...because every child deserves reading success.
Emergent and Beginning Readers Benefit from Decodable Texts Emergent and beginning readers benefit from decodable texts, or phonetic readers, in several ways. But first, let us explain that decodable books are just one of three types of books to which young readers should have access. In addition to decodable texts, emergent and beginning readers should…
Phonics is NOT a Dirty Word Scientific, brain-based research supports explicit, sequential, and cumulative phonics instruction in the early grades. According to Louisa Moats, “[Phonics instruction] is so accepted in the scientific world that if you just write another paper about these fundamental facts and submit it to a journal they won’t accept it because it’s…
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…
Helping Emergent Readers Pronounce Letter Sounds Correctly What do you mean by there’s a right way and a wrong way to pronounce letters?
Developing Automatic Recognition of Letters and Sounds What are fluency grids? Fluency grids are a simple tool that provides targeted instruction for emergent readers. 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…
Systematic, Sequential, Cumulative, Explicit Every year, we inevitably encounter students with a similar reading profile. These are the students who score within the independent range for comprehension. However, oral reading fluency scores tend to indicate a need for support. Closer examination of fluency will likely reveal decreased accuracy with minimal self-corrections. Rate, however, may falsely…