Heartland AEA Literacy Newsletter
November 2020
Looking to add decodable text to your classroom library?
Here are some sources to purchase decodable text that will assist your students by becoming fluent readers as they apply the skills taught in their phonics lessons. Then, try out the small group decodable text reading routine from Oregon Reading First Center.
Decodable text is a type of text used in beginning reading instruction. Decodable texts are carefully sequenced to progressively incorporate words that are consistent with the letter–sound relationships that have been taught to the new reader. This list of links, compiled by The Reading League, includes decodable text sources for students in grades K-2, 3-8, teens, and all ages.
Phonemic Awareness Resources
Best For All: Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program (Achieve the Core)
These grade-specific, daily phonemic awareness lessons are designed to supplement existing foundational skills instruction, providing engaging, multi-sensory experiences for K-2 students. For use with both whole-class instruction or small groups, these 15-minutes lessons can also be adapted to address unfinished learning for older students.
Bridge the Gap
A First Grade Teacher's Guide to Supporting Family Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills
Achieve the Core Family Guides
Seek Common Ground and Student Achievement Partners created Family Guides to help anyone supporting a child's learning in the 2020-21 school year learn more about what children should know and be able to do, grade by grade, in math and literacy. These guides provide information on the most important things students should be learning, and how to reinforce learning with everyday activities, tips for talking to teachers, and online resources.
Student Writing Samples
Annotated student writing samples illustrating the integration of content understanding and writing in the three types of writing expected by college- and career-ready standards, including the CCSS. The resources presented are from In Common: Effective Writing for All Students, authored by the Vermont Writing Collaborative with Student Achievement Partners and CCSSO. There are two types of resources available:
On-Demand Writing provides a progression of writing across grades (K–5 and 6–12); students have written independently to the same text-based prompt across grades.
Range of Writing provides multiple examples of student writing within a grade across a wide variety of content areas, curriculum units, conditions for writing, and purposes.
What are they exactly?
How should sight words be taught and practiced?
Teaching Sight Words as a Part of Comprehensive Reading Instruction
A New Model for Teaching High Frequency Words
Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. To do this, high-frequency words need to be categorized according to whether they are spelled entirely regularly or not. This article describes how to "rethink" teaching of high-frequency words.