Informed Literacy

Because every child deserves reading success

How to Help Emergent and Struggling Readers Develop Automaticity

by

Emergent reader reading a book

There are stages that Emergent and Struggling Readers must go through in order to develop automaticity at the word level. One thing that we are constantly reminded of as Reading Interventionists is that students don’t inherently know when to take their skills to the next level. Students must be shown when and how to move on. This is true for automaticity too!

In this post we will walk you through a real life example of moving a student from learning to apply phonics to reading with fluency. We’ll call this student Sam.

[Read more…]

Back to School: Getting to Know Your First Grade Readers

by

It’s Back to School time! Looking for some fun reading tips and activities your children will love? This post offers free printables that will make the first weeks of school a success for students and teachers!

Essential Back to School Assessments for Early Readers

Back to School is an exciting time for primary students! First graders tend to be even more excited about the first day of school than Kindergarten students. Like Kindergarten students, first graders come to school shiny and eager to learn.  They too benefit when the classroom teacher takes the time to establish routines and set consistent classroom rules.  And, more than likely, there will be several new faces so it’s imperative that time is spent on building relationships and social interactions.

While all that is going on during the busy Back to School season, the classroom teacher must familiarize him or herself with the reading skills of each of the students.  That’s no easy task.  We feel ya!

Back to School: Where does the classroom teacher begin?

[Read more…]

The Magic of Decodable Texts

by

 Decodable Texts Pin

Decodable Texts are a Powerful Tool

What’s the big deal about decodable texts?  

Approximately 20% of the population is prone to a language based learning disability.  For these learners, reading does not come ‘naturally’.  To meet with reading success, repeated opportunities to practice code are non-negotiable.  Systematic, sequential, and cumulative practice with the alphabetic system helps create the neural pathways in the brain necessary for reading.  Decodable texts provide this practice and help reinforce the understanding that code is not random.

Supporting systematic phonics instruction with decodable texts provides the opportunity for children to truly read with independence.

Well, what about the rest of the class?  Won’t they be bored with phonics instruction?

[Read more…]

The Alphabetic Principle

by

Alphabet tiles in a clear bowl

 

A Cornerstone for Reading Success

What is the Alphabetic Principle?

Along with phonemic awareness (the ability to blend and segment the sounds in words), the alphabetic principle is essential for reading success.  The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters and letter patterns represent sounds in the spoken language.

[Read more…]

Why Develop Phonemic Awareness in Emergent Readers?

by

Phonemic Awareness: A Prerequisite for Reading Success

Phonemic Awareness Pin

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic Awareness is an oral language skill that includes a number of discrete skills:

  • rhyming
  • isolating beginning, middle, and ending sounds
  • segmenting and blending phonemes
  • manipulating phonemes

Click here for more details on phonemic awareness.

Why is phonemic awareness important?

Phonemic Awareness is a critical building block, necessary for reading [Read more…]

Letter Sound Pronunciation & The Importance of Clipping Sounds

by

Helping Emergent Readers Pronounce Letter Sounds Correctly

Clipping Sounds Pin

What do you mean by there’s a right way and a wrong way to pronounce letters?

[Read more…]

How to Use Fluency Grids to Support Emergent Readers

by

Developing Automatic Recognition of Letters and Sounds

picture of a finger pointing to a fluency grid
Fluency Grid
To increase engagement (for some students), we use special pointers.

What are fluency grids?

Fluency grids are a simple tool that allows for targeted instruction.  After careful analysis of a letter-sound assessment, the teacher can create a fluency grid with 2-6 letters requiring additional practice.  When instructing emergent readers in letter/sound recognition (i.e. the alphabetic principle), the focus can be naming the letters and producing the sounds, naming the letters only, or producing the sounds only.  Each session is intensive, lasting only 5-10 minutes.

The following videos demonstrate how to use fluency grids effectively:

[Read more…]

Sight Words vs. Decodable Words

by

Helping Emergent Readers Understand the Difference

 

kid's finger pointing to a decodable word in a sentence scramble

How can I help my students learn the difference between decodable words and trick words?

***Updated 2021 to adhere to current research related to the Science of Reading***

After learning the letter names and sounds in isolation, beginning readers are often taught to decode closed syllable words (i.e. words that follow the CVC syllable pattern) such as: cat, dog, and lip. Initially, these readers often over-apply the closed pattern to every word they encounter.  Emergent readers may read like as lick or chop as /k/…/hop/.  At this initial stage of reading, it is important to teach a limited number of words as ‘trick’ words even if the word is phonetically regular.  A trick word, also known as a heart word, is a word that has a phonetically irregular component (i.e. of, the, said).  A trick word may also follow a phonetic pattern that has not yet been taught (i.e. see, bird). Later, as students learn additional syllable patterns and phonetic components, students can be taught to decode these types of words.

[Read more…]

Supporting Emergent Readers Through Successive Blending  

by

Helping Students Make the Sound-to-Print Connection

hand touching letters

What is successive blending?

Successive Blending is an instructional technique that provides a scaffold for students who are unable to sequence more than two sounds. For example, a student who would benefit from successive blending might read the word “tag” as “tap”, “ag”, or “got”, among other possibilities.  This suggests that the student is unable to remember all three sounds in order, thus requiring further support.

[Read more…]