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Posts Tagged ‘phonics’

UFLI Resources for Older Students

What instructional resources do teachers need to supplement UFLI for Older Students? Many intermediate and upper elementary, middle school, high school, and adult literacy teachers, who are using the UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) Foundations program for reading intervention, are searching for UFLI resources for older students.

UFLI Foundations (usually referred to by teachers as “UFLI”) was designed, field-tested, and studied as a core K-2 program. The program has quickly become the go-to structured literacy program for science of reading-oriented teachers.  The scripted directions, free cost (except for the $70 teachers manual), and supplemental teacher and parent resources make UFLI a near-perfect program selection for K-2 Tier 1 instruction. I would use it if I were teaching K-2.

However, for teachers using UFLI for older students, supplementary resources are needed.

Reasons Teachers Need to Supplement UFLI Lessons for Older Students

Reason #1. The UFLI Foundation lessons are only 30 minutes each. UFLI is a word recognition (phonics, spelling, etc.) program only. Older students need the upper strand of Scarborough’s Rope, as well: Language Comprehension. Teachers may wish to check out The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension to supplement UFLI for older students.

Weekly Language Comprehension Activities:
  1. Background Knowledge: Mentor text bell ringers
  2. Vocabulary Worksheets: Academic language, Greek and Latin morphology, figures of speech, connotations, multiple meaning words with the Diagnostic Academic Language Placement Assessment.
  3. Syntax in Reading
  4. Reading Comprehension: Strategies and expository animal articles, composed in tiered grades 1-7 levels with inferential questions
  5. Literacy Knowledge: Narrative and expository genre and text structure
  6. Greek and Latin Morphology: Guided lessons with anchor words
  7. Executive Function and Study Skills

Reason #2. The decodable passages are not age-appropriate for older readers.

I asked Dr. Holly Lane, UFLI director, in a FB group post whether the Foundations program is appropriate for older intervention students, and she answered, “If they don’t know it, they need what UFLI provides.”

I certainly agree that if students don’t know the reading basics, they need to learn them. However, how they learn the reading basics matters.

For example, let’s compare a UFLI decodable passage to a story from my Sam and Friends Phonics Books. Both decodables introduce the long /a/ sound-spellings.

Following is the UFLI Lesson 84 passage, introducing the “ai” and “ay” sound-spellings (Note: The “a_e” sound-spelling is introduced in Lesson 54.)

Sunday Fun

On Sundays, Gail visits her brother at his farm. Gail loves to go to the farm because there is so much to do. She starts the day in the garden. If it did not rain, she sprays the plants with water.

Then, Gail and her brother walk on the trail from the garden to the pond. As they walk, Gail hunts for snail shells. When she finds shells, she tucks them in her pocket. She will paint them when she gets home.

At the pond, her brother likes to fish. He strings bait onto his fishing pole and waits for a bite. While they wait, Gail plays in the mud and clay.

At the end of the day, they walk back up the trail to go home. As they walk, they see the sun set and the day fade away.

© 2022 University of Florida Literacy Institute https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/84_Decodable_UFLIFoundations.pdf

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Let’s compare the UFLI long /a/ passage to my Sam and Friends Phonics Books decodable. Notice the additional practice, word fluency, and comprehension supports to introduce the long /a/ “a,” “a_e,” “_ay,” “_ai,””eigh” spellings.

 

© 2021 Pennington Publishing View all 54 Sam and Friends Phonics Books here (the above jpg it too hard to read): https://penningtonpublishing.com/collections/reading/products/the-science-of-reading-intervention-program-bundle

Which lesson resource is more age-appropriate for, say a fourth or seventh grader in your reading intervention class? Simply put, older students who struggle with reading are fundamentally different than beginning readers. I’ve read through much of the UFLI manual and some corresponding decodables and they, fortunately, are not too babyish. However, the characters, plots, and themes do not deal with the interests of older students. In particular, the urban and ELL students I and many other teachers work with. Teachers may wish to check out all 54 Sam and Friends Phonics Books. Print, tablet, and phone formats. Preview every single book to see how these age-appropriate decodables will match the needs and interests of older readers.

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But why supplement UFLI Foundations, when you can purchase the comprehensive reading intervention, specifically designed for older readers? Mark Pennington is the author of The Science of Reading Intervention Program–a full year word recognition and language comprehension program for ages-adult. Preview the entire program in the product description. Also, click the link to view a real-time video of a complete sample lesson.

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Phonics Lesson for Reading Intervention

Research consistently validates the systematic, explicit phonics instruction for older students featured in The Science of Reading Intervention Program. Of course, the trick is that in your reading intervention, ELL, ML, SPED, or adult literacy class, you (no doubt) have four types of struggling readers:

  1. Some struggling readers have mastered some, but not all sound-spelling patterns.
  2. Some struggling readers have a shaky mastery of phonics and need a thorough refresher to improve their decoding accuracy.
  3. Some struggling readers have primary language influences other than English and need to apply these connections and adjust to their differences.
  4. Some non-readers need comprehensive, A to Z instruction in cracking the alphabetic code and may require some second-chance instruction and practice, as well. These may include SPED students or cognitively impaired students.

The rest of this article will briefly explain how The Science of Reading Intervention Program addresses the needs of these students, and the following 12-minute YouTube sample lesson will show you a complete lesson in real time… well your students, classroom interruptions, computer issues are always the time-variables 🙂

First, let’s examine my approach to phonics instruction for older students to see if you want to keep reading. I began using systematic, synthetic phonics instruction as a district reading specialist back in the 1990s with the Open Court program. Worked wonders! My students and teachers also experienced success with the related Breaking the Code program for reading intervention, ELL, and SPED students. However, it took two (or even three) years of two-hour literacy block instruction for older students to get close to reading at grade level. I began experimenting and researching a similar, but different, approach for older, struggling students.

Open Court and Breaking the Code (and the vast majority of Orton Gillingham-style) programs use the print to speech instructional method. Nothing wrong with this approach! However, I’ve found that a speech to print instructional method has more advantages for older, struggling readers.

  1. It accelerates learning. The Science of Reading Intervention Program covers and helps students master the entire scope and sequence of the aforementioned programs in 18 weeks, 55 minutes per day.
  2. The speech to print approach builds on older students oral language lexicons/language structures and those of non or limited English-speaking students.
  3. It focuses more on problem-solving strategies than rules application. Now don’t get me wrong; I value reading, spelling, syllable, and syntax rules. (I am more aligned with print to speech colleagues in this respect.) However, too much focus on rules bogs down instruction. I want my students to progress as quickly as possible (and they do, too).

Dr. Louisa Moats neatly summarizes the instructional priorities I have incorporated in my program:

“One of the most important jobs for… the teacher of students with reading problems is to foster awareness of phonemes (speech sounds) in words and to help children acquire the ability to articulate, compare, segment, and blend those phonemes” (Moats 2004).

So, back to the four types of struggling readers… How does the speech to print approach in my program address each set of needs?

For 1. Some struggling readers have mastered some, but not all sound-spelling patterns.

Rather than beginning the year with a slew of diagnostic assessments and launching into small group differentiated phonics and spelling instruction, my program provides a phonics, spelling, and fluency screener for program placement, but utilizes whole-class, explicit instruction and guided practice for each of the 54 segmenting-spelling-blending Say it! Spell it! Read it! lessons. True that these types of students will be learning and practicing some of what they already know, but gap-filling the rest.

For 2. Some struggling readers have a shaky mastery of phonics and need a thorough refresher to improve their decoding accuracy.

Often, these students are forced to practice, practice, practice in depth that which really only requires a refresher in context. The accelerated pace of the instruction and practice meets the needs of these types of students.

For 3. Some struggling readers have primary language influences other than English and need to apply these connections and adjust to their differences.

So many variables here, but the program makes use of students’ phonics and spelling knowledge in their primary language to transition to English reading and writing. Plus, the sounds to print approach pinpoints the differences that students learning English need to know.

For 4. Some non-readers need comprehensive, A to Z instruction in cracking the alphabetic code and may require some second-chance instruction and practice, as well. These may include SPED students or cognitively impaired students.

For these students, often the recursive nature of language acquisition means more practice. Yet, pinpoint, targeted practice. In my program, 13 assessments are administered at the mid-year point after all 54 phonics and spelling lessons have been completed. Corresponding activities and worksheets, designed for individual and/or small group work are assigned as needed.

Check out a sample phonemic awareness opener from my program for older students and see how easy it is to teach to all three types of your students!

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Free Science of Reading Lessons | ELL

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many ELL teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for their struggling readers. 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.

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Free Science of Reading Lessons | SPED

Sam and Friends Phonics Books

Many SPED teachers are curious about the Science of Reading and (SOR) and, specifically, what a complete SOR phonics-based lesson looks like for their struggling readers. 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.

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Free Science of Reading Lessons | High School

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 , , , , ,

Free Science of Reading Lessons | Middle School

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 , , , , ,

Free Science of Reading Lessons | Grade 6

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 , , , , ,

Free Science of Reading Lessons | Grade 5

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.

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