Pennington Publishing Blog

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many high school ELA teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for struggling readers at this age. Following are two complete lessons (free) to study and try out with your students. Lesson 5 is a beginning short vowel /u/ focus, and Lesson 40 is a more advanced diphthong /ow/ focus. The lessons are 90 minutes each and include initial instruction and weekly review activities.

Each word recognition (phonics) lesson includes these instructional routines and resources:

1. Phonemic and Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains:
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (Decodable texts on the lesson focus and review, featuring read alouds, comprehension questions, word fluency practice and timings, re-reads)
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 5 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 40 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

The author, Mark Pennington, is an MA reading specialist. Mark is happy to answer any questions about these lessons or how to implement SOR with your struggling readers. Email mark at mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

Grammar/Mechanics high school, phonics, phonics lessons, science of reading, science of reading lessons, science of reading programs

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many middle school ELA teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for struggling readers at this age. Following are two complete lessons (free) to study and try out with your students. Lesson 5 is a beginning short vowel /u/ focus, and Lesson 40 is a more advanced diphthong /ow/ focus. The lessons are 90 minutes each and include initial instruction and weekly review activities.

Each word recognition (phonics) lesson includes these instructional routines and resources:

1. Phonemic and Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains:
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (Decodable texts on the lesson focus and review, featuring read alouds, comprehension questions, word fluency practice and timings, re-reads)
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 5 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 40 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

The author, Mark Pennington, is an MA reading specialist. Mark is happy to answer any questions about these lessons or how to implement SOR with your struggling readers. Email mark at mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

Grammar/Mechanics middle school, phonics, phonics lessons, science of reading, science of reading lessons, science of reading programs

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many grade 6 teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for struggling readers in grade 6. Following are two complete lessons (free) to study and try out with your students. Lesson 5 is a beginning short vowel /u/ focus, and Lesson 40 is a more advanced diphthong /ow/ focus. The lessons are 90 minutes each and include initial instruction and weekly review activities.

Each word recognition (phonics) lesson includes these instructional routines and resources:

1. Phonemic and Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains:
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (Decodable texts on the lesson focus and review, featuring read alouds, comprehension questions, word fluency practice and timings, re-reads)
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 5 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 40 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

The author, Mark Pennington, is an MA reading specialist. Mark is happy to answer any questions about these lessons or how to implement SOR with your struggling readers. Email mark at mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

Grammar/Mechanics grade 6 teachers, phonics, phonics lessons, science of reading, science of reading lessons, science of reading programs

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many grade 5 teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for struggling readers in grade 5. Following are two complete lessons (free) to study and try out with your students. Lesson 5 is a beginning short vowel /u/ focus, and Lesson 40 is a more advanced diphthong /ow/ focus. The lessons are 90 minutes each and include initial instruction and weekly review activities.

Each word recognition (phonics) lesson includes these instructional routines and resources:

1. Phonemic and Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains:
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (Decodable texts on the lesson focus and review, featuring read alouds, comprehension questions, word fluency practice and timings, re-reads)
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 5 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 40 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

The author, Mark Pennington, is an MA reading specialist. Mark is happy to answer any questions about these lessons or how to implement SOR with your struggling readers. Email mark at mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

Grammar/Mechanics grade 5 teachers, phonics, phonics lessons, science of reading, science of reading lessons, science of reading programs

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many grade 4 teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for struggling readers in grade 4. Following are two complete lessons (free) to study and try out with your students. Lesson 5 is a beginning short vowel /u/ focus, and Lesson 40 is a more advanced diphthong /ow/ focus. The lessons are 90 minutes each and include initial instruction and weekly review activities.

Each word recognition (phonics) lesson includes these instructional routines and resources:

1. Phonemic and Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains:
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (Decodable texts on the lesson focus and review, featuring read alouds, comprehension questions, word fluency practice and timings, re-reads)
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 5 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

CLICK TO VIEW LESSON 40 GOOGLE SLIDES AND PRINT VERSIONS

The author, Mark Pennington, is an MA reading specialist. Mark is happy to answer any questions about these lessons or how to implement SOR with your struggling readers. Email mark at mark@penningtonpublishing.com.

Grammar/Mechanics grade 4 teachers, phonics, phonics lessons, science of reading, science of reading lessons, science of reading programs

Teachers often ask which assessments are appropriate for screening, placement, and diagnosis. This reading intervention flow chart should offer some guidance. All assessments are free to use! Most include audio files and Google forms for easy administration and grading. All but one assessment (the fluency) is administered whole-class. Visit the author’s Pennington Publishing store for corresponding instructional resources.

Click https://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Reading-Intervention-Flow-Chart.pdf  to access all links on the Reading Intervention Flow Chart.

Grammar/Mechanics free reading assessments, MTSS, reading intervention, reading intervention flow chart, RTI

Reading Intervention Checklist

Fitting together all the puzzle pieces for an effective reading intervention program, grounded in both strands of Scarborough’s reading rope, can be challenging. A simple Reading Intervention Checklist may provide teachers with a well-deserved pat on the back or provoke an instructional adjustment or two.

“Teaching reading is rocket science,” Louisa C. Moats says. Like a rocket, effective Tier 2 and 3 reading intervention for older students has plenty of moving parts. If parts are left out of the design, Tom Hank’s “Houston, we have a problem” is more than likely the consequence.

The following Reading Intervention Checklist serves as a diagnostic tool to answer, “What instructional components should be included in a research-based reading intervention program for older students?” The checklist is comprised of program sample links to The Science of Reading Intervention Program resources. Samples include both Google slides for teachers and students and print versions.

The Science of Reading Intervention Program has been specifically designed for grades 4-adult students in Tier 2 and 3 reading intervention; ELL, SPED, and adult literacy. The flexible, scripted (no prep), and accelerated program resources focus on both stands of Scarborough’s Reading Rope: word recognition and language comprehension.

Reading Intervention Checklist

Word Recognition (Phonemic Awareness, Spelling, Phonics) 
CLICK TO SEE THE QUICK VIDEO OVERVIEW

1. Phonemic and/or Morphological Awareness
2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling
3. Sounds and Spellings and Heart Words Practice
4. Say It! Spell It! Read It! Word Chains
5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books
6. Elkonin Sound Box Dictations, Personal Sound Walls, and Morphology Walls

Language Comprehension  
CLICK TO SEE THE QUICK VIDEO OVERVIEW

1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts
2. Vocabulary and Morphology
3. Syntax in Reading
4. Reading Comprehension Strategies
5. Literacy Knowledge, Elements, Genre

Assessment-based Instruction 
CLICK TO SEE THE QUICK VIDEO OVERVIEW

Whole Class Diagnostic Assessments with Corresponding Lessons

*****

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

Grammar/Mechanics comprehension programs, phonics programs, reading intervention programs, Tier 2 reading intervention, tier 3 reading intervention programs

AT&T Archives, Britannica Online

Reading Rules versus Patterns?

If you’re a child of the ‘60s… strike that. If you’re a human being other than a teacher, the word “rules” tends to have a negative, or at least a mixed, connotation. Being a reading podcast and webinar addict, the “r” word is a frequent subject among two prevailing approaches to teaching reading: speech to print and print to speech. As a gross generalization (rule?), adherents to the former tend to be anti-rule, and practitioners of the latter tend to be pro-rule.

Although I have gained much from the speech to print approach to reading instruction, I find the anti-rules focus to be much ado about nothing. I recently benefitted from a wonderful set of reading intervention video trainings by an anti-rule advocate. Throughout the video series, the presenter used every synonym for “rule” in the thesaurus e.g., “generally,” “usually,” “almost always,” “most often,” “hardly never,” to teach students how to become flexible, problem-solving readers.

Now, we can certainly overly-complicate reading instruction with too many rules. We’ve all seen reading and spelling programs which major in the minors. However, my take is that reading, spelling, and syllable rules (or patterns, which I prefer) do have value. As the presenter repeated several times: “We are pattern-seeking machines.” Of course, Abe Lincoln is not all there in the featured visual; however, it doesn’t take a Gestalt theorist to complete the pattern.

If you’re a baseball fan, you understand the importance of rules. In baseball, the “rule” is that the first pitch to a batter is a fastball. Good major league batters expect the fastball and adjust to the curve, change-up, slider, etc. Poor batters apply no statistical learning and are soon sent down to the minors.

Likewise, identifying and applying reading and writing rules facilitates statistical learning. Sure, the consonant-final e makes the preceding vowel a long sound is not exactly 100%. However, it’s a good starting point to begin set for variability cueing. And we all know, as do our students, that even the best rules have exceptions.

Let’s not ditch all rules. Such a solution is worse than the problem.

Check out the author’s Eight Conventional Spelling Rules, each with a catchy song.

Grammar/Mechanics reading rules, spelling rules, syllable rules