Informed Literacy

Because every child deserves reading success

How Can I Help My K-2 Struggling Reader at Home?

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a family reading and helping a struggling reader

Many parents have reached out to us with the question of, “How can I help my struggling reader at home?” You have probably heard ad infinitum, ‘be sure to read to your child.’ Reading to your child is lovely AND necessary for so many reasons. But, that’s a different topic. If you are reading this post, you have probably made trips to the library and reading bedtime stories a common occurrence. You want to know what MORE you can do, because the practices you are currently engaging in just aren’t helping your child close the reading gap. Take heart. There are a lot of short, fun activities that parents can implement at home to strengthen the various components of structured literacy.

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The Magic of Decodable Texts

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 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?

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Why Develop Phonemic Awareness in Emergent Readers?

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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…]

Back to School: Getting to Know Your Second and Third Grade Readers

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Essential Decoding Assessments for Primary Readers

Getting to Know 2-3rd graders pin

Second and third grade is where the ‘rubber hits the road,’ so to speak. While much of kindergarten and first grade reading instruction focuses on learning to read through phonological awareness skills and applying the alphabetic principle, second and third grade begins the transition from ‘learning to read’ toward ‘reading to learn.’

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3 Summer Must Reads: Book Recommendations for Teachers of Reading

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It’s not too late to squeeze in a few more professional reads this summer!

3 Summer Must Reads 7-17

As mentioned in a previous book review post, teaching reading is an art-form. It is also a science. Here we discuss three more titles; each one addressing a different aspect of teaching reading: the art, the science, and the practical application.

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Supporting Emergent Readers Through Successive Blending  

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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.

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Targeted Intervention Builds Stronger Readers

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Using the Components of Literacy as a Guide

picture of a tighly bound rope with the words using the components of literacy as a guide

The framework for our blog is based upon The Cognitive Model created by Michael C. McKenna and Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl (2009).  The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension.  However, comprehension is contingent upon mastery of a series of critical components (i.e. fluency in context, oral language comprehension, and strategic knowledge).  Each of these components can be broken down into more finite skills.  For more information on the individual Components of Literacy, please click here.

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Making a Case for Word Study Instruction

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Systematic, Sequential, Cumulative, Explicit

Making a Case for Word Study

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 inflate the overall fluency score. This means that the student reads words quickly but incorrectly and does not stop to correct his errors. When comprehension is assessed, he is able to piece together reasonable responses using picture and context clues. What is he missing? You guessed it….phonics!

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