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(diagnostic) see additonal attachements for instructions

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Possible Morpheme Magic Progress Monitoring Template

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Possible Morpheme Magic Progress Monitoring Template

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Suggested Morpheme Magic Weekly lesson plans

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Suggested Morpheme Magic Weekly lesson plans

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A Quick Guide to Foundational Literacy Assessments

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A Quick Guide to Foundational Literacy Assessments

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In our work with schools and systems across the country, we've found that leaders and teachers often don't get the support they need to deeply understand 1) the different kinds of student learning data they collect and 2) how to use those data to drive mastery of foundational reading skills.

That's unfortunate because we know that student data can provide invaluable insight into the skills that students have and have not yet mastered-and, therefore, what areas of focus will help teachers make the most of their instructional time. Ensuring that teams have a strategic set of strong assessments in place and that educators know how, when, and why to administer them is the first step to empowering educators to use data to accelerate student outcomes.

In this quick guide to foundational literacy assessments, we'll go over the purposes and uses of four main types of assessment, using the story of a 1st-grade student named Verna to explore how each fits together to make all the difference for her learning experiences and outcomes.

Here's a little background on Verna and her 1st-grade teacher, Ms. Wilson:
Verna attended pre-K in 2019-20, but her mom pulled her out once the pandemic began in early spring. Wary of virtual learning, her family decided not to enroll Verna in kindergarten in 2020-21. Without that year of kindergarten under her belt, when Verna started 1st grade in the fall of 2021, Ms. Wilson knew that she'd have to keep an eye out for unfinished learning in her foundational literacy skills.
1. Universal screeners (aka benchmarks)

A universal screener is given to all students at intervals throughout the year (usually beginning, middle, and end). These assessments determine where students are on the right track and where they may be at risk for reading difficulties by measuring their performance against nationally normed proficiency benchmarks. They are often used to set learning goals for students (i.e., results on the beginning-of-year assessment inform goals/targets for performance on middle-/end-of-year assessments). Screeners work by isolating a few skills that predict student risk. There are two things that are especially important to know about universal screeners:

They provide different kinds of information: A universal screener isn't a universal screener isn't a universal screener. Some tell you about students' overall reading level. Some provide insight into mastery of a particular domain. It may sound obvious, but understanding what the test is measuring (i.e., the skills it is using to determine whether a student is below, on, or above grade level) is a critical first step toward ensuring your teams are gathering actionable data.

No matter what they're measuring, the information that universal screeners provide is limited: Because universal screeners provide a high-level snapshot of student performance, they don't take much time, which is great in terms of being able to gather information quickly. However, it also means that screeners don't provide much detail. The long and short of it is, universal screeners can tell us where a student may be having difficulty, but not why (e.g., a screener may identify that a student is not meeting their grade-level expectation for letter name/letter sound identification, but it's unlikely to tell you which letters/sounds they have not yet mastered).

Here's how Verna's school used a universal screener to collect information about what she already knew at the beginning of 1st grade:
In the first few weeks of her 1st-grade year, the reading team at Verna's elementary school assessed individual students using DIBELS, a reliable and valid universal screener. Verna's scores revealed that she performed on grade level in some skill areas but significantly below grade level in letter-naming fluency, phoneme segmentation, and letter sounds. These results gave Ms. Wilson a good picture of where Verna's gaps lay, though not what those gaps were precisely. To find out exactly what skills Verna had not yet mastered, Ms. Wilson knew she'd have to dig a bit deeper.
2. Diagnostics

Diagnostics help add detail to the big picture that universal screeners offer. Diagnostics are given to students when we need more information about why they may be struggling in a particular area. Where a universal screener will tell you that a student is not on grade level for letter sounds, a diagnostic will tell you that the student has not mastered the short /o/. That level of detail is invaluable for educators in determining how to use their small-group time as well as in setting learning targets for individual students. For example, if a student has mastered all vowel sounds except the short /o/, a diagnostic would enable their teacher to jump straight to working with them on that sound rather than reviewing all vowel sounds.

In our work across the country, we've found that diagnostics tend to be underused, even though many curricula provide them in their packages, and, if not, there are open source diagnostics that schools can access (e.g., the PAST Test ).

One reason that schools often choose not to use diagnostics is that they take a long time and they're high effort: typically, they are administered one-on-one, educator and student. So, in the face of capacity limitations, it's easy to find reasons not to administer them.

We always remind our partners that diagnostics provide a clear picture of what individual students need to move forward-and investing the time to narrow in on students' particular roadblocks can help us advance their skills much more effectively and efficiently during instructional time. In my experience, the time it takes to administer these assessments is well worth the investment.

In Verna's case, Ms. Wilson used diagnostics to get a better understanding of the picture painted by her universal screener results:
Ms. Wilson used a phonics screener from the curriculum to diagnose the exact letter names and sounds that Verna has and has not yet mastered. Ms. Wilson knew that phonemic awareness, as tested on DIBELS PSF, is a subset of phonological awareness. She administered a few phonological awareness tasks from the PAST Test to Verna in order to pinpoint her precise gaps. After these two diagnostics, it was clear that Verna needed support blending and segmenting phonemes in words and identifying the sounds for the letters "d," "g," "i," "j," "n," "o," "v," and "w."
3. and 4. Progress monitoring assessments and formative assessments

Ok! So, you used a universal screener to determine what area(s) a student has not yet mastered and a diagnostic to pinpoint the specific skills they need to work on, and you started targeting your instruction to help students master those skills. Now, how do you know if it's working? There are two primary types of assessment that can give you insights:

Progress monitoring assessments: This type of assessment tells you how students are progressing relative to their individual learning goals that were set based on their universal screener results. The results can help teachers understand if the current instructional approach is effectively moving students toward their goal(s) or if an adjustment to that approach is necessary because students are not moving toward their goal(s). Without progress monitoring, a teacher might have to wait months between administrations of the universal screener to understand students' progress, which could cause them to lose valuable instructional time to approaches that aren't working.

Formative assessments: This type of assessment gives you insight into whether students mastered what was being taught in a particular unit or lessons. Formative assessments can be:

Curriculum-embedded (i.e., some formative assessments are often included in curriculum packages).

Teacher-created (i.e., it's common for teachers to develop quick assessments-such as teacher-completed checklists, exit tickets, or notes jotted down on a sticky note-as checks for understanding; often these assessments are slightly shorter than their curriculum-embedded counterparts).

Though progress monitoring and formative assessments are slightly different, using them in combination can help you keep an accurate pulse on how students, both as a group and individually, are progressing and make informed instructional decisions for students.

Ms. Wilson was able to use these types of assessments to determine how to focus instruction for Verna:
Ms. Wilson reviewed Verna's DIBELS progress monitoring data and was pleased with the progress she was making toward her goals. However, she did notice that the data from Verna's weekly curriculum dictation test indicated that Verna was still struggling to represent the /w/ and /g/ sounds with the appropriate letter. Ms. Wilson made a note to make this the primary focus of her small-group work with Verna the next week and to do a quick white board task to assess where she is or is not moving toward mastery of those targeted skills.
Strategically using the four types of assessments discussed above can help anchor conversations in specific evidence of improvement or continued struggle, help educators isolate instructional strategies that are and are not working, monitor students' progress over time, and make informed decisions about what to try next.

Still, we know that developing an assessment strategy isn't easy. That's why we outlined a step-by-step Early Literacy Playbook , including a handy dandy assessment inventory , that details specific ways leaders can implement best practices for student data that support their early literacy system. Get started today!

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A Quick Guide to Foundational Literacy Assessments - Instruction Partners

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How to leverage data from four types of foundational literacy assessments: Universal screeners 2) Diagnostics progress 3) Monitoring 4) Formative

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See their needs. Close the gaps. Help them grow.

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Useful reports for data-informed decisions

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When students are counting on you, count on MAP Growth

Using MAP Growth as part of a comprehensive and balanced assessment plan, teachers can confidently tailor instruction to challenge every student, whether they are below, at, or above grade level. MAP Growth student reports also present realistic learning goals by subject areas so that, through a teacher's guidance, students can individually see their progress and be inspired to take charge of their own learning.

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The Growth Activation Solution pairs MAP Growth with guided implementation and professional learning experiences that engage and galvanize your team while honing assessment literacy and instructional planning. Wrap-around support and expert-led guidance round out this solution, providing your teachers and coaches with the resources and tools they need to improve student outcomes.

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Director of Curriculum & Innovation, Littlestown Area School District, PA

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Precisely measure student growth and performance with MAP Growth

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MAP Growth is the most trusted and innovative assessment for measuring achievement and growth in K-12 math, reading, language usage, and science.

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Post-assessments

DP/AP exams

Unit/module/domain assessments

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(see above for student diagnostic)

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Testing Manual/Test Directions (should read first!)
Printable Texting Booklets/Student Materials

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Stores the data but tools are the same as free version above on UoOregon's site

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Manual/Scoring (read first)
Printable booklets/student materials

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Planner for Advanced Word Study Phonics Instruction 

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Morphological Analysis Instruction in the Elementary Grades: Which Morphemes to Teach and How to Teach Them

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Morphological Analysis Instruction in the Elementary Grades: Which Morphemes to Teach and How to Teach Them

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Commonness Morphology- The Reading Teacher’s Sourcebook

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Commonness Morphology- The Reading Teacher’s Sourcebook

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The Morphology Project - The Grammar Project

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In 2022, three educators and a speech pathologist from Rivergums Primary School, Serpentine Primary School and Fremantle Language Development Centre collaborated on a series of morphology lessons for Grades 3-6. This project is a bank of explicit, direct instruction style PowerPoint lessons that align with the Reading Science in Schools (RSiS) morphology scope and sequence created by Jasmine Shannon.

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Are there any resources that provide a list of morphemes to teach at each K-5 grade level? I have been looking for a definitive list of morphemes that is organized by grade level like the Fry sight word list. I often come across research about how L1 and L2 students acquire morphemes, but I am looking for a list that represents the morphemes that students will most likely see in print at each K-5 grade level. Does anything like that exist? Thank you for your time. Shanahan response:
The short answer to this question is, "No, I don't know of such a list."

But when have I ever been satisfied with the short answer to anything?

Let's make sure we're all in agreement as to what constitutes a morpheme? Basically, a morpheme is the "smallest grammatical unit." It isn't the same thing as a word, and yet many words are morphemes. The distinction turns on whether the unit (the morpheme or word) can stand on its own. Words have to have that kind of independence, while morphemes don't require it.

Thus, bags, trucked, running, and redirect are all words in the English language while bag, s, truck, ed, run, ing, re, and direct are all morphemes. Each morphemic unit carries meaning, but sometimes morphemes can do that independently (bag, truck, run, direct), and sometimes they need to be combined with other morphemes to be considered a word (s, ed, ing, re).

I admitted ignorance on this issue, and I've tried to turn that ignorance to your advantage. I contacted Jeffrey and Peter Bowers. Both are outstanding scholars (Jeff at the University of Bristol in the UK, and Peter at WordWorks Literacy Centre, in Ontario) who are particularly knowledgeable about teaching morphology to improve literacy. They've both published widely on the issue, and both have chided me when they felt I wasn't paying sufficient attention to how words work morphologically. These days I know no one better able to provide you with a thoughtful answer to your question, and boy was I right! I apologize for the poor renditions of the Word Matrix and the Word Sums. I'll be working with my webmaster to get the real graphics in, but in the meantime you can go to the Word Works website to see them in their full glory. http://www.wordworkskingston.com/WordWorks/Home.html
Word Matrix:
A map of a word family Here is Peter Bower's response (with my light editing):
Word Sums: reveal underlying structure of any complex word (a word with more than just a base)

"I have no knowledge of such a list, but I wouldn't recommend one anyway.

"My recommendation based on theory not direct research evidence - is that the main value comes from teaching all or many members of a morphological family at one time with the matrix and word sums (see the attached figure illustrating a matrix and word sum). In the younger grades I start with free bases [those morphemes that stand alone as words], but once that is established, I have no trouble introducing bound bases [the units that can't stand alone]. This relates to the research we cite about the value of studying meaningfully related items at one time rather than disconnected items.

"Instead of a "scope and sequence" of morphemes to teach, what I recommend is starting with words in the children's vocabulary, analyzing such words to find their bases, then looking for other members of that family.

"The point is not that there is a "scope and sequence" of morphemes to teach. Rather there is a kind of a "scope" of orthographic concepts that we want students to learn, and teachers can address those concepts based on whatever words are central to the readings they are introducing to the students.

"A brief list of those concepts that should be taught would include:

Every word is a base or a base with something else (another base or affix)

Bases and affixes (morphemes) are the meaningful building blocks that construct words.

We can analyze complex words into constituent morphemes with word sums and show their interrelationship with a matrix.

English spelling prioritizes consistent spelling of morphemes over consistent pronunciation of morphemes. (This is why we refer to morphemes by their spelling not their pronunciation. The base of the word action is not referred to by the pronunciation of the wordact. Instead it is referred to by its spelling. The base "a - c - t". This is the same as the fact that we don't refer to the <-ed> suffix by one or all of its three pronunciation, we call it by it's spelling "e-d suffix.")

Thus, we need to understand grapheme-phoneme correspondences from within the context of morphological families. (e.g. we learn the phonology of the grapheme by studying morphological families).

There are reliable conventions for the three suffixing conventions.

Studying and understanding the suffixing conventions is not primarily about improving spelling accuracy, it is about being able to analyze hypotheses about connections between words. We can test the hypothesis that "imagine" has a base "image" only if we know vowel suffixes replace final, non-syllabic "e" (image/ + ine -> imagine).

The "structure and meaning test": To determine that two words share a base, we need evidence from both structure (word sum) and meaning (etymology). So with the earlier example of words related to "play" (play, playing, playful, replay, playhouse), we can prove all of those words can be analyzed with word sums with coherent affixes and bases. But we can also show that they all go back to an Old English rootplegan, plegian for "frolic, move rapidly". However, the word "display" which can be analyzed structurally turns outnot to be related. It does not belong in the morphological family with the others because it goes back to a Latin rootplic(ere) for "fold". So to "display" is to "unfold".

"If we are going to teach children how their writing system works, we need to teach them the interrelation of morphology, phonology, and etymology. As we have pointed out, this is why Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) is not about "adding" morphological instruction to phonics instruction - its about teaching how the system works. This is why I argue that SWI teaches grapheme-phoneme correspondences more explicitly and accurately than phonics. Phonics instruction (under the definition of associations of pronunciations and letters without reference to morphology or etymology) cannot explain the grapheme-phoneme correspondences in countless words like does or rough or every or homophones, and so on. So many people miss the absolute detail into orthographic phonology that comes with SWI.

"Here are some videos to illustrate my point:

Gr. 2 teacher showing investigations from his class Grade 2 morphology video

Investigating grapheme-phoneme correspondences in a Gr. 1 class - with the context of morphological word sums Grade 1 morphology video

A kindergarten lesson I taught introducing the word sum and matrix that touches on grapheme-phoneme correspondences like the pronunciation of the <-s> suffix for /z/ and /s/ Kindergarten morphology video

"It's as simple as starting with the "known" and then expanding from that. Even if kids know all the words in a morphological family (e.g. play, playing, playful, replay, playhouse) the lesson is not about new vocabulary, but learning how word structure links words. That concept can then be applied anywhere.

"The other thing I keep in mind when choosing morphological families to investigate is the orthographic concepts a family has to offer. If I've established the fact that words that share a base share a spelling and a meaning connection, then I can introduce a base like with words like actor, acting, react, and action as a way to introduce the fact that the pronunciation of morpheme might change but keep the spelling. In that way we learn the phonology of t is not the "t sound", but that the grapheme can write/t/ when that is the appropriate sound. I've attached an example of a lesson I've used for that before.

"I also draw on the <-ed> suffix from early on to highlight this same concept that morphemes do not have pronunciations until they are in a word. The pronunciation of a word like is another useful one to get rid of this idea of a "t sound" since this very common pronunciation of a very common suffix is what is typically thought of the "t sound," but their ain't no /t/!

"And then you also encounter words that give rise to the need to teach all the suffixing changes.
Shanahan again:
"These are concepts teachers need to learn and they can bring into work with their class as they investigate words."

I don't disagree with Peter on any of this, except I'm not as dismissive of the kind of list that you are requesting. I don't see it as mutually exclusive from the curriculum goals that he specified or contradictory of the kind of instruction he described.

Many teachers, when referring to morphology or "structural analysis", actually are talking about affixes alone, and not the bases. If that is the case here, there are some lists like that which present the most common prefixes and suffixes from textbooks in grades 3-9 (White, Sowell, & Yanagihara, 1989). You can easily find those lists on line and you could definitely make use of those lists to make sure that you are hitting all the notes if you do the word sums and matrixes that Peter recommends.

Otherwise, I haven't been able to come up with a graded list of bases for you to use. But I have passed your letter along to my friends at MetaMetrics (the Lexile people) and have asked if they could produce such a list from their language corpus of more than 1 billion words. Stay tuned!

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Morphology Instruction in Reading | Shanahan on Literacy

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This blog explores the newest ways of teaching children to make sense of word meaning through morphological analysis. Unlike past approaches, this one focuses on younger students--and not just older ones.

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Experiments in English morphology, inspired by Real Spelling

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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(5 min)

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EKC/UFLI Progress Monitoring Weekly Planner

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EKC/UFLI Progress Monitoring Weekly Planner

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Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science - Moats

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Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science - Moats

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The most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Because reading affects all other academic achievement and is associated with social, emotional, economic, and physical health, it has been the most researched aspect of human cognition. By the year 2000, after decades of multidisciplinary research, the scientific community had achieved broad consensus regarding these questions: How do children learn to read? What causes reading difficulties? What are the essential components of effective reading instruction and why is each important? How can we prevent or reduce reading difficulties? Two decades later, hundreds of additional studies have refined and consolidated what we know about bolstering reading achievement, especially for students at risk.

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"It's Poetry Month! Grab a favorite poem and immerse your students in it with these ideas to integrate repeated readings in an engaging way! ...Read More

"Start with "Winter", a season of cold and snow. ...Read More

"Start with "boy" another name for a young man. ...Read More

"Start with "pop" another name for a fizzy soda drink. ...Read More

"Veteran - Take away 4 letters to make the past tense of "run." ...Read More

"Start with "Quarter" - One fourth of an object; a coin worth 25 cents. ...Read More

"Start with "Touch" - To come into contact with someone or something. ...Read More

"Start with the word "Summer" - a time for sun, swimming and play. ...Read More

"Start with the word "Sham" - a word that means something that is fake or false. ...Read More

"Start with the word "Love" - the emotion celebrated on Valentine's Day. ...Read More

"Start with the word "King" - a ruler of a country....Read More

"Start with the word "Harbor" - a place of safety, usually for ships and boats...Read More

"Most of us can remember the traditional way of teaching vocabulary"...Read More

"Start with Foot - the part of our body we use for standing and walking."...Read More

"Here's a Halloween word ladder. Enjoy! Start with the word "trick"...Read More

"I recently visited the National Art Museum and Portrait Gallery in Washington DC."...Read More

"Start with Hurricane - a large and sever tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean."...Read More

"Let's start with sun, our star that gives us warmth"...Read More

"With vacation time rapidly approaching, here's a quick lesson to help your students expand their vocabulary and learn a bit more about the English language."...Read More

"Start with Spring, the season where April showers bring May flowers"...Read More

"Let's start with May, the fifth month of the year"...Read More

"Let's start with April, the fourth month of the year"...Read More

"Let's start with a word that describes our Earth and all the large bodies in the solar system"...Read More

"Let's start with a word the famous spring Holiday"...Read More

"April Showers bring May Flowers." One of the meanings for shower is a type of rain."...Read More

"Hello Everyone - here's a word ladder that you can do with your students on the first day of April. Word study can be fun!..."...Read More

"Besides being the name of month, the word "March" refers to a particular way of walking (in unison as a group)..."...Read More

"Let's start with a word that describes an animal that roars..."...Read More

"Let's start with a word that describes the man who can leap tall buildings and is faster than a locomotive..."...Read More

"Start with the top word and guide your students to make a series of new words..."...Read More

"Now that it's October, the days are getting shorter (in the northern hemisphere) and the temperature is starting to dip"...Read More

"In the U.S. Sept 5th is a holiday - Labor Day; a day to celebrate the working person"...Read More

"Here's a Word Ladder to share with your students on the first day of school! Feel free to add to or change the clues. Go from top to bottom"...Read More

"I am a self-proclaimed and unapologetic lexophile, word nerd, or vocabulary zealot! I love words! I love to learn about how words came to be; I love the fact that some words have the same spelling but varied pronunciations and meanings while other words may have the same pronunciation but different spellings; and I love how words can be used to convey facts, tell a story, or elicit emotion"...Read More

"A few years ago several colleagues and I were engaged in a study of reading fluency in high school students. Our study involved having ninth-grade students from a local urban high school read orally a relatively short informational text. Our intent was to check their reading rate (words read correctly per minute) to see if fluency may be an issue that is causing students difficulty in their reading. Our findings confirmed our hypothesis. Many 9th graders experienced difficulty in fluency and this appeared to be a contributor to their reading difficulties..." Read More

"November is one of my favorite times of year. Despite the weather getting increasingly colder and the threat of winter weather on the horizon, I view November as a time for nesting, when family and friends often come for visits. During these visits it is not unusual to bring out a board or card game...Read More

"Teaching Is Joyous Work: It's early September and school has begun or will begin soon for teachers, principals, and other educators. I certainly believe that teaching is a joyous profession; however, it is also a profession that requires lots of work. Thankfully, Labor Day rolls around on the first Monday in September and gives teachers a chance to take a quick breather. Here's a word ladder I did that connects work to labor..." Read More

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Timothy Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. He has written over 150 articles and has authored, co-authored or edited over 15 books or curriculum programs on reading education.

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Louisa Moats

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For two decades, Speech to Print has been a bestselling, widely adopted textbook on explicit, high-quality literacy instruction. Now the anticipated third edition is here, fully updated with ten years of new research, a complete package of supporting materials, and expanded guidance on the how of assessment and instruction in today's classrooms.

Filling a critical gap in teacher preparation courses, Speech to Print supplies K-12 educators with in-depth knowledge of the structure and function of language-fundamentals they need to deliver successful structured literacy instruction. Renowned literacy expert Louisa Cook Moats gives current and future teachers comprehensive, accurate, and accessible information on the underpinnings of language instruction, including:

the history of the English language and its effect on spelling

English phonology, including speech sounds and their distinctive features

how print represents speech in English

the morphological aspects of words

syntax and its instruction

how meaning is conveyed with language

Through case studies, activities, recommended teaching principles, and close analysis of real-world student work samples, teachers will also receive invaluable insight into how their students should be taught. Ideal for use in preservice courses and in-service professional development sessions, this essential textbook will give educators the strong foundation they need to teach language and reading skills to students with and without disabilities.
WHAT'S NEW:

New and expanded practical content on the how of language and reading instruction

New and updated chapter exercises

New faculty support materials

More on key topics like program and curricula selection, frameworks for instructional planning, and problem solving when students are slow to respond to intervention

More accessible, undergraduate-friendly tone and structure

Additional graphics to illustrate key concepts

NEW FACULTY SUPPORT MATERIALS! Support your instruction with a complete package of online companion materials, including chapter quizzes, a sample syllabus/course outline, PowerPoints to accompany each chapter, PDF handouts for selected concepts, and a video demonstrating production of all the sounds in the English language. Learn more about the new edition! Watch the webinar recording

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speech to print: language essentials for teachers

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education / teaching methods & materials / language arts

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education / teaching methods & materials / reading & phonics

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education/teaching methods & materials - language arts

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education/teaching methods & materials - reading & phonics

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language arts & disciplines / reading skills

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language arts & disciplines/reading skills

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teaching methods & materials - language arts

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teaching methods & materials - reading & phonics

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language development; language arts instruction; literacy; literacy instruction; language assessment; literacy assessment; teaching literacy skills; language arts teachers; language arts textbook; reading teachers

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education / teaching methods & materials / language arts

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education / teaching methods & materials / reading & phonics

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education/teaching methods & materials - language arts

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education/teaching methods & materials - reading & phonics

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language arts & disciplines / reading skills

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language arts & disciplines/reading skills

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Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers

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Amazon.com: Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers (9781681253305): Moats Ed.D., Louisa Cook, Brady Ph.D., Dr. Susan: Books

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Early in Sequence
End of Sequence

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Article

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Bright, motivated, hard-working students often struggle to spell simple words like <been & says>.And early in my training, one of my young students got my attention when he wrote *<hoam> for <home> and I realized that I had no way to help him understand why it wasn't spelled with <oa>. (The asterisk indicates that the written form inside the angle brackets is not standard-here, it's noting a spelling error.) We were systematically working our way through all of the ways to spell "long o" and my student could isolate phonemes and spell words accurately as long as I specifically told him whether we were working with an <o-e> pattern as in <home, mole, rode> or an <oa> grapheme as in <foam, goal, road>. But that wasn't going to help him when he was sitting at his desk trying to remember how to spell <home> and thousands of other words that seem like they could be spelled more than one way.

Note that angle brackets < > are used to refer to written letters or graphemes. Graphemes are the letters or combinations of letters that combine to form written words. So < cat > refers to a written form-the graphemes C A T, not the meaning or pronunciation of that word.

Slash brackets / / are used to refer to phonemes which are the flexible units of pronunciation in spoken words that distinguish one word from another. So / k /refers to the phoneme that is the first segment of the spoken word cat, and/ kæt / refers to the pronunciation of the word cat, using IPA symbols.

I didn't know it then, but to understand why one specific grapheme represents a phoneme in a word, we need to look at the phoneme-grapheme relationships in that word within the context of morphological (structural) families and etymological relationships. This context for understanding the writing system is critical, especially for students who can't easily memorize spellings by rote.

Unfortunately, though, you will hear people suggest that including morphology and etymology in literacy instruction might be helpful for older students but would probably be too much for younger students and would divert time from what are considered to be the essential, foundational concepts and skills that beginning students need most. To test that premise, let's look at two confusing categories of words that students will encounter from their first day of school: words that are called "irregular"and words that can be spelled in more than one way, based on their pronunciation.To understand the spelling of these words, everyone-even a very young student-needs to understand how structures and relationships influence our writing system.
Words called "irregular"
Many very common words are categorized in traditional instruction as "irregular," including words like <says & been>.In their first years of school, students are typically asked to memorize many of these words by rote.

But so-called irregular words are not actually irregular; they are simply misunderstood. One of the reasons for that is that short words like <says, been, does, any, exit & real> are often assumed to be simple (built from only one written morpheme, called an element) and their structures are ignored. But many short words are not simple. All of the words I've just listed are complex, meaning that they consist of more than one written element. When we stop to think about the spelling of <says>, that's obvious.

says ➞ say + s

The word <says> is a third person, singular, present tense verb form, constructed by adding suffix <s> to the base element <say>. Many third person verbs are constructed this way.

In all of the verbs listed above, the structural pattern is exactly the same. So why is the spelling <says>called "irregular" or "rule-breaking?" It's called irregular because of an unexpected pronunciation of the spoken word. Says doesn't rhyme with plays. But in fact, the construction<say + s ➞ says> is perfectly coherent. And an unexpected pronunciation does not make a spelling irregular. When we look at the structure of <says>, we can easily understand its spelling.

We see the same thing in the written verbal form <been>, which contains the base element <be> with the suffix <en> added to form the past participle.

be + en ➞ been

This past participle suffix is found in a number of English verbs.

Notice that in <given, taken & driven>, the final unpronounced orthographic marker <e> in the base is replaced by the suffix <en> which begins with a vowel. (That replacement is signaled by the slash mark in the word sums above.) This is a consistent suffixing pattern in English.

But also notice that the <e> in <be> is not replaced. That's because we pronounce that <e>. It's not a marker which can be replaced by a vowel suffix but is a grapheme representing the final phoneme in the spoken word be. We don't replace a final <e> that's part of a grapheme, so <been> is spelled by just adding the suffix <en> to the base <be>. Again, the pronunciation of been may be unexpected, but the spelling <be + en ➞been> is perfectly coherent.

By analyzing the structure of <says & been> we can see that their spellings are not flawed; it turns out that the flaw is in the assumption that spelling is supposed to represent the pronunciation of words as directly as possible.

The English writing system is morphophonemic, so the spelling of an English word signals both phonology (the phonemes or flexible, distinctive segments of pronunciation in spoken words) and morphology (the structural units that construct the meaning of words). These two aspects of the orthography work together and allow us to comprehend text more quickly and easily than if words were spelled to represent only their pronunciation.

And think about the fact that English words are spelled the same regardless of regional variations in pronunciation. If words were spelled primarily to represent pronunciation, Americans speakers might think that the spoken word been would make more sense if it were spelled *<bin> or *<ben> depending on which part of the country they lived in, but the spelling <been> might seem quite appropriate to a British speaker.Which spelling would the writing system use?

Our writing system facilitates written communication between every speaker of English, no matter where they live. To do that, it ignores minor variations in the pronunciation of specific words. When we think about that fact, and examine the spelling of words that are categorized as "irregular," we see illustrations of a foundational, critical concept about English spelling.
English spelling is optimized for comprehension, not pronunciation.
Written words do indeed represent meaningful aspects of pronunciation, but not necessarily as directly as possible. That's an observable fact, and it allows the entire writing system to make sense, but the fact that it's a coherent part of the overall system is not understood; the words <been & says> are categorized as "irregular" precisely because their spelling is not the most direct representation of their pronunciation and because it's obvious that their spelling is not optimized for pronunciation.

However, if we look at the ways in which spelling allows English speakers to quickly comprehend words while reading, then we can understand why "irregular" words contain the specific graphemes they do. Graphemes in all words represent flexible segments of pronunciation (phonemes) but they must represent those phonemes while maintaining consistently spelled structural units across an entire morphological (structural) family of words. As we read, the specific graphemes in words give us signals about both phonemes and morphemes, which facilitates and deepens comprehension of written text.

We can see this in the spelled word<says> where the graphemes must represent the phonology of not only the word says, but all words that are in the same structural (morphological) family, including say and saying. And they need to do that while maintaining a consistent spelling of the base <say>.

It's important to know that we can absolutely understand the phoneme-grapheme relationships in words like <says, been, does, any> and every other word that is mistakenly categorized as irregular.And it's often very useful to do that type of analysis. However, I'm not going to go into that right now, because I want to point out that many times that type of analysis is not even needed. Once students understand that words are formed by combining consistently spelled structural units, they can often use the "expected" phoneme-grapheme relationships in base elements like <say & be> and common suffixes like <s & en> to reconstruct the accurate spelling of a complex word like <says> or <been> when they want to spell it.

By examining and analyzing written words, we can see for ourselves that words traditionally categorized as "irregular" are completely logical once we understand their structures, their relationships to other words which influence their spelling, and the phoneme-grapheme relationships within them. Rather than being a source of confusion and frustration, these words can be a point of entry for studying the coherence of the writing system, even with very young students.

But there's another pitfall of confusion that beginning students will face, and the spelling <be> is an example. Why is that word spelled <be> and not <bee>? Many words in English are categorized as "regular," but may use different graphemes to spell the same phoneme. When students try to make sense of words by analyzing the phonemes in a spoken word in isolation, even advanced students who may know all the ways to spell a given phoneme have no way to know how to spell a particular word.
Understanding multiple spellings
In my school district, kindergarteners learn to read and (hopefully) spell a set of commonly used words over the course of the year, including we, see, me, three, he & she.Each of these spoken words ends with the same segment of pronunciation. So how is a student supposed to know to use a single <e> to spell <he, she, me & we> but a double <e> to spell <see & three>?

When we teach students to go directly from speech to spelling, there is nothing to help them with this task other than their rote memorization skills. So almost immediately, some students will start to fail. But no student needs to struggle with these words. There's a convention that explains why we find <e> or <ee> in each of these words. This convention is one of the many ways that our writing system facilitates comprehension of written text.

To understand this, we first need to know that English words can be roughly divided into two general categories: function words and lexical (content) words. Function words primarily serve grammatical functions and are often unstressed in speech. This category includes pronouns ( me, her), auxiliary verbs ( do, is), prepositions ( in, up, toward), conjunctions ( and, but), determiners ( this, a) and a few adverbs.There are a number of spelling conventions in English related to function and content words; one is that function words can be spelled with just the graphemes needed to represent the phonemes. This means that they may be spelled with only one or two letters, although more may be needed to signal the pronunciation. Examples of one or two letter function words include I, a, an, he, me, we, in, to, of, up, so.There are only about 300 function words in English, but they are used constantly in our language, showing relationships between words, indicating grammatical structures, and generally gluing together lexical words.

Lexical or content words, on the other hand, are the words that carry the meaning of sentences more directly, and they are more likely to be stressed in speech. This category includes nouns ( dog, egg, sweater, freedom, awe), verbs ( run, catch), adjectives ( friendly, peaceful, odd) and most adverbs ( slowly, happily). These words, by convention, are spelled with at least three letters, and if there are several graphemes available to represent a phoneme, lexical words will often use a longer grapheme than a function word will.

This simple convention which begins to differentiate the spelling of function and content words explains the spelling of words like <egg, odd, awe> and many others.If spelling were based primarily on pronunciation, then *<eg, od & aw> would work just fine. But this spelling convention has evolved to make it easier to comprehend written text efficiently. The hypothesis is that lexical words contain more letters than function words, whenever possible, to visually emphasize meaningful content words in written text.

Be aware, however, that these two categories- function words and lexical words -are not either/or distinctions, but are really two ends of a spectrum; an individual word may fall somewhere on the continuum between function and content words.

So now let's look back at the written words <we, see, me, three, he & she> and see how we might categorize them to make sense of their spelling.

me, she, we, he: pronouns (function words)

see: verb (lexical)

three: a cardinal number (which is not strictly lexical or functional, but probably leans more towards the lexical end of the continuum)

With information about this one convention, we have a way to make sense of the shorter spelling <e> in the pronouns <me, she, we & he> and the longer spelling <ee> in the other two words. And can you now make sense of the spellings <be & bee>?If we understand something, we are much more likely to remember it and be able to apply it. This makes all the difference for a dyslexic student (or anyone) who does not have good rote memorization skills.

But perhaps you're thinking that concepts like pronouns and function words are too advanced for the youngest students. They're not. Very young children know how to use the words me, she, he and we and can have fun playing with sentences where nouns are replaced by pronouns, or sentences where we've removed all of the function or lexical words.Teachers in the early years can begin to use these terms in a very relaxed way. Although students will have many years before they need to master the details of the terminology, they will understand the concepts and begin their journey into literacy with the knowledge that all spelling makes sense.
A full understanding of spelling deepens and strengthens comprehension
Words that are called "irregular" and words that use different spellings for the same phoneme make it clear that we can't understand our writing system by starting with the pronunciation of words in isolation.English spelling represents the pronunciation of words, but it does so using flexible phoneme-grapheme relationships that allow for consistent spelling of structural units which build words. By maintaining the consistent spelling of base elements, prefixes and suffixes, our writing system makes it easier to quickly see relationships between words like <say & says, be & been, do & does>, and eventually <preside & president, normal & enormous, fast & fasten>.

When we ignore morphology and etymology in our instruction, the clues to comprehension that are embedded in the writing system are hidden from view. This restricts students to a shallow understanding of the writing system and we inadvertently force them to do far more rote memorization than is needed.

There's a lot of debate about the best way to teach students to read and write, including how to introduce the writing system to young students. For some reason, it's assumed that showing students the actual structures of words and the ways in which the spelling of words reveals meaningful relationships to other words is too advanced or even unnecessary. So we teach students to analyze pronunciation, which is a moving target. As prefixes and suffixes are added to words, the pronunciation of those words constantly shifts. Meanwhile, the consistently spelled structures of those words are sitting right in front of us, ready to be used to anchor those pronunciations to something that is logical and coherent. The writing system itself shows us that analyzing written words provides the best foundation for learning written English.

And in case you're wondering, it turns out that the spelling <home> is connected to the spelling of <hamlet>. Both come from the same historical root and have a sense of "settle, dwell." By looking at their entertaining history, students who struggle with rote memorization can understand and have a meaningful way to remember why the single letter vowel grapheme makes sense in <home> and they will also encounter the word <hamlet> and the idea of a diminutive suffix. And although I've known how to spell <home> for a very long time, when I was prompted to find out why it's spelled with <o-e> and not <oa>, I learned why many towns are called hamlets. This type of study not only enhances learning for 5-year olds and struggling students, but expands vocabulary understanding for all of us.Understanding how and why etymology influences spelling is a critical aspect of literacy study.

No one wants to condemn our youngest students to years of trying (and often failing) to memorize lists of words week after week. The wonderful truth is that every irregular word and every word that doesn't make sense is an invitation to deepen our understanding of our language. There's no better way to launch children into literacy than allowing them to understand how those puzzling words actually do make sense, by framing instruction in the real context of structures and relationships from the very beginning.

¹ Venezky, Richard L."English Orthography: Its Graphical Structure and Its Relation to Sound," Reading Research Quarterly, Vol 2, No. 3 (Spring 1967) pp. 75-105

³See information on <hamlet> at etymonline.com
And an update: when I published this essay a few hours ago, I included the word <bracelet> as an example of a word that has an <let> suffix. But I didn't look it up first. It started nagging at me, and when I just checked, I discovered that <bracelet> probably does not include a suffix <let>. Both <let> and <et> are diminutive suffixes, but I needed to look at the history before I could be confident which one seemed more likely, and I didn't do that. And I thought I had looked at <hamlet> carefully, but I didn't. As I reflect, I don't think I'm comfortable listing either <hamlet> or <bracelet> as words that have <et> or <let> suffixes in present day English, at least not without some more investigation. This is a great example of why etymology matters; it's a critical research tool to help us understand the morphology of present day words. And it's also a great example of a couple of things that I've learned from my friend Pete Bowers-that juicy mistakes often teach us so much and that it's never a problem NOT to analyze a word as deeply as we can, but that we do want to avoid false analysis. I've updated this essay and the pdf to something that (I think!) is justified by the evidence I've had time to look over.

Contact me with questions or comments here: learningaboutspelling.com/contact.

You can download a pdf version of this essay here.

Copyright Sue Hegland, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site's author/owner is strictly prohibited. This essay may be shared in its entirety and excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Sue Hegland and LearningAboutSpelling.com with links and specific direction to the original content. No text from LearningAboutSpelling.com may be reprinted or republished for the purpose of resale.

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Bright, motivated, hard-working students often struggle to spell simple words like . And early in my training, one of my young students got my attention when he wrote * for and I realized that I had no way to help him understand why it wasn't spelled with . (The asterisk indicates that...

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How the Brain Learns to Read - Prof. Stanislas Dehaene

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Rethinking Instruction in Phonological Awareness: Focus on What Matters!

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The importance of phoneme awareness for acquiring the alphabetic principle and for learning to read has been documented since the 1970s, gaining broad recognition when the National Reading Panel Report was published in 2000. Since then, instruction to foster phonological awareness has become routinely recommended for the early grades.

However, the widespread practice in schools is to target awareness of larger phonological structures such as words, syllables, and onset-rimes before focusing on phonemes, with attention to the phoneme not occurring until well into kindergarten or first grade.

During this hour-long webinar, Dr. Susan Brady will examine studies that raise questions regarding whether following this "continuum" is necessary and/or beneficial for students. She also discusses:
- The developmental sequence of phoneme awareness
- The importance of conducting phoneme awareness activities with letter knowledge and handwriting
- The benefits of this approach for all students

Watch this webinar to deepen your understanding of how and when to teach phonemic awareness to set students up for reading success.

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UFLI Progress Monitoring Assessment Template

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Decodable Text Linda Farrell  Michael Hunter Oct 2021

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Youtube Video for UFLI PMing & Differentiation

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Youtube Video for UFLI PMing & Differentiation

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UFLI Foundations: Progress Monitoring and Differentiation

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National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)

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We have a literacy crisis in this country. Last year's NAEP scores found that more than one third of fourth grade students can't read at a basic level, and that rate climbs even higher for students of color, those with learning differences, and those who grow up in low-income households. This dismal data has nothing to do with the students and families, and everything to do with inequities in access to effective literacy instruction. But there is good news: Decades of research has resulted in a rich, robust understanding of how children learn to read. So what does this research say? Inspired by a conversation at a recent Barksdale Reading Institute Lunch & Literacy forum, researcher Dr. Reid Lyon developed a clear, concise summary of the research on how children learn to read. Here we share Dr. Lyon's "Ten Maxims," originally published by - Dr. Heather Peske Reading Universe. These maxims underlie NCTQ's own work to advocate for the science of reading in teacher preparation. By increasing understanding and adoption of scientifically based reading instruction, together we can address the literacy crisis head-on, reversing historical patterns of inequity and changing the lives of millions of our children.

Ten maxims: What we've learned so far about how children learn to read

By Dr. Reid Lyon

Over the last 50 years, there's been a vast outpouring of research about reading development, drawing on insights from neuroscientists, psychologists, linguists, speech pathologists, educators and other experts. I'm sometimes asked to summarize, in plain language, what we've learned so far. These ten maxims represent my best attempt at doing that.

This may seem like a fool's errand, because no set of maxims can fully convey the scope or the nuance of thousands of studies. I hope nevertheless that these maxims might be useful in crystallizing some of the most essential findings. In collaboration with some outstanding researchers and practitioners, I've compiled here a selective list of studies that underlie each of the ten maxims. The research behind the maxims addresses a wide range of individual differences in reading development, reading difficulties and reading instruction. Taken as a whole, the studies encompass children identified as having dyslexia and other learning disabilities as well as children who struggle with reading as a result of inadequate instruction. Many of the studies also include proficient readers.

Because these maxims are very broad, there is of course more to say about specific subpopulations of students with distinct strengths and needs. I encourage advocates for these students to formulate additional maxims that are not adequately covered by these first ten. Any additions should be in clear, consumer-friendly language and supported by cited studies that report relevant empirical findings.

The overarching message is that learning to read is a complex process involving multiple abilities, skills, and knowledge. Each is essential but none is sufficient on its own.

With that as prologue, here are my ten maxims:

1. Almost all children learn to speak naturally; reading and writing must be taught.

2. Literacy begins at birth. It is rooted in early social interactions and experiences that include regular exposure to oral language and print. Strong roots tend to produce stronger readers.

3. All good readers are good decoders. Decoding should be taught until children can accurately and independently read new words. Decoding depends on phonemic awareness: a child's ability to identify individual speech sounds. Decoding is the on-ramp for word recognition.

4. Fluent readers can instantly and accurately recognize most words in a text. They can read with expression and at an appropriate rate for their age. Reading fluency requires comprehension AND it supports comprehension.

5. Comprehension-the goal of reading-draws on multiple skills and strengths, including a solid foundation of vocabulary and background knowledge.

6. One size does not fit all: use student data to differentiate your instruction.

7. Direct, systematic instruction helps students develop the skills they need to become strong readers. Indirect, three-cueing instruction is unpredictable in its impact on word reading and leaves too much to chance.

8. These maxims apply to English Learners/Emergent Bilinguals, who often need extra support to bolster their oral language as they learn to read and write in a new language.

9. We should support students who speak languages or dialects other than General American English at home, by honoring their home language and by giving them expanded opportunities to engage with General American English text.

10. To become good readers and writers, students need to integrate many skills that are built over time.

This piece originated with the Barksdale Reading Institute's Lunch & Literacy forum and originally appeared on the Reading Universe website. Reading Universe is a joint project of the Barksdale Reading Institute, WETA/Reading Rockets, and First Book that provides free resources for educators and families.

About the guest author:

Dr. Reid Lyon, a neuroscientist and specialist in learning disorders, joined the faculty of Communication Science and Disorders at Northwestern University in 1980 where he also directed the neuropsychology laboratory. In 1983 Dr. Lyon was recruited by the Stern Center for Language and Learning in Burlington, Vermont where he served as the director of research. He also served as a clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Vermont Medical School. From 1992 to 2005, Dr. Lyon served as a research neuropsychologist and the chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of the NICHD at the National Institutes of Health; in this role he developed and oversaw research programs in cognitive neuroscience, learning and reading development and disorders, behavioral pediatrics, cognitive and affective development, School Readiness, and the Spanish to English Reading Research program. He designed, developed and directed the 44-site NICHD Reading Research Network. After leaving the NIH, Dr. Lyon held distinguished scientist and distinguished professorships at the University of Texas, Dallas (neuroscience) and Southern Methodist University (educational leadership).

Dr. Lyon is the author and co-author of over 130 peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters addressing developmental neuroscience, learning and reading disorders/dyslexia, and the translation of science into practice and policy. He also co-authored the definition of dyslexia used at the NIH and worldwide. Dr. Lyon received the NIH Director's Award twice. Once for his contributions to the neuroscience of learning and learning disorders. He also received the Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in The Sciences Award for contributions to educating veterans about the neuroscience of Combat PTSD in 2013. Dr. Lyon, a former paratrooper and combat veteran, received the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge among other combat awards during his 15th month tour in Vietnam including the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Additional contributors to this piece include: Jane Ashby, Louise Dechovitz, Linda Diamond, Jan Hasbrouck, Kari Kurto, and Julie Washington. With appreciation to Kelly Butler, Claude Goldenberg, and Noel Gunther.

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Ten maxims: What we've learned so far about how children learn to read by Dr. Reid Lyon

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Together we can address the literacy crisis head-on, reversing historical patterns of inequity and changing the lives of millions of our children.

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About the 2022 Symposium

The 2022 PaTTAN Literacy Symposium will provide educators in all capacities with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and skills pertaining to evidence-based practices in reading instruction in grades K-12.

Target Audience

Elementary Educators, Secondary Educators, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Practitioners, School Leaders/Administrators, Reading Specialists, Teachers of English Language Learners, Literacy Coaches, Instructional Support Team Members, School Psychologists, Pre-Service Teachers, Higher Education Instructors, Paraprofessionals, and Families.

View the PaTTAN Literacy Symposium '22 schedule & directory.

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The 2022 PaTTAN Literacy Symposium will provide educators in all capacities with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and skills pertaining to evidence-based practices in reading instruction in grades K-12. Target Audience Elementary Educators, Secondary Educators, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Practitioners, School Leaders/Administrators, Reading Specialists, Teachers of English Language Learners, Literacy Coaches, Instructional Support Team Members, School Psychologists, Pre-Service Teachers, Higher Education Instructors, Paraprofessionals, and Families.

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Benefits of Decodable Books (bullet points)

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Benefits of Decodable Books (bullet points)

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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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Ready- to -go literacy centers by grade level

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

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Copy of Grade 1 UFLI Progress Monitoring Spelling Assessment Master

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Well, hello! If you are watching with me on Facebook, you are seeing the video recording of Episode 34 of the Triple R Teaching podcast, where we help educators reflect, refine, and recharge so they're excited for the next day in the classroom. My name is Anna Geiger and I am your host. You may know me from my website, The Measured Mom, as well as my online courses, and my membership site.

Today, I want to start the podcast by telling you a little bit of a story. A few months ago, I had joined a Facebook group to learn more about teaching reading. It was actually a science of reading Facebook group. After spending a half an hour in the group, reading through comments, reading discussions, checking out resources, I was starting to feel not so good. I was getting sort of a tightness in my chest. I was starting to feel scared, my stomach hurt, and I had to get out of that group because it was starting to bring up a whole bunch of feelings in me that just didn't feel good. I actually opened Slack, which is a communication tool I use for my team, and this is what I wrote, "I just need to talk to someone. I am so scared. I've been doing a lot of research about the science of reading and it's completely overwhelming. It feels like everything I believed in is wrong, but it worked for so many kids and it worked for my own kids. Can't be 100% wrong, right? Now I feel like I have to completely rethink everything. I'm so confused. Please. I'm really worried and upset inside. I know this sounds over the top, but I feel so much responsibility to get this right!"

The fact is that what I had read in the group was concerning to me. There was a lot of heated discussion back and forth. There was a lot of judgment. There were a lot of big discussions, a lot of black and white thinking, it HAS to be THIS way! It scared me, and so I had to be careful about how often I was in the group so that it wasn't causing this visceral reaction inside of me. I needed to slowly get used to the group.

Now it's a couple of months later and I actually go there multiple times a day and love the things that I'm learning. But when we first hear something that feels different than what we've thought in the past, it can feel scary! It's true that a lot of what I was reading in there did not align with the things I learned in undergrad, graduate school, and the things that I've taught teachers to do.

Here's the good news though! What I've learned over the last few months- everything I believed and taught is NOT wrong! Even if you're in a shift in your teaching, the same is true for you. It's not completely black and white, but there are so many exciting things that we have to learn these days about how kids learn to read. Making shifts in the way that we teach can reach even more students, which at the end of the day is what we're all excited to do.

It has kind of felt like Christmas around here lately because I have been getting new professional books about teaching reading every day. So, if you can see, here's just one stack of books that I've gotten in the past few weeks. Then I'll move my chair, and now you can see behind me a whole stack of books and all that paper. The first couple inches of that are papers that I've printed from online journals so I can study more about how our brains learn to read and what implications that has for how we teach reading in the classroom. I'm looking particularly at kindergarten, first, and second grade.

So yes, I was really scared at first and really doubting myself. But the more I studied, the more I realized that there are so many wonderful things we were doing and so many more wonderful things we can do as we make shifts in our thinking and our practice!

This episode is actually launching a series on the podcast all about the science of reading, in particular, how it relates to how we teach reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade. I am so excited to be doing this series with you!

I recently sent an email out to my newsletter list and I told my people that in college I had an all nighter once. I stayed up all night so I could study for a really hard test, and I had two papers the next day. It was a failure. I did not get a happy grade in the test, even though I thought I was well prepared, because I needed a lot more sleep. Ever since then, I don't do all nighters, but I still love studying and researching.

This is just such a great time to be learning about teaching reading because lots and lots of stuff is becoming available to us. Just in the last couple of years a lot of new books have been written about the science of reading and the implications that it has for our classrooms. I cannot wait to start sharing that information with you.

Here's a little bit of a glimpse of what's coming. We're going to be starting next week, talking about The Reading Wars in America, how those started in the 1800s and where we're at today and what that means for us. We're going to talk about some of the basics when it comes to the science of reading. If you've done any study in that at all, you've probably heard of things like the simple view of reading, orthographic mapping, and Scarborough's Reading Rope. We're going to talk about all those things, but in a really simple, easy to access way. We're going to talk about phonics and the primary role, the BIG role this has, and why it's always the front seat of all of these discussions. It's certainly not all that the science of reading is about, but it's a big deal! We're going to talk about how to teach phonics, ideas for making it interesting in your classroom, and what kind of books our students should be using as we teach them to read. We'll review phonological and phonemic awareness a little bit, but as you know, we've already been doing that on the podcast for the last few weeks. We're going to talk also about comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and we're going to get really practical about what all of this means for how you teach every day.

So not only have I been reading a lot of books and papers, but I've also had a lot of conversations. In the evenings after my kids went to bed, I've talked to a reading psychologist, a school principal, a few reading specialists, some classroom teachers, and I have more conversations scheduled. This has been a really exciting time for me to learn more about how we can improve how we teach to reach even more kids, and I hope that you're going to join me for the ride!

Starting next week, we'll be here again with the first episode in our series, "All About the Science of Reading".

I want to let you know one more thing before I go. And that is, I've got a survey that I would love to invite you to take. Particularly if you teach any kids in kindergarten, first, or second grade. You can find the survey at themeasuredmom.com/readingsurvey. You can tell me what questions you have about the science of reading, or what challenges you're facing right now as you teach reading so we can address some of those things in this series. Thanks again for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next week here on Triple R Teaching.

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Introduction to the science of reading podcast series

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TRT Podcast#34: Introducing our science of reading podcast series I've been pouring over the science of reading research, and I'm making shifts in how I approach teaching reading. You're invited to join me on this exciting

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Text Project

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The Reading GPS gives teachers information about whether students are moving toward the goal of proficient reading.

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Low Frequency Vowel and Consonant Spellings

UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors

Long i (igh): Lesson 87

Silent Letters: Lesson 98

Low Frequency Spellings Unit: Lessons 111-118

UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors

Reading Longer Words Unit: Lessons 63-68

-le: Lesson 75

R-Controlled Vowels Review: Lesson 83*

Vowel Teams Review 1: Lesson 88*

Vowel Teams Review 2: Lesson 92*

Vowels Teams & Diphthongs Review: Lesson 97*

Affixes Review 1: Lesson 106

*target multisyllabic words in these review lessons

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Low Frequency Vowel and Consonant Spellings UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors Long i (igh): Lesson 87 Silent Letters: Lesson 98 Low Frequency Spellings Unit: Lessons 111-118 UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors Reading Longer Words Unit: Lessons 63-68 -le: Lesson 75 R-Controlled Vowels Review: Lesson 83* Vowel Teams Review 1: Lesson 88* Vowel Teams Review 2: Lesson 92* Vowels Teams & Diphthongs Review: Lesson 97* Affixes Review 1: Lesson 106 *target multisyllabic words in these review lessons

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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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M.Ed. - Character Education

Post-Grad. Cert. - Early Literacy Development

25+ years PK-G2 classroom teacher

Literacy Coach, Mentor Program Coordinator

Finds joy in: word study, creating caring classrooms, reigniting teacher’s joy, eating ice cream, swimming and travel

miles@erinkentconsulting.com

linkedin.com/in/milesmadison/

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UFLI Lesson Routines/Parts Teacher Talk cards

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UFLI Lesson Routines/Parts Teacher Talk cards

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UFLI Foundations: How to Implement Day 1 Lessons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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jordan@erinkentconsulting.com

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight Words

Heart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren't very decodable. Show your students the animations, then try these fun, hands-on free Student Practice Activities

What Is a Heart Word?

Show your students this video to introduce them to Heart Word Magic! We use animations and practice techniques to clearly show students that the alphabetic principle doesn't completely disappear in Tricky Heart Words. The same skills students use for decoding are also helpful in learning to read and spell these less-decodable words. Heart Word Magic helps them to "make the tricky sticky."

What is Phonics Suite?

How can you give your students the skills they need to become strong decoders and accurate and fluent readers? Really Great Reading has a solution. It's called Phonics Suite, a comprehensive set of tools to diagnose, group, and teach students with weaknesses in their foundational reading skills. There are even tools to monitor progress, report, and adjust. Click here to read more>>

Explore Our Library of Heart Word Magic Animations

After showing your students the Heart Word Magic animations, try these fun, hands-on activities with your kids.

Highlight the Tricky to Make It Sticky

One easy way to help students focus on and remember the parts of Tricky Heart Words they need to remember by heart is to simply have students highlight the part of the word that is "tricky" (the phonologically irregular part), such as the letter a in what. Check out our activities below.

Heart Word Magic Spelling Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by filling in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart." Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, have, from, and the.Click here to download Heart Word Magic Spelling Student Activity>>

Heart Word Magic Scaffolded Spelling Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice spelling Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then writing down the corresponding spellings. The teacher can give students the spelling for the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart." Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, and of.
Click here to download Heart Word Magic Scaffolded Spelling Activity>>

Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word Activity Sheet

This activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. They fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned "by heart" and write that tricky part again. Below are some suggested directions and sample scripts to use with the words said, from, his, of, and could.
Click here to download the Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word Student Activity>>

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Heart Word Magic - Read and Spell High Frequency Words

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight WordsHeart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren't very decodable.

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Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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For Students - Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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

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Blending Phonemes - Word Chains - Dyslexic Logic

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

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The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following:

phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme,

labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and

grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

We have also provided printable version of the Individual Sound wall charts. You may choose to glue them into a file folder for each student or print them front/back to laminate. These may also be enlarged and printed as posters if your classroom space does not allow for the full UFLI Sound Wall displays.
Individual Sound Wall: Consonants Individual Sound Wall: Vowels

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Printable Resources | UF Literacy Institute

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The Sound Wall materials provided here align with the UFLI Foundations lessons. Included in the UFLI Sound Wall set are the following: phoneme cards with mouth pictures to represent the articulatory gesture associated with each phoneme, labels for the sound wall displays, including the place and manner of articulation for consonants, and grapheme cards that can be added to the sound wall one at a time, as the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught.

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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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UFLI Foundations: How to Implement Day 2 Lessons

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The newest addition to Scholastic's "Science of Reading" collection is an early literacy handbook written by a teacher for teachers. This book is about decoding and phonics. Lindsey uses her impeccable body of research to create a powerful translational work interpreting reading science. She employs a scaffolded approach to teaching foundational skills, starting with decoding and oral language, moving through phonemic awareness and sound-spelling knowledge, and ending with fluency. Of particular value is the focus on bridging to practice: activities and lessons presented here can be used immediately in the classroom. The book is predicated on the "Essential Instructional Swap" of substituting ineffective activities for more effective, evidence-based routines. For example, "Fewer Rhymes, More Phonemes" and "Less Pointing to Text in Predictable Books, More Engaging in Shared Reading." The depth of research backing this text cannot be overstated. Lindsey refers to the findings of meta-analyses throughout, and the book sports a beefy and current reference section. VERDICT This title can be used as a handbook for professional educators; its clear organization and focused language will be useful for early literacy teachers.-Jennifer Townesα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

" Reading Above the Fray is a wonderful resource, a book I read from cover to cover. The scholarship is impeccable, citing the central and most impactful studies surrounding foundational skills and their importance to reading acquisition. Authored by a passionate educator, the book is rich in stories, lessons, activities, and ideas. It is a joy to read and will become a well-worn guide for teachers and students of reading!"Book Smart: How to , Julia masterfully connects the deep research base on how kids learn to read to what teachers can do tomorrow in their classrooms. What I love even more about the book is her focus on the joy of helping students develop the tools they need to achieve reading success."

- ANNE E. CUNNINGHAM, Professor, Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of California, Berkeley; author of Develop and Support Successful, Motivated Readers Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work

"This book speaks to something near and dear to my heart-the power of early literacy to lead to lifelong learning and immeasurable opportunities. With clarity and precision, Dr. Lindsey cuts through the distracting noise around reading instruction. Her book should be required reading in preservice and inservice programs. With it, we can chart a course forward to literacy for all."

- SHARIF EL-MEKKI, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Black Educator Development

"One of the best books I've read on decoding and phonics. With passion for teaching, Dr. Lindsey interprets reading science in ways that are directly transferable to the classroom. Her book is chock full of techniques, activities, and strategies-a veritable 'go-to' resource. This is exactly the kind of translational work the field needs!"

- SUSANNE NOBLES, Chief Academic Officer, ReadWorks

"Accessible, timely, and easy to use, this is a book that needed to be written for teachers, literacy coaches, and school administrators looking to develop efficient and effective literacy instruction. Dr. Lindsey simplifies the complexities of foundational skills instruction, synthesizes research by bridging it to practice, and provides routines that can be implemented the very next day. I predict it will become a primary resource that educators return to time and again."

- REBECCA MILES, Early Literacy Consultant and Coach Coordinator, Berrien Regional Educational Service Agency

"If you think a professional book about decoding and foundational skills can't be engaging, think again! Dr. Lindsey artfully combines wit, wisdom, and classroom realism with evidence-based routines that we can implement immediately. Most important, she centers each chapter on children, calling us to value and build upon the strengths, perspectives, and cultural assets they bring. This book is a win for educators and, by extension, the children and families they serve!"

- ANNIE PETROZZELLI SPEAR, Literacy Specialist, Consultant, and Author

"Elementary teachers have been waiting for this one! Dr. Lindsey explains not only the 'why' behind the essential elements of decoding, but also provides explicit guidance and routines to help any teacher swap out ineffective practices for more effective and efficient research-based ones. She makes it easy to align instruction to reading science
and teach 'above the fray.'"

- KATHARINE NOONAN, English Language Arts Instructional Coach, District of Columbia Public Schools
- HEIDI ANNE MESMER, Professor of Literacy Education, Virginia Tech; author of Reading Above the Fray

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Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills (The Science of Reading in Practice)

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Julia Lindsey's evidence-backed routines help young readers decode words efficiently so they can spend more energy on comprehending--and enjoying--what they read! You'll find:1. need-to-know essentials of how kids learn to read.2. principles of high-quality foundational skills instruction.3. teac...

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Join the EKC Literacy Community of Teachers

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Join the EKC Literacy Community of Teachers

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https://erinkentconsulting.com/community

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Literacy Consultants & Consulting Services | Erin Kent Consulting

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About the Community | Erin Kent Consulting (EKC)

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A few special gifts for signing up now: a strategy call with Erin Kent or an EKC Senior Strategist to get started using the EKC Community to support your current literacy initiatives; and 5 free spots in our live, virtual winter courses ($1495 value!)

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Cortex in the Classroom: Advancing the Science of Reading in the Early Years

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Cortex in the Classroom: Advancing the Science of Reading in the Early Years

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Advancing Science of Reading in the Early Years - K–5 Literacy Program & Curriculum | Amplify CKLA