Phonics 101: How to Teach Phonics in 5 Steps

Equity in education begins with good phonics instruction in the early grades; it doesn’t end there, but it begins there.

Emily Hanford

I cannot stress enough the importance of phonics instruction. This should be the bread and butter of education in the primary grades. Without a solid foundation of both phonological awareness and phonics, students will not be able to decode or become fluent readers.

As is emphasized in the Science of Reading, there are so many facets to reading, and comprehension simply can’t happen without being able to read the words on the page. Before any meaning can be made from words, students must be able to decode them.

Cue this post…

Today, we will review the order in which phonics should be taught and explore some easy-to-implement center ideas for your primary grade classroom. From differentiated printables to seasonal activities to small group instruction, you will leave with all the activity/lesson ideas you need and more!

An Introduction to Phonics Instruction

You may be wondering…who is this blog for? Honestly, it is for every teacher! If you are a primary grade teacher, you are probably all over this!!!

You upper grade and middle school teachers…don’t you fret! This post is also for you!!! The difficult part about teaching upper grades and beyond is that your curriculum depends on students being able to decode independently. But what if they can’t?

The strategies covered in this post can be used for any text, not just decodables. If you teach upper grades, for step number 5, choose a text from your grade level material. With support, students can practice their phonics skills in those texts, as well.

1) TPR: Total Physical Response

Whenever introducing a new phonics skill, I always start by assigning a motion to that new sound. We then brainstorm words that include that sound and every time we say a word with that sound, we make the motion while emphasizing the new phonics sound.

TPR, or total physical response, was developed by Dr. James J. Asher, and it was created for vocabulary instruction, especially with language learners. However, this engaging teaching strategy does not need to be limited to vocabulary instruction. Its benefits are many, including the fact that it is engaging and allows for natural “brain breaks” or “movement breaks” in your lessons, reaches kinaesthetic learners, and involves both sides of the brain when learning. For these reasons, students are better able to remember new phonics skills when they can associate a movement with these new sounds.

TEACHER TIP: Introduce this teaching strategy during the first two weeks of school. You’ll thank me later!

Differentiation Idea: Have your students, especially your advanced learners, help you create the motions. Try to choose a motion that will help students remember either a word with the sound or the sound itself.

2) Elkonin Boxes and Spelling

After practicing with the new sound in single-syllable words, it is time to use Elkonin boxes! These sound boxes are not just beneficial when building phonemic awareness, they are also helpful when teaching phonics and spelling.

It is important to note that each box should represent one SOUND rather than one LETTER. For example, the word sheep (pictured below) has 3 boxes since SH makes one sound and EE makes one sound.

TEACHER TIP: Introduce this strategy in small groups. Start by counting the number of sounds. Then, practice writing the sounds in the boxes. Last, spell the word independently. Learn how to teach using Elkonin boxes here.

3) Challenge Time: Multi-Syllable Words

This may be a bit of a shocker, especially to you primary grade teachers out there, but I whole-heartedly believe that multi-syllable words should be taught right away! (The exception is for Kindergarten, unless your students are advanced.)

One thing that I learned from my time as an intervention teacher for grades K-2 was that students can learn to read multi-syllable words quickly once a phonics skill has been explicitly taught and practiced. This leads students to be able to read actual books faster since most books have both single and multi-syllable words in them.

After practicing decoding single syllable words with a specific phonics skill, teach students how to break apart a multi-syllable word (as shown below).

To learn more, make sure to follow me on Instagram. I use my stories and reels to give teaching tips!

4) Real Words in Real Text: Decodables

Once your students have practiced, they are ready to start reading! Notice that I DID NOT say they need to master the phonics skill before beginning to read. We want our students practicing these skills in actual decodable text as soon as possible!

I would recommend having students highlight the sound in the text on the first read. Then, I would teach them to draw scoop lines under multi-syllable words during their second read. Finally, if they have trouble with any words in the text, you may want to have them circle those words as a reminder.

The most difficult part?! Prepping the passages takes a very long time! The important thing to remember is that the passage should mainly target the phonics skill you just practiced. The good news is that I have made decodables for every phonics skill!!! Save your teacher time. There is a resource for every month of the year, and each resource includes a passage for each phonics skill. The passages are themed for the season, including various holidays.

WAIT!!! There’s more!!! Every passage includes 4 levels so that you can meet the needs of every learner in your classroom. How’s that for differentiation made easy?

5) Fluency Practice

Now, last but not least…fluency practice! Gone are the days when fluency simply meant how fast you can read. It is more about phrasing and reading with expression than mere speed.

For this reason, I would highly recommend that your students read in front of you in during small group instruction. Although the differentiated passages can be used for morning work, homework, and independent work, it is critical that you hear each of your students read out loud so they may receive feedback from you.

Another option is to have students record themselves reading. This allows them to not only hear themselves read after recording but it allows for you to track their progress over time! Need ideas on which programs to use to record your students? Ask me how!

Differentiation Idea: For your intervention students or students who are below grade level, start them with a shorter passage and work their way up. For example, in this resource, start them with the red passages and then have them work on the orange, and so on. The more they read out loud, the better!

Phonics in a nutshell…We could talk on and on about phonics instruction. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to cover it all in one post! Have no fear…we are going to continue to dive into phonics centers later in November.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or simply want to brainstorm some ideas together, DM me on Instagram or feel free to email me! Until next time, always remember to keep learning!!!

Three Literacy Assessments You Need to Target the Science of Reading

The start of the school year is both exciting and chaotic…when it comes to the back to school season, there is never a shortage of skills to teach. SEL (social-emotional learning), character traits, literacy skills, and the science of reading…the list goes on and on.

One task that must not be forgotten during these first two or three weeks of school is assessment. Those of you that know me know that differentiated instruction is kind of my thing. I am a huge advocate for not only teaching in small groups but also targeting specifically planning instruction that meets each group’s needs. In order to do that, you must first learn what each individual student needs the most.

When it comes to students reading below grade level, the following areas must be taught in the following order: phonics, fluency, and comprehension. (I would not assess them in that order, but more on that later.)

I know what you are thinking…yes, there are two other components in the Science of Reading: phonemic awareness and vocabulary. Those two are very important but may not necessarily need to be assessed. They can be addressed with the others.

In this post, we are going to get the most “bang for our buck” and only assess the skills that are most necessary. After all, the beginning of the school year is a busy time! Depending on your grade level, you can either assess all of your students or just assess the students who are reading below grade level.

How do you know WHO to assess?

Great question! First, definitely review your district’s guidelines. I have found that each district goes about assessing their students in a slightly different manner. What I have found that primary grade teachers should assess all of their students since the majority of their students are still learning how to read. Upper grade teachers may benefit from only assessing the students who are reading below grade level. (The purpose of this is to learn why they are reading below grade level.)

PLEASE NOTE: This is assuming that you are assessing all of your upper grade students’ reading levels separately. There should be some way of identifying which students are below grade level. The purpose of this post is to then further assess the students who have already been identified as reading below grade level.

How do you know WHEN to assess?

The first round of assessments should definitely be at the start of the school year! This will act as a baseline for the school year and will help you assign small groups for both your instruction and your intervention. (You should be doing both all year!)

After that, I would recommend giving the same assessments again after each round of intervention. Intervention typically lasts between 6-8 weeks, but again, check in with your school/district to make sure this fits in with their expectations. The point of all these assessments is to monitor growth, regroup students, and adjust instruction.

First, these assessment are used to track student progress. Without them, how do we know if students have met standards or not? Once a student reaches grade level, that student’s goals and instruction should be changed accordingly. These assessments can also be used as evidence (if needed) during parent-teacher conferences and/or future SST meetings should the student continue to not make progress.

Second, these assessments can be used to rearrange your small groups. Your groups should be flexible groups, meaning they change regularly throughout the school year. They should at least change after each round of intervention, which is again about every 6-8 weeks.

Last, these assessments should be informing us if our instruction is effective. This is not personal! As teachers, we have a whole plethora of instructional tools in the toolbelt. We need help selecting which ones to use. These assessments will inform us whether a student is making progress towards their goals. If not, we know it’s time to try a different teaching strategy.

How do you know WHAT to assess?

Here is the bread-and-butter of this blog post: what should we assess when it comes to literacy? First of all, these assessments should be administered one-on-one by the classroom teacher. It is imperative that the person responsible for delivering instruction actually sees the students read.

In terms of types of assessments, each student should be assessed in this order: comprehension, fluency, and then phonics. (Primary grade teachers, especially grades K-1, you may want to assess in the opposite order if you are assessing your entire class.) This doesn’t mean each student needs to be given three assessments though. If a student is struggling to answer questions about a reading passage, for example, stop the assessment and assess their fluency. They may be struggling to comprehend the text because they are not reading fluidly. If a student has to stop every other word when reading, it is nearly impossible to understand the overall message of the text. The same goes for phonics. If a student is then struggling to read fluently, stop the test and assess their phonics skills instead. If a student is not reading fluently, it may be because they do not have their phonics skills committed to memory. Automaticity may not be there yet.

The good news…all of these issues are fixable! This is true no matter the grade level. Let’s take a closer look at each type of assessment and which skills to look for when planning your small group instruction.

Comprehension Assessment

In terms of comprehension, there are several ways to assess this. Even a simple conversation with a student would suffice. What I would recommend is asking a variety of questions, including those that assess explicit information (identifying the main character or setting), those that assess the main idea or theme, and those that assess higher-order thinking skills, such as inferencing.

The exciting news is that I have just created a brand new product line of nonfiction passages. The first product in this line is themed for back to school. Coming soon!

Fluency Assessment

Fluency can be assessed with any running record. It is not just about how fast a student can read. Rather, pay close attention to the type of mistakes they make when reading.

Do they read phrases together or are they reading one word at a time?

Are they dropping endings of words?

Are they consistently missing certain phonics skills, such as the magic e or r-controlled vowels?

Use a tracker like the one on the left to keep track of the mistakes they are making.

Looking for fluency passages for the entire year? These passages are themed according to the season and even include four levels for each text! Each text also targets a specific phonics skill, so the resource can be used for small group instruction.

Follow me on Instagram for more tips like the one below.

Discover how to address both fluency and phonics in the same lesson!

Phonics Assessment

This assessment starts with short vowel words and goes all the way up to diphthongs. The best part?! The lists are arranged in the order they should be taught. There is even a scoring guide!

Similar to the fluency assessment, it is important to note the type of mistakes students are making. Make sure to jot down the mistakes on your teacher copy. (Both a student copy and a teacher copy is included in the download.)

Download this free resource!

TIP: Teach students to read multi-syllable words at the same time as single-syllable words. If students have mastered reading short vowels, for instance, they will master reading words like picnic fairly quickly. The exception is of course in Kindergarten. That may be a bit overwhelming for them (unless they are gifted)!

There you have it…assessments to jump start your differentiated instruction. You may be asking yourself, “Now what?” Well, you’re in luck because next month, we are going to focus on planning your small group instruction around phonics and phonemic awareness. We will take these assessment results and plan lessons and activities that target your students’ goals.

The next blog post will go live on September 7, and the podcast episode will air on September 8. Until then, read up on ways to differentiate your Science of Reading centers. (Spoiler alert: You do not only have to group your students around their reading levels.) I can’t wait to chat with you again, and as always, feel free to email me should you have any questions or simply want to brainstorm some ideas. Happy back to school!

The Science of Reading from Day 1: How to Include Literacy Practices into Your Back to School Plans

Listen to the podcast.

Aww…back to school…the smell of sharpened pencils, the excitement of new books, the smiling faces of your new classroom family…there is something very special about the start of a brand new school year. Although I truly love back to school season (despite mourning the loss of my summer break), it can also be somewhat stressful.

For those of you who have been following my blog for some time, you know that I feel very strongly about the first two weeks of school not including curriculum or grade level standards. However, this does not mean that students should not be learning. The first two weeks of school should focus on getting to know your students, SEL (social-emotional learning), routines and procedures, and setting up your classroom for success.

In this blog post, we will learn how to train your students in key literacy practices that you can use in both your whole-group and small-group instruction throughout the school year. The best part?! These literacy practices are manageable ways to target the science of reading in any subject area!

The Why

Over the years, I have had countless conversations with teachers, both primary and upper, regarding the schedule of the first two weeks of school. Several teachers often make the argument that curriculum must begin as soon as possible simply because there are way too many standards to teach. I completely understand!

Trying to fit every standard into a school year, or in the case of upper grades, before state testing, is next to impossible. However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that if your classroom runs like a well-oiled machine, you will get more “bang for your buck”. I put a lot of time and energy into training my class for every part of the day. I train them for group work, how to rotate through centers, how to take notes, how to actively listen during instruction, how to participate in class discussions, how to get out their supplies…the list goes on and on. The better the training, the more smoothly my future lessons will go. This has been true no matter what grade I’ve taught and no mater what the class dynamics have been.

Another question I have been asked in the past is why I don’t just teach these routines at the same time that I begin curriculum. The answer is simple…cognitive overload. Think back to when you learned how to drive a car…imagine trying to drive for the first time without knowing the rules of the road. Operating a car while simultaneously learning what the lights and signs mean is a recipe for disaster! The same goes for students in a new classroom. Asking kids to learn new skills and standards while also learning their new teacher’s expectations is overwhelming!!!

Therefore, new routines and procedures should be taught and practiced with skills the kids are already familiar with, such as character traits and how to be successful in school. SEL is ideal for practicing new routines and procedures.

The How

When planning for those first two weeks of school, I think about what routines would help my classroom run smoothly during lessons. Those are the routines I teach and practice before beginning curriculum. This process does not need to be stressful or daunting. First, I would separate the procedures into two categories: classroom routines and lesson routines. I would then spread out these routines amongst the first two weeks. I tend to emphasize classroom routines during the first week and lesson routines during the second.

Classroom routines consist of day-to-day routines, such as how to enter and exit the classroom, how to gather supplies, and how to keep the classroom organized. Check out this post to read about my go-to classroom routines to teach that first week of school. Make sure to allow time to practice!!! I would even have volunteers model examples and non-examples. This allows students to analyze both expected and unexpected behaviors. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!

Lesson routines are skills that are needed to be successful in various subjects. I tend to focus on literacy routines, as they can be incorporated into any subject. In my opinion, literacy instruction should be present in literally every part of the day. The skills I focus on are the Science of Reading warm-up, thinking maps, note-taking, listening and speaking activities, Depth and Complexity icons, and how to rotate during small group learning.

Before getting into the science of reading specifics, let’s look at a sample schedule for the first two weeks of school.

The What

When planning for those first two weeks of school, I think about what routines would help my classroom run smoothly during lessons. Those are the routines I teach and practice before beginning curriculum.

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
8:00-8:30Morning Work:
Classroom Walk-Through		Morning Work:
Coloring Sheet		Morning Work:
All About Me		Morning Work:
Job Application		Morning Work:
Book Interest Form
8:30-9:00
Vocabulary		Intro Word of the Day: Friendship

TPR Read Aloud:
“All Are Welcome”		Intro Word of the Day: Community

TPR Read Aloud:
“Our Class is a Family”		Intro Word of the Day: Unique

TPR Read Aloud:
“The Day You Begin”		Intro Word of the Day: Learning

TPR Read Aloud:
“The Dot”		Intro Word of the Day: Gratitude

TPR Read Aloud:
“Finding Beauty”
9:00-9:30Teach and Practice Routine:
Morning Routine and Restroom Procedure		Teach and Practice Routine:
Extra Time
(E.T.) Chart		Teach and Practice Routine:
“Beat the Music” Transitions		Teach and Practice Routine:
Afternoon Routine		Practice E.T. Chart
RECESSRECESSRECESSRECESSRECESSRECESS
9:45-10:45Ice Breaker:
Student Bingo		Ice Breaker:
Fun Friday Games		Ice Breaker:
3…2…1		Ice Breaker:
The Meme Game		Ice Breaker:
Student Guess Who
10:45-11:45
Fluency
Comprehension		First Day of School Pictures

Thinking Map:
Model Circle Map

Discussion Prompt:
How can I be a good friend at school?		Intro Google Classroom and Other Online Program

Thinking Map:
Group Circle Map

Discussion Prompt:
How can we use technology safely and effectively?		Intro Class Jobs

Thinking Map:
Model Tree Map

Discussion Prompt:
What qualities would help make us successful for each job?		Intro Classroom Library and Science of Reading Warm-Up

Thinking Map:
Group Tree Map

Discussion Prompt:
Describe the different book genres in the library.		Intro Another Online Program

Thinking Map:
Model Bubble Map

Discussion Prompt:
How can we get the most out of online learning?
LUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCH
12:30-1:30Quiet Activity:
Artist Helper		Quiet Activity:
Online Practice (Freckle, Zearn, IXL, etc.)		Quiet Activity:
Artist Helper		Quiet Activity:
Online Practice (Freckle, Zearn, IXL, etc.)		Quiet Activity:
Artist Helper
1:30-2:30School TourMorning Work:
Stained Glass Art Project		Morning Work: Stained Glass Art Project Part 2Online Game (i.e. Gimkit)Fun Friday
First Week of School Plans
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
8:00-8:30Morning Work:
My Goals		Morning Work:
I Wish My Teacher Knew		Morning Work:
E.T. Chart		Morning Work:
E.T. Chart		Morning Work:
E.T. Chart
8:30-9:00
Vocabulary		Intro Word of the Day: Teamwork


TPR Read Aloud:
“After the Fall”		Intro Word of the Day: Compassion


TPR Read Aloud:
“I Am Love”		Intro Word of the Day:
On Task

TPR Read Aloud:
“The Magical Yet”		Intro Word of the Day:
Respect

TPR Read Aloud:
“Because You Matter”		Intro Word of the Day:
Effort

TPR Read Aloud:
“Songbird”
9:00-9:30
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary		Depth and Complexity Icon: Big Idea

Science of Reading Warm-Up


Writing Prompt: What makes a strong team?		Depth and Complexity Icon: Details

Science of Reading Warm-Up


Writing Prompt: How can we show compassion at school?		Depth and Complexity Icon: Language of the Discipline

Science of Reading Warm-Up

Writing Prompt:
Why is it important to be on task?		Depth and Complexity Icon: Multiple Perspectives

Science of Reading Warm-Up

Writing Prompt:
Describe respectful behavior.		Depth and Complexity Icon: Review

Science of Reading Warm-Up


Writing Prompt:
How can effort impact success?
RECESSRECESSRECESSRECESSRECESSRECESS
9:45-10:45
Comprehension		Thinking Map:
Circle Map

Teach Routine:
Mix and Mingle		Thinking Map: Tree Map

Practice Routine:
Mix and Mingle		Thinking Map: Multi-Flow Map

Teach Routine:
Gallery Walk		Thinking Map: Bubble Map

Practice Routine:
Gallery Walk		Review Thinking Maps

Practice Any Routine
10:45-11:45
Vocabulary		Math Mini-Lesson:
Intro Small Group Learning / Practice Working in Groups

Science of Reading Warm-Up

Teach Routine:
Task Board		Math Mini-Lesson:
Learn Math Game



Science of Reading Warm-Up

Practice Routine:
Task Board		Math Mini-Lesson:
Math Expectations / Practice Note-Taking


Science of Reading Warm-Up

Teach Routine:
Math Games & Exit Tickets		Math Mini-Lesson:
What makes a strong mathematician?


Science of Reading Warm-Up

Practice Routine:
Math Games & Exit Tickets		Math Mini-Lesson:
How can we be successful during math?

Science of Reading Warm-Up

Practice Math Routines
LUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCHLUNCH
12:30-2:30Team Challenge: Team Name and PennantTeam Challenge: School SuppliesTeam Challenge: ClassroomTeam Challenge: SchoolTeam Challenge: Video Ad or
Catch-Up
Second Week of School Plans

In order to better understand these plans, I would like to take a moment and describe some of the jargon in them. As always, if you would like to know more or have specific questions, email me (melody@learning-n-progress.com). I am more than happy to help!

  • Morning Routine: Upon entering the classroom, students unpack and begin their Morning Work, which is listed on the schedule. This Morning Work should be something that students can do independently. For the first time we do our Morning Routine, I usually try to have a coloring sheet or something low-key so that students can focus on practicing the routine rather than on the task itself. I usually then dismiss one table at a time to check-in on the attendance board and put away their backpacks. (You can have a student do this. Perhaps you have a teacher’s assistant, class president, or attendance monitor be in charge of this routine.) Students will complete their Class Jobs if needed (once jobs have been assigned). Our rule is that students may use a whisper voice to greet their tablemates until they hear the classical music start. At that time, voices are off. If students finish their Morning Work, they work on the E.T. (Extra Time) Chart, which is sometimes called Must Do/May Do.
  • TPR (Total Physical Response) Read Aloud: I love using picture books to teach vocabulary! New words are introduced before the read aloud, and motions are assigned to those new words. When students hear those words during the read aloud, they repeat the word and do the motion. I suggest having a signal that tells the class to repeat the vocab word. For me, I put one hand to my ear to signal that I expect the class to say the word out loud.
  • Science of Reading Warm-Up: I could go on and on about this warm-up, but I actually wrote an entire blog post about it! The idea is that we can squeeze several components (phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) of the science of reading into a quick warm-up for any subject at any grade level. Learn how!
  • Depth and Complexity Icons: Depth and Complexity Icons are meant to help students organize their thinking while encouraging them to critically think about the topic at hand. Originally, there were 11 icons. Although they were created with advanced learners in mind, I have found them to be beneficial for all learners in all grades. In this post, we dive into those original icons and discuss ways to incorporate them into book clubs.
  • Mix and Mingle: This is a speaking and listening strategy that is both fast and easy to manage! It includes two parts: transitions and sharing. I like to use music with this sharing activity. I use a 30-second song for the transition and a 1-minute song for the sharing portion. When the 30-second song plays, students walk around the room and find a different student to have a quick 1-minute discussion with. Once the 1-minute song plays, they discuss a discussion question or topic until the music stops, making sure each student has a turn to share. (Make sure to go over the sharing question before starting the music.) The 30-second song then plays again while the students find a different partner. This can continue for as long as desired. I recommend having some kind of signal, such as a bell, to inform students when to return to their seats rather than getting a new partner. You may also consider having a completely separate song to signal it is time to return to their seats. Discover other ways to use music to help with transitions and classroom management!
  • Gallery Walk: A gallery walk is a strategy that can be used for any subject! It allows students to walk around the room and either participate in small group discussions or add to class graphic organizers. This fosters collaboration and engagement. I recommend using music to aid with transitions. When I introduce thinking maps, I use large anchor charts for each type of thinking map and place them around the room. When the music starts, students walk to one of those charts to add their own notes to it. (I have found that it helps if each student carries his/her own marker with them.) The beauty of this strategy is that students are able to both share their own thoughts and read the ideas of others without having to volunteer ideas in front of the entire class. This is helpful for language learners and students who are a bit timid.
  • Math Games: I am a strong advocate for learning games, particularly math games. It is easier and more engaging to learn through play rather than rote memorization. Therefore, I believe that math fluency comes from playing dice games and card games rather than solely with flash cards. Plus, by including math games into your math block, the student engagement in your classroom will increase exponentially! Having said this, getting students to set-up and clean-up math games on their own requires training, no matter what grade level you teach. In my classroom, I set-up a bin per grade level and make sure to include instructions for how-to play, how-to set-up, and how-to clean-up. Every time I teach the class a new game, I teach them in small groups so that I can have them practice in front of me. This way, when I am with a different group, I can count on students to play these math games on their own.
  • Task Board: This is my bread-and-butter for small group learning. Students are placed into differentiated groups based on level, skill, or learning modality. Each group has assigned tasks for the day. This is not the same as the station rotation model. Although there is nothing wrong with rotating through centers, I have found more success with using task boards because it allows me the wiggle room to meet more often with the students who need me the most. Discover how I meet the needs of every learner during my math centers.

Tip: Write common tasks on dry erase magnets for easy differentiation! For me, I write the following tasks on magnets at the start of the school year because I use them so often: Lesson, Exit Ticket, ST Math, IReady, Zearn, and Math Games.

I am hoping that you are now feeling more confident and prepared as you go into your first two weeks of the school year. If you are looking for more ways to include literacy instruction, build classroom community, incorporate SEL, and use ice breakers in your classroom, make sure to check out our other blog posts and podcast.

Next time, we will continue our journey into the Science of Reading as we dive into how to pre-assess our students and place them into differentiated small groups. The blog post will be available on August 24, and the podcast episode will air on August 25. Until then, make sure to check out our other Science of Reading posts. I can’t wait to continue our literacy journey together!

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From Elkonin to Phonics: Bridging the Gap from Phonemic Awareness to Phonics

When it comes to early literacy, letter sounds, or phonemes, reign supreme, but what happens afterward? How do we connect the phonemic awareness we so strategically built to phonics instruction? Well, the answer to that question is Elkonin boxes, which are sometimes referred to as sound boxes.

In my last post, we discussed the differences between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness, as well as ways to combine both into one literacy block. In today’s post, we will discover ways to use sound boxes to connect phonemic awareness to phonics.

Setting Up

First, let’s talk supplies. The good news is that Elkonin boxes require very few supplies: Elkonin mats (printed and laminated if possible), markers (i.e. mini erasers, plastic disks or manipulatives, counting bears, paper circles, etc.), and dry-erase markers/erasers.

What I recommend doing is gathering all these supplies, laminating anything printed, and placing them in plastic pencil boxes. That way these pencil boxes can be kept at your small group table or wherever you will be working with students. If you want to keep the Elkonin sheets in the student boxes, I would recommend only placing them in 2-3 sheets at a time. Typically, in a 20-minute lesson, you will only get through 2 or 3 CVC words (depending on the levels of your students). If you begin with short A CVC words, perhaps you will give students 2-3 sheets but keep the rest in a teacher folder. Another resource that should be included in your teacher folder is a set of word lists. This is absolutely necessary, as it is easier to have well-crafted lists ready to go. It’s one less thing to think about while teaching your young learners.

Looking for CVC word lists and sound boxes? Check these out.

Please note that I highly recommend these sound boxes be taught in small groups. I do not believe they are as effective as a whole group lesson.

Make sure to check out my Instagram page over the next month. I will be posting reels on how to set up these supplies! Follow me for more tips and tricks.

What now? How can I transition to phonics?

Isolation / Segmentation

I would teach both these skills at the same time. Isolation refers to identifying various phonemes in individual words, such as the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in CVC words. Segmentation is essentially breaking apart a word into phonemes. In my class, we call this “chopping up the word”.

Start with CVC words and teach students how to break apart the word into sounds (phonemes). Note that there will always be three sounds in CVC words, but in other non-CVC words, there will be more. That’s why it is important to teach this skill from the beginning. Since there are three sounds in CVC words, you will use three boxes and three markers.

Students slide each marker as they say each phoneme. After practicing this a few times (make sure to model it as the teacher first), ask students to point to the marker that represents each sound. For instance, in the word CAT, ask students which marker makes the /k/, which marker makes the /a/, and which marker makes the /t/. As students get more comfortable with this process, make sure to ask them to identify the sounds out of order. Perhaps you can start with the middle sound first!

Tips and Tricks: Before beginning this process, go over expectations with the students. I like to have specific phrases that tell the students what to do. For example, I start every lesson by saying, “Set-up your mat!” Students know that they must place their sound boxes in front of them, their dry erase marker (caps on) and eraser to the side of the board, and the dots (or manipulatives) directly underneath the boxes. The second phrase I like to teach them is “Hands down, eyes up!” (You can also say dots or markers instead of hands. Your choice!) This signals that you will be modeling something that the students need to watch. You can use whatever reward system you choose, whether it is stickers or a simple high five. Regardless, these phrases must be practiced, practiced, practiced. For me, I start every single lesson with a review of these phrases. Trust me, the more you practice, the smoother your lessons will be.

Differentiation Tip: For an additional challenge, after this process has been mastered, it’s time to start transitioning to graphemes, or visual letters to represent these sounds! Have students remove each marker one at a time and using a dry-erase marker, write the letter that makes that sound. After practicing several words like this, you can have students turn their mats over and practice writing the words without the sound boxes.

Blending

With blending, students are stretching each sound out to make the word. I would recommend having students point to each marker while they say each sound initially. The difference is that this time they will not stop between each sound. Have them stretch the sounds a couple of times and then use the arrow below the sound boxes to blend the word. After blending, ask students what the word is.

Addition / Deletion

These two skills will set up students for the final step in phonemic awareness, which is substitution. Before students can change a sound, they need to be able to delete and add a sound. I would recommend starting by teaching students to add sounds rather than delete them. This may seem counterintuitive, as when substituting, we delete before we add, but I have found that for most learners, addition comes more naturally than deletion.

Start with a base word, such as AT. Ask them to count how many sounds are in AT. Then, ask them to decide how many boxes and markers we will use. (It will be 2 of each.) Once students have set up their sound mats, ask them what we should do if we want to add /m/ to the beginning of our word. (Initially, they may need some guidance. Help them realize that they will need a third box and a third marker.)

After adding the third marker to the sound boxes, I would suggest briefly going through the process of isolation, segmenting, and blending. This will solidify that students recognize the addition of a phoneme. Once students have practiced adding sounds, have them practice deleting them too. I recommend starting with a word they already know. For example, after adding /m/ to AT, they should practice taking the /m/ away.

The process of addition and deletion should be practiced often. This will help students grasp the skill of substitution.

Differentiation Tip: Once students have mastered addition and deletion, substitute the markers for letters. Have them write the letters of the sounds and erase a letter or add a letter. For kids that need an extra challenge, have them turn their mats over and practice adding/deleting letters without the boxes. The beauty of differentiation is that you can adjust the pacing for each individual group. Maybe one of your groups doesn’t need the sound boxes at all! You can go straight to using letters. Whereas, another group that perhaps needs more support, will use the manipulatives for several lessons before moving on to letters. I actually have a set of dots that have the letters printed on them for groups that need extra assistance. (Check out the image in the next section to see a sample.)

Substitution

Substitution is the most challenging skill in phonemic awareness. During these lessons, students learn to change words in word lists by changing the beginning, middle, or ending sounds. I would recommend starting by changing the beginning sounds. Once students are comfortable doing that, practice changing the ending sounds. The middle sounds, which are vowels in CVC words, are the most difficult sounds to change. Once students are comfortable changing the middle sounds, it is time to start transitioning to phonics instruction.

After substitution has been mastered, it’s time to start transitioning to letters again. Students may not even need the markers anymore. Try having students use the sound boxes to write letters instead of using the markers. When prompted, they will erase the letter that needs to be switched before writing a new letter.

Differentiation Tip: For students who are not quite ready to abandon the markers, try using markers with letters on them to help with this transition. For students who need a challenge, have them turn their mats over and practice writing the words without the sound boxes. This would be great spelling practice!

What activities can I add to my literacy centers to help build phonological awareness?

I’m glad you asked! 😋 When building phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness, consistency is key. That is why I like to include activities that target these skills in multiple formats. Of course, the most important format would be a small group lesson with a teacher, but there are so many other ways students can practice these skills when they are not in a lesson with you.

When I plan my phonics centers, I always plan an independent station with printable worksheets (i.e. cut/paste and decodable books), some kind of technology station, and a learning game (coming soon).

For me, I personally LOVE Nearpod because these activities can be done completely independently. I even recorded the instructions for you, so your students can work on these games while you are with another group! All you need to do is assign them using an online learning platform, such as Google Classroom.

If you are curious how Nearpod can effectively be used to teach phonics and phonemic awareness, check out this FREE webinar. (Fair warning: this was recorded during the pandemic, so you will hear me talk about virtual learning a lot. 🙃)

As far as the learning games, I have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT…drum roll please…

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I am currently working on a brand new line of phonics learning games. In addition to the classic BINGO game, we are developing a new phonics board game equipped with cute characters, a colorful board, printable dice, cards, and so much more!!! Make sure to join our email list at the bottom of this page to be the first to hear about these new resources.

I hope you are now feeling confident in using Elkonin boxes, or sound boxes. If you have any questions or need some teacher tips to help you get started, please email me at melody@learning-n-progress.com. I am more than happy to help!

Next month, we will continue our deep dive into the Science of Reading and will focus primarily on phonics instruction. Whether you are a first-grade teacher and phonics is your entire world, or you are an upper-grade teacher who dreads the idea of teaching decoding, I will make sure to share some helpful tips you can use in your classroom. The blog post will go live on Saturday, February 10, and the podcast episode will air on Sunday, February 11. I cannot wait to chat with you again. Keep learning!

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Phonemic Awareness or Phonological Awareness: What’s the Difference?

The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness).

Lyon, G.R. (1995)

As many of you know, I am a literacy mentor in addition to being a classroom teacher. As a mentor, I often coach other teachers regarding their literacy instruction, and two topics come up repeatedly during these coaching sessions: phonics and phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness, as well as phonological awareness, are key components of a child’s ability to read. This is why phonics and phonemic awareness are critical to the science of reading. Over the next few blog posts, I will dive into the wonderful world of decoding, and it all starts with phonemic awareness.

The ability to recognize and manipulate the smallest sounds, or phonemes, is key to later being able to identify specific phonics skills while decoding. Phonemic awareness is perhaps the most difficult part of phonological awareness, but more on that later on.

First, you may be wondering…what is the difference between phonemic awareness and phonological awareness? If you are, you are not alone!

In this post, we will uncover the key differences between phonemic awareness and phonological awareness, as well as discuss some quick, easy ways to address both during your whole group and small group instruction.

What is phonological awareness?

Phonemic awareness is often used interchangeably with phonological awareness, but they are not the same. Phonological awareness is an “umbrella term” and includes rhyming, alliteration, syllables, onset, rime, and phonemic awareness. It is the ability to break words down into parts, which can mean syllables or phonemes. It can also mean breaking up sentences into individual words. Allow me to briefly explain each part of phonological awareness, and please note that they are roughly listed in the order I would address them.

  • Rhyming: Whether using songs or picture books, introducing rhyming words in early literacy education is key to a child’s future reading success. After phonics instruction has begun, I recommend using word lists (coming soon) and highlighting the letters that produce the rhyme. This will help students with substitution when building phonemic awareness.
  • Onset: Onset refers to the beginning sound of a word. For example, /k/ is the first sound in cat. This provides a solid foundation for phonemic awareness.
  • Alliteration: Alliteration is creating a phrase or sentence using the same sound at the beginning of each word. For example, The courageous cat crept. I would recommend using picture books with alliteration as a way to introduce this skill. After phonics instruction has begun, I would encourage students to create their own alliterations. This would be a fun way to introduce poetry too!
  • Rime: Rime, not to be confused with rhyme, is directly tied to rhyming words and word lists. It is referring to the letters that follow the initial sound of a word. For example, in the word cat, the rime is /a/ /t/. Lessons using word lists and rhyming words will help target rime.
  • Phonemic awareness: Phonemic awareness means to be aware that words are made up of small sounds called phonemes, such as /k/, /a/, and /t/ in cat.
  • Syllables: Separating words into syllables has been a vital part of literacy instruction for many years. Backpack has two syllables, whereas refrigerator has five. Clapping is a common method to practice breaking apart words into syllables. It is important to note that at this stage of literacy instruction, students are learning how to separate words into syllables based on sound; they are not writing the syllable parts.

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness is by far the most important part of phonological awareness and is a strong predictor of a child’s literacy level. In other words, strong phonemic awareness often results in the ability to decode, which in turn helps create literate individuals.

When building phonemic awareness, especially during early education (Pre-K and Kindergarten), it is helpful to start with the simplest skills and gradually introduce more complex ones. The activities listed below are in the order they should be practiced.

  • Isolation: This skill refers to identifying various phonemes in individual words. Either during a warm-up or a small group lesson, students should practice identifying the beginning, middle, and ending sounds. This skill goes hand in hand with alliteration, onset, and rime.
  • Blending: Blending would be an awesome warm-up to any lesson or even as a call-and-response. I usually start by saying the phonemes, such as /k/ /a/ /t/, and students would respond by blending the word. Again, I would encourage you to have some kind of motion to represent blending, such as a fluid motion down the arm or a smooth, horizontal motion.
  • Segmentation: In my class, we call this “chopping up the word”. This could be combined with blending during a warm-up or call-and-response. In this case, I start by saying a word, such as cat. Students then respond by saying /k/ /a/ /t/. (I would recommend having some kind of motion that goes along with this warm-up. Students can touch their shoulders, elbows, and hands, for instance. Alternatively, they could clap or chop for each phoneme.) Similar to isolation, this skill should be taught alongside onset and rime.
  • Addition: Addition should be taught and practiced before deletion and definitely before substitution. An example would be to add /m/ to at to make mat. Word lists are vital to lessons addressing addition.
  • Deletion: Deletion is a harder skill than we may realize. Again, word lists should be used during lessons that target deletion. When given a word such as mat, students should be able to take away the /m/ sound to make at.
  • Substitution: Substitution is the most challenging skill in phonemic awareness. During these lessons, students learn to change words in word lists by changing the beginning, middle, or ending sounds. I would recommend starting by changing the beginning sounds. Once students are comfortable doing that, practice changing the ending sounds. The middle sounds, which are vowels in CVC words, are the most difficult sounds to change. Once students are comfortable changing the middle sounds, it is time to start transitioning to phonics instruction.

Over the next month, I will be demonstrating these skills in various Instagram reels. Make sure to follow me to learn more!

How can I target both phonemic and phonological awareness during my lessons?

I truly believe there is value in both whole-group and small-group lessons when it comes to most subjects, but especially to literacy instruction. When I plan a lesson, I usually choose three or four phonological skills, one or two of them being phonemic awareness skills. I included a sample 2-week literacy schedule below for your convenience. This is just a sample. Depending on the needs of your class, you may choose to lengthen or shorten any of these lessons. This schedule is meant for grades K-1, so I did not include syllables yet, as this schedule is meant to be for early education. If you re teaching intervention in grades 1 or 2, I would recommend including syllables as a warm-up before working on multi-syllable words. (Yes, I would absolutely teach multi-syllable words at the same time as single-syllable words, but more on that next month.)

DayWhole GroupSmall Group
1Rhyming (warm-up)
Onset and Rime (model)		Isolation
2Alliteration (warm-up)
Onset and Rime (practice)		Onset and Rime
3Blending (warm-up)
Segmenting (model)		Blending and Segmenting
4Blending (warm-up)
Segmenting (practice)		Blending and Segmenting
5Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Addition (model)		Addition
6Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Addition (practice)		Addition
7Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Deletion (model)		Deletion
8Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Deletion (practice)		Deletion
9Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Substitution (model)		Substitution
10Onset and Rime (warm-up)
Substitution (practice)		Substitution
Sample Whole Group and Small Group Literacy Schedule for Grades K-1

When planning your differentiated literacy centers, make sure to include activities that students can work on independently, using Nearpod, printable activities, or learning games (coming soon).

Discover an all-inclusive resource for CVC centers and start saving time and money today!

Something to note is that we are not addressing spelling or phonics with any of the ideas listed above. Both phonemic and phonological awareness will precede phonics instruction initially, though I strongly encourage you to continue to strengthen your students’ phonemic and phonological awareness even after specific phonics instruction has begun.

Although it is ideal to address phonological awareness before teaching phonics, it is important to transition seamlessly from one to the other. If you are teaching first grade or above, you may want to consider addressing both during your intervention or small group lessons.

Stay tuned for specific steps on how to transition from phonological awareness to phonics instruction using Elkonin boxes. The post will go live on Saturday, January 27 with the podcast airing on Sunday, January 28.

How to Combine Phonics and Fluency into Your Halloween Literacy Centers

I love the holidays!!! Halloween is no exception. As a teacher, I find the holidays even more exciting because they allow us the opportunity to share in the excitement with our students. I usually go all out for Halloween…art projects, contests, and the biggest class party of the year. (More to come on that! Look for a future post.)

The trick is to find ways to keep the Halloween spirit alive without missing out on core instruction. I know! How about Halloween literacy centers? I know what you’re thinking…this is not a new idea. I know, but it is a good one.

In today’s post, I am going to show you how you can take these no-prep differentiated fluency passages and use them to teach both phonics and fluency in your small group lessons. Follow me on Instagram to learn more!

Teach the Target Phonics Skill

When teaching phonics, it is important to not just teach the skill in isolation, but rather, to practice applying that skill to multiple situations. For instance, I often see multi-syllable words placed on the back burner and taught once ALL the other phonics skills have been taught. I believe that we will get “more bang for our buck” if we teach multi-syllable words simultaneously as single-syllable words. See the table below for some example words.

Phonics SkillSingle-SyllableMulti-Syllable
Short Vowelspig
pump		piglet
pumpkin
Consonant Digraphspack
bath		backpack
bathtub
Long Vowelspay
row		payday
rowboat
Magic Elike
bone		dislike
boneless
R-Controlled Vowelsyard
turn		backyard
return
Diphthongstoy
down		toybox
downtown
Sample Single- and Multi-Syllable Words for Every Phonics Skill

I also wholeheartedly believe that we should practice reading these phonics skills within passages. I have noticed that sometimes there is a disconnect between reading words in isolation and reading words in text. It can at times feel overwhelming for new readers to decode words within a large passage. Therfore, it is helpful to identify the words that readers already know how to decode.

Highlight Target Words

After teaching the target phonics skill, it is time to highlight words with that skill in the passage. This is a visual reminder to readers that they are able to decode those words. I would have readers read the passage slowly and stop every time they find a word with the skill they just learned. They would then highlight the word and read it to themselves.

NOTE: Emerging readers must read out loud. They should not “read in their heads” until they are fluent. It is critical for them to hear them selves read. It is also important for you as their teacher to hear them decode and apply new phonics skills.

For multi-syllable words, students need to practice breaking apart a word before blending it. Look at the image below. In this example, the student digitally split the word up into two parts, read each part separately, and then blended it together. Hvae students practice breaking apart the multi-syllable words in the passage before reading. It helps to actually have them draw the scoop lines on the passage itself. If you are looking for no-prep digital resources where students can practice this skill, click here.

Practice Reading Fluently

Fleuncy can and should be explicitely taught. There has been so much research that identifies its importance to a child’s ability to become a literate adult. Last month, we focused on the Science of Reading, and we learned the importance of its 5 components. Fluency is one of those components, and it absolutely needs to be included in most literacy lessons.

I have found that although teachers often practice fluency in their classrooms, not many teach specific strategies. For me, my 3 go-to strategies are Scoop Lines, Color-Coding, and Mix-and-Match. Take a look at the image below for some examples, and make sure to read this post to learn how to fit these strategies into a warm-up for any lesson.

Out of these three fluency strategies, I use the Scoop Lines most often during my Halloween literacy centers. Since the passages are printables, students can actually draw the scoop lines on the passages themselves. This is a way they can decide which words to group together to avoid reading one word at a time.

Color-coding is another option. Students can use different color highlighters to highlight different sections of each sentence. This way, they know which words to group together when they are reading. If you go with this strategy, perhaps you can work on fluency seprately from the target phonics skill. Having students highlight the phonics skill and color-coding their passages may lead to some confusion.

Teacher Tip: The passages are available in both color and back-and-white. (Both are included in the resource!) If you would like to print the passages in color, you may want to consider either putting each passage in a sheet protctor or laminating it. This way, students can use dry erase markers without you having to print the passages for every lesson.

Change up your literacy centers with some seasonal fun! I have both digital and printable literacy acivities for every month and season throughout the year!!! As always, if you have any questions or would like to brainstorm your small group lessons, don’t hesitate to email me at melody@learning-n-progress.com.

In the next post, I am going to show you how you can implement a fun, Halloween party in either the primary grades or the upper grades. In both cases, we will learn how to throw in just a splash of literacy instruction to these fun-filled events. Until next time, keep learning!

3 Ways to Differentiate Your Science of Reading Centers

Differentiation and the Science of Reading?! This post is like my pedagogical dream!!! Over the last month, I have introduced you to the key components of the Science of Reading and shared some ideas on how to quickly and efficiently use them in your classrooms.

In this post, we will incorporate the Science of Reading into our differentiated literacy groups. The beauty of this routine is that small group learning is practically made for the Science of Reading!!!

Before We Begin…

Before starting, make sure to check out this post to learn how to get your differentiated literacy centers up and running.

The first step to differentiating is of course to set up your groups. In order to do that, you need to assess your students, place them into groups, and set goals for each group.

Looking for an easy way to assess your students’ phonics skills?

Download this FREE phonics assessment!!!

It includes a student copy, a teacher copy, and a scoring guide.

The Science of Reading has five components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Although all five are important to a child’s overall success, I would address them in the following order: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. In other words, address any concerns with phonics before tackling comprehension or vocabulary. I am NOT saying that comprehension and vocabulary are not just as important, but if a child cannot decode the words on the page, it is going to be near impossible to understand a text to its fullest, even with pictures and context clues. (The Science of Reading research backs this up.)

For those of you who know me, you know that differentiated instruction is kind of my thing. There are so many ways to differentiate, whether by skill or level or perhaps even by learning modality. Today, we will dive into my top three ways to differentiate all while incorporating the Science of Reading.

1) Differentiate by Target Skill

This is probably my favorite way to group students. Rather than solely grouping by level, I group by skill. These skills are directly from the Science of Reading, so they should include one of the five Science of Reading components.

In primary grades, I typically group students based on their target phonics skills. For example, in a first-grade classroom, one group may work on fluency, another group may work on multi-syllable words using long vowels, a third group on consonant digraphs, and a fourth on CVC words or perhaps even phonemic awareness. My point here is that each group is working on a specific phonics skill in all of their rotations. Take a look at the table below to see an example schedule.

Target Skill GroupStation 1:
Teacher Lesson		Station 2:
Technology		Station 3:
Partner Work
FluencyFluency StrategiesOnline Reading Practice (RazKids, Epic, etc.)Differentiated Fluency Passages
Multi-Syllable WordsSegmenting and BlendingNearpod Games with Multi-Syllable Words PracticePhonics Printable Worksheets
Consonant DigraphsSpelling and Decoding Consonant DigraphsConsonant Digraphs Nearpod GamesConsonant Digraphs Printable Worksheets

Try the free sample!
CVC WordsShort Vowels and Elkonin BoxesCVC Nearpod GamesCVC Printable Activities
Sample Primary Grade Literacy Centers

In the upper grades, the Science of Reading skills will look different, but the same routine can be used. For instance, each group could perhaps work on a different component of the Science of Reading. For instance, perhaps your MLLs (students learning English as a second language) may be working on vocabulary, your reading intervention group may be working on phonics, perhaps another group on fluency, and a fourth group on reading comprehension. Again, the table below shows a sample of what this could look like.

Target Skill GroupStation 1:
Teacher Lesson		Station 2:
Technology		Station 3:
Partner Work
PhonicsPhonics Lesson

Try this free assessment.		R-Controlled Vowels Nearpod GamesDifferentiated Phonics and Fluency Passages
FluencyFluency StrategiesOnline Learning PlatformReading Workshop
Partner Read
VocabularyContent-Specific Vocabulary from your CurriculumOnline Learning Platform (i.e. Lexia, Imagine Learning, etc.)Vocabulary Activities and Graphic Organizers
ComprehensionGraphic OrganizersOnline Reading Platform (i.e. Freckle, Epic, etc.)Book Clubs
Sample Upper-Grade Literacy Centers

The reason I like grouping by skill is because it allows me to really hone in on what each individual group needs. I have found that you get more “bang for your buck” and therefore, see more progress this way.

2) Differentiate by Reading Level

This is a more traditional approach. First, you will need an assessment to identify your students’ reading levels. From there, you can group according to those levels. Regarding the Science of Reading, if you go about differentiating by level, you can make each rotation target a different component. (This is similar to the idea behind Daily 5.)

These components can be switched either daily or weekly. They could also be changed based on formative or summative assessments. The beauty of this routine is that each group, regardless of level, can work on as many Science of Reading components as you deem fit. You could have them work on all five components every day or every week. The choice is yours! Take a look at the primary and upper-grade sample schedules below. In these samples, I included three components, but just know that you can include as many as you wish.

Leveled GroupsStation 1:
Teacher Lesson
(Comprehension)		Station 2:
Phonics		Station 3:
Fluency
Above Grade LevelPoint of ViewMulti-Syllable WordsDifferentiated
Phonics Passages
At Grade LevelMain IdeaPrefixes and SuffixesDifferentiated
Phonics Passages
Near Grade LevelRetellingRe-Teach Current Phonics SkillDifferentiated
Phonics Passages
Below Grade LevelExplicit InformationCVC WordsDifferentiated
Phonics Passages
Sample Primary Grade Literacy Centers

The hardest part about differentiating? The prep and time that are involved!!!

Let me do the prep for you.

Grab these no-prep differentiated fluency passages.

There is a passage for each phonics skill (short vowels, consonant digraphs, long vowels, magic E, r-controlled vowels, and diphthongs). Each skill includes four levels.

Leveled GroupsStation 1:
Teacher-Led
Comprehension Lesson		Station 2:
Word Study/Phonics		Station 3:
Fluency
Above Grade LevelAuthor’s PurposeRoot WordsPartner Read
Book Clubs
At Grade LevelInferencingPrefixes and SuffixesPartner Read
Book Clubs
Near Grade LevelSummarizingMulti-Syllable WordsPartner Read
Book Clubs
Below Grade LevelMain IdeaTargeted Phonics SkillPartner Read
Book Clubs
Sample Upper-Grade Literacy Centers

3) Differentiate by Learning Modality

The last way to differentiate is by learning modality. The benefit of this routine is that it allows for student voice and choice. There is even an opportunity here to ask students how they learn best. Once you have discovered each student’s learning modality, it is time to group them up!

What I would do is have each day of the week target a different component of the Science of Reading. For instance, in an upper-grade classroom, I may have Monday and Tuesday target comprehension; Wednesday would focus on Vocabulary; Thursday on fluency; and Friday would be dedicated to word study or phonics. In a primary-grade classroom, I would dedicate each day to one of the five components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). Take a look at the sample schedule below. This one targets comprehension.

GroupsStation 1:
Teacher Lesson		Station 2:
Independent Work		Station 3:
Partner Work
AuditoryTeacher Read AloudListening CenterBook Club Discussion
VisualGraphic OrganizersOnline Videos“Book Ends”
(book report-type art activities)
KinestheticReader’s TheaterTask Cards
(i.e. scoot games)		Outdoor Learning
(i.e. Book Clubs)
TactileSketch NotesManipulatives or
Elkonin Boxes		Learning Games
(coming soon)
Sample Literacy Centers Targeting Comprehension

“Differentiation made easy” is kind of my catchphrase, if you will. It stems from multiple conversations with educators about what is holding them back from differentiated instruction. Time. A lack of time is a common hurdle that educators face when planning small-group instruction but I am here to help. I can make differentiated centers manageable. With the ideas I have mentioned here, you can not only implement the Science of Reading but help reach every learner in your classroom.

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The Science of Reading in a Real Life Classroom

In my last post, we discussed the top three things you should know about the Science of Reading. When I first learned about this topic, I asked myself what many of you may be thinking at this very moment…NOW WHAT?!!!

I hear you. It’s one thing to learn about a teaching philosophy or strategy in theory, but actually putting it into practice is a whole different story. If you know me, you know that I absolutely love to learn. An optional PD? I’m there! An online course? Where do I sign up?

The one issue I have with learning new teaching ideas is sometimes, they are not always practical. As teachers, we know how intensely busy our jobs can be. Once we get into our “real-life”, day-to-day work schedules, it can be challenging to implement some of the new strategies we learn in those PDs.

That’s where this post comes in…I want to share how you can quickly and easily implement the Science of Reading into your classroom, whether you teach primary or upper grades.

The body of work referred to as the “science of reading” is not an ideology, a philosophy, a political agenda, a one-size-fits-all approach, a program of instruction, not a specific component of instruction. It is the emerging consensus from many related disciplines, based on literally thousands of studies, supported by hundreds of millions of research dollars, conducted across the world in many languages.

Dr. Louisa Moats

The beauty of the Science of Reading is that it can be incorporated into any lesson in any subject. It is not a curriculum. It is not subject-specific. It is especially important to note that as elementary teachers, we should be including literacy instruction throughout the day rather than just during language arts.

Therefore, I would like to focus on how to use the Science of Reading to develop a quick, 15-minute warm-up that can be used for any lesson in any subject. This is an idea that I have used for years in a real-life classroom. I have used it in both primary and upper grades, so I can vouch for its manageability and effectiveness.

When I plan a “Science of Reading” warm-up, I divide it into three parts: Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension.

Vocabulary

I always start my mini-lessons with a “Big Idea Question”. This question is the question the students need to be able to answer by the end of the lesson. It can also be the student objective. When I write these objectives/questions, I make sure to include as much vocabulary as possible. So much research has found that vocabulary has a significant impact on a student’s reading comprehension. Therefore, we need to include it in our lessons as often as possible.

I know what you’re thinking…vocabulary has always been taught in schools! Yes, you are correct. However, I have a slightly different take on vocabulary instruction. In order to master new vocabulary, students must be able to use it authentically in not only their writing but also their verbal communication. In order to achieve mastery, students must practice using vocabulary over and over again. Therefore, rather than only including vocabulary at the start and end of the unit, we must give students several chances to encounter these new words throughout the year in a variety of subjects. They must practice using this vocabulary in written responses, academic discussions, partner work, and so on.

In order to truly understand how to help our students’ vocabularies grow, we must first understand the three types of vocabulary:

  • Tier 1 Conversational: This vocabulary includes basic words that are commonly used in everyday conversations. Although important, especially for students who are learning English, we will not be going over this tier in today’s blog post.
  • Tier 2 Academic: I absolutely love teaching this tier of vocabulary! Why? You get the most bang for your buck. This vocabulary includes words that appear in multiple subjects. I often like to think of words that students will encounter in academic instructions. It is always so surprising to me how challenging some of these words can be. We as teachers, myself included, sometimes assume students know what it means to define a word. For instance, “definition” has the same meaning as “define”; it is just a different part of speech. This does not come naturally to students; it must be explicitly taught.
  • Tier 3 Content-Specific: This vocabulary tier includes words that are specific to each subject or topic. I have found that these are the words typically included in curriculum units, as the vocab in those lists is created with the purpose of understanding the included text.

Now what?! You may be wondering what I do with all of this information. When I write my daily Big Idea Questions and student objectives, I try to include BOTH academic and content-specific vocabulary.

When I introduce new vocabulary words, I make sure to include them in as many Big Idea Questions as possible. This includes questions and objectives in multiple subjects. For example, if I introduce the word “describe” in social studies, I will include it in my objectives for math, science, and language arts later that same week. This way, students will engage with the word several times after seeing it for the first time. This allows me to use a gradual release when it comes to defining the word. Perhaps the first time we see it in an objective, I define it and give examples. For the next couple of encounters with the word, I may ask students to define it with a partner or as a class. Eventually, students will define the word on their own while I walk around, checking their definitions. This entire process of identifying and defining words in the Big Idea Questions and/or objectives takes approximately 3 minutes, thereby making it a quick routine that can be repeated throughout the day.

FREE-K-6-Academic-Vocabulary-ListsDownload

Fluency

Fluency can and should be practiced on a regular basis. It should also be explicitly taught. I have found that often teachers practice fluency with their classes but do not teach specific strategies. I have three go-to strategies that can be included in a warm-up for any lesson in any subject.

  • Scoop Lines: This strategy shows students where to group words together. When students are not fluent readers, they often read one word at a time. Literate readers’ brains actually are looking at words that have not been read yet. In other words, when a literate reader is reading “describe” (see image below), the brain is actually focusing on the words “the Gold Rush”. This skill must be explicitly taught and practiced. Drawing the scoop lines is a great way to show students how to group words together to avoid reading like a robot. When I use this strategy during the warm-ups in my lessons, I usually start by drawing the lines on the Big Idea and/or objective. Over time, I draw the lines on PART of the objective and then eventually not at all.
  • Color-Coding: This strategy also teaches students how to group words and phrases but this time using color. (This is great for teachers who prep slides ahead of time.) Each color shows a group of words that can be read together. When you are ready for students to color-code their own objectives/text, have them use different color highlighters. Again, over time, reduce the amount of color coding to allow students to group words without support. I often tell students to visualize the colors or scoop lines in their heads.
  • Thus far, the strategies discussed can be used for either whole-class or small-group learning. The last strategy, however, is best for small-group instruction or intervention groups. Mix-and-match is a strategy where students physically cut up sentences and rearrange them before reading them fluently. This is a great hands-on strategy that can help students who are struggling to read fluently.

I include one of these strategies in my warm-up after identifying and defining key vocabulary in the Big Idea Question. Choral or partner reading can quickly be incorporated into every warm-up. First, model the fluency strategy using the Big Idea Question or objective; then, have students practice said strategy by drawing/highlighting (not necessary for every lesson); finally, have the class practice reading fluently either as a class or in pairs. I would suggest starting with a class choral read after first introducing a new fluency strategy. Then, have students practice the next few objectives in pairs. This allows you to walk around and listen to students read so that you might identify which students need fluency intervention.

Comprehension

There are about a million reading comprehension strategies, which makes it difficult to choose which ones to focus on in this post. Although I could go on and on about various strategies, there is one that stands out: graphic organizers. The best part about using graphic organizers is that they can be combined with other strategies, such as Depth and Complexity Icons. However, in this post, I am going to explain how to use graphic organizers to not only support comprehension but also to support another component of the Science of Reading: vocabulary.

The idea behind combining graphic organizers and comprehension is that graphic organizers are only effective if students can use them independently. Although the teacher must first model and explicitly teach each organizer, the ultimate goal is for students to be able to read a text or writing prompt and select the appropriate organizer for the task at hand. How can we teach them how to select the most appropriate graphic organizer? By teaching them vocabulary words that are best suited for each organizer! This teaching strategy is essentially teaching them how to be independent readers, which is the ultimate goal.

How do I get my students to the point where they can choose their own graphic organizers based on a writing prompt or objective?

  1. Model each graphic organizer on its own. For upper grades, I would recommend teaching one organizer per day (Monday-Thursday) and then review all four of them in a gallery walk on Friday. NOTE: It is extremely helpful to teach the organizers BEFORE beginning curriculum. I suggest teaching them with SEL or picture book read alouds. For primary grades, I recommend teaching only one or two organizers a week. Please note that it is not necessary to teach ALL of the organizers before moving on to step two. Sometimes, I only use four organizers for the first half of the school year (especially with younger students).
  2. Ask students to identify vocabulary in the objectives that may give a hint about which organizer to use. (You can also have them identify vocabulary in Big Idea Questions or writing prompts, depending on what you choose to use for your lessons.) Once the “vocab hints” have been identified, ask students to select which organizer would be most appropriate. (See image below for vocabulary words associated with each graphic organizer.)
  3. Allow students to volunteer different graphic organizers that would be appropriate for a given objective. Think “math chat” or “number talk” but with graphic organizers. Once students are comfortable identifying vocabulary words that lend themselves to each graphic organizer (this takes several lessons and several weeks), they are ready for a “graphic organizer chat” if you will. After reading the objective as a class, ask students to identify a few possible graphic organizers based on the “vocabulary hints” in the objective. Then, call on students to share their ideas and record them on the board. After students have shared a few different organizers and how to set them up for the given objective, tell the class that they may choose one of the organizers shown on the board.
  4. Allow students to choose their graphic organizers. This final step should only be included in your lessons once the above steps have been practiced for several weeks. In upper grades, I usually aim to hit this last step by January or Trimester 2. For primary grades, my goal is to reach this last step by Trimester 3. Again, this depends on your grade level. For first grade, for instance, I may not reach this goal until after Spring Break. It is important to also keep in mind that if you teach younger students, you may not necessarily cover EVERY graphic organizer that year.

Want to learn how to introduce this concept during the first couple weeks of school? Read this post!

There you have it! I hope you have learned some quick tips that will help you incorporate the Science of Reading into a warm-up routine that can be used in any subject.

For my next blog post, we will look into how to incorporate the Science of Reading into differentiated small groups. I can’t wait to chat with you then!

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3 Things You Should Know About the Science of Reading

Listen to the podcast.

Teaching reading is rocket science.

Louisa Moats

Yeah, no kidding…the “correct way” to teach reading has long been debated, and it seems like it is becoming a hot topic in the educational community once again. When I was in college, I was once told that education is like a pendulum, swinging from one line of thought, or extreme, to the other. For me, I have often found that somewhere in the middle lies the sweet spot…except when it comes to reading instruction.

This past summer, I was fortunate enough to be asked to assist with a science of reading conference. In doing so, I collaborated with colleagues who are well-versed in reading instruction, read several books about the subject, and presented my findings to educators across the district. I am here to share my takeaways from the experience.

If I were to sum up what I have learned it’s that the process of learning how to read is a complicated one. It heavily relies on explicit phonics instruction but also depends on language comprehension, which includes vocabulary.

The science of reading, like the process of reading itself, is vast and lengthy. Several books are dedicated to this very subject, which I will reference later. What I would like to discuss are three important things you should know when it comes to this topic.

1. The 5 Components

We can’t have a discussion about the science of reading without first identifying its components. The five parts of the science of reading are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. While some components lend themselves to specific grade levels, all of them to some extent can and should be part of every elementary grade. If you are wondering what that looks like, stay tuned for a future post about what the science of reading is like in a real-life classroom. In that post, I will talk about both primary and upper grades. For now, let’s first define each component.

The images above are taken from our CVC line of printables and our line of phonics worksheet packets.

  • Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness is the ability to separate and manipulate sounds. These sounds, or phonemes, are used to create morphemes or units of meaning. An example of a student who is phonemically aware is one who can separate the word “cat” into three sounds and then blend them back together. See examples: printables and Nearpod games.
  • Phonics: Phonics are sets of rules that dictate which letters and letter combinations relate to specific sounds. This is the key to learning how to decode. Luckily for you, I have created a ton of phonics printables and online games for your literacy centers.
  • Fluency: Fluency refers to the ability to read smoothly and accurately. This often includes expressive reading and phrasing. Although students are often timed when reading, it is not necessary to read quickly to be a fluent reader. In fact, students that read too quickly sometimes struggle with comprehension. The key here is practice. I will share specific fluency strategies in a future post, so check back in about a month.
  • Vocabulary: I happen to love teaching vocabulary, specifically academic vocabulary! The beauty of vocabulary instruction is that it can quickly and easily be incorporated into any lesson. Vocabulary can be classified into three categories: conversational (tier 1), academic (tier 2), and content-specific (tier 3). In my humble opinion, I believe that vocabulary should not be restricted to memorized definitions and set vocabulary lists. Rather, true mastery relies on an authentic use of language in everyday contexts. More on this in a few months…I could talk about this for days!
  • Comprehension: Last but not least is comprehension. Please do not wait to teach comprehension strategies until after a student is fully decoding. Both language and reading comprehension should be targeted alongside phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. Graphic organizers, peer discussions, and “thinking out loud” are all examples of successful strategies that target comprehension.

2. Research-Based

Something else that is important to know is that the science of reading is research-based. It is based on decades of research into how the brain acquires the ability to read. (It is not natural, like speech.) This is not a reading fad or a new theory that will die out; that is what makes it different than other ideas in the “Reading Wars”.

It is also important to note that the science of reading is not a specific curriculum or a set of materials. It is evidence-based strategies that can be used with several different resources and curriculums. In fact, I am going to write about this very topic in my next blog post. I will teach you quick, efficient strategies based on the science of reading. The best part? These strategies can quickly be added to any lesson in any subject using any curriculum.

If you are new to the science of reading and looking to learn more, check out these books:

3. Not Only for Primary Grades

One common misconception is that the science of reading is only for students in grades K-2. However, this is far from the truth. Obviously, if a student is not decoding in the upper grades, that is a “stop everything and intervene” situation. Having said that, phonemic awareness and phonics still have a place in an upper elementary classroom with students who are at grade level. The instruction and content look different, but it should still exist. Root words, prefixes, suffixes, and multi-syllable words are examples of word work that require explicit instruction in grades 4-6.

Fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension should make up the majority of an upper-grade instructional day. It is important to remember that literacy is not just language arts but science and social studies, as well. Math can even be included, especially when it comes to math vocabulary!

There you have it…everything you need to know to at least get a feel for the science of reading. I will be digging deep into this topic over the next several months, so don’t feel like you need to be an expert at this (yet).

Next time, I will show you what the science of reading looks like in a real-life primary-grade classroom, as well as an upper-grade classroom. The blog will post on September 16, and the podcast episode will go live on September 17. Until then, check out these other blog posts about reading instruction:

Differentiated Literacy Centers: A Primary Teacher’s Guide
Picture Books: A Window into the World of SEL
Reading Workshop: An Introduction to Book Clubs for Elementary Students
Facilitating Elementary Book Club Discussion Meetings in 3 Easy Steps

5 Literacy Activities for the First Week of School

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development…

Kofi Annon

As many of you know, I am a literacy mentor along with being a classroom teacher. The quote above stresses the importance of literacy. Students are more likely to complete high school and attend college if they are reading at grade level by the third grade. Now, this is not to say that students will drop out of high school if they are below grade level. As educators, we have the tools to support all students, including our intervention kiddos.

I wanted to start out with the importance of literacy because this will be my primary focus this school year. I was fortunate enough to be part of a professional development conference around the science of reading this past summer. Therefore, I want to share what I have discovered with you all this coming school year.

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I feel strongly about pushing off the curriculum until at least the third week of school. Having said that literacy can and should be part of your back-to-school activities. In this blog post, I will go over 5 different ways that you can easily incorporate literacy into your first week of school plans.

You may be wondering…”What literacy activities should be included?”

The short answer is anything you want! Let me explain…

Think about the literacy strategies that you will regularly use during the school year. Keep in mind that literacy is not just ELA but also includes science and social studies. It can even include math! Math vocabulary is an important part of a literacy classroom. Once you have created a list of strategies you want your students to be familiar with, try to incorporate those strategies into some getting-to-know-you and classroom community activities.

If you are looking for a place to start, I will share my top 5 literacy activities in the list below.

1) Notice Wonder Infer (and Sometimes Evidence)

This simple chart (download your freebie below) can be used for almost anything! I have used it in grades K, 1, 4, 5, and 6. Students are taught to make observations, ask questions, and make inferences. An evidence column can also be added to justify those inferences. I use this strategy during the first day of school. In my class, as soon as kids walk in, they wander around the classroom jotting down what they see. They also jot down some questions they may have. Depending on the grade level you teach, you may want to consider asking them to make inferences based on their observations. This allows students to act on their curiosities regarding the classroom and also gives them the opportunity to practice a skill that will be used throughout the year. Make sure to teach them the following vocabulary words before starting this activity: notice, observe, wonder, question, and infer.

FREE-Notice-Wonder-Infer-Tables-for-Back-to-SchoolDownload

2) Think-Pair-Share/Turn and Talk/My Partner Said

Other popular teaching strategies are Think-Pair-Share, Turn and Talk, and My Partner Said. If you are not familiar with My Partner Said, it is a great idea for students who are reluctant to share out in class. Sometimes, especially with shy students, it can be difficult to share out in front of a group of kids. It is somewhat less daunting to share someone else’s ideas instead of sharing your own. If you plan on using any of these strategies, teach the kids during that first week. In my classroom, I also use a Group Share, where the team leader leads a conversation and then summarizes the group’s ideas during a class discussion. All three of these tactics are heavily practiced during the first week of school. It could be as simple as getting to know each other (i.e. student interviews) or as involved as team design challenges.

3) Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are, in my opinion, a MUST for the first week of school. For me, I use Thinking Maps in every subject. Therefore, I want my students to be familiar with them BEFORE starting the curriculum. The key here is to help students get to the point where they can choose their own graphic organizers based on the lesson objectives and/or target skills. How? By using academic vocabulary! I teach my students to look for specific academic vocab when selecting a graphic organizer. Take a look at the table below for a list of vocab and organizers.

Graphic OrganizerPictureVocabulary
Circle Mapdefine
brainstorm
identify
Bubble Mapdescribe
characteristics
qualities
properties
Double Bubble Mapsimilar
different
compare
contrast
differentiate
Tree Mapsort
group
list
classify
categorize
Flow Maporder
steps
summarize
sequence
Multi-Flow Mapprediction
cause and effect
impact
influence
Brace Mapparts
components
deconstruct
sub-categories
Bridge Mapanalogies
metaphors
how things relate
Graphic Organizers and Vocabulary

I use graphic organizers when we discuss positive character traits, how to be successful in class, and when learning how to collaborate. Sometimes we make class charts; other times we do a gallery walk where we add to several organizers; students also use these graphic organizers when working independently, in pairs, or in small groups. The possibilities are endless!

4) Read Alouds and Vocabulary

This may be an obvious choice, but picture books are a must for any back-to-school season. Although I believe that picture books and mentor texts should be included throughout the year, they are ideal for teaching SEL, especially at the start of the school year. What you may not have considered is including vocabulary in these read-alouds. When I plan a read-aloud, I first preview the book and choose 4-5 vocabulary words. I then assign a motion to those words to help students remember their meanings. Students do the motions every time they hear those words during the read-aloud. (Consider having students help choose the motions, especially once you have done this routine several times.) I included a list of books and vocabulary words in the table below should you need a place to start. This procedure can be used for any subject and with any book later in the year, so it’s ideal to practice this routine at the start. Looking for some book recommendations AND downloadable freebies? Check out this post.

BookCoverTheme/Target WordVocabulary
“Songbird”
by Jenn Larson		Dream
Goals		symphony
conductor
grandly
baton
“All Because You Matter”
by Tami Charles		Identity
Culture		matter
dreams
universe
“I Am Love”
by Susan Verde		Compassion
Friendship
Empathy		compassion
tenderness
gestures
gratitude
“All Are Welcome”
by Alexandra Penfold &
Suzanne Kaufman		Inclusion
Team		welcome
discover
diversity
adversity
“After the Fall”
by Dan Santat		Resilience
Perseverance
Learning from Mistakes		grand
accidents
terrified
Back-to-School Read-Alouds, Themes, and Vocabulary

5) Various Listening and Speaking Skills

I have found that most literacy classrooms target reading and writing very often. However, listening and speaking skills are often neglected, yet they are so important to success in any field. Back-to-school season is the perfect opportunity to introduce some of these speaking skills! Consider using Flipgrid so students can watch themselves practice these newfound skills. Whether it is tone of voice, pacing, eye contact, volume, or even nonverbal communication, I would encourage you to include mini-lessons on them in your back-to-school plans.

As you can see, literacy does not have to wait until you begin your curriculum. It can start as soon as day one! I fully believe that the first few weeks of school can either make or break your entire year. It is so critical to focus on those routines and procedures to ensure you have a successful year for your kids. This includes the routines you will use to support your literacy instruction.

As always, feel free to shoot me an email at melody@learning-n-progress.com if you want to brainstorm together. Next month, we will focus on the science of reading. I will introduce you to all 5 components and teach you what they look like in both a primary-grade and upper-grade classroom. Until then, keep learning!

Other Posts For Your Literacy Classroom

Differentiated Literacy Centers: A Primary Teacher’s Guide
Depth and Complexity Icons: Where Book Clubs Meet Advanced Learning
Launch Reading Workshop in 5 Easy Steps
Picture Books: A Window into the World of SEL