reading challenges, including dyslexia or any type of obstacle to phonological awareness, visual and hands-on lessons in MA will likely add a great deal to a phonics approach. A growing body of evidence suggests that, with instruction, MA might help compensate for phonological challenges (Brady & Mason, 2024; Georgiou, Vieira, et. al, 2022; Law & Ghesquière, 2021). Morphemic chunks are typically larger and thus more visual than graphemes, as in predict-able and even pre-dict-able. Also, structure is consistent: Prefixes are placed in front of the base, like an engine, and suffixes at the end, like a caboose, making them stand out. Lessons with morphemes can be quite colorful, visual, multisensory, and hands-on. Students can build words with morphemes and bases using Post-it® notes, letter tiles, recycled building blocks and legos, or recycled paper squares. They could color-code and highlight morphemes within words, sort words by morpheme, create word family displays, etc. The ultimate goal is to use morpheme clues and context clues to comprehend passages.

However, to be clear, and lest we get ahead of ourselves, we first learn to read through a sequential phonics approach. We do so because it works (Foorman, 2023; National Reading Panel, 2000). We do so because those who seek to read and write in English require a map, a code. English is a sprawling language built on numerous etymological layers: Germanic/Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, French, and Other (Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, etc.). We see these various origins reflected in English spelling. For example, the sound /sh/ is spelled sh in ship, but also ch in quiche and /ci/ in spacious. English orthography is complex.

Having said that, English spelling is nonetheless fairly regular, with phoneme-grapheme alignment in about half the words analyzed for spelling predictability, and about 80 percent after rethinking the vowel. These figures are based on a watershed analysis of more than 17,000 words (Hanna, Hanna, Hodges, & Rudorf, 1966). Their landmark study was more recently revisited (Fry, 2004) and in more advanced computational models (Coltheart et al., 2001). These various types of word analyses provide evidence that English is not a hot mess of irregularities in spelling. Some experts contend only about 4 percent of English words must be learned whole, by memorization-the true irregularities (Joshi, Treiman, Carreker, & Moats, 2008). Thus, we do teach phonics well, adding in sight-word recognition, morphology instruction, and a little etymology to make the lexicon more accessible.

We teach phonics but we do not stop at phonics. It is insufficient in the long run and will only achieve so much (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018). Help students "get to know" the word through the lens of phonics/phonology and through the lens of spelling/orthography and gradually through the lens of meaning/morphology and semantics. Bind all this linguistic information into a robust, multidimensional, well-consolidated mental representation of the word, and ground it in context and knowledge about the world (Ehri, 2020; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014).

Finally, encourage children to practice their newly learned linguistic skills with short decodable books aligned to their individual level. The decodables should be assigned only after the student has demonstrated knowledge of the phonetic and/or morphemic unit-linguistic skills gained through explicit instruction. Teach children well, so that when they finally do get to crack open their little beginner book they experience enough success to enjoy it and to develop self-efficacy-that "I can! I will!" feeling. Celebrate effort and growth. Create a love for all kinds of books: Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Experience the joy of vivid children's literature together.

Please join my EDVIEW360 webinar, "Building Reading Skills in Grades 1-4: Strategic Reading Practice," at 4 p.m. (CT), May 8. I'll share more, including tips and strategies. You can register here.
Register Here
Anglin, J. M. (1993). Vocabulary development: A morphological analysis. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 58(10), v-165.

Apel, K. (2017). Morphological Awareness Development and Assessment: What Do We Know? Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 43(2), 29-34.

Brady, S., & Mason, L. H. (2024). A Literature Review of Morphological Awareness Interventions and the Effects on Literacy Outcomes. Learning Disability Quarterly, 47(1), 16-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/07319487231171388

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5-51. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1529100618772271

Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review, 108(1), 204-256. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.204

Ebbers, S. M. (2017). Morphological awareness strategies for the general and special education classroom: A vehicle for vocabulary instruction. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 43(2), 29-34.

Ehri, L. C. (2020). The science of learning to read words: A case for systematic phonics instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(Suppl. 1), S45- S60.

Foorman, B. (2023). Learning the code. In S. Cabell, S. Neuman, & N. Patton Terry (Eds.). Handbook on the science of literacy (pp. 73-82). New York, NY: Guilford Press. 000-Cabell_Book.indb (thereadingforum.com)

Fry, E. (2004). Phonics: A Large Phoneme-Grapheme Frequency Count Revised. Journal of Literacy Research, 36(1), 85-98.

Georgiou, G. K., Vieira, A. P., Rothou, K. M., Kirby, J. R., Antoniuk, A., Martinez, D., & Guo, K. (2022). A Meta-analysis of Morphological Awareness Deficits in Developmental Dyslexia. Scientific Studies of Reading, 27, 253 - 271.

Hanna, P. R., Hanna, J. S., Hodges, R. E., & Rudorf, E. H. (1966). Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences as Cues to Spelling Improvement, USDOE Publication No. 32008. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Joshi, M., Treiman, R., Carreker, S. H., & Moats, L. C. (2008). How Words Cast Their Spell: Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization. American Educator, Winter 2008-09, American Federation of Teachers.

Law, J. M. , & Ghesquière, P. (2021). Morphological processing in children with developmental dyslexia: A visual masked priming study. Reading Research Quarterly, 57(3), 863-877. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-02072-001

Levesque, K. C., Breadmore, H. L. , & Deacon, S. H. (2021). How morphology impacts reading and spelling: Advancing the role of morphology in models of literacy development. Journal of Research in Reading, 44(1),10-26 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-47286-001

Levesque, K., & Deacon, S. (2022). Clarifying links to literacy: How does morphological awareness support children's word reading development? Applied Psycholinguistics, 43(3), 921-943. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/applied-psycholinguistics/article/clarifying-links-to-literacy-how-does-morphological-awareness-support-childrens-word-reading-development/8BA65B23729527F2C3377E7AAF1CC0F9

Liu, Y., Groen, M. A., & Cain, K. (2024). The association between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Educational Research Review.

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read, an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific studies of Reading, 18(1), 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.827687

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Thunder and Lightning: Sound and Meaning in a Morphophonemic Language

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The English spelling system, or orthography, is morphophonemic, representing linguistic information about how to pronounce a word (phonemic) and how to determine its meaning and usage (morphemic).

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Upcoming SWI On-Line Workshops with Pete

Two new on-line courses hosted by EduSpark (live and recorded)

One new on-line session hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded)

One new on-line course from WordWorks (real-time only, not recorded)

November 2, 7-9 pm EST "Hot Topic Webinar" hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) $40. Info and register .

This same series has hosted talks by David Kilpatrick, Louisa Moats, Maryanne Wolf, and Jan Hasbrouck.

5-Session General SWI Course for the Seriously Curious

Nov 9, 15, 22, 29, Dec 6 (Wednesdays, North America)

(7:30 - 9:30 EST 4:30 - 6:30 PST)

Click HERE for a video describing the course.

2-Session Spelling-Out Orthography Course

Dec 5 & 12 (Tuesdays, North America)

(7:30 - 9:30 EST 4:30 - 6:30 PST)

Click HERE for a video describing the course.

See video below for an interview on this topic with Pete.

Understanding the Tools of SWI & Teaching How the Written Word Works (Special 2-session version 3 hrs ea)

Nov 19 & 26 (Sundays in Australia & Thailand)

11:30 am - 2:30 pm (Melbourne)

7:30 am - 10:30 am (Bangkok)

Nov 18 & 26 (Saturdays in North America)

4:30 pm - 7:30 pm PST

7:30 pm - 10:30 pm EST

Click HERE for a flyer with more details. Email Pete < peterowers1@mac.com> to register or inquire.

New video on "Spelling-Out Orthography"

For more on this key practice in SWI lick HERE for a recent video in which Shawna Pope-Jefferson interviews me on "Spelling-Out Orthography."

This is an in-depth hour-long talk that includes discussing videos of young students using this process. To jump directly to that part of the video, click here.

See my webpage with many resources and videos on this topic HERE.

Consider these messages about the effect of my courses:

1. Click THIS LINK for details about my on-line and in-person PD, fees etc.

New videos of tudents 'spelling-out orthography' for reading and spelling.

Explore my archive of WordWorks Newsletters and Special Publications at THIS LINK.

Here are a couple of recent special publications about learning in my courses with many orthographic concepts and resources to support your learning.

Click for my most recent special publication of a teacher new to SWI having great success with her pull-out group.

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Upcoming SWI On-Line Workshops with Pete Two new on-line courses hosted by EduSpark (live and recorded) One new on-line session hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) One new on-line course from WordWorks (real-time only, not recorded) November 2, 7-9 pm EST "Hot Topic Webinar" hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) $40.

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The Six Shifts

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Multi-Year Morphology Plan Example - The Six Shifts.pdf

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Lots of Resources available on this website! You may have to register...

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The Six Shifts Where Science of Reading Meets Balanced Literacy. We provide resources, professional development, and literacy audits for busy literacy educators like you.

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Phonics Instruction for English Learners - Keys to Literacy

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This post focuses on instruction of phonics for English learners. English learners benefit from the same explicit instruction of literacy skills, including phonics, as native English speakers, keeping in mind the special considerations of English learners regarding oral language proficiency, vocabulary and background knowledge, and attention to addressing new sounds (phonemes) of English. A structured literacy approach to teach phonics should be used: explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic.

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The morpheme mapper lets you type in a word and see its morphemes and meanings mapped out.

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Engage with the Page (from Fiona Hamilton)

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Engage with the Page (from Fiona Hamilton)

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People collect things…Jerome collected words. Watch as Fiona, Lauren and Angela walk you through this great resource. Click on the icons in the Thinglink below to make these ideas your own.

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Possible Focus for Word Study - Template

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Educators have long debated the best way to teach, especially the subjects of science and math. One side favors direct instruction, where teachers tell students what they need to know or students read it from textbooks. Some call it explicit or traditional instruction. The other side favors inquiry, where students conduct experiments and figure out the answers themselves like a scientist would. It's also known as exploration, discovery learning or simply "scientific practices."

The debate reignited among university professors during the pandemic with the 2021 online publication of a commentary in the journal Educational Psychology Review. Combatively titled " There is an Evidence Crisis in Science Educational Policy," four experts in science education argued that the evidence for inquiry instruction is weak and that proponents of inquiry "exclude" or "mark as irrelevant" high-quality studies, particularly controlled trials, that "overwhelmingly show minimal support" for inquiry learning.

One of the authors is the prominent Australian psychologist John Sweller, who formulated cognitive load theory, the widely accepted idea that our working memory can process only so much information at once. Other academics took notice. Traditionalists applauded it.

Sweller and his co-authors' complaints date back to an influential 1996 report of the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies of Sciences that shapes science education policy. The report encouraged science teachers to adopt an inquiry-based approach, and it was followed by similar calls from other policymakers. But the authors of the 2021 article said the council's references for this policy change were "theoretical ideas packaged in conceptual articles rather than empirical evidence."

The critics say that much of the positive evidence for inquiry comes from classroom studies where there are no control or comparison groups, making it impossible to know if inquiry is really better than alternatives. And they say that this research frequently lumps together inquiry instruction with other teaching practices and interventions, making it hard to disentangle how much the use of inquiry is making a difference.

Soon after, another group of prominent education researchers issued a rebuttal. In March 2023, 13 scholars led by a Dutch researcher, Ton de Jong, took on the debate in the academic journal Educational Research Review. Titled " Let's talk evidence - The case for combining inquiry-based and direct instruction," their article acknowledged that the research is complicated and doesn't unequivocally point to the superiority of inquiry-based learning. Some studies show inquiry is better. Some studies show direct instruction is better. Many show that students learn the same amount either way. (As they walked through a series of meta-analyses that summarized hundreds of studies, they pointedly noted that inquiry critics also ignored or mischaracterized some of the research.)

Their bottom line: "Inquiry-based instruction produces better overall results for acquiring conceptual knowledge than does direct instruction."

How could two groups of scholars look at the same body of research and come to opposite conclusions?

The first thing to notice is that the two groups of scholars are arguing about two different things. The inquiry critics pointed out that inquiry wasn't great at helping students learn content and skills. The inquiry defenders emphasize that inquiry is better at helping students develop conceptual understandings. Different teaching methods may be better for different learning goals.

The second takeaway is that even this group of 13 inquiry defenders argue that teachers should use both approaches, inquiry and direct instruction. That's because students also need to learn content and procedural skills, which are best taught through direct instruction, and in part because it would be boring to learn only one way all the time.

Indeed, even the critics of inquiry instruction noted that inquiry lessons and exercises may be better at sparking a love of science. Students often say they enjoy science more or become more interested in the field after an inquiry lesson. Changing students' attitudes about science is certainly not a compelling reason to teach this way all the time, as students need to learn content too, but even traditionalists admit there's something to be gained from fun exploration.

My third observation is that the inquiry defenders listed a bunch of caveats about when inquiry learning has proven to be most effective. Unstructured inquiry lessons where students groped in the dark weren't successful in building any kind of understanding.

Caveat 1: Students need a strong foundation of knowledge and skills in order for inquiry learning to be successful. In other words, students need some facts and the ability to calculate things in different ways to take advantage of inquiry learning and arrive at deeper conceptual understandings. Complete mastery isn't a prerequisite, but some familiarity is. The authors suggested, for example, that it can be beneficial to start with some direct instruction before launching into an inquiry lesson.

Caveat 2: Inquiry learning is far more effective when students receive a lot of guidance and feedback from their teacher during an inquiry lesson. Sometimes the most appropriate guidance is a clear explanation, the authors said, which is the same as direct instruction. (My brain started to hurt, thinking about how direct instruction could be woven into inquiry-based learning. Is it really inquiry learning if you're also telling students what they need to do or know? At some point, shouldn't we be labeling it direct instruction with hands-on activities?)

The 13 authors admitted that each student needs different amounts and types of guidance during an inquiry lesson. Low-achieving students appear to benefit more from guidance than middle- or high-achieving students. But low-achieving students also need more of it. And that can be tough, if not impossible for a single teacher to manage. I began to wonder if effective inquiry teaching is humanly possible.

Not only can inquiry include a lot of direct instruction, but sometimes direct instruction can resemble an inquiry classroom. While many people may imagine that direct instruction means that students are passively absorbing information through lectures or books, the inquiry defenders explained that students can and should be engaged in activities even when a teacher is practicing direct instruction. Students still solve problems, practice new things independently, build projects and conduct experiments. The core difference can be a subtle one and hinge upon whether the teacher explains the theory to the students first or shows examples before students try it themselves (direct), or if the teacher asks students to figure out the theories and the procedures themselves, but gives them explicit guidance along the way (inquiry).

Like all long-standing academic debates, this one is far from resolved. Some educators prefer inquiry; some prefer direct instruction. Depending upon your biases, you're likely to see a complicated, mixed body of research as glass half full or glass half empty.

In December 2023, Sweller and the inquiry critics wrote a response to the rebuttal in the same Educational Research Review journal. Beyond the academic sniping and nitpicking, the two sides seem to have found some common ground.

"Our view... is that explicit instruction is essential for novices" but that as students gain knowledge, there should be "an increasing emphasis on independent problem-solving practice," Sweller and his camp wrote. "To the extent that De Jong et al. (2023) agree that explicit instruction can be important, we appear to have reached some level of agreement."

The real test will be watching to see whether that consensus makes it to the classroom.

This story about teaching strategieswas written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Proof Points newsletter.

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PROOF POINTS: Two groups of scholars revive the debate over inquiry vs. direct instruction

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Two groups of scholars look at the same body of research and come to opposite conclusions on which are the most effective teaching strategies. One says the evidence for inquiry is weak. The other camp says teachers should combine both inquiry and direct instruction. They also suggest how to make inquiry instruction more effective.

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Morphology Lesson Methodology - Planning

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Upcoming SWI On-Line Workshops with Pete

Two new on-line courses hosted by EduSpark (live and recorded)

One new on-line session hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded)

One new on-line course from WordWorks (real-time only, not recorded)

November 2, 7-9 pm EST "Hot Topic Webinar" hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) $40. Info and register .

This same series has hosted talks by David Kilpatrick, Louisa Moats, Maryanne Wolf, and Jan Hasbrouck.

5-Session General SWI Course for the Seriously Curious

Nov 9, 15, 22, 29, Dec 6 (Wednesdays, North America)

(7:30 - 9:30 EST 4:30 - 6:30 PST)

Click HERE for a video describing the course.

2-Session Spelling-Out Orthography Course

Dec 5 & 12 (Tuesdays, North America)

(7:30 - 9:30 EST 4:30 - 6:30 PST)

Click HERE for a video describing the course.

See video below for an interview on this topic with Pete.

Understanding the Tools of SWI & Teaching How the Written Word Works (Special 2-session version 3 hrs ea)

Nov 19 & 26 (Sundays in Australia & Thailand)

11:30 am - 2:30 pm (Melbourne)

7:30 am - 10:30 am (Bangkok)

Nov 18 & 26 (Saturdays in North America)

4:30 pm - 7:30 pm PST

7:30 pm - 10:30 pm EST

Click HERE for a flyer with more details. Email Pete < peterowers1@mac.com> to register or inquire.

New video on "Spelling-Out Orthography"

For more on this key practice in SWI lick HERE for a recent video in which Shawna Pope-Jefferson interviews me on "Spelling-Out Orthography."

This is an in-depth hour-long talk that includes discussing videos of young students using this process. To jump directly to that part of the video, click here.

See my webpage with many resources and videos on this topic HERE.

Consider these messages about the effect of my courses:

1. Click THIS LINK for details about my on-line and in-person PD, fees etc.

New videos of tudents 'spelling-out orthography' for reading and spelling.

Explore my archive of WordWorks Newsletters and Special Publications at THIS LINK.

Here are a couple of recent special publications about learning in my courses with many orthographic concepts and resources to support your learning.

Click for my most recent special publication of a teacher new to SWI having great success with her pull-out group.

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Upcoming SWI On-Line Workshops with Pete Two new on-line courses hosted by EduSpark (live and recorded) One new on-line session hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) One new on-line course from WordWorks (real-time only, not recorded) November 2, 7-9 pm EST "Hot Topic Webinar" hosted by Reading with TLC (live and recorded) $40.

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Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond

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Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond

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A Conversation About Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond

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Collaborative Classroom board member Zaretta Hammond shares her insights about instructional equity, the importance of distinguishing between multicultural education, social justice education, and culturally responsive education, and the "inequity by design" of our education system.

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Shifting the Balance Morphology Lesson Planner

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Shifting the Balance Morphology Lesson Planner

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Tim Shanahan

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Blast from the past: Teacher question: Shanahan response:
I teach 4th-grade general education. I have read several of your articles the last few days because I have a growing frustration regarding guided reading. I believe a lot of your ideas about what does not work are correct, but I don't understand what you believe we SHOULD be doing. I am confused about how to give students difficult textbooks to read without reading it to them. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I do not know how to scaffold science or social studies text for students that are 2 years behind without reading it to them. I also feel pressure in these subjects to read it to them because I thought it was more important for them to understand the information thoroughly by reading the text aloud, having thoughtful discussions, and follow up activities. Every time I think I know what I should be doing, I read another article and realize that I am doing that wrong too. So, please give me guidance on how to best to teach nonfiction and fiction text to my class whole group. What strategies and types of activities are the best? Originally posted February 2, 2013; re-issued October 12, 2024. Over the past 15 years, I have issued several blogs concerning the value of teaching students to read more challenging texts than we have used in instruction in the past. Despite a growing body of evidence showing that teaching students at their "instructional reading level" provides no learning benefits - and that sometimes it limits learning - most teachers continue to avoid challenging text by moving kids to easier text, reading texts to the students, or replacing texts with other sources of information (e.g., videos, teacher presentations). Given that I thought it would be a good idea to reissue this one. Oh, and by the way, I just completed writing a book on this topic. It will be published by Harvard Education Press early in 2025.
I feel your pain. What would it look like to scaffold a fourth-grade lesson from a social studies book with children who are reading at second-grade level? There are several possibilities.

First, I would "level" (pun intended) with the kids. I would not try to hide from them that I was going to ask them to read a book that in the past we would have avoided. The point here is motivation. People like a challenge and kids are people. When you ask them to take on something hard, let them in on the secret so they can take on the challenge with the right mindset and so they can be proud of themselves when they manage to meet the challenge - and we will make sure that they meet the challenge.

Second, it is essential that the teacher read the chapter before the kids do. We need to identify the linguistic, conceptual, and textual features that may be the source of their difficulty. Look out for ideas that you think will be especially complicated, subtle, or abstract, assumptions of background knowledge that you think your students lack, unknown vocabulary, complicated sentences, cohesive links that might be hard to track, organizational structure that students might ignore, and so on. Basically, you are trying to figure out what might make this text hard for your students to comprehend.

I'm willing to head off or avoid a problem if I think the students cannot surmount it. For instance, if there is a word that I think the students will not know and the author doesn't define it, the context doesn't reveal its meaning, or it can't be figured out from morphology, then I am willing to familiarize the kids with it prior to reading. However, if it is possible to gain its meaning from the text, I will not try to avoid the problem. I'd rather that they miss it, which will allow me to teach kids how to take it on successfully. Teachers must decide which problems to solve for the kids and which to guide them to fix themselves. The real learning will come from the latter.
References
Third, the scaffolding described above will likely require some rereading-either of the whole chapter (fourth-grade science and social studies chapters can be surprisingly short, so rereading the entire chapter is usually not that big a deal). Thus, they try to read it; I question them and help them work through the problems; and then they reread it (perhaps more than once), to see if they can figure it out the second or third time.

Fourth, if your kids' reading levels are more than a year or two below the level of the book that you are trying to teach, consider starting with fluency work. Have those students read the text aloud, once or twice before the lesson aimed at comprehension of the text. This can be done many ways (e.g., having partners practice reading the social studies text during their ELA fluency time, getting parents involved, including this kind of practice in a Tier 2 intervention). The point of the fluency work is to reduce the amount of basic reading struggle - the reading of the words - that these students may face. Once they have engaged in the fluency practice, these students should read the text along with the rest of the class. They will benefit from the same comprehension scaffolds noted above.

What you are trying to do with this encouragement, fluency work, and comprehension scaffolding is to enable the students to read the text that they are sure to struggle with. You can monitor their learning by how much improvement you see in their reading of each text. But remember your goal is not to avoid difficulty but to enable students to surmount difficulty. That means that you don't shift kids to texts at their supposed levels, you don't read the texts to the kids, and you don't go around the text by telling them what it says.

Shanahan, T. (In press). Leveled Readers, Leveled Lives. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

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How Can I Teach with Books that are Two Years Above Student Reading Levels? | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog explains how teachers can teach students to read with books that are at the students’ supposed “instructional level.”

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WVC ED Resources | Downloads, Handouts, Useful Links

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Need to get a WVC ED handout? Access a useful download? Need a useful link to access information that William Van Cleave shared? This is the page for you!

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently. Students can complete the activities in small groups, pairs, or individually.

Accompanying these Student Center Activities is a Teacher Resource Guide that offers important insights on differentiated instruction and how to use the Student Center materials.

Component

Name of the reading component: Phonological Awareness (PA), Phonics (P), Fluency (F), Vocabulary (V), or Comprehension (C). Each component is color coded: PA is purple, P is orange, F is red, V is green, C is blue.

Subcomponent

Name of the reading subcomponent, which is a subskill of the component.

Activity Name

Activity Number

The letters correspond with the reading component (PA, P, F, V, or C). The numbers are listed in ascending order within each component. The activities are sequenced from simple to more complex within each component and subcomponent.

Student Icon

The suggested number of students for the activity. One student icon indicates that students may work independently or with a small group. Two student icons indicate that the activity requires students to work in pairs. Two student icons with a plus sign indicate that the activity requires two or more students.

Objective

States the goal of the activity, which is aligned with the subcomponent.

Materials

Materials are located on the pages that follow the Activity Plan. Most materials are non-consumable to be prepared and used repeatedly (e.g., word cards can be laminated). Some materials are consumable and will need to be duplicated for each student doing the activity. Other materials, such as counters, are commonly found in most classrooms.

Activity Statement

One sentence explanation of the purpose of the activity and what students do to complete the activity.

Activity Steps

The first step describes how to setup the center. The second step begins with: The student, Students, Working in pairs, or Taking turns depending on the number of students needed to complete the activity. The second step also starts the series of steps to complete the activity. The next steps explain what the student does to complete the activity. The last step lists one of three accountability methods: Self-check, Peer evaluation, or Teacher evaluation.

Example

A visual of the activity and key materials.

Extensions and Adaptations

Suggestions that extend or provide an adaptation for additional practice on the skill addressed in the activity. Materials for the extensions and adaptations are included after the pages that align to the Activity Plan.

Users may use the FCRR Student Center Activities resources as long as modifications are not made, the resources will only be used for non-profit educational purposes, and the copyright belong jointly to the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Center for Reading Research. These resources may not be used for any commercial purposes. These resources on our site may be linked to but not reposted, reproduced, modified, or copied to other sites. For questions about the use of these resources, please contact The Florida Center for Reading Research at fcrr@fcrr.org.

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently.

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Second Grade and Third Grade Student Center Activities Phonemic Awareness | Phonics | Fluency | Vocabulary | Comprehension

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Protocol for Identifying Needs from Assessments

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Protocol for Identifying Needs from Assessments

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Upper Grades G3/G4/G5: Using Data Inform Small Groups

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PA & Phonics Application Word Study Planner - Blank

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Bigger words for upper grade Phonics: small group planning

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Bigger words for upper grade Phonics: small group planning

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Bigger Words with Closed Syllables Decodable Word Lists and Sentences .pdf

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The Science of Reading Versus the Art of Teaching Reading | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog entry explores the idea of the art of teaching in the context of the science of reading. Should teachers really just follow scripted lessons based on empirical study or should they improvise and respond to their observations of student reactions?

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

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

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

Successive blending

Final blending

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

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

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

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

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

Best practices for teaching blending

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

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

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

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

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

Create lines that allow you to informally assess your students.

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

Include sentences in your lines.

What are blending lines?

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

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

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

Sample blending lines
Wiley Blevins' tips for using blending lines

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just sign up below to get the freebie!

Check our the rest of our phonics series!

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

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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Free Decodable Passages by phonics Feature

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Free Decodable Passages by phonics Feature

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List of Free Decodables

The short vowels skill explainer has everything you need to teach this, including lesson plans, student practice activities, and videos of great classroom instruction.

Review of All Patterns Previously Taught

One-Syllable Magic 'e' (also known as Silent 'e') Words

Related Content

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Reading Universe | Free Decodable Texts for Each Phonics Skill

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Decodable texts are simple passages or books made for beginning readers that offer practice with specific phonics patterns.

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Article - What should Students be Doing?

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Article - What should Students be Doing?

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Blast from the Past: You may be interested in the 9 comments that the original elicited: I work with students in small groups daily and need the rest of the students to be engaged in meaningful practice of their new literacy skills. What types of activities would be best for this practice? Shanahan response: September 12, 2020 version This entry first posted on September 12, 2020, and reposted on August 24, 2024. Recently, I noticed a couple of research studies published in 2024 about seatwork and it reminded me of this blog. Like most professors, I have long looked askance at worksheets and their role in reading instruction (though I had relied upon them as a teacher). These newer studies (e.g., Amendum, et al., 2024), suggest that they are not as bad as we have been led to believe (Taylor, et al., 2005). Good teachers often use a mix of direct instruction along with some practice sheets. Nevertheless, there are studies (Block, et al., 2009) that suggest that this traditional seatwork can be improved upon. That study assigned reading that the children did on their own but provided provocative questions that required students to write extensive answers, and this had a positive impact upon achievement. The suggestions below should be of use as well.
The benefits of small group instruction are obvious. Teachers can make the learning experience more apt and intense - the small numbers allow for more responsiveness, more vigilant monitoring, and fine tuning of the teaching.

The downside of small group instruction should be equally evident. While the teacher is working with one small group, the rest of the kids are on their own. Much more learning takes place with the teacher and, frankly, much less with the kids on their own.

There are some supports and approaches that can mitigate this problem, though their availability is uneven. For instance, some schools provide teacher's aides, and this assistance can allow productive activity with a couple of groups simultaneously. There may be parent volunteers who play that role. Some schools are close to a college and have access to preservice teachers. And, then there are those classrooms with multiple computers that allow students to work with research-proven programs.

Those situations exist, but there are many more teachers who are on their own trying to manage small groups. I suspect you are one of those.

Even in those cases, there are things a teacher can do to minimize the problem. For instance, in some schemes the teacher moves among groups. This takes various forms. In paired reading, the teacher goes from pair-to-pair to monitor progress, guide partners' responses, and add some teaching to the mix. I recommend that all the kids in a class work on fluency simultaneously, to make this as efficient as possible. Sometimes teachers alternate between two guided reading groups, interacting with one while the other reads. Cumbersome, perhaps, but workable. Another possibility is book club groups in which the kids play a big role in operating the group discussions; this allows the teacher to move profitably among even more groups.

Teachers can also have everyone in the class reading the same selection at the same time. What varies in this case is the amount of scaffolding, support, and extension that will be provided to some students. That increases the amount of teaching delivered to the lowest readers (they get more help) and decreases it for the best - which fits nicely with Carol Connor's research (2022) on what leads to the greatest learning for a class. (Connor found that the best readers could make real progress reading on their own and being engaged in more independent activities. She did not find the same benefits for the other students.)

In any event, I've long recommended that teachers minimize small group work. Often such work is unnecessary, engaged in only because the teachers are required by their district to do it. This leads to silly stuff like teachers delivering the same lesson multiple times.

While I try to avoid any more small group teaching than necessary, I would never ban the practice. It's just too valuable and classroom life too complicated to not have access to it - at least when it is used appropriately.

Let's say you use small group instruction strategically, to target learning needs of students and you need to know what kinds of activities to assign the other students. For that, all you need to do is turn your attention to the research on seatwork...

Except there is no body of research on seatwork (just one study as far as I can tell-and, though helpful, it doesn't even attempt to describe appropriate instruction in any kind of specific detail).

This is an issue without empirical data; Just lots of authoritative opinion.

So, let me add my advice to the mix.

Use activities that require a lot of accountable reading and writing. We want kids to read and write a lot. Some schemes aimed at doing that reduce instruction markedly to free up reading time. I'm not talking about that kind of thing, since studies haven't found those practices to be productive for most kids.

The accountability issue is big here. If students know that there will be some real follow up that will take them back through the text in detail it changes both their reading behavior and their learning. I'm not a big fan of one-on-one conferencing in reading because it increases the amount of time kids are away from the teacher and minimizes their accountability.

There are various ways of requiring reading during the time a teacher is busy with another group. The teacher might encourage students to attempt that day's selection on their own before they try to undertake it with the teacher's guidance. The same thing can be done, frankly, with a social studies or science chapter. That permits students to read such texts multiple times.

Another possibility is to teach a writing lesson just prior to starting with reading groups and to have the boys and girls working on their compositions or revisions while the teacher is elsewhere. The same can be done with vocabulary lessons.

However, if students have problems with the work tied to such lessons, the teacher will have to follow up - so it's important that the seatwork not be so demanding that children need teacher help. I've tried this with math, which would be fine if doing the problems wasn't such a big part of the math learning. Teachers really need to be available to take part in that classroom activity, so that pairing wasn't a good one.

Accountability means that the teacher is going to have to closely monitor student success. This can be done several ways - but usually through either follow up discussion (small group or whole class) or writing.
1. Sentence reducing and sentence combining
The best seatwork activities will guide students to engage the meaning of the text more deeply. I suspect this is as true for seatwork as for other pedagogical endeavors. That's why many worksheets and centers simply don't work very well. To complete them it usually isn't necessary to think much about the text.

What kinds of activities fit the bill? Here are a few that can be done with any texts that the students are trying to read. The key is to focus them on key parts of the text or language that you suspect will trip kids up.

Get students to dig into the meaning of sentences by recomposing them. For instance, have them turn these three sentences into one:

"Cities in many countries have special building laws. Buildings must be strong and flexible. That way, they won't collapse during an earthquake." ---->

To keep buildings from collapsing during an earthquake, cities in many countries have special laws that require the buildings to be strong and flexible.

Or, try breaking this sentence down into multiple sentences:

"So Hayleigh began drawing out her ideas to make charms that look like earrings." ---->

Hayleigh draws out her ideas.
2. Cohesion analysis
She makes charms.

The charms look like earrings.
3. Vocabulary and context
Get students to connect the ideas across a text. To track the ideas, students can mark each appearance of an idea with different colors or by some other marking system. Here I have used underlining, italics, and bolding to show the links.

"When disasters such as storms, floods, and earthquakes strike an area, people from all over the world want to help. They know that someday they may need help themselves. They also know that it is the right thing to do and that it is rewarding. I think that when people are in need it is important for all of us to find a way to help out."

Lift some sentences from the text and have the students use the context to figure out the meaning of the underlined word and then have them replace the word with an appropriate synonym or phrase.
4. Text Comparisons
Buildings must be strong and flexible. That way, they won't collapse during an earthquake.

Buildings must be strong and flexible. That way, they won't _fall down_ during an earthquake.

Have students write text comparisons. They can compare today's text with any other text that you have already had them read or that you have read to them. These comparisons might be of something quite specific such as comparing the characters from two stories, or it might be something more all-encompassing like comparing two social studies chapters (comparing two civilizations in grade 4, for instance).
References
Each of these exercises requires that students think deeply about the language of the text that they are trying to understand. These kinds of exercises can be done before or after the students have read the text.

Of course, if they are going to analyze text in those ways successfully, you cannot start out with a seatwork assignment. Initially, you'll need to do these with the boys and girls so that they learn how to do them. In one of Connor's studies on seatwork, this was one of the big take-aways. Kids often don't have any idea how to do the seatwork. Using similar activities throughout the year and preparing students to complete them will make a big difference.

Amendum, S. J., Li, Y., Hall, L. A., Fitzgerald, J., Creamer, K. H., Head-Reeves, D., & Hollingsworth, H. L. (2009). Which reading lesson instruction characteristics matter for early reading achievement? Reading Psychology, 30(2), 119-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702710802275173

Block, C. C., Parris, S. R., Reed, K. L., Whiteley, C. S., & Cleveland, M. D. (2009). Instructional approaches that significantly increase reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(2), 262-281. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014319
Click here if you would like to read the 9 comments generated by the original entry.
Connor, C. M., May, H., Sparapani, N., Hwang, J. K., Adams, A., Wood, T. S., . . . Day, S. (2022). Bringing assessment-to-instruction (A2i) technology to scale: Exploring the process from development to implementation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(7), 1495-1532. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000758

Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2005). The CIERA School Change Framework: An evidence-based approach to professional development and school reading improvement. Reading Research Quarterly, 40, 40-69.

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Seatwork that Makes Sense for Reading | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog entry describes seatwork activities that have the possibility of improving reading achievement, and not just keeping students busy.

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Educators talk about the impact COVID has had on school happiness

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3 Lesson Types that support Grade Level Reading

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3 Lesson Types that support Grade Level Reading

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3 Lesson Types that Support Grade-Level Reading — Jennifer Serravallo Author & Consulting

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Daily experience with grade level (or above) texts is key. Research shows that when students grapple with grade-level texts, they not only improve their reading skills, but they also build knowledge, enhance language and communication skills, establish a firm foundation for academic success, and boo

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Simple Words Books | Best Decodable Books for Striving Readers

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Benefits of Decodable Books - Simple Words Books | Best Decodable Books for Striving Readers

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Easy to read big-kids books for striving readers. Traditional chapter books can frustrate struggling readers who work hard to learn phonics skills their peers master easily.

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Article - Making Reading and Writing Easier for our Students

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Article - Making Reading and Writing Easier for our Students

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Burkins and Yates

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5 Opportunities to Make Learning to Read & Write Easier for Your Students This Year – Routledge Blog

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By Jan Burkins, Kari Yates & Katie Cunningham: Authors of Shifting the Balance, Grades K-2 and Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5

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The morpheme mapper lets you type in a word and see its morphemes and meanings mapped out.

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This section provides specific ideas and strategies to support ELLs' language and literacy development, such as tips for planning lessons and the use of language objectives, as well as broader approaches such as using informal assessment and differentiation for varying language levels.

What You'll Find in This Section

Learn how educators can support the success of their English language learners (ELLs). They will be useful for a wide range of audiences, including new and veteran teachers of ELLs, paraprofessionals, tutors, and administrators at the school and district level.
Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

Each student comes to school not only with unique academic needs but also with unique background experiences, culture, language, personality, interests, and attitudes toward learning. Effective teachers recognize that all of these factors affect how students learn in the classroom, and they adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students' needs.

Here are some strategies for differentiating instruction for your English language learners, as well as ideas for taking students' level of English language proficiency into account when planning instruction.

Need some help finding ways to help your English language learners? Read these inspirational stories about English language learners, teachers and paraprofessionals who have overcome obstacles standing to achieve success.

What's even better than a bright idea? A bright idea that works! Educators from across the country have discovered excellent ways to tackle some common classroom stumbling blocks. Below are their step-by-step suggestions on how to handle issues like the fourth-grade slump or the development of critical thinking skills.

Project-based learning (PBL) offers many benefits to English language learners (ELLs), including hands-on activities, peer interaction, rich language use, and a chance to explore personal interests.

ELLs may need some additional support or guidance in order to make the most of PBL, and the following resources share ideas on how to make it a successful experience for all students.

Designing instruction based on student strengths (what the student can do) provides an important foundation for success and offers opportunities to build upon those strengths in order to address areas where the student is struggling. Learn more about this approach from the following resources and videos.

Learn how educators can support the success of their English language learners (ELLs). They will be useful for a wide range of audiences, including new and veteran teachers of ELLs, paraprofessionals, tutors, and administrators at the school and district level.
Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

Each student comes to school not only with unique academic needs but also with unique background experiences, culture, language, personality, interests, and attitudes toward learning. Effective teachers recognize that all of these factors affect how students learn in the classroom, and they adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students' needs.

Here are some strategies for differentiating instruction for your English language learners, as well as ideas for taking students' level of English language proficiency into account when planning instruction.

Need some help finding ways to help your English language learners? Read these inspirational stories about English language learners, teachers and paraprofessionals who have overcome obstacles standing to achieve success.

What's even better than a bright idea? A bright idea that works! Educators from across the country have discovered excellent ways to tackle some common classroom stumbling blocks. Below are their step-by-step suggestions on how to handle issues like the fourth-grade slump or the development of critical thinking skills.

Project-based learning (PBL) offers many benefits to English language learners (ELLs), including hands-on activities, peer interaction, rich language use, and a chance to explore personal interests.

ELLs may need some additional support or guidance in order to make the most of PBL, and the following resources share ideas on how to make it a successful experience for all students.

Designing instruction based on student strengths (what the student can do) provides an important foundation for success and offers opportunities to build upon those strengths in order to address areas where the student is struggling. Learn more about this approach from the following resources and videos.

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This section provides specific ideas and strategies to support ELLs' language and literacy development, such as tips for planning lessons and the use of language objectives, as well as broader approaches such as using informal assessment and differentiation for varying language levels. Learn how educators can support the success of their English language learners (ELLs).

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Fast Phrase
Phrase Haste
Fleeting Phrases
Phrasing Progression

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differentiated, high-quality language and literacy instruction with varying levels of intensity;

a focus on social (BICS) and academic language development (CALP)

educator knowledge of the second-language acquisition process and the role of native and English language proficiency in reading achievement

data-informed, appropriate instructional adjustments

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

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Researchers are learning that handwriting engages the brain in ways typing can’t match, raising questions about the costs of ditching this age-old practice, especially for kids.

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PreK/K - Embedding Phonological Awareness 

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PreK/K - Embedding Phonological Awareness 