Pennington Publishing Blog

Six Vocabulary Program Goals

I’m Mark Pennington, reading specialist and author of the popular grade-level vocabulary programs, titled Comprehensive Vocabulary Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. As I was sharing resources and research about vocabulary programs online, I came across numerous reading, ELL, SPED, and English-language arts Facebook groups posts and comments which asserted that vocabulary programs were unnecessary, and even counter-productive. That sentiment can’t be good for my vocabulary programs.

So, to change the direction of that battleship and convince a few teachers that vocabulary programs could be beneficial, I went for the big guns—the always quotable Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Professor Emeritus from the University of Chicago and chief researcher of the National Reading Panel. I came across Tim’s “The Six Goals for an Ideal Vocabulary Curriculum” in his Shanahan on Literacy blog from January 13, 2020 (https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/the-six-goals-of-an-ideal-vocabulary-curriculum).

So, how do my Comprehensive Vocabulary programs stack up, according to Tim’s criteria? Having never read Tim’s article, I was pleased to find that my resources were perfectly aligned to his “Six Goals.” I wrote to Dr. Shanahan for permission to reprint his article in this format: black font for the professor and red font for my comments and vocabulary program comparisons. Approval granted.

Teacher question:

Could you recommend a strong vocabulary curriculum that my school could adopt?

Shanahan responds:

Because I work with various companies, I never recommend particular programs.

However, while there are vocabulary programs, this is an area where teachers are often expected to go their own way. Given that, let me suggest the scope of an outstanding vocabulary curriculum. My focus here is on what needs to be taught, rather than on the instructional approaches needed to accomplish this.

Overall, an ideal vocabulary curriculum would encourage the teaching of six things.

First, the ideal vocabulary curriculum would aim to increase students’ knowledge of the meanings of specific words. Vocabulary knowledge is closely correlated with reading comprehension (Nation, 2009), and there are studies in which words have been taught thoroughly enough to raise reading comprehension (NICHD, 2000). Knowing the meanings of words matters.

Vocabulary can be learned both from explicit teaching and implicitly from any interaction with language, and reading can be an especially target-rich environment for that. A curriculum, of course, would mainly focus on the explicit part of the equation. It would specify the words thought to be valuable for kids’ learning – the one’s we’d monitor to see if progress was being made.

Exactly. Enough of the “Vocabulary should solely be taught in the context of authentic literature” or “All vocabulary acquisition is gained implicitly through free-choice independent reading.” Vocabulary programs have their place.

This part of a vocabulary curriculum would include collections of words. The words in these collections should be worth learning (that simply means they should appear in print frequently so that knowing them is advantageous), and they should be worth the instructional time (which means that students at this grade level wouldn’t know them already). There needs to be a scope and sequence of these words so that teachers at different grade levels won’t keep teaching and reteaching the same words over and over.

Essential. In my grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary programs, Greek and Latin morphemes have been selected according to high frequency research studies. The academic vocabulary (academic language) words have been chosen from the research-based Academic Word List.

Given the length of a school year, the numbers of words students are likely to retain, and the demands of review, I’d aim to teach about 150 words per year (students will learn more than that due to implicit learning).

I love Dr. Shanahan’s specificity–precisely the practical information every teacher wants to know in choosing vocabulary programs. Each of my grade-level programs features 168 words.

Second, an ideal vocabulary curriculum would include a list of key morphemes to be taught; prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms. Research supports the value of such teaching (Bowers, Kirby, & Deacon, 2010). But, unfortunately, it doesn’t provide clarity with regard to how many such elements to teach, so I can’t estimate as I did with words.

Each grade-level program provides 56 key morphemes, paired as memorable anchor words. 

As usual, it makes the greatest sense to teach those morphological elements that are most frequent and there need to be grade level agreements so everybody isn’t teaching pre- and -able while no one familiarizes the kids with -re and -ment.

Download the FREE Vocabulary Instructional Sequence at the end of this article to see the high frequency Greek and Latin morphemes (and other word collections) in each grade-level program.

Third, an important part of vocabulary learning is developing an ability to use context to determine meanings of unknown words. Good readers can both figure the meanings of words they’ve never encountered previously, and they can decide which of a word’s meanings is the relevant one in a given context (you don’t want kids thinking that the Gettysburg Address refers to where Lincoln stayed when he visited Pennsylvania).

Most reading programs don’t do enough with this, so we should not be surprised that students do such poor job of it. Research (Schatz & Baldwin, 1986) found that odds of students getting words right from context was pretty random. Middle schoolers were as likely to light on an opposite meaning as they were a correct definition! A word like “ebony” was interpreted as meaning white as often as black.

Basically, we spend too much time preteaching words before reading, but not enough on close questioning to determine whether they’ve interpreted a word correctly. We certainly do not invest enough in showing students how to use context when reading. That would be an important part of an ideal vocabulary curriculum, and it would be taught during the various forms of guided or directed reading activities.

Teachers teach; not texts. A bit of hyperbole, but all instruction is reductive. Often, stories include specialized vocabulary which is rarely used in other texts. Or non-fiction may feature domain-specific Tier 3 words, which must be explained, but not practiced to the mastery levels that Tier 2 words necessitate.

My Comprehensive Vocabulary worksheets include analogies (I call them “Word Relationships”), which require students to apply the SALE Context Clue Categories to define one word in terms of another. Here’s an example:

Word Relationships Item to Category Directions: Write one or two sentences using both vocabulary words. Use SALE (Synonym, Antonym, Logic, Example) context clues to show the related meanings of each word.

–descendant (n) Someone who is related to a specific ancestor.
–relative (n) A family member by blood or marriage.

Fourth, whatever happened to the dictionary? One key element in learning to deal with vocabulary is the learning how to find out the meanings of a word. These days that’s a bit more complicated than when I was in school, given the availability of multiple online dictionaries, pop-up dictionaries, and the like. Students should be taught to use these resources throughout the elementary grades as appropriate. There are also specialized dictionaries, like science dictionaries or history dictionaries; those should be the province of high schools.

Dictionary instruction appears to be a lost art. Students need to know how dictionaries work, how to identify the appropriate definition from a dictionary entry, what to do when they don’t understand a definition, and so on.

Often overlooked, the Common Core State Standards in Language 4.C include instruction and practice in these language resources:

“Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech” (https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/).

My Comprehensive Vocabulary worksheets provide this instruction and practice. Using the lesson’s Greek and Latin anchor word (two morphemes), students consult dictionaries and thesauruses to “divide the vocabulary word into syl/la/bles, mark its primary áccent, list its part of speech, and write its primary definition.” Additionally, students provide synonyms, antonyms, or examples found in the language resources.

Fifth, students need to develop a sense of diction, both as readers (or listeners) and as writers (or speakers). Words are complex and nuanced. They not only carry the declarative meanings that appear in dictionaries, but they convey attitudes and feelings. It matters whether you “question” your students or if you “interrogate” them.

As with the teaching of use of context, this part of the instruction is likely to make the greatest sense if it is linked to comprehension or communication. Students need to improve in their ability to discern author’s perspective or shades of meaning based on the author’s choice of words and for older students it is critical that they come to recognize how word choice influences bias. Such learning may not entail the development of new vocabulary, but the ability to implications of vocabulary already known.

My Comprehensive Vocabulary worksheets help students understand and apply the nuances in related word meanings on semantic spectrums. The lesson’s two focus vocabulary words (either synonyms or antonyms in some degree) are paired with two Tier 1 (already known) words. Here’s an example:

Connotations Shades of Meaning Directions: Write the vocabulary words where they belong on the Connotation Spectrum.

–lethargic (adj) One who acts tired, slow, and lazy.
–industrious (adj) One who works very hard.

←←← lazy ______________ busy ______________ →→→

Sixth, students need to develop a word conscience (or they need to learn the metalinguistic aspects of vocabulary (Nagy, 2007)). Here, I can’t tell you much from research. However, as someone who regularly reads text in a language that I cannot speak and who reads in many fields of study that I’m not especially well versed in (e.g., economics, physics, chemistry, biology, communications, political science), I have become quite aware of the importance of vocabulary conscience.

Good readers – in this case, readers who handle vocabulary well – need to be aware of when they do not know the meaning of a word. If you aren’t conscious that you don’t actually know a word’s meaning, then you are going to have comprehension problems (for instance, do you really know what “accost” or “voluptuous” mean?). If you are unaware of your ignorance, then you won’t be skeptical of your use of context, you won’t know when to turn to the dictionary, or that morphological analysis might be a good idea.

Here I will add components to Dr. Shanahan’s discussion of word conscience: idiomatic expressions e.g., “He walked through the door” and figures of speech e.g., “She was my rock.” The Common Core authors include these language and literary devices in Language 5.A, and my Comprehensive Vocabulary worksheets feature these essential language components.

Up to one-third of spoken vocabulary is comprised of these expressions. I can vouch for the accuracy of this fraction from my own experience. Years ago, after taking Spanish classes each year of middle school, high school, and college, I moved to Mexico City to study at the National University (UNAM) and refine my Spanish fluency. I read with understanding; however, lectures and daily conversations were maddeningly incomprehensible. It took time to layer on these informal, but integral, language components.

Word conscience also includes recognizing when it’s okay not to worry about a word meaning. Often, I can gain understand what I need from a text, without knowing the meaning of every word. Recognizing when I can safely (and ignorantly) proceed, and when I’d better do a bit more work, is an important distinction that good readers make.

This aspect of vocabulary knowledge also governs what I do when I don’t know all the words and have no tools to solve them. Sometimes readers just need to power through, making sense of as much of a text as possible, accepting that they aren’t getting it all since they don’t know all the words. Sometimes 50% understanding just has to be better than 0%. Too many readers encounter a couple of unknown words and call it day. Vocabulary conscience includes the development of reading stamina in low vocabulary knowledge situations

Of course, this sounds like six discrete areas of learning, but there is nothing discrete about them. Those words that are taught explicitly could also be the source for morphological study.  Words the students struggled to figure out from context could be added to the memorization list and any words that students know could become the focus of lessons on diction. Any of these can be confronted in reading, writing, or oral language instruction, too, and simply encouraging an interest in words belongs here, too.

What would be the ideal vocabulary curriculum? One that increases the numbers of valuable words that students know, that increases their ability to define words from morphology and context, that fosters an awareness of meaning and diction, that enhances the ability to use appropriate reference tools, and that encourages metalinguistic awareness and sensitivity when dealing with word meanings.

Thank you, Dr. Shanahan. And for my readers, preview my vocabulary programs in their entirety to see if you agree with me that Comprehensive Vocabulary Grade 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 check off all his boxes for “ideal vocabulary programs.”

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary Comprehensive Vocabulary, Tim Shanahan, vocabulary programs

Thought I’d share my grades 4–8 comprehensive vocabulary instructional sequence. Includes multiple meanings, Greek and Latin morphology, word relationships, figures of speech, connotations, and academic language: Grades 4-8 Vocabulary Instructional Sequence

All too often we tend to teach the same content over and over again, or we skip teaching the content because we assume the previous grade-level teacher “must have covered it.” We generally work well in grade-level teams, but rarely have the chance to plan with other teachers at the same school, the previous or next school, or among departments and special programs. This document remedies these realities with systematic and coordinated vocabulary content. Note that although it tells teachers “what to teach”; it does not tell teachers “how to teach it.” The “what to teach” vocabulary instructional sequence aligns perfectly with the Common Core Standards L. 4, 5, and 6.

The vocabulary instructional sequence planning document provides specific vocabulary words to teach each instructional vocabulary component (except figures of speech) for twice-per-week explicit vocabulary instruction. Words have been chosen according to frequency studies when possible. The instructional components mirror the old Common Core Anchor Standards for Language L. 4, 5, and 6. Although many have faulted areas of the Common Core State Standards and states have tended to adopt their own standards, I’ve never heard any complaints about the vocabulary standards. After all, who would have issues with contributing author, Isabel Beck and colleagues? https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/domain/219/ccss%20docs/ELA%20Appendix%20A.pdf

The vocabulary instructional sequence also corresponds to my grades 4-8 Comprehensive Vocabulary programs. What a great vertical alignment with the separate grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 programs! No repeats.

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Here’s how your students will master each slice of the vocabulary pie with one or more of these grade-level programs:

Multiple Meanings

Students practice grade-level homonyms (same spelling and sound) in context clue sentences which show the different meanings and function (part of speech) for each word.

Greek and Latin Morphology

Three criteria were applied to choose the grade-level prefixes, bases, and suffixes:

1. Frequency research 2. Utility for grade-level Tier 2 words 3. Word Part Memory Pairs

Each odd-numbered vocabulary worksheet pairs a Greek or Latin prefix-base or base-suffix combination to enhance memorization and to demonstrate utility of the Greek and Latin word parts.

Students review spelling patterns (orthography), pronunciations, and meanings in Google slides (or print) by creating word matrices with drag and drop prefixes, bases, and suffixes and spelling the Greek and Latin word parts, using word sums.

Students add each of the 54 Greek and Latin word parts to personal Greek and Latin Morphology Walls, lesson by lesson, and drag and drop to create new academic language words with the word parts that have mastered to orthographic memory.

Language Resources

Students look up the Greek and Latin whole word in a dictionary (print or online) to compare and contrast their educated guesses to the denotative definition of the word. Students divide the vocabulary word into syl/la/bles, mark its primary áccent, list its part of speech, and write its primary definition.

Additionally, students write synonyms, antonyms, or inflected forms of the word, using either the dictionary or thesaurus (print or online). This activity helps students develop a more precise understanding of the word.

Figures of Speech

Students learn a variety of figures of speech (non-literal expression used by a certain group of people). The Standards assign specific types of figures of speech to each grade level. Students must interpret sentences which use the figures of speech on the biweekly unit tests.

Word Relationships

Students use context clue strategies to figure out the different meanings of homonyms in our Multiple Meaning Words section. In the Word Relationships section, students must apply context clues strategies to show the different meanings of word pairs. After students have mastered decoding, the program’s Context Clues Strategies will help students problem-solve the meanings of unknown words in their reading.

Students learn two new grade-level vocabulary words which have similar denotative meanings, but different connotative meanings. From the provided definitions, students write these new words on a semantic spectrum to fit in with two similar words, which most of your students will already know. For example, the two new words, abundant and scarce would fit in with the already known words, plentiful and rare in this semantic order: abundant–plentiful–scarce–rare.

Academic Language

Tier 2 words (academic vocabulary) should be a key focus of vocabulary instruction. The Academic Language section of the vocabulary lessons provides two grade-level words from the research-based Academic Word List. Students use the Frayer model four square (definition, synonym, antonym, and example-characteristic-picture) method to learn these words. The Common Core authors and reading specialists (like me) refer to this process as learning vocabulary with depth of instruction. And, yes, there is a research-based vocabulary instructional sequence.

Vocabulary Study Guides

Vocabulary study guides align with the vocabulary instructional sequence and are provided for each of the weekly paired lessons for whole-class review, vocabulary games, and individual practice. Print back-to-back and have students fold to study.

Vocabulary Tests

Biweekly vocabulary tests assess both memorization and application. The first section of each test is simple matching. The second section of each test requires students to apply the vocabulary in the writing context. Answers follow.

Syllable Blending, Syllable Worksheets, and Derivatives Worksheets

Whole class syllable blending “openers” will help your students learn the rules of structural analysis, including proper pronunciation, syllable division, accent placement, and derivatives. Each “opener” includes a Syllable Worksheet and a Derivatives Worksheet for individual practice. Answers follow.

Context Clues Strategies

Students learn how to look to surrounding word clues to decipher the meanings of unknown words. Context clue worksheets will help students master the Context Clue Strategies.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use Resources

Greek and Latin word parts lists, vocabulary review games, vocabulary steps, and semantic spectrums provide additional vocabulary instructional resources and support the vocabulary instructional sequence.

Students who complete each of the Comprehensive Vocabulary Grades 4–8 grade-level programs will have practiced and learned much of the Academic Word Corpus and all of the skills of vocabulary acquisition. These students will have gained a comprehensive understanding of academic language and will be well-equipped to apply the skills of context clues strategies and structural analysis to read well and write with precision. The vocabulary instructional sequence will ensure that your students make grade-to-grade progress.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Spelling/Vocabulary Academic Language, morphology, vocabulary programs

FREE Google Slide Reading Games

Grades 4-adult reading intervention teachers need efficient, evidence-based instructional resources, such as these free sounds to print phonics games, to accelerate reading and spelling acquisition. Students play the games on interactive Google slides as review activities after systematic phonics and spelling instruction. The 54 slides, each with 4 games and a spelling dictation, have been designed to combine phonemic segmentation, blending, and manipulation, letter sounds knowledge, decoding, spelling, vocabulary, and sentence construction. Now that’s efficient practice!

The no prep games begin with the basic code: CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC, CVCe, CVVC for activities 1–24. Slides 25–55 cover advanced phonics with multi-syllabic words: vowel digraphs, consonant-final e, diphthongs, r-controlled vowels, schwa, and Greek and Latin influences. Whereas other switch it, word ladder, word chain activities only change one letter, the advanced phonics, multi-syllabic slides require not one, but two or more switches. More challenging for older reading intervention students! Since these games are whole class review activities, start on the slides which match your instruction and play some or all of the games as time permits. Plus, the Google slides are shared as editable files. Add, delete, or substitute to customize as you wish!

The CHANGE IT! SOUNDS CHALLENGE! SOUND JUMBLES! and WHAT’S MISSING? phonics games are ready to play. Simply display the focus Google slide and share the same slide with your students. Easy-to-follow scripted teaching directions accompany the slides. The directions follow the sounds to print Hear it! Say it! Spell it! and Read It! approach. Not sure which sounds-spellings practice and game slides your students need? Check out my free vowel and consonant sounds phonics assessment and the comprehensive diagnostic spelling assessment (available in both American and Canadian English versions). Click Diagnostic Literacy Assessments.

Sounds to Print Phonics Games

Teaching Script for Sounds to Print Phonics Games

CHANGE IT! WORDS

1. The word is _____. Word?
2. Say the sounds as you drag the cards down (first word).
3. Say the sounds as you change ‘em around (rest of the words)
4. Check the display and make yours like mine.
5. Let’s say the sounds (point to each sound).
6. Let’s blend the sounds. Word?
7. Who can use this word in a sentence?

SOUNDS CHALLENGE! Drag the cards down as you hear these sounds.

SOUND JUMBLES! Drag the cards down as you hear the sounds; then change ‘em around.

WHAT’S MISSING? Drag the cards down as you hear the sounds, and add what’s missing.

SPELL IT ! Let’s spell the words.

Check out the YouTube Video Overview to see the four games in action, then grab these free resources for your students.

FREE Sounds to Print Phonics Games (Directions and Google Slides)

Get the Sounds to Print Phonics Games FREE Resource:

Mark Pennington is the author of The Science of Reading Intervention Program for grades 4-adult reading intervention. The comprehensive year-long program consists of three components (offered separately or as a BUNDLE): Word Recognition (Word Recognition Preview) with the Sam and Friends decodables (first 18 weeks); and Language Comprehension and Assessment-Based Instruction (last 18 weeks). Accelerated and efficient sounds to print (synthetic/linguistic) instruction, coupled with all the “other side of the rope” instruction. Written by a teacher (MA reading specialist) for teachers and their students, this no advance training, no prep, minimal correction, scripted program is ideal for new and/or veteran teachers. Check out the teacher testimonials and program samples.

Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary ELL activities, ESL activities, Google slide phonics, Mark Pennington, phonics, phonics games, reading intervention, reading strategies, response to intervention, Sounds to Print Phonics Games, spelling games, The Science of Reading

Why are these comprehensive reading assessments free? Ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Altruism and Capitalism

As a recently retired reading specialist, I remain passionate about helping older students who struggle with reading. It’s why I went back for my masters degree years ago. I was teaching high school history and English and many kids struggled with the textbook and anthology. I want teachers to have the tools that I have developed to specifically diagnose what students need to learn to become successful readers, irrespective of whether teachers purchase my programs or not.

Some 15 years ago I began this blog to promote my fledgling publishing business. I posted a free download for my Vowel Sounds Phonics Assessment, which was already being used by quite a few school districts in Northern California. I got quite a few sales of my related reading curriculum as a result. It got me thinking. Since I had (and still have) an advertising budget of $0.00, perhaps I should offer all my diagnostic assessments free of charge. My rationale was (and is) if teachers find the assessments to be reliable and valid measurements of their students specific strengths and weaknesses, they will want to buy programs which are perfectly matched to the assessments.

Why are these diagnostic reading assessments labeled in the title of this article, “Reading Assessments for Middle and High School”?

After 20 or so responses, arguing the benefits and drawbacks of the PAST phonemic awareness screener, Josie responded to the thread once again:

I responded, Josie, no one will answer your question; I will. The PAST is terrific, but takes about 5 minutes per student with transitions. Fine for a group of 15 kids in an early-late elementary intervention, but not fine for middle school, high school reading intervention classes of 30 plus each. You would be spending over 8 hours giving the PAST, and your eighth graders would be climbing the walls or destroying them by then.

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards and speech articulation songs. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Middle and High School ELA Teachers: Get the Diagnostic Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Assessments with Final Exam FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics, Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary diagnostic fluency assessment, diagnostic grammar assessment, diagnostic phonemic awareness assessment, diagnostic phonics assessment, diagnostic reading assessment, diagnostic spelling assessment, free diagnostic assessment

Having recently reviewed Literary Resources LLC Bridge the Gap (Heggerty), I wanted to share my own approach to teaching phonemic awareness to older kids. My reading interventions provide a 5 minute daily phonemic awareness activity, designed for students ages 8-adult in reading intervention. Given that phonemic awareness is essential to decoding and that older students who struggle with reading generally lack this ability to hear and manipulate discrete speech sounds.

“There is no age where a student is ‘too old’ for phonemic awareness training‒if the skills have not been mastered, the student should get training” (Kilpatrick, David A., 2016, Equipped for Reading Success).

By providing an instructional alternative to the Heggerty program, I want to assure you that nothing is wrong with the Bridge the Gap program; however, it is an add-on instructional component. In contrast, the 5 minute phonemic awareness instruction is the first of 5 Daily Google Slide Activities in my two reading intervention programs and seamlessly integrates the focus phonemes into the second activity i.e., Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling. For example, if introducing the long /e/ sound-spellings in the second activity, the example words used, say in phoneme isolation, will include those long /e/ sounds. For my money, the more connected the program components, the better students master the instructional objectives. My integrated phonemic activities seem to apply the following recommendations to the letter:

According to Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman, “Instruction that enhances awareness of speech sounds is relevant for older students who are inattentive to the internal details of spoken words. These students may show all the symptoms listed for younger students, including poor spelling, inaccurate decoding of new words, mispronunciation of words, and difficulty remembering or recalling new words. Direct teaching with a vowel chart and a consonant chart is quite possible with students at fourth grade and up, and many can improve substantially in PA with structured practice” (Reading Rockets).

I provide two evidence-based reading intervention programs for older students: 1. Teaching Reading Strategies (Intervention Program) 2. The Science of Reading Intervention Program. The first is a comprehensive, full-year word recognition and language comprehension program (55 minutes per day). The second is the word recognition component of the first and can be implemented as a semester class (55 minutes) or a pull-out or early-late option for the whole year (30 minutes per day).

Both programs include the interactive 5 Daily Google Slide Activities (print copies also work just fine). Each of the 54 Google slide activities include practice with phoneme isolation, addition, deletions, substitution, manipulation, segmentation, and reversals. The teacher completes 3 of these lessons per week (typically Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). The teacher displays the slide for in-class instruction or shares the screen for ZOOM instruction, reads the slide information, and provides cues for unison responses. No prep required. Only teacher slides are provided for this activity. If you would like to preview the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities, including the phonemic awareness drills, check out this video.

The Science of Reading Program Phonemic Awareness Activities

The first 6 lessons focus on phonological awareness, the alphabetic code, and the history of the English language. These lessons also include links to the Animal Chants YouTube videos. The Vowel Valley Animal Chant and the Consonant Sounds Animal Chant introduce students to the proper mouth positions and sound articulations for each of the English phonemes with catchy songs and rhymes. The rest of the lessons focus on the previous day’s sound-spellings, and so provide excellent review and practice with these phonemes.

These daily lessons are profitable for all ages 8-adult struggling readers. However, some of your students will require additional concentrated phonemic awareness instruction. Plus, if teaching a full-year reading intervention program, some of your students will have been assigned to your care later in the year and will not have had the benefit of the daily lessons. For these students, the diagnostic Phonemic Awareness Assessments (see below to receive a free download right in your mailbox) will produce the relevant data to determine what needs to be taught to whom, and just as importantly, what does not need to be taught to whom. The comprehensive Teaching Reading Strategies (Intervention Program) provides the individualized or small group instructional activities students need to master phonemic awareness.

Teaching Reading Strategies

The Teaching Reading Strategies (Intervention Program) is designed for non-readers or below grade level readers ages eight–adult. This full-year, 55 minutes per day program provides both word recognition and language comprehension instructional resources (Google slides and print). Affordable, easy-to- teach, and science of reading-based, featuring the Sam and Friends Phonics Books–decodables designed for older students. The word recognition activities and decodables are also available as a half-year option in The Science of Reading Intervention Program.

PREVIEW TEACHING READING STRATEGIES and THE SCIENCE OF READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM RESOURCES HERE. 

Get the Phonemic Awareness Assessments FREE Resource:

Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary Bridge the Gap, Heggerty, Kilpatrick phonemic awareness, phonemic awareness, phonemic awareness activities, phonemic awareness assessments, phonemic awareness for reading intervention, phonological awareness

How to Teach Heart Words

Want to watch how I teach two Heart Words to older reading intervention students and lead them in guided practice? Check out my “real-time” (7:52) lesson on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssa5S7Qq6sA

English often is referred to as a difficult language to learn to speak, read, and spell because of its irregular sound-spellings. However, contrary to this assumption, the English orthographic system is actually quite regular and reliable. Of course, there are exceptions, but not as many as teachers generally think.

One helpful development from the Science of Reading movement has been the refinement of some reading instructional terminology. One such term that has come to some degree of consensus is Heart Words. A Heart Word is usually defined as a word with one or more irregular sound-spellings. One important point should be emphasized: In Heart Words, the whole word is not phonetically irregular; only a part or parts is irregular. In other words, “the parts to learn by heart.”

On the Reading Rockets website, Linda Farrell and Michael Hunter summarize their helpful study on the Dolch 220 list of high frequency words. Of the 220 words, 82 were identified as Heart Words (37%).  https://www.readingrockets.org/article/new-model-teaching-high-frequency-words

How to Teach Heart Words: Say It! Spell It! Read It! Instructional Sequence

1. Segmenting

2. Spelling

3. Blending

4. Heart Words Guided Practice

5. Decodable practice

6. Assess and target instruction! Download the FREE 108 High Frequency Heart Words Assessment at the end of this article to help you effectively differentiate instruction.

7. Game cards (not flash cards)

1. Segmenting: Say It! We start with the sounds. I use my first Google slide to display the focus Heart Word. I say the word, using continuous blending. In other words, I read through the word, adjusting pronunciation according to stop and continuous sounds. I direct students to look at the word and repeat it as I blend it.

Next, we segment each of the sounds out loud. I target the Heart Word sound-spelling by saying, “Study the part to learn by heart.” Afterword, I direct students: “Show with your fingers the number of sounds.” I prompt students to tap their knees to count the number of phonemes. I display my second slide with the answer and the Heart Word (without the heart(s)) in a variety of fonts.

2. Spelling: Spell It! Have students spell the word before they read it. I display my third slide and direct students to say each sound as they spell them, using the squiggle tool with Google slides (or pencil if using print copies). I use proper letter formation models for both the slides and print copies. Handwriting is important!

3. Blending: Read It! Say ’em as I blend ’em! Say ’em as you blend ’em! Word? For each lesson, I’ve chosen two of my list of 108 high frequency Heart Words. I use my fourth slide to show one of the two focus Heart Words, which is printed three times. I slide my hand under the first on the display or screen and blend with students. For the second, students blend out loud on their own, sliding their hand on their Google slide tablet screens or in the air. For the third (without the heart(s), I point to and ask, “Word?”

Next, I display my fifth slide, which shows three Heart Words with the same part(s) to learn by heart as our focus Heart Word. We blend each word and I ask students to explain how these words are similar to lesson’s Heart Word. Even though Heart Words have an irregular sound-spelling (or a few), most have similar patterns as other Heart Words. Extend the learning! English has patterns even with irregular sound-spellings.

4. Heart Words Guided Practice: After the explicit Segmenting-Spelling-Blending instruction, students complete guided practice. Students sort similar or comparable irregular sound-spellings to match the two focus Heart Words and open up doors on the Google slide to check their answers. Next, students identify the “parts to learn by heart” with similar or comparable Heart Words by dragging and dropping the hearts above the phonetically irregular sound-spellings (or they draw the hearts if using print copies).

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

5. Decodable Practice: In my 54 decodables, the Sam and Friends Phonics Books, each story includes plenty of practice in the lesson’s focus regular sound-spelling patterns and the two Heart Words. Plus, the back page includes a 30-second Word Fluency with built-in timer to practice these words and record the number of words read per timing.

6. Heart Words Assessment: In the second half of my full-year reading intervention program, I provide mid-year diagnostic assessments. One of the assessments tests mastery of the 108 high frequency Heart Words. This assessment will pinpoint the Heart Words that students cannot yet read and spell accurately. “If they know it, this (assessment) will show it; if they don’t, it won’t.” The assessment provides the data for teachers to differentiate instruction.

Want to watch how I teach two Heart Words to older reading intervention students and lead them in guided practice? Check out my “real-time” (7:52) lesson on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssa5S7Qq6sA

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted instruction and practice with the 6 Daily Google Slide Activities every reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness 2. Segmenting, Spelling, and Blending 3. Sounds and Spellings Guided Practice (including handwriting) 4. Word Chains 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). 6 . Elkonin Sound Boxes and digital and printable sound wall cards and speech articulation songs. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary Dolch words, Fry Words, heart words assessment, how to teach heart words, list of heart words, outlaw words, phonics, rule-breakers, sight words, Slosson Oral Reading Test, syntax, trick words

Reading teachers know the value of picture mnemonics to help students master phoneme-grapheme relationships. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Sound-spelling cards can make the sound to print connection for beginning and struggling readers.

Animal Cards

In my set of sound-spelling cards, the Animal Cards each have a picture of an animal which features the focus sound, the /sound/, the mouth formation for proper speech articulation, and the common spellings of the phoneme (the speech sound). When students learn the phoneme-grapheme (sound-letter) correspondences with embedded mnemonic pictures (see the research of Ehri and Wilce), the cards are useful tools for building phoneme awareness because the abstract sounds and symbols are now tied to concrete representations. Dr. Tim Shanahan also emphasizes the importance of sound-pictures.

The animal theme is accessible to both younger and older students, and the photographs are less juvenile than illustrations. With most of the cards, the initial sound of the animal name corresponds to the most common spelling. For example, eagle is the picture for long /e/.

The blank line in a spelling indicates that a sound-spelling appears in that position of a syllable or word. Examples: On the cow card, the blank in “ou_” shows that the “ou” with that sound begins a syllable and must have an additional spelling or spellings in the blank, such as in “ouch.” The “_ow” indicates that the “ow” with that sound ends a syllable, such as in “plow.” On the eagle card, the “_ie_” means that spellings must come before and after the “ie” with that sound, such as in chief. The “e_e” signals the consonant final “e” spelling, such as in “discrete.”

Brackets indicate optional spellings. For example, on the goose card, the g[a, o, u] shows the hard g spelling options of words such as gas, got, or gut. On the jackrabbit card, the g[e,i,y] indicates the soft g spelling options of words such as gentle, ginger, or energy. Note that the soft g spellings are not found on a gerbil card, because the Animal Cards represent the phonemes.

The cards are color-coded. Green borders indicate short vowels; red is for long vowels; black is for consonants; blue is for consonant digraphs; purple is for diphthongs (two-sound vowels); and yellow is for r-controlled vowels.

Students are introduced to the names, speech articulation, and corresponding sounds of all 45 Animal Cards within the first two weeks of instruction. Videos and songs help students learn the key components of the Animal Cards.

Audio files lead students through the practice with the card names, mouth positions, sounds, and spellings. Accompanying videos and audios explain the mouth positions for proper articulation through silly songs. For example, check out the “Consonant Stop Sounds Song.”

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards and speech articulation songs. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

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Phonemic Awareness has achieved quite a resurgence within the reading community as of late. In some respects it seems to be the only area of agreement among structured literacy and balanced literacy advocates.

Literacy Resources, LLC has published four sets of wildly popular Heggerty phonemic awareness programs: Pre-K, Kindergarten, First Grade, and the Bridge the Gap intervention program for grades 2 and beyond. These programs are solid, yet hardly innovative curricula. Pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade teachers, as well as special education and reading intervention teachers, have used similar practice activities for years. Nothing new under the sun here.

My own teaching and writing experience is in reading intervention, so for the purposes of this comparative review, I’ll focus on the Heggerty Bridge the Gap intervention program © 2020, Literacy Resources, LLC and compare it to my own reading intervention programs. The Heggerty intervention program is designed for second graders and beyond; mine are similar (ages 8-adult).

Let me begin by saying that the Heggerty Bridge the Gap phonemic awareness intervention program has its merits. However, its limitations and instructional delivery may make other reading interventions a better choice for reading intervention teachers. Of course, as a publisher, I’m biased and making a sales pitch for my own reading intervention programs; however, I hope you’ll find the review to be accurate and informative, especially if you are considering purchase of the Heggerty program and using their professional development program.

Comparative Review: 5 Main Points

First, most of the Heggerty placement assessments are fine; however, a few of the “advanced phonemic awareness” assessments reflect skills which the research suggests are unnecessary to reading instruction, Dr. Timothy Shanahan lists in “Rip to Advanced Phonemic Awareness”. However, they are individually administered and take about 12-15 minutes per student. Most ages 8-adult Tier 2 and 3 intervention classes have a dozen or more students. Middle and high school reading intervention classes have more students. Let’s do the math: In my last seventh grade reading intervention class of 22 students, the Heggerty Bridge the Gap assessments would take 4-6 hours to complete. My Teaching Reading Strategies (Reading Intervention) program includes 5 phonemic awareness assessments and can be easily administered whole-class. Each assessment includes an audio file and takes about 5 minutes. Let’s do the math: 5 x 5=25 or 30 minutes tops. BTW, my newly released The Science of Reading Intervention Program uses the same placement assessments.

Second, the Heggerty Bridge the Gap assessment results necessitate differentiated small group or individualized instruction. Nothing wrong with that. My Teaching Reading Strategies (Reading Intervention) does the same, integrating assessment-based phonemic awareness activities with other rotating workshops, such as phonics workshops, fluency workshops, vocabulary workshops, etc. In contrast, The Science of Reading Intervention Program includes daily phonemic awareness lessons for every student. If you have a large class, limited instructional time, or are not yet skilled (or interested) in teaching a rotating workshop model of different phonemic awareness activities for different kids, take note of the following.

These [Heggerty] lessons are designed to be part of a Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention. Lessons can be taught one-on-one or within a small group (5 learners or less)… The lessons are not written for Monday through Friday instruction, but rather the curriculum structure includes 3 parts, with each part increasing in difficulty.

-Literacy Resources, LLC

Both Bridge the Gap and my programs teach phoneme isolation, addition, deletions, substitution, manipulation, segmentation, and reversals. However, the quick, daily phonemic awareness activities taught whole-class in  The Science of Reading Intervention Program may work better for you. My take is that all students, even those who pass the phonemic awareness assessments can benefit from manipulating spoken sounds.

Third, Heggerty’s Bridge the Gap is an add-on program. Add-0n programs often present management (time, materials, and resource) problems for reading intervention teachers. The Bridge the Gap phonemic awareness activities are not aligned with an instructional phonics sequence and no Heggerty program accomplishes their own recommendations:

Lessons are meant to take 5-7 minutes; an oral warm-up as one part of reading intervention. We recommend follow-up with phonics instruction and opportunities for reading decodable texts.

-Literacy Resources, LLC

Reading intervention teachers know that concurrent, coordinated oral phonemic awareness and speech-to-print synthetic phonics activities produce the best results. My Teaching Reading Strategies (Reading Intervention) and The Science of Reading Intervention Program  achieve that perfect coordination between phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, and syllabication instruction. Plus, Heggerty also specifically recommends the use of decodable texts. Both of my programs include 54 Sam and Friends Phonics Books–decodables that align with each phonemic awareness and phonics lesson. Students practice the focus sound spellings and 2 Heart Words (words with one or more irregular sound-spellings), along with 5 comprehension questions, margin notes, and a 30-second word fluency with each book. The decodables have been designed for older readers (ages 8-adult) with teenage characters and plots, beautifully illustrated by comic artist genius, David Rickert.

Fourth, the Heggerty program directors strongly recommend their professional development series. Here is another major time investment for teachers. While every moment of PD may be valuable, not every reading intervention teacher aspires to be a reading specialist. It is certainly true that most upper elementary, middle school, high school, and adult reading intervention teachers have taken a paucity of reading classes in their teacher preparation program. And Dr. Louisa Moats is correct in claiming that the science of reading is “rocket science.” However, good teaching resources don’t necessitate rocket scientists to teach them if they are designed well.

Having supervised reading intervention teachers for years, I know that easy-to-teach program materials don’t have to produce substandard instruction and learning. You could do a great job of teaching my phonemic awareness activities right now without any prep. Read the example lesson to confirm that I’m right. Simply read the scripted lesson and interact with your students. An easy-to-teach 2 or 3 minute lesson.

The Science of Reading Program Phonemic Awareness Activities

Fifth, the Heggerty Bridge the Gap program is reasonably priced at $59.00. However, unlike their three grade-level curricula, there is currently no digital version. Bummer. Some Heggerty teachers have filled this gap during the pandemic and distance learning with YouTube videos.

In contrast the 54 phonemic awareness lessons in my two programs are formatted as Google slides, perfect for the teacher in that the phonemic awareness teacher slides slide into the morphological awareness activities, into the blending, segmenting, and spelling activities, onto the sounds and spelling lessons, next to the Heart Words lessons, and finally to the Sam and Friends Phonics Books decodables. In other words, integrated digital curriculum–perfect for accelerated reading instruction. (Print the slides if you wish.)

By the way, students have their own set of practice slides to accompany these Daily 5 Activities, including independent practice with type in text boxes and drag and drop activities for the focus sound-spellings and Heart Words, the printable and tablet/Chromebook/phone displays of the decodables.

Fifth, the Bridge the Gap program provides a balanced approach to the many forms of phonological and phonemic awareness. This is not a phoneme isolation-only program. Similarly, my programs include practice in phoneme isolation, addition, deletions, substitution, manipulation, segmentation, and reversals; however, students learn in the whole-class setting.

In summary, Heggerty’s phonemic awareness materials produce helpful arrows for the reading teacher; however, other programs may accomplish the same instructional objectives with 1. Less assessment and instructional time 2. Whole-class instructional options 3. Integrated and coordinated phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling lessons and 4. Digital instructional options. Plus, 5. The same balanced

Phoneme Awareness Research for Reading Intervention

Phonemic awareness is central in learning to read and spell.

Ehri 1984

The lack of phonemic awareness is the most powerful determinant of the likelihood of failure to read.

-Adams 1990

Phonemic awareness is the most potent predictor of success in learning to read.

-Stanovich 1996, 1994

All children can benefit from being taught directly how to break up spoken words into smaller units and how letters represent sounds.

-Shaywitz 1999

There is no age where a student is ‘too old’ for phonemic awareness training‒if the skills have not been mastered, the student should get training.

Kilpatrick 2016

Phonemic awareness training provides the foundation on which phonics instruction is built…

-Blevins 2017

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards and speech articulation songs. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Literacy Centers, Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary Bridge the Gap, Heggerty phonemic awareness, Heggerty phonemic awareness intervention, phonemic awareness Google slides, phonemic awareness lessons, phonemic awareness reading intervention, phonics lessons, phonological awareness