science of reading spelling homework ideas

30 Science of Reading Resources

As educators, we are always learning and growing in order to improve reading instruction. It can be challenging to sift through the many resources available, so we have created a list for you. The following includes a list of 30 resources for educators who wish to further their knowledge about the Science of Reading.

5 "must see" resources to get started.

1. EAB Report: Narrowing the 3rd Grade Reading Gap (10 minute read)

A research brief for educators embracing the science of reading from the EAB District Leadership Forum. This is an accessible read for educators who want to learn more and implement classroom instruction that is aligned to the science of reading.

2. Of ‘Hard Words’ and Straw Men: Let’s Understand What Reading Science is Really About by Louisa Moats (5 minute read)

An article about what the Science of Reading really entails and how important it is to really have an understanding of the components of foundational literacy instruction in order to implement them effectively into the classroom.

3. Hard Words: Why Aren’t Kids Being Taught to Read? (45 minute listen)

Emily Hanford, educational journalist has researched reading instruction across the US. Her findings sparked conversations about The Science of Reading and how we can improve reading proficiency in the US.

4. Videos: Is My Kid Learning to Read? ( Part 1 and Part 2 ; 26 minutes)

How many students are being taught to read in the classroom can be eye-opening for parents. Watch this two-part video series to learn more about how students may be learning to read and how to best support them as they continue to learn to read.

5. Reading Rockets website

Okay, we kind of cheated with #5, but if you read nothing else on Reading Rockets, be sure to check out their articles on Phonological and Phonemic Awareness and Why Phonological Awareness is Important for Reading and Spelling .

Infographics

6. The Ladder of Reading by Nancy Young

7. Scarborough's Reading Rope

“The genesis of the Reading Rope dates back to Scarborough’s lectures for parents on the complexities involved in learning to read. Originally, she spoke of skilled reading as resembling the 'strands' of a rope, using pipe cleaners to illustrate the interconnectedness and interdependence of all the components.”

8. How Our Brains Learn to Read

Our brains are naturally set up to learn to speak, but learning to read does not happen on its own. Scientists have found that we must develop certain parts of our brains and build connections between brain areas that were not connected before. The picture (below) shows four different areas of our brains that we use when we read.

9. Educate by APM Reports

Stories about education, opportunity, and how people learn. Emily Hanford podcasts are recommended and two favorites are listed below:

At a Loss for Words (52 minutes; published Aug. 22, 2019)

National Assessment Shows More K-12 Students Struggling to Read (25 minutes; published Nov. 1, 2019)

10. Glean Education: Research to Practice

Dive into current research, hot topics, and success stories with our two podcast series for educators.

Why Phonological Awareness is Important to Reading? (23 minutes; published Jan. 3, 2019)

How to Make Sight Word Instruction and Reading Intervention More Effective ( 50 minutes published Oct. 1, 2020)

11. Science of Reading: The Podcast by Amplify Education

The latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Each episode takes a conversational approach and explores a timely topic related to the science of reading.

12. Teaching, Reading & Learning: The Podcast by The Reading League

Listen to speakers who have made important contributions to the educational community as they discuss reading and writing, but connect to other “literacies” that impact children’s learning .

Websites, Blogs & Webinars

13. The Reading League

The Reading League is a non-profit organization focused on the mission to advance awareness, understanding, and use of evidence-based reading instruction.

14. Right to Read Project

A group of teachers, researchers, and activists committed to the pursuit of equity through literacy.

15. Louisa Moats

A website from Literacy Expert, Louisa Moats, includes webinars, blogs, and articles for educators committed to best practices in literacy instruction.

16. The Literacy Nest

Emily Gibbons, certified dyslexia practitioner and creator of The Literacy Nest shares resources for instruction for struggling readers.

17. CORE Learn

The Consortium on Reaching Excellence is Education (CORE) provides many excellent resources and free professional learning opportunities.

18. The Learning Spark

A kindergarten teacher who shares her experience along with many resources in the areas of literacy.

19. Education Week

A website sharing in-depth information and research serving K-12 education.

Articles & Research

20. Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel (2008)

21. Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read (2000)

22. Learning to Read: Center for Early Reading ( Part 1 and Part 2 )

23. Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do, 2020 by Louisa Moats, published by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

Teacher Resources

24. Florida Center for Reading Research: FCRR

25. University of Florida Literacy Institute: UFLI

26. The Simple View of Reading

Professional Books

27. Speech to Print by Louisa Moats (2014)

28. Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties by David Kilpatrick (2015)

29. Phonics from A to Z by Wiley Blevins (2017)

30. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print by Marilyn Adams (1994)

Did we miss a resource? Please leave a comment and let us know!

Erica Suarez

Thank you. This site of the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction may be of interest as it has a great deal of information and a picture of developments on the topic of reading instruction.

https://iferi.org

Is Equipped for Reading Success by Kilpatrick one that we should be sure to read?

Equipped for Reading Success has a lot of wonderful information in it and if you are looking to learn more about phonemic proficiency and build a solid foundation, Equipped is definitely a great read!

Podcast ERRR- Australian by Ollie Lovall Nessy resources- screeners, books, supports Any books written by Lyn Stone (Australian) SPELD SA

Thank you so much for sharing! We will definitely check out this resource!

I begin in January as a pre-K teacher at a private school. There is no curriculum and I get to begin from scratch. Where do I begin?

Hi Christine!

Congratulations on your new journey as a PK teacher. 3 and 4 year olds are in the earliest stages of literacy development, which is my opinion, is one of the best states. If you can work with our Early Pre-K or Pre-K Phonmeic Awareness Curriculum, as well as with oral language activities, letter naming and sound identification, you will be setting a solid foundation for your students and preparing them to read and write in Kindergarten. Good luck!

I am in the same situation. Begin with letter of the week, and teach each letter sound. Expose your students to vowels. Have visuals that begin with each letter sound. Teach children CVC and CVCV words.

I am looking for decodable sets for k-2 (hard copies) for my school to purchase.

Have you checked out our Frog and Toucan series on our website? Check them out, and we are happy to answer any additional questions: https://heggerty.org/decodable-books/

Love your resources. We are trying to encourage K-3 teachers to get engaged with the Science of Reading and are providing coursework and supports–Reading Rockets being a major part of that. What we do not have available is an assessment of the teacher’s knowledge that is independent of other requirements. We are willing to pay for the assessment administration but cannot expect this number of teachers to agree to additional hours of practicums and other requirements. Any resource you can point us to would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Stephen,

It sounds like you are doing great work in equipping teachers with the necessary knowledge to teach reading correctly. What kinds of resources are you looking for? LETRS training is widely used to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge in foundational skills. Have you looked into that?

Where can I find research studies that support hands-on learning? Specifically for reading.

Hi Monica! Within the Heggerty website, we have a section dedicated to research, this could be a great resource for finding research to share with your colleagues. You can view that page here: https://heggerty.org/research/

You forgot SPELL-Links to Reading and Writing is excellent!!

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15 Useful Science of Reading Activities for Upper Elementary

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Science of reading activities can be so helpful for students of all ages. Reading is an essential skill to have in order to succeed in school and life. It’s not just about being able to read the words, it’s about understanding what you are reading and connecting those ideas with what you already know.

In this blog post, I will share some amazing science of reading activities that any teacher can use in the classroom. These activities are sure to engage your readers while helping them build important skills along the way! So let’s get started!

15 Science of Reading Activities for Upper Elementary Students

Just a quick note before we dive into these science of reading activities . . . each of these strategies supports at least one of the big 5 essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary). Check out this blog post for more details on those components.

1. Word Squares

Word squares are a great way to help students learn new vocabulary words and increase their word recognition skills. In this activity, students must fill in a square grid with nine letters. They can either use the nine letters provided or come up with their own unique set of nine letters. Once they have created the grid, they must then find and fit words into the grid that meet certain criteria such as starting with specific letter combinations.

This exercise helps students become familiar with prefixes, suffixes, and root words which aids in improving their reading comprehension abilities. This one is a must-do in the world of science of reading strategies!

2. Word Jumbles

Word jumbles are another great way to help students stretch their reading muscles! A favorite among science of reading activities, word jumbles require students to unscramble a series of mixed-up letters to form meaningful words or phrases. Once they have identified the correct answer, they must then use those words in sentences or explain what the word means. This encourages deeper thinking about language and helps build important vocabulary skills.

3. Creative Writing Exercises

Creative writing exercises can help 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders practice their ability to express ideas through written language while also improving their understanding of grammar and sentence structure rules. These science of reading activities involve writing stories, poems, plays or other forms of literature based on given prompts or topics of interest determined by the teacher or student themselves. ( Ready-to-go writing prompts are the perfect starting place for this strategy!)

Through these exercises, students can develop strong narrative skills that will transfer over into other areas of reading comprehension such as summarizing or analyzing texts more effectively.

4. Picture Book Analysis

Picture books provide an excellent resource for teaching literacy skills such as inference, visualization, theme development and more! In this activity, upper elementary readers are asked to analyze a picture book by looking at elements such as characters’ motivations, settings, plot development and other literary devices used by the author throughout the story’s progression.

After discussing their observations in small groups, they then write an essay that summarizes what they learned from their analysis of the picture book and how it relates to real life events or experiences.

5. Storytelling Circle

Storytelling circles provide a great opportunity for students to practice active listening skills while also deepening their understanding of stories’ themes and characters’ motivations through retellings from multiple perspectives!

During this activity, students sit in a circle where one person begins telling a story he/she has previously read aloud from beginning to end without interruptions from others in the group until reaching its conclusion point; at which time another person starts telling his/her version of the same story but adding some personal spin before passing it along again until everyone has had an opportunity to tell part(s) of it! This exercise encourages better engagement with text and a deeper level of comprehension.

6. Reading Board Games

Reading board games are a fun and interactive way to help 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders practice and refine their ELA skills! To play, get out a set of reading task cards and any board game. Use the reading task cards as game play cards. Every time a student gets an answer right, he or she can advance on the game board or take a turn rolling the dice, moving a checkers piece or advancing a token.

Playing these types of games encourages critical thinking by requiring players to recall information from the text as well as make inferences to come up with accurate answers quickly.

7. Main Idea Bingo

Main Idea Bingo is an excellent way to reinforce the concept of summarizing while also improving reading comprehension skills at the same time. To play this game, each student is given a bingo card filled with words (or phrases) related to a particular topic that they must then find within a given text or passage. Whoever identifies the most words in relation to the main idea first wins!

This exercise provides students with an opportunity to pick out key information from longer pieces of writing which will help them become better readers in general.

8. Alternative Book Reports

Book reports don’t have to be boring, but they surely can be beneficial to increasing engagement with a specific book or story! Increase comprehension and understanding of main idea, characters, theme, etc., with a fun, hands-on book report, such as this FREE Book Report Lapbook! This is a favorite of students and teachers alike! Did we mention that it’s free?

9. Vocabulary Map Exercises

Vocabulary map exercises are yet another science of reading activity that helps upper elementary learners learn about and study new vocabulary words! During this activity, students use graphic organizers like webs, double bubble maps, Venn diagrams etc., depending on what type of vocabulary terms they are trying to learn.

This helps students gain deeper insights into how language works so that they can use new vocabulary correctly when communicating orally or through writing later on down the line! Vocabulary maps are great science of reading activities!

10. Word Walls

Word walls have become increasingly popular among teachers looking for creative ways to get their 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders engaged in language acquisition processes! This strategy involves displaying words across multiple surfaces throughout classrooms such as bulletin boards, chalkboards etc., so that students can easily reference them throughout lessons whenever needed. This allows for greater exposure and usage opportunities when it comes time for assessments later on in school year.

11. Summarizing Strategies

These Science of Reading strategies are a great way for older students to learn how to make sense of longer pieces of writing by condensing them into shorter, more concise versions. To do this, they must first identify main ideas and supporting details within a given text before selecting the most important parts of it. Then, students can use these elements to compose their own summaries that can be shared with the class!

Doing this exercise regularly will help students develop better comprehension skills as well as critical thinking abilities.

12. “Find Someone Who”

“Find Someone Who” is an interactive way to practice language skills while also having fun at the same time! This exercise works by giving each student in a class a list of questions related to a particular topic or subject area (i.e., grammar rules, vocabulary terms etc.) that they must then answer by finding someone in the room who knows the answer. Whoever finds all of their answers first wins!

This game is one of my favorite science of reading activities! It encourages active engagement with material while also helping build social skills like communication and cooperation among peers too.

13. Word Study

Word study is an excellent strategy for helping upper elementary students become more independent readers and writers in general! To do so, teachers typically provide targeted instruction on specific word patterns or rules that are designed to make understanding new words easier (i.e., phonics, morphological analysis, roots etc.). Then, through regular practice exercises such as creating sentences using certain vocabulary terms etc., students can put what was learned into action so that it eventually becomes second nature when it comes time for assessments later on down the road!

This Greek and Latin Roots Word Wall is perfect for word study!

14. Read Alouds

Read alouds are an effective activity for improving comprehension development among 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade learners since they allow students to listen and interact with stories being read out loud! During these Science of Reading activities, teachers typically provide contextual clues about characters/settings before reading passages out loud which helps cultivate curiosity around what’s next!

Afterwards, open-ended discussion questions and other reflective tasks encourage active engagement with material which ultimately leads to deeper understanding of content overall. This makes read alouds an excellent tool for developing comprehension for all levels of learners!

15. Text Talk

Text Talk is another favorite among science of reading activities for older students; one that encourages collaboration and higher-level thinking at the same time! This exercise works by dividing students into small groups. Learners are given short pieces of writing (i.e., articles, poems etc.) before being asked various questions about it such as characters, main idea, or theme connections.

Asking these types of questions encourages deep thinking about topics covered within text while also promoting problem-solving skills too!

So there you have it, a list of 15 science of reading activities that are super helpful in the upper elementary grades ! Each one is designed to foster comprehension development as well as critical thinking abilities which are invaluable tools in any student’s academic toolkit.

Whether you’re looking to increase retention rates or just want your kids to enjoy learning more, these science of reading activities should help get the job done!

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Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.

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Spelling Strategies That Follow Science of Reading + FREE Guide

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If you’re looking for spelling strategies to help struggling learners then keep reading. In this post, I share my favorite effective multisensory spelling strategies that help with any kind of spelling list.

These spelling strategies have been very successful with struggling learners because they integrate multiple senses and provide several options for the information to be processed. They are based on the science of reading and have been proven to be the most effective methods for teaching spelling.

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Effective Spelling Instruction

Effective spelling instruction should include:

Alphabetic principle – knowing that letters represent sounds and are read from left to right
Pattern information – knowing word patterns such as CVC, CVCe, CVVC, etc. and how they represent sounds
Spelling variations based on word origins – for example, /k/ is spelled with a ch in words of Greek origin like chaos
Meaning information (morphology) – which groups of letters represent meanings, such as prefixes and Greek and Latin roots.

Most English words follow patterns and spelling rules or generalizations, and only about 10% are truly exceptional and must be memorized. Therefore, we must focus on incorporating these 4 areas of effective spelling instruction to prevent that widespread and incorrect idea that “English doesn’t make sense”. Because 90% of the time, it does.

The problem with traditional spelling lists

But first I want to mention a problem that many children face with traditional spelling lists. The best way for struggling readers and spellers to learn new words is by isolating spelling patterns . This means that the whole spelling list should only contain one spelling pattern for a particular sound.

Say for example the class is working on vowel teams with the long a sound. The long a sound can be spelled as ai, ay, ei , and sometimes ea . Most spelling lists will include a mix of words with these different spelling patterns, or they may even mix different sounds like long a and long e. This causes lots of confusion and frustration for struggling learners, especially students with dyslexia.

Isolate Spelling Patterns

The better way to do this for struggling learners is to only include one spelling pattern in the list. This helps the students isolate the pattern and get enough exposure to create the visual memory of the sound.

Remember that children who struggle in reading and spelling have a hard time associating the correct letters to sounds, so developing their sound-symbol imagery is critical. Giving them different spelling patterns only confuses them. Before they work with several spelling patterns together, they need to master them in isolation. Of all the spelling strategies out there, isolating spelling patterns is probably the most effective for students who really struggle with spelling.

Phonogram cards are a great tool to use to help isolate spelling patterns. Phonograms are are just the spelling of a sound, such as ch for /ch/ and c for /k/. These cards only display one spelling pattern for a sound, as the focus is on the spelling of that sound.

phonogram cards for spelling instruction

Effective Spelling Strategies

The following spelling strategies have been shown to improve students’ spelling skills. It helps to use phonics based spelling lists, but even if you don’t, you can apply most of these strategies.

Color code spelling patterns in mixed lists

If you don’t have control over the spelling list, then this tip can really help. I often use this as a dyslexia intervention with my students since their spelling lists are all over the place.

Teach students to group and color code the different spelling patterns in the list.

This is a great dyslexia spelling strategy. Identify a few patterns in the list and pick a color for each one. Then write the words in the chosen color in different groups. This gives students a visual cue they can use when spelling the word. They will associate the spelling pattern with a color so that when they are asked to spell the word, they will be able to recall the color that word was in, and thus identify the spelling pattern for that color. That is the sound-symbol imagery they need.

Remember to refer to the spelling rule for each pattern after color-coding them. This way it is easier for them to see it. For example, the spelling pattern usually ai goes in the middle of a word. But if you have all the different patterns mixed in the list, they cannot see that as easily as you can. Once you isolate the words by color coding the list and grouping them together, they can see that spelling rule and understand how to apply it.

Here is an example spelling list:

Pattern groups:

Bake, plane, mane

Pray, clay, play, sway

Train, main, brain, grain

You would write each group in a different color as shown in the picture below.

If you can incorporate explicitly teaching spelling rules then try as this is the best way to remediate spelling difficulties. I highly recommend this book to help guide you. Even parents can read it and look for multisensory ways to then teach the spelling rules.

Simultaneous Oral Spelling

This is a 6 step multisensory strategy that helps build phonological awareness . When using the SOS method, students listen to the word, repeat it, perform a few quick steps to spell the word, and finally write the word. You can read more about it in this post: Simultaneous Oral Spelling Multisensory Spelling Strategy

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping

Phoneme awareness is critical to developing spelling skills. If students cannot hear each individual sound in a word then they can’t spell the word.

Phoneme grapheme mapping activities match letters (graphemes) to their sounds (phonemes). Students must split words into their phonemes then spell each phoneme, which is exactly what you want to focus on in spelling. By working on this, students develop phoneme awareness and in turn, their spelling and reading improve.

Read more about phoneme grapheme mapping in Phoneme Grapheme Mapping Activities That Develop Orthographic Mapping , and check out my word mapping template below to get started with phoneme grapheme mapping today.

Teach spelling generalizations and rules

There are quite a few spelling generalizations and rules, but learning these helps students become better spellers. Take a look at the graphic below showing some spelling patterns for long a.

spelling generalizations for the long a sound

This is an area where word origin is helpful, as many words are spelled a certain way based on where they came from.

Check out these resources to help you teach spelling generalizations:

How to teach long vowels
The Logic of English 31 spelling rules listed out

I compiled all the long vowel spelling generalizations in this set: Spelling Generalizations Charts for Long Vowels .

Teach word patterns and syllables

Word patterns such as CVC, CVCe, CVVC, etc., and the 6 syllable types help students know how to spell words.

Check out the resources below for more on teaching patterns and syllables:

How to teach CVC words
The 6 syllable types
Syllable division rules

Teach morphology

Instruction in affixes and roots is especially helpful in upper elementary as students will come across more words with these groups of letters.

Teach the exceptions

There are always exceptions, and you should take the opportunities to teach them.

Oftentimes, exceptions are due to word origin in which a little etymology lesson can be fun. I find my students really appreciate it when I explain why a word is an exception. And they always find the history of the word interesting.

Phonogram Drills

Use phonogram cards with the spelling patterns you’re working on along with some you have taught previously to do phonogram drills. These are really quick and easy and really help students.

To do a phonogram drill, simply hold up a phonogram card and ask students to say the sound and keyword and spell the sound. Then flip to the next card and repeat until you’ve gone through all your cards.

For example, look at the card below for the phonogram /ew/. The keyword is chew, which the picture helps remind students. Students would look at this card, say the sound /ew/, spell the sound aloud, and say the word ‘chew’.

After you have worked on a specific spelling pattern, do a dictation activity with sounds, a few words, and a few sentences. I always use the new sounds and words I taught along with some review, so students don’t forget.

Below I was reviewing some long vowel phonograms, but I also threw in /sh/, /b/, and /k/. For the sounds section, I say “write all the ways to say /k/” for example, and students should write all the phonograms they know for that sound. Then for words I say the word once, say it in a sentence, and repeat the word one more time. I use both new and review spelling words. For sentences, I say the sentence one time only, not too fast or slow, and I try to include spelling words, high frequency words, and anything that needs to be reviewed. You can download this dictation worksheet in my freebies library .

dictation sheet example for effective spelling instruction

Sight Words

For sight words, I use 3 strategies.

The first is the Heart Word Method . This method incorporates a few strategies to help students map the words out and remember them more effectively than traditional spelling activities like repeated writing and ABC order. Essentially, you decode the decodable parts of the word and remember the tricky part by heart. Check out my resource for heart words below, or read the blog post for more info on this method.

The second is using as many multisensory strategies to spell a word as I can. Options include tapping out the letters in the word, air writing, salt tray spelling, magnetic letters, and writing the word in a variety of ways. Then use the word in a sentence to give it some context. Do all of these with the word shown to the student. After writing the word several times and using it in a sentence, remove the image of the word and have the student write it from memory.

The last strategy is creating a picture association. I discuss a possible image that can help the student remember the word. One example is drawing eyes on the “oo” in the word look . Picture association is really helpful for dyslexic students.

Use Nonsense Words

The best way to test if students really know the spelling pattern is to give them nonsense words and see if they can spell them correctly on their own.

For example, after working on long a words, you would ask them to spell the nonsense word dray . They should know for the long a sound to be at the end of the word it has to be spelled as ay . Just come up with nonsense words that would follow the spelling rules in the list. Once they can do that without help, they have mastered that spelling rule.

fluency reading activity using nonsense words

These spelling word activities ensure students are not only memorizing but really learning how to apply a spelling rule.

Spelling Word Activities

Along with the activities mentioned above as effective spelling instruction, below are some effective spelling word activities for students to practice their spelling words.

Sentence writing using spelling words
Games that use words, such as crosswords, puzzles, etc.
Cloze passages
Word Mapping Centers

Bottom Line

Moving away from thematic spelling lists that rely heavily on memory to phonics based systematic lists is key to effectively teach spelling. But if you can’t, using these effective spelling strategies will go a long way in helping your students become better spellers.

Reading Rockets: Spelling
Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6
Uncovering the Lofic of English by Denise Eide
Equipped for Reading Success by David Kilpatrick

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Delilah Orpi is the founder of Thrive Literacy Corner. She has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, a Master's degree in TESOL, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association. She is an experienced educator and literacy specialist trained in Orton Gillingham and Lindamood Bell. Delilah creates literacy resources for educators and parents and writes to create awareness about dyslexia and effective literacy instruction based on the science of reading.

Reading Assessments To Evaluate Decoding and Encoding + Freebies!

Whether it’s the beginning of the school year and you need to perform reading assessments, you’re working with a new student one-on-one, or you’re checking progress mid-year, there are a variety of reading assessments you can choose from to inform your instruction. In this post, I’m sharing my top picks for reading assessments that evaluate…

All About Closed Syllable Exceptions + Freebies!!

Have you ever heard of closed syllable exceptions? I had not heard of them until I started my dyslexia training. Closed syllable exceptions are closed syllables where the vowel makes the long sound instead of the short sound, like in the words bold and find. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at…

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping Activities That Develop Orthographic Mapping

Orthographic mapping is the process where children learn to recognize each letter of the alphabet and how each letter represents one sound. It’s how words become sight words. In this post, you’ll learn about how orthographic mapping develops, and how to use phoneme grapheme mapping in your literacy instruction to develop students’ orthographic mapping skills….

Phonics & Reading Professional Development Books

Summer is the perfect time to brush up on your teaching skills and learn about any new or updated teaching strategies. I’m sharing my top recommendations for professional development books for reading and phonics. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I love a good book on the latest research and recommendations for educators,…

Long Vowel Sounds: FREE Word Lists & Activities

In this post, I’m breaking down long vowel sounds (or long vowel words) to help you teach them when working with struggling readers and spellers. Looking for long vowel word lists? Download all 5 of my pdf long vowel sounds word lists in my freebies library by joining my email list below. What is a…

How To Develop Automaticity In Reading and Spelling

Many struggling readers lack automaticity, which prevents them from becoming fluent readers with good comprehension. Automaticity is what allows us to do things without consciously thinking about them. And when it comes to reading and spelling, automaticity means being able to read and spell words quickly and accurately without having to stop and think about each…

Thank you for this post. It is very helpful when thinking about how to specifically streamline my spelling instruction in my second grade classroom. I have always used a word wall that posted high frequency words for students to reference when they were writing and expected them to spell those words correctly because “they were right there”. As I read more about SOR and how children learn words I think I’m understanding why this is not the best practice. I now have a sound wall with a separate section for “heart words”. The heart words are just kind of thrown up on the wall right now in no particular order and I fear that is quite confusing for struggling learners. Do you have any advice about posting heart words? And, do you have any advice about giving students individual spelling books/folders etc to write words that they want to know how to spell when they’re writing? Thank you!

Hi Kathleen. That is such a great question. If you’re teaching heart words to the class, I would just display the words you have taught. Since every student will struggle with different words, I would have each student keep a “heart words list” that they could reference. They could write in the words they want to have on their list.

Spelling Lessons for Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Among researchers, the findings are clear: combining explicit spelling and phonics instruction is essential for early readers . Both cognitive psychology and neuroscience researchers have found that spelling is a crucial component of the brain’s reading architecture. Through spelling activities, children learn to map the sounds of words to their letters in spoken language. Compared to simply eyeing the letters, spelling requires more long-term memory and a deeper level of analysis to successfully sound out and write a word at the same time.

In a fluent reader of any language, the brain integrates spelling and visualization of phonics patterns to achieve “automaticity”: the ability to read and comprehend fluently, and to spell with relative ease. The English language has an especially complex reading map, which typically requires around two years of word study in kindergarten and first grade before students amass a vocabulary of around 300+ words that they read and spell automatically. This process aligns with the research of developmental cognitive scientist Linnea Ehri , who wrote that “learning to read and learning to spell are one and the same, almost” (Ehri, 1997).

The “almost” lies in the code of orthography. Spelling requires students to actively use the “ orthographic code ,” which is cracked when readers learn how to write using the correct order of letters according to their accepted usage. Compared to reading, which only requires the pronunciation of a word, spelling presents the dual challenge of writing letters in their correct sequence. As students learn to spell, they learn how to break down words into their sounds and map individual letters or “chunks” to the corresponding sounds. They also develop phoneme awareness and letter knowledge, which Hulme et al. highlighted as two key steps for children learning to read .

A 2022 Danish study recently endorsed the importance of integrating spelling activities and phonics, even for students who have not yet achieved grade-level reading milestones. The researchers found that early spelling activities were associated with significant gains in phoneme awareness, spelling, and reading, compared to classrooms in the “phonics alone” condition or those in the “business-as-usual” condition. Similar results are mirrored across a range of languages and for students experiencing difficulties with early reading; for English learners , researchers similarly found that spell-to-read activities enhance the brain’s reading architecture and ultimately boost their phoneme awareness.

Spelling Games and Resources

If you’re looking for more spelling ideas and activities to enhance your structured literacy classroom, we have a few recommendations:

Baseball Spelling , which uses baseball terminology to reinforce your weekly spelling words
Stair Steps , an easy DIY spelling game that helps students memorize the way words are spelled
Sensory Spelling , which utilizes a range of unusual materials - sand, shaving cream, wood Scrabble letters, you name it - to encourage spelling words in exciting, sensory ways

Keep reading, keep spelling, and come back next week for the latest reading resources to support the young readers in your life.

Take-Aways:

Based on reading science research, both spelling activities and explicit phonics instruction are essential for early readers.
Due to its reliance on long-term memory and the orthographic code, spelling presents a greater challenge to the reading brain.
When students learn to spell in their spoken language, they are positioned to read and write more fluently and confidently, particularly if structured spelling lessons are taught from kindergarten through first grade.

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The Science of Reading: Information for Parents

In this blog post, I share handouts, parent letters, and videos about the science of reading that will help families understand how we teach children to read and how they can help at home. These resources and handouts are perfect to share with families at back-to-school nights, parent-teacher conferences, or any time throughout the year!

In classrooms all around the world, we are changing the way we teach our students to read. Backed with knowledge from the science of reading , we are moving away from balanced literacy toward a structured literacy approach . This shift is a wonderful thing for our students, but we can’t do it alone. In order for it to be most successful, we need support from families and caregivers.

Most families want to help their children learn to read at home. Many just need information on how to effectively do so. To help you out, today I’m sharing handouts, parent letters, and videos about the science of reading that will help families understand how we teach children to read and how they can help at home . These resources and handouts are perfect to share with families at back-to-school nights, parent-teacher conferences, or any time throughout the year!

A Science of Reading Handout for Parents

Most families are happy to help their children at home. Most just need our guidance on what exactly to do. Start by teaching your families a little bit about the science of reading. Explain what it is and how it has changed the way we teach their children. Then offer specific examples of things they can do to help their children learn to read at home.

These free Science of Reading Informational Handouts come as part of my free SoR Toolkit. It is the perfect way to teach families about the science of reading. The handout includes basic information about the science of reading, defines terms we commonly use in reading instruction, and offers specific suggestions for things they can do at home to help children with decoding and language comprehension.

Sign up below to get your own free copy of this “Science of Reading Cheat Sheet” and the “What Can I Do At Home” handouts!

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A Family Letter about Heart Words

We have long known that word recognition is key to reading success. As primary teachers, we have always spent a lot of time helping students learn their sight words.

But for far too long, we taught sight words through rote memorization. We believed that if a student simply saw a word enough times they’d eventually learn it. We now know we were wrong. The science of reading tells us that sight words are not stored in our visual memory. Therefore, we need to integrate sight words into our phonics instruction using the Heart Word Method .

Families are used to seeing word lists and flashcards come home in backpacks. They are accustomed to drilling these words and helping their children memorize them. The Heart Word Method is a move away from that. As teachers, we must help them understand what the Heart Word Method is and why we now know that it is a better way to learn sight words.

To help families learn about this shift I included an editable family letter about Heart Word Method in the SoR toolkit. The letter explains why we have moved away from rote memorization and helps them understand this newer, more effective method of instruction.

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Information for Parents about Spelling and Word Study Instruction

For many years, students received a list of spelling words on Monday, had a few practice activities during the week, and then a spelling test on Friday. As soon as one set of words was assessed, another list took its place. This is what families are accustomed to and probably how they were “taught” to spell when they were young!

Research has shown that this traditional “weekly spelling list/test” is ineffective. There is a better alternative and it is referred to as “word study”. Word study is not based on random memorization of words but rather a systematic approach that provides students practice with word recognition, vocabulary, phonics, AND spelling!

I recognize that this is likely new information for families, so when I created my Weekly Word Study Units for K-3 , I included a family letter with each unit. These letters help families understand the shift from spelling to word study, informs them of the focus of the unit, and offers specific ways to support their children at home.

Videos for Parents about the Science of Reading

These videos are quick and easy ways for families to gain more information about the SoR. You could play them on Back-to-School night and/or encourage families to view them at home.

Is My Kid Learning How to Read?

This is an interesting, short 2-part video created by a mom who saw a lot of contradictions between the science of reading and the way her daughter was being taught how to read. She shows what happens when her daughter tries to read a text without the support of pictures, context, or a repetitive sentence pattern.

In Part 2 , she gives her daughter direct phonics instruction and decodable texts. She shows us how the phonics lessons help her daughter learn to read. It’s pretty amazing to watch!

Can we Afford to Ignore the Science of Reading?

In this quick, but powerful TedTalk, Heather Hotstetter helps parents understand the difference between balanced literacy and structured literacy. She clearly explains why structured literacy is a more equitable and sound instructional approach for all students.

The majority of parents and caregivers really want to support your work and help their children learn to read. Some just don’t know how to do so. I hope the information and resources I have shared today will make it easy for you to educate your students’ families about the Science of Reading and show them ways they can help support their children’s reading development at home.

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30 Spelling Activities for ANY List of Words

March 6, 2020

We work hard to teach our students the correct way to spell words. We spend countless hours creating spelling practice activities that are fun and not just writing the word multiple times. Are you ready to get some of those hours back?! Take a look at these fabulous EDITABLE Spelling Activities we have created for your students to practice their word lists.

Our Spelling Activities are super simple to use!!!

Enter your spelling list into the first page of the packet.
Choose the activities you want to use that week. (We have 150+ different pages to choose from!)
Print those activities.

These spelling activities can be sent home as homework, used in a word work center, or as independent practice. You can find all of our editable spelling activities, (general, seasonal, and holiday-themed) on Education to the Core Premium. Join today as a monthly or annual member for instant access to this resource and thousands more.

* Spelling Activity Line-Up *

1. spelling list.

This is the page where you will type in your spelling words (up to 15 words). It can be sent home for students to study during the week, as well as for parents to cut apart and use as flashcards.

2. MAGIC WORDS

Write each spelling word in white crayon, then color over with a marker to watch them “magically” appear.

3. ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Write each spelling word in ABC order.

4. RAINBOW SPELLING

5. WRITE A SENTENCE

6. SECRET CODE

7. ROLL A SPELLING WORD

Roll the dice to see which way you are going to practice your spelling words. Which number did you roll the most?

8. WORD ILLUSTRATIONS

Students choose 4 different spelling words to illustrate. As an extension, can they write a sentence to go with the picture?

9. TRACE WORDS

Practice each word as you trace it with different writing tools.

10. EMOJI SPELLING

11. PATTERN BLOCK SPELLING

12. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

13. SCRABBLE SPELLING

14. SPIN IT — SPELL IT

15. SPELLING MAZE

16. SPELLING SPIRAL

17. SPELLING WORD SYLLABLES

Students practice separating their spelling words into syllables. Count on fingers, clap your hands, or stomp your feet to see how many syllables are in each word. Then circle the corresponding number.

18. SILLY WRITING

19. PYRAMID SPELLING

20. SPELLING RHYMES

21. SPELLING COLORS

22. WORD SEARCH

For your higher-level kiddos, this word search is great! They write their words either across, down, or as a challenge, diagonal on the grid. Then place random letters among the words. Share with a partner to see if they can find all of your “hidden” words!

23. WORD ART

24. CREATE A STORY

How many spelling words can your students include in a story? Write a short story that makes sense and illustrate it.

25. KEYBOARD WORDS

26. STAMPING SPELLING WORDS

Everybody loves dot markers! Grab a few different colors and stamp your spelling words as you read them.

27. SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS

For a more challenging activity, connect spelling practice with vocabulary work by finding a synonym and antonym for each spelling word.

28. SIGN LANGUAGE SPELLING

29. How Many Sounds

30. Tic-Tac-Toe Spelling

Perfect for partner spelling activities. Your students can each take a color and play tic-tac-toe with their spelling words.

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The Science of Reading: The Basics

If you prefer, read the text-version of the infographic.

There are so many pieces to the Science of Reading that it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are a few highlights about what the Science of Reading IS and what it IS NOT. This knowledge will help you on your journey to teaching all children, including those with diverse needs and cultural backgrounds, to read.

A Collection of Research

Research, over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read.

Teaching Based on the 5 Big Ideas

Phonemic Awareness - The ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words.

Phonics - Reading instruction on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter- sound relationships and spelling patterns.

Fluency - The ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly, with enough speed, and expression .

Vocabulary - Knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly.

Comprehension - The ability to understand what you are reading.

Ever Evolving

There is new research and evidence all the time. As populations, communities, and approaches evolve, so should practice.

What it is NOT

A program, an intervention, or a product that you can buy..

The Science of Reading could be considered an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence. It is NOT a specific program.

Phonics-based programs that drill phonics skills.

Phonics is an integral part of teaching reading based on science, but it is just one of the five big ideas that should be taught so all children can learn to read.

Complete and no more study needs to be done.

As with any science, it is never complete. We can always know more. More study happens all the time and researchers, teachers, and families can work together to bring the best research into classrooms.

Suggested Citation

National Center on Improving Literacy (2022). The Science of Reading: The Basics. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy . Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org .

Get started on your Science of Reading journey with these highlights about what it IS and what it IS NOT.

Related Resources

What are the characteristics of effective literacy instruction?

Science of reading: defining guide.

The "Science of Reading: Defining Guide" provides a firm definition of what the science of reading is, what it is not, and how all stakeholders can understand its potential to transform reading instruction.

Topic: Evidence-based, General Literacy

More on Evidence-based

A Snapshot of RTI Implementation a Decade Later: New Picture, Same Story
Are Individual Differences in Response to Intervention Influenced by the Methods and Measures Used to Define Response?
Comparison of Reading Growth Among Students With Severe Reading Deficits Who Received Intervention to Typically Achieving Students and Students Receiving Special Education
Important Pieces of School-Based Intervention for Students with or at Risk for Dyslexia: Evidence from 40 Years of Research
NCIL Intensification Framework

The research reported here is funded by awards to the National Center on Improving Literacy from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in partnership with the Office of Special Education Programs (Award #: S283D160003). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of OESE, OSEP, or the U.S. Department of Education. Copyright © 2024 National Center on Improving Literacy. https://improvingliteracy.org

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Susan Jones Teaching

Teaching Resources

How to Teach Sight Words According to the Science of Reading

Susan Jones September 7, 2021 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

Today, I want to share 3 fun and effective activities to teach students how to read sight words. If you’ve been hearing a lot about the Science of Reading lately, you are not alone! The Science of Reading has been around for decades, but there seems to be a bit of “buzz” around it right now as teachers are closely looking at their teaching practice in the classroom.

With sight words in mind, many teachers (self-included) used to call them “snap” words and really try to skill and drill these words into our students’ minds with memorization practice! While rote memorization works for some of our students, the 3 activities I share today align with the research behind the Science of Reading and they’re meant to be simple and fun! As a teacher, you should be able to watch this video, see how to use the activities, then use them in your own classroom right away!

In case you want to watch/listen to this information, feel free to watch the video I made for YouTube below. It includes all the same content but in video format:

Alright, let’s dive on in!

One thing to consider is that for a long time, teachers thought sight words were words that couldn’t be sounded out and instead, needed to be memorized whole so students could recognize them on sight. That’s actually not true, and many sight words CAN be sound out or at the very least, have many recognizable patterns that can be sound out by students.

As David Kilpatrick shares, when a student memorizes a sight word, what they’ve actually done is memorized the sequence of letters they see in a word. A sight word can be a high-frequency word (think Dolch and Fry), but realistically a sight word is ANY word your students have come to recognize by sight! So all the activities shared below can be used for any words you want to teach your students!

1. Phoneme Mapping

The first activity I want to share for sight words is phoneme mapping. In this activity, students will map out the sounds they hear in a word and eventually add in the graphemes (letters) for each sound as well!

Remember, many of the words on our high-frequency word list actually include patterns we teach. For example, the words think, when, how, just, can. With these regularly spelled sight words, you will want to do this process in a few steps:

First, say the word aloud, “with” and have students repeat it back.

Then, have students count out the phonemes they hear in the word /w/ /i/ and /th/ and they can hear it has 3 different sounds. I would then show students the letters (or graphemes) that represent each phoneme they hear in the sound. I like to do this using sound boxes and play-dough or counters because we can add a little multi-sensory fun into the activity. If you were using the high-frequency word, first. It would have 4 boxes and students would follow the same steps with /f/ /ir/ /s/ /t/.

Now, you might be wondering, what do we do with the irregularly spelled sight words?!

Words like said and some can still use phoneme-grapheme mapping and it is beneficial because we know that students aren’t memorizing the word as a whole, but instead, they are memorizing the sequence of letters/sounds. The word said , for example, has a regular /s/ sound and the beginning and a regular /d/ sound at the end, so we can let students see that right off the bat. The only sound they will need to memorize is the irregular /e/ sound that ai is making in the word. To help students see this sound is irregular, I like to use the heart-word strategy and put a heart around the irregular sounds.

You see all about the heart-word strategy from Really Great Reading by heading over to their blog post about it: heart word strategy for sight words . When students are looking at the high-frequency words above, they can quickly see that first is spelled regularly and they will learn all the phonics patterns they need to spell and read that word and that the word, said, has one irregular sound to memorize!

2. Teach Sight Words with a Multi-Sensory Approach

Research has shown for a long time now that students don’t all learn in just one way. Children learn best when they can use different parts of their brain through a multisensory approach and use the four learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile).

To help you brainstorm some ideas for teaching these words with a multisensory approach would be to use something like “skywriting.” After doing an activity like phoneme-mapping above, you could have students practice skywriting the words. To do this, they would hold their arm high up in the sky and simply write out the words in the sky.

Some other ways include using these finger lights! I talk about how I love this tool in my favorite literacy tools for small group reading post, but for this students can simply wear the light and “write” the word on their desk, on the wall, or on some dark construction paper! For a really fun, albeit messy, activity, kids love tracing letters and words into some shaving cream spread out on their desk!

Now it is important to remember that as you are doing these multi-sensory activities, you are still emphasizing that sound-letter connection. You want students to be able to think about the phonemes they are hearing in each word before they start memorizing each letter.

For some other multi-sensory learning ideas, I like to use letter magnets! Now word-building with letter tiles or magnets is nothing new, but an activity I like to with letter magnets is as follows:

After I have already taught the high-frequency word, some , for example, I will show the class how it is spelled with the letter magnets. Now without them looking (have them close their eyes or turn the whiteboard around), I will either switch some letters around (soem) or remove a letter altogether (soe). Then, I ask students “what is wrong?” This gives students an opportunity to think about what they know about the word and the way it is spelled and figure out what might be wrong when they see the word spelled incorrectly. This has students really reflecting on the order of the letters in words they will see often!

Now naturally, you will only want to do this to further progress students’ knowledge about a word so you will want to do an activity like this one after students have practiced some of the previously taught sight word activities!

Last, but certainly not least, add some songs into your sight word teaching! You can use some Jack Hartmann song or use a popular jingle (B-I-N-G-O!) and have students spell their newly learned words to that tune. Now, like the magnet activity above, I wouldn’t start with students learning the word this way, but it’s a great way to have students practice their sight words in another fun way!

3. Compare, Sort, & Match Sight Words by Sound

The last SOR-aligned sight word activity I wanted to share today is to have students compare, sort, & match sight words by sound!

Now, to have students learn how to do this, I like to model this whole group with all my students. Here is an example of 6 words I chose from the Dolch 1st grade high-frequency word list. I chose these words because some have matching beginning, middle, and final sounds. After doing a few of the previously mentioned activities, I would ask students to take a look at the words and see if they can find any that have matching beginning sounds:

You can see above that him and had both start with /h/ and let and live both start with /l/.

I would ask students do any have the same middle sound? Him, live, and think have the /i/ sound. And lastly, both him and from end in /m/. When doing an activity like this one, I would point out one or two matches and then give students lots of think time to read the words and see if they can also find matches.

If you give students sight word cards to practice independently, having them sort and group their sight words by sounds. There is really no wrong way to have them match the words by sound as long as they’re correctly identifying the sounds they hear in each word!

Another way to have students practice matching sounds is with the game memory. Instead of students flipping their cards over to find the matching WORD (with – with). They would flip over two words with the same sounds (beginning, middle, or end).

As I am sure you may be noticing, all these activities are really trying to help students focus on the SOUNDS in each word and not just the letters. Scientifically speaking, students are better able to recognize and memorize these sight words when they are able to quickly locate and identify the grapheme-phoneme connection rather than just memorizing a series of letters or the word as a whole.

I hope this post gives you some ideas for how to teach sight words in your own classroom!

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Reader Interactions

12 comments.

November 19, 2021 at 4:46 pm

Which list of sight words do you use? We have been trying to determine if the “Science of Reading” has a different list than Fry, Dolce, or F&P.

July 27, 2022 at 2:23 am

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/new-model-teaching-high-frequency-words this Reading Rockets article organized the words in a WONDERFUL way!

November 28, 2021 at 12:51 pm

Thank you for amazing resources, love the morning messages. I would love to see more morning messages and sight words as some of my students are on alphabet yet.

February 6, 2022 at 2:29 pm

Thank you so much for sharing these activities. I can’t wait to try them out with my students.

February 6, 2022 at 2:30 pm

Thank you for explaining the theory behind teaching the words.

March 24, 2022 at 10:51 am

July 25, 2022 at 3:06 pm

Great ideas keep them coming!!

August 17, 2022 at 4:38 pm

Very informative. Thanks for sharing would love to learn more about to teaching reading to the beginners

October 9, 2022 at 10:34 pm

Excellent helpful reminders!! Thank you very much!

November 15, 2022 at 3:32 pm

I would like to know your response for a kindergarten teacher that is giving a spelling test with her 7 sight words that she has taught so far this year. She was doing this whole group. I am trying to explain that this is not age appropriate. What are your thoughts?

February 3, 2023 at 2:28 pm

I just love the play dough idea! I have a Kindergartner who loves school and has remembered and sounded out most 30+ snap words off her 40 word list. She loves to read; however, tends to get stuck blending new and unfamilar vocabulary.

February 7, 2023 at 7:26 pm

HI! Thanks for sharing your ideas. I just have a question about mapping think. When you stretched the word think, you said /i/ for the I in think. However, the i represents the phoneme /e/ in the word think. You don’t say thin with a /k/ at the end. My question then, is would you heart the I in think? Thanks.

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Hello Friends!

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

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The Science of Spelling

What is the science of spelling.

The Science of Spelling is a systematic approach that involves understanding the relationship between sounds and written symbols.

It utilizes the large body of Science of Reading research to implement evidence-based best practices and strategies to teach and practice spelling. Learning to spell is a key ingredient to becoming a good reader and is far more intricate than just memorizing words.

There are a plethora of words containing the spelling patterns and sounds taught in elementary school. Committing each word to memory would be an enormous and daunting task for any learner. Instead, The Science of Spelling teaches children to recognize spelling patterns and highlights notable exceptions. Words are taught in context and linked to other words with similar patterns in order to fully explore their meanings.

Why is Spelling Important?

Research confirms that spelling enhances young children’s ability to read and write. However, as children get older, the continued teaching of appropriate spelling practices (spelling patterns; studying the meaning of roots, prefixes, and suffixes; the historical development of the English language; and words’ language of origin) could provide them with significant benefits (Moats, 2005).

Moats (2005) describes the two big sources of complexity in English spelling as the layering of various languages as English evolved and the emphasis on meaning instead of sounds. Explicit spelling instruction in these areas can help students unlock clues about the meaningful relationships between words as well as contribute to vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. Spelling Shed Stages 3-5 lists slowly begin to introduce these concepts and provide for rich vocabulary and morphology acquisition.

Written language is a form of communication. Errors in spelling can lead to misunderstandings and a loss of meaning. While the basic meaning may still be conveyed in a message peppered with spelling errors, the authority and tone of the communication have likely been lost. Daffern and Fleet (2021) note that: “In an age of fast-paced digital modes of communication such as texting, emailing, and messaging through social media platforms, it seems more important than ever to be able to efficiently spell words in a range of contexts."

How Does Spelling Impact Reading?

Learning to spell is a key ingredient to becoming a good reader and is far more intricate than just memorizing words. Catherine Snow et al. (2005) summarize the real importance of spelling for reading as follows: “Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading.” Encoding (spelling) is a developmental process that impacts fluency, writing, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Fluency is best developed through a combination of mastering systematic phonics, practicing high frequency words, and repeated readings (Moats, 1998; LeBerge & Samuels, 1974; Rasinski, 2009).

As students begin to master phonics, it is advantageous to use those skills to practice the 300 high frequency words that make up 65% of all texts (Fry, 1999). When the relationship between spelling and reading is conveyed, students gain a better understanding of the code and demonstrate gains in reading comprehension (Moats, 2005), vocabulary (Moats, 2005), fluency (Snow et al., 2005), and spelling (Berninger, 2012).

How Does Spelling Shed Use The Science of Spelling to Deliver Effective Spelling Lessons?

To deliver effective spelling lessons that align with the principles of the Science of Spelling, we must focus on research-backed approaches. This means teaching strategies rather than memorizing words. These strategies include direct instruction, word study, and practice. Spelling Shed lists were developed by applying the Science of Reading research and follow a systematic progression of phonics and word study skills typically addressed in each grade level.

Spelling Shed supports differentiated learning, allowing students to progress at their own pace and receive activities tailored to their individual needs. This personalized approach aligns with the Science of Reading's emphasis on accommodating diverse learning styles and abilities.

At Spelling Shed, every lesson has a main objective from the national and state standards. We use word study and the latest spelling research to effectively teach spelling. The timing is flexible to fit with your school’s needs. Spelling Shed provides children with multiple methods for approaching spelling. Each lesson is planned and has resources, including a lesson plan, a lesson presentation, and worksheets.

At the beginning of each Stage, there is an intentional spiral review of skills expected to have been acquired in the previous Stage, but they also include words of increasing difficulty. Throughout the progression, new and more advanced concepts and skills are delicately intertwined within the review. This aids in linking past learning to the new concept and skill and reinforces and solidifies learning. If students are struggling with a particular skill, teachers can use previous Stage lists, which will have a more in-depth focus to match students’ needs. The majority of the words selected for each list contain only the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC’s) that have been previously reviewed to avoid cognitive overload, help ensure focus, and attain mastery of the skill at hand.

Practicing to read high-frequency words is essential to becoming a fluent reader, but not by memorizing the whole word. Brain research shows that strong readers, even when they process a written word, such as “instantaneously,” are reading by sounds. Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that readers who read fluently are able to map phonograms to their sounds automatically. The process occurs so quickly that it appears they are reading “by sight” (Ehri & Snowling, 2004). Most high-frequency words are decodable and are more efficiently taught alongside the corresponding phonetic patterns. When students use their knowledge of the sounds to learn and master high-frequency words, they simultaneously strengthen the skills that will enable them to read thousands more.

The Linguistic Tapestry

An effective speller draws upon the entire rich linguistic tapestry of a word to spell it correctly. the threads of this tapestry can be identified as phonological knowledge, orthographic knowledge, morphological knowledge, etymological knowledge, and visual knowledge. (apel et al., 2004a, b; henry, 1989; masterson and apel, 2010)..

Phonological Knowledge

This is simply knowing the phonemes (sounds) and understanding how to represent them as graphemes (letters). Using Spelling Shed, students will be systematically taught the different graphemes for each phoneme.

Orthographic Knowledge

“Ortho” meaning “correct” and “graph” meaning “to do with writing”. Orthography is the spelling system of a language. It is the patterns the language can use.

“Alongside phonological knowledge, students must have orthographic knowledge, that is, understanding which letter sequences are both possible and plausible in English.” Adoniou (2024, p. 146)

Let's take “drip” as an example. It can’t be spelled “dd” with /d/ because “dd” is most often in the middle of words or before a suffix. It would never be at the beginning of a word.

“Orthographic mapping is the cognitive process by which readers associate speech sounds with written letters (phoneme-grapheme associations) in a written word to store it for immediate retrieval “on sight”.” Mather & Jaffe (2021, p. 15-16)

As it is a cognitive process, it is not something you can directly teach; however, you can use methods that support orthographic mapping. This might include breaking down words in different ways: sound buttons, Elkonin boxes or syllables, and looking at the positional best fit of words.

Teaching morphemes and word origins helps students understand the meaning of words at a deeper level, which helps them connect to and recognize unfamiliar words. This means that explicit and systematic spelling instruction can increase vocabulary acquisition.

Morphological and Etymological Knowledge

“visual memory is dramatically better when meaning can be attached to the to-be-remembered pattern.” bowers & bowers (2017, p.132).

Morphology and etymology are important aspects of language that can significantly aid in learning to spell correctly.

Understanding Word Structure: Morphology

Morphology deals with the structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units called morphemes (the smallest units of meaning). Understanding morphology helps children break down words into meaningful parts, such as prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Knowing common prefixes and suffixes can provide clues about the meaning of a word and its spelling. For example, the prefix "un-" often indicates negation (e.g., unhappy,) and recognizing this can help in spelling related words.

Identifying Word Origins: Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history and origins of words. Knowing the origin of a word often provides insight into its spelling and meaning; e.g., “ch” can be pronounced as /k/ in words such as choir, school, and stomach. Words that pronounce “ch” as /k/ are often Greek in origin. Words with similar roots or bases often have similar spellings. For instance, if you know that "bene-" means "good" or "well" (as in "beneficial"), you can apply this knowledge to spell and understand other words with the same prefix, such as "benefit" or "benevolent."

Learning morphology and etymology enhances vocabulary. As students become familiar with root and base words, prefixes, and suffixes, they can more easily recognize and learn new words.

Memorized Words (Lexical Store)

“in order to spell well, children need to learn how to strategically use knowledge about phonology, orthography, morphology, and etymology. it is also a visual activity that involves the laying down and retrieval of visual representations of words and word parts in the memory.” oakley & fellowes (2016, p.1).

Research shows that visual memory is dramatically better when meaning can be attached to the to-be-remembered pattern. As spellers, we build up a mental lexicon. This is a bank of words we have committed to our visual memory and can spell almost automatically.

Effective spelling instruction teaches strategies that support spelling skills. Often, we rely heavily on visual memory for spelling, but there is much more to it than that. Word study directly teaches the linguistic skills that contribute not only to effective spelling but also to reading and further literacy skills such as spoken language.

Strategic Knowledge and Application

We often start with explicit, systematic phonic instruction. However, in later years, this is frequently disregarded. This is best demonstrated using the overlapping waves theory (Siegler, 1996). Wave theory explains that as children grow up and experience different things, they rely on different strategies to learn new things.

Direct instruction should be explicit and systematic, teaching patterns of the English language as well as common exceptions.

This includes:

Alphabetic Principle (an understanding that oral language can be converted to written language by using alphabet letters—graphemes)
Spelling-Pattern Knowledge (phonics)
Patterns, not ‘rules’

Word study involves teaching students strategies for decoding and encoding words, such as identifying morphemes, prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

Spelling variations based on word origins (etymology)
Meaning (morphology)

Practice should be both guided and independent, giving children opportunities to apply their learning to new words and contexts. Additionally, it should also be differentiated, meaning different students will be given different activities or tasks to work on in order to meet their individual needs. It is also important to incorporate multisensory techniques and activities to build a broader understanding of a concept.

As the concepts and skills advance in difficulty in Spelling Shed Stages 2–5, the importance of teaching the etymology and morphology of words increases. As Venesky (1967) stated, “The simple fact is that the present orthography is not merely a letter-to-sound system riddled with imperfections, but instead a more complex and more regular relationship wherein phoneme and morpheme share leading roles.” Words are encoded by their relationship between sounds (phonemes) and meaning (morphology). Moats (2005) states, “Learning to spell requires instruction and gradual integration of information about print, speech sounds, and meaning—these, in turn, support memory for whole words, which is used in both spelling and sight (automatic) reading."

Find Out More:

Spelling Shed enables learning to happen anywhere and everywhere, giving teachers the peace of mind that students can learn and get practice unhindered.

For more information on the ways Spelling Shed ensures effective teaching of spelling, visit our blog or watch our webinar .

Moats, L., & Snow, C. (2005). How Spelling Supports Reading. American Federation of Teachers, 1–13. How Spelling Supports Reading by Louisa Moats
Daffern, T., & Fleet, R. (2021). Investigating the efficacy of using error analysis data to inform explicit teaching of spelling. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties (accepted). Investigating the efficacy of using error analysis data to inform explicit teaching of spelling | Tessa Daffern
Berninger, V. “Evidence-based, developmentally appropriate writing skills k-5: teaching the orthographic loop of working memory to write letters so developing writers can spell words and express ideas.” Presented at Handwriting in the 21st century?: An educational summit, Washington, D.C. January 23, 2012.
Ehri, L. and Snowling, M.J. (2004). Developmental variation in word recognition. In Stone, C.A., Silliman, E.R., Ehren, B.J., and Apel, K. (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy: Development and disorders, pp. 433-460. New York: Guilford.
Fry, E. B. (1999). 1000 Instant Words: The most common words for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials.
LaBerge, D., & Samuels, J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.
Moats, L. (1998). Teaching decoding. American Educator, Spring/Sum, 1–8.
Snow, C. E., Griffin, P., and Burns, M. S. (Eds.) (2005). Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading: Preparing Teachers for a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rasinski, T.V. “Introduction: Fluency: The Essential Link From Phonics to Comprehension.” Essential readings on fluency. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 2009. 1-10. Print.
Venezky, R. L. (1967). English orthography: Its graphical structure and its relation to sound. Reading Research Quarterly, 75-105.
A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words | Reading Rockets
A New Phonics-Based Approach to Teaching High Frequency Words
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II. Overlapping Waves Theory - Chen - 2000 - Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development - Wiley Online Library

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Spelling Activities for the Science of Reading Classroom
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Spelling Activities for the Science of Reading Classroom
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Spelling Activities for the Science of Reading Classroom
Find the heart word routine resources in our Small Group and Intervention Literacy Kit Teacher Table. Use the heart words resource from the Small Group & Intervention Literacy Kit to introduce and provide direct instruction for these three words and the sound oul.If you'd like to see a sample script of a heart word lesson you can take a look at this sample from Really Great Reading.
Spelling Shed
This is an umbrella term for sound (phonemic) awareness, rhyming, alliteration, and syllables. 'phon' = sound 'log' = word/study 'ic' = like/of/relating to 'al' = action/process. Phonological awareness skills include: Identifying the individual words in a sentence spoken aloud. Identifying and generating rhyming words.
5 Literacy Centers Aligned to the Science of Reading
The literacy center activities I'm sharing today take what we know about how students learn to read and put it into practice. While they focus on different reading skills they all follow these essential, evidence-based principles of quality instruction. Instruction must be explicit.In explicit instruction, the objective of the lesson is clear and the teaching is intentional.
30 Science of Reading Resources
13. The Reading League. The Reading League is a non-profit organization focused on the mission to advance awareness, understanding, and use of evidence-based reading instruction. 14. Right to Read Project. A group of teachers, researchers, and activists committed to the pursuit of equity through literacy. 15.
The Science of Reading: How to Get Started
Learn about the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. Then get a FREE resource that provides you with actionable steps for bringing Science of Reading-aligned instruction into your classroom. ... Similar to a word wall, a sound wall is a place for students to reference when they are spelling and reading words. But UNLIKE a traditional A-Z ...
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Whoever finds all of their answers first wins! This game is one of my favorite science of reading activities! It encourages active engagement with material while also helping build social skills like communication and cooperation among peers too. 13. Word Study. Word study is an excellent strategy for helping upper elementary students become ...
Spelling Strategies That Follow Science of Reading + FREE Guide
Of all the spelling strategies out there, isolating spelling patterns is probably the most effective for students who really struggle with spelling. Phonogram cards are a great tool to use to help isolate spelling patterns. Phonograms are are just the spelling of a sound, such as ch for /ch/ and c for /k/. These cards only display one spelling ...
Spelling Shed
The Spelling Shed Curriculum Our spelling program is the most up-to-date curriculum available, based on cutting-edge, Science of Reading research about spelling instruction. Many researchers, including Gentry (2019) and Moats (2019), agree that spelling is foundational for reading and that good spellers build strong readers.
The Science of Spelling
Through spelling activities, children learn to map the sounds of words to their letters in spoken language. Compared to simply eyeing the letters, spelling requires more long-term memory and a deeper level of analysis to successfully sound out and write a word at the same time. In a fluent reader of any language, the brain integrates spelling ...
Spelling Shed
The Spelling Shed curriculum progression begins in each grade with a spiral review of previously taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs). The first few lists are labeled as 'optional' because some may choose to utilize this review or skip it instead. Each grade level has additional optional lists for extended learning as needed.
Spelling and the science of reading
First, it reduces the load on memory. And second, using the script develops phonology. If students have spent years not reading then their brains haven't been processing longer words and their mouths haven't been speaking them. This must be turned around. Mouths must gain valuable experience in speaking syllables clearly and articulating longer ...
Spelling Menu: Science of Reading Based by Mandy Steward
This spelling menu can be used with any word list of your choice. It can be included in a homework packet or used as word work in the classroom. The activities listed on the menu are aligned with The Science of Reading. The Science of Reading based skills include orthographic mapping (in fun ways) and the heart word method. Total Pages.
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This word mapping phonics center is aligned with the Science of Reading and will have your students linking the 'sound' part of a word to the 'letter' part of a word. This
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Most families want to help their children learn to read at home. Many just need information on how to effectively do so. To help you out, today I'm sharing handouts, parent letters, and videos about the science of reading that will help families understand how we teach children to read and how they can help at home.These resources and handouts are perfect to share with families at back-to ...
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ISBN: 9781107557659. Publication Date: 2016-07-18. Spelling can be a source of anxiety for school children and working professionals alike. Yet the spelling of words in English is not as random or chaotic as it is often perceived to be; rather, it is a system based on both meaning and a fascinating linguistic history.
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Practice each word as you trace it with different writing tools. 10. EMOJI SPELLING. Use the emoji picture code to spell each of your words. 11. PATTERN BLOCK SPELLING. Use the pattern block spelling words to create real-life pattern block spelling words! 12. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS.
Spelling Shed
When the relationship between spelling and reading is conveyed, pupils gain a better understanding of the code and demonstrate gains in reading comprehension (Moats, 2005), vocabulary (Moats, 2005), fluency (Snow et al., 2005) and spelling (Berninger, 2012). How Does Spelling Shed Use The Science of Spelling to Deliver Effective Spelling Lessons?
Results for science of reading spelling list
These useful and engaging daily spelling lists are perfect for use inyour elementary, first grade and primary classrooms. This no prep, printable resource is perfect for students who arenew to reading and writing and looking to decode text. Each wordhas space for three tries at spelling each word, using the look,cover, write, check method. Each worksheet features 12 individualspellings to learn.
The Science of Reading: The Basics
Teaching Based on the 5 Big Ideas. Phonemic Awareness - The ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words. Phonics - Reading instruction on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter- sound relationships and spelling patterns. Fluency - The ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and ...
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For example, the words think, when, how, just, can. With these regularly spelled sight words, you will want to do this process in a few steps: First, say the word aloud, "with" and have students repeat it back. Then, have students count out the phonemes they hear in the word /w/ /i/ and /th/ and they can hear it has 3 different sounds.
Spelling Homework Ideas Teaching Resources
This product includes the following helpful resources that are based on the Ontario Curriculum:-10 editable Monthly Homework Calendars from September to June that contain Reading, Writing, Word Work/Grammar/ Spelling, Oral Communication, Media, Math, Science, Social Studies, Health, Physica.
Spelling Shed
When the relationship between spelling and reading is conveyed, students gain a better understanding of the code and demonstrate gains in reading comprehension (Moats, 2005), vocabulary (Moats, 2005), fluency (Snow et al., 2005), and spelling (Berninger, 2012). How Does Spelling Shed Use The Science of Spelling to Deliver Effective Spelling ...
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Browse free spelling homework on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. ... Bulletin board ideas. Posters. Word walls. Printables. Seasonal. Holiday. Black History Month. Christmas-Chanukah-Kwanzaa. Earth Day. ... 1st grade science. 2nd grade science. 3rd grade science. 4th grade ...