Teaching Phonemic Awareness and Word Reading Skills

In this article from the International Dyslexia Association, Al Otaiba et al. emphasize the significance of evidence-based systematic and explicit instruction. They outline the typical process through which students grasp the alphabetic principle (the concept that words consist of distinct sounds). They also provide explanations of blending and segmenting instruction, accompanied by sample activities. The article also furnishes teachers with resources for explicit and systematic reading instruction as well as examples of explicit and systematic programs for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics.

Reading Road Trip: All Things Fluency with Dr. Jan Hasbrouck

In this IDA Ontario podcast featuring Kate Winn and Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, the focus is on the significance of reading fluency and its impact on students’ literacy development. Reading fluency, characterized by accuracy, rate, and prosody, plays a vital role in overall reading proficiency and comprehension. The podcast highlights the importance of assessing reading fluency effectively, and using research-backed approaches to supporting fluency development.

Partner Reading: A Class-Wide Reading Intervention That Works

This PaTTAN Webinar focuses on partner reading, a classwide intervention to improve students’ fluency. This is an intervention that can be used best in grades 2-8, but also possible in mid-year of grade 1. Lindsay Kemeny implemented this class-wide intervention in her grade 2 classroom and in just two weeks saw growth in her students’ ORF scores. In this webinar, Lindsay shows educators how to implement partner reading in the classroom and provide printable resources. 

Focused Oral Reading Practice: A New Approach

This webinar will support educators in determining oral reading fluency goals, specifically for accuracy and rate, and how to provide instruction for these goals in a small group setting.  Michael Hunter provides examples of assessment with a focus on accuracy, error tracking using decodable texts, and how to provide small group instruction to first improve accuracy followed by rate. This webinar will support educators of all grade levels working with students to improve oral reading fluency with connected text. 

Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word

This activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. They fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart” and write that tricky part again. 
Sample scripts are provided for the following words: saidfromhisofcould
This PDF includes 5 pages. Page 1 provides the overall directions, pages 2-4 provide the sample scripts and page 5 is the student spelling grid sheet.

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read

Put Reading First is a comprehensive guide to evidence-based reading instruction. Intended for educators and administrators, this guide aims to improve reading outcomes for children in the early grades.Chapter 1 provides an overview of the essential components of effective reading instruction, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Chapter 2 focuses on the critical early stages of reading development, emphasizing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics.Chapter 3 highlights the significance of developing automaticity and prosody in reading to enhance comprehension.Chapter 4 delves into the importance of vocabulary, teaching word meanings and strategies to foster word learning.Chapter 5 explains techniques for enhancing understanding, including active engagement, monitoring, and metacognition.Practical strategies for classroom instruction include using explicit and systematic phonics lessons, providing ample opportunities for guided oral reading, incorporating vocabulary-building activities, and promoting meaningful discussions to enhance comprehension.

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

Heart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren’t very decodable. There are 26 embedded videos in total. Each video explains the spelling pattern in a systematic and explicit manner in under 2 minutes.

Teaching Spelling to Intermediate Poor Spellers: Never Too Late

This PaTTAN webinar, “Teaching Spelling to Intermediate Poor Spellers: It’s Never Too Late,” with Dr. Louisa Moats, discusses explicit, structured language teaching for grades 3-5 students who struggle with spelling. Dr. Moats emphasizes understanding English orthography through five lenses: the language of origin, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, arbitrary letter order and sequence patterns, and morphology. She presents a case study of a dyslexic sixth-grade student and identifies phonological challenges and the need for instruction in advanced orthographic patterns and morphological structures. Poor phonology can hinder spelling, making the orthographic mapping process problematic. Dr. Moats suggests weaving phonological, orthographic, morphological, and syntactic layers together in instruction and providing practice for generalization. The webinar offers examples of lessons and activities to support struggling spellers, aiming to develop their spelling skills effectively.

Morphological Awareness and Second Language Learners

In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, Gloria Ramírez discusses the significance of morphological awareness in second language learners’ vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, providing valuable insights for educators. The article emphasizes that explicit and systematic instruction on morphological awareness can greatly benefit language learners, especially those facing reading difficulties. Educators can use the principles presented in the article to effectively teach students to identify smaller meaning units in complex words, enhancing their word reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Additionally, the article highlights the transferability of morphological awareness skills from the learners’ first to their second language, enabling educators to capitalize on their existing language skills to improve their vocabulary and reading comprehension in the target language. Educators can better support second language learners developing strong language and literacy skills by incorporating these principles into their instruction.