Pennington Publishing Blog

Should teachers use phonics worksheets in reading intervention for targeted practice?

As a teacher and parent, I have always heard that worksheets are super frowned upon and the mark of a lazy teacher passing out busy work.”

“NO WORKSHEETS!” has been drilled into me in teacher prep, workshops, etc.  However, recently I had a chance to visit some upper elementary and middle schools to visit successful teachers. The direct instruction was excellent as expected, but what was not expected was what happened afterwards in the schools I visited. After teaching the lesson, out  came the worksheets! And unlike what I’ve always been told, these worksheets were excellent–short, focused practice on what the teacher just taught.

In some classes, students worked quietly on their own; in others, students worked on the worksheets in pairs. In a few classes, teachers interrupted students working on the worksheets when some of the students had finished “early” and reviewed answers with the class. In some, students who finished started on another worksheet.

I asked why this worksheet was unrelated to the focus of the initial practice worksheet, and teachers told me that each student has been diagnostically assessed and assigned corresponding worksheets to master their individual deficits. Wow! So if the lesson were on r-controlled vowels, when the students finished, they might be working on individualized spelling or grammar worksheets until all students had finished the first practice worksheet.

In one class, students kept going up to teacher’s desk during “worksheet time.” I thought they were asking questions (and some were), but as I listened in on a few, the teacher was reading the students’ answers on a short formative assessment at the bottom of the worksheets. In these short, 30-second conferences, students were either assigned an “A” on the worksheet and told to mark it off on their progress monitoring matrix or they received a check √ for completion and a quick re-teaching. Such great feedback for students!

So this makes me wonder why so many teachers and administrators view worksheets as a “no-no,” I guess it depends on the quality of the worksheet, its purpose, and what the teacher does with the completed worksheet.

I love what Dr. Tim Shanahan, Professor Emeritus University of Chicago and Research Lead on the National Reading Panel, recently had to say about worksheets:

 Like most professors, I have long looked askance at worksheets and their role in reading instruction (though I had relied upon them as a teacher)… Good teachers often use a mix of direct instruction along with some practice sheets (Shanahan on Literacy).

Of course we all believe that direct, explicit, whole-class instruction should be our priority, but some small group and individualized work is necessary to differentiate instruction, and it certainly makes sense that the independent worksheets and/or activities we use in our classrooms can help maximize learning and differentiate tiered instruction..

I’ve found that independent practice, targeted to specific, diagnostically assessed literacy deficits, gets the best results. And worksheet practice should conclude with formative assessment to determine mastery of the practiced concept or skill.

Check out Targeted Independent Practice | Phonics for phonics worksheets to extend independent practice of an explicit lesson AND differentiate instruction. BONUS! The program includes a fantastic diagnostic phonics assessment to pinpoint individual needs. See the whole program!

Targeted Independent Practice

My Targeted Independent Practice series supports teachers with quality assessment-based independent learning. Each program includes 1. A comprehensive diagnostic assessment to determine student needs 2. Targeted worksheets corresponding to the specific diagnostic test components 3. Formative assessments to determine mastery. View each program in its entirety.

*** Reading Fluency and Comprehension

*** Spelling

*** Phonics

*** Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics

*** Literacy Knowledge

*** Executive Function and Study Skills

Not sure if your students need interventions? Download the free Targeted Independent Practice Diagnostic Assessments and let the data inform your instructional decision-making.

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Learning phonics is the key to reading automaticity (fluency) for beginning and remedial readers alike. The research is clear that teaching the alphabetic code explicitly and systematically is an essential component of effective reading instruction. Now, this is not to say that there isn’t a place for some sight word and word family (onset and rime) instruction, but the primary means of reading instruction must be the sound-spelling system.

Plenty of phonics-based programs do a fine job of providing that systematic instruction. However, some do the basic job, but will bore both students and teachers to tears. Learning to read is hard work, but it should also be fun. Reading instruction that is interactive and enjoyable will teach positive associations with reading to both beginning and remedial readers. Simple drill and kill exercises simply will not.

These phonics games use the free Pennington Publishing Animal Sound-Spelling Cards. Of course, other phonics game cards such as the S.R.A. Open Court® or Breaking the Code® ones will do nicely. You will also need the set of free Consonant Blend Sound-Spelling Cards once the Animal Sound-Spelling Cards have been mastered. The phonics games are divided into Easy, Medium, and Difficult levels to allow teachers to effectively differentiate instruction. Using effective whole class diagnostic assessments such as the Vowel Sounds Phonics Assessment and the Consonant Sounds Phonics Assessment will inform the teacher’s choice as to which levels of games will be appropriate for each of their students.

Teachers may also wish to purchase the Reading and Spelling Game Cards from the publisher. Printed on heavy duty cardstock in business card size, these game cards will help your students master phonics, spelling, and sight words.

Each game card set includes the following:

• 43 animal sound-spelling vowel, vowel team, and consonant cards
• 45 consonant blend cards
• 60 alphabet cards (including upper and lower case with font variations)
• 90 rimes cards with example words
• 108 sight-spelling “outlaw” word cards
• 60 high frequency Greek and Latin prefix and suffix cards with definitions and example words
• 60 vowel and vowel team spelling cards
• 90 consonant and consonant blend spelling cards
• 30 commonly confused homonyms with context clue sentences
• 60 most-often misspelled challenge word cards

Download and Print: Phonics Cards (Animal Sound-Spelling Cards and Consonant Blend Cards) Phonics Games (Easy, Medium, and Difficult Level Phonics Games) NSS (The Names, Sounds, and Spelling Rap)

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.

SCIENCE OF READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM RESOURCES HERE for detailed product description and sample lessons.

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