​Helping Students Learn to Read in a Tier I Setting

When it comes to how reading arises, we know a lot. For example, we know that 1) reading arises from the interaction of specific brain processing areas (semantic, phonological, and orthographic), 2) the visual perception of correct letter sequences is the first thing to occur in the reading process, and 3) processing, strategy use, and opportunities to practice collectively work to build increasingly skillful reading.
 
From this body of evidence flow many practical and effective classroom practices or actions, useful for teaching students in a variety of settings, able to prevent many reading problems, and valuable as teaching tools that help students overcome many reading difficulties. Previously, I outlined practices for preK to first grade. Here are thoughts on the broader K to 3rd grade band.
 
Kindergarten through Third: Reading and Meaning
Reading is ultimately about meaning. This is why we always help students connect the act of reading words to the act of comprehending words. But when students don't automatically recognize words they encounter, their levels of comprehension drop. And so we help students vigorously build and then skillfully combine both streams of the reading river: language comprehension and automatic word recognition. Let’s tackle the last one first. 

Helping young readers develop phonological and orthographic skills is critical. To break the code and become automatic word recognizers, some children need a great deal of direct, explicit, and systematic phonics and spelling instruction, coupled with instruction that lifts them to phonemic proficiency. This is especially true for students who have or may have dyslexia. The skills students need to become automatic word recognizers include:

• Identifying and forming letters.
• Identifying the individual sounds (phonemes) that occur in English language words .
• Mapping letters and letter combinations (chunks) onto sounds.
• Reading and spelling simple words.
• Reading and spelling more complex words.
• Reading words in sentences and paragraphs.

 
Activities and materials that can be used to teach phonological and orthographic skills to mastery include:

• Doing phonological activities (basic to advanced), as described in my November 2021 post, include hand spelling, LiPPS humming, stretch-tap-zap for segmenting and blending, penny push and pull, and more.
• Engaging in letter-a-day instruction, either through teacher-created programs or programs like Alphabet Boot Camp.
• Teaching letter formation through handwriting programs, cursive writing programs (especially for students who have dyslexia), and efficient multi-sensory activities such sandpaper letters, sky writing, and palm writing.
• Using sound walls, both vowels and consonants, to help students connect the 44 sounds of the English language to the letters and letter combinations that represent those sounds.
• Building words with letter tiles, including both individual letters and word chunks like ank, ing, and tion.
• Practicing spelling and reading through written and tile-created word chains and word ladders.
• Analyzing patterns in words and then practicing the reading and spelling of word patterns to the point of mastery.
• Reading decodable text.
• Engaging in word and sentence dictation and then reading the words and sentences that were written.
• Using old school flip folder and/or playing high quality digital spelling games.
• Playing pattern-noticing games like “I’m Thinking of a Word” and “Look, Touch, Say.”
• Guiding students through repeated reading of decodable and authentic text.
• Engaging in lots of authentic writing.
• Engaging in lots of authentic reading.

Helping young readers develop language comprehension skills is critical. To become strategic readers who actively reflect, problem solve, use strategies, and ultimately read with deep meaning, all students need to develop the skills listed below, and some will need a great deal of direct and explicit instruction with repeated practice to reach mastery levels.

• Quickly understand the meaning of most of the words they read.
• Develop a reservoir of background knowledge on many topics.
• Read with focus and stamina.
• Find and choose books that are right for them.
• Monitor their reading by asking themselves questions such as: Am I on-task? Am I confused? Do I know these words? Do I understand what I have read?   
• Fix up their reading road-blocks such as confusion, loss of focus, lack of stamina, and confusion about word or sentence meaning. 
• Use meta-cognition strategies to get at the deeper meanings of the text they are reading.

 
Activities and materials that can be used to teach language comprehension include: 

• Build stamina and focus using timers, motivating charts, and positive and descriptive reinforcement.
• Directly connect words to meaning through vocabulary and morphology instruction, which includes putting words into themes and categories, exploring the relationships and associations between words (synonyms, antonyms, the study of roots and affixes, and so forth).
• Build background knowledge prior to reading by providing a See-Think-Wonder, pre-teaching select vocabulary words, exploring theme-related objects housed in a hands-on Cozy Corner, showing many theme-related pictures culled from a Google Image search, doing an interactive read aloud using a theme-related picture book, and using Wait Time and Think-Pair-Share to access and share background knowledge.
• Explicitly and directly teach and model strategies that fix or overcome reading roadblocks. For example, teach how to go back and re-read, slow down your rate of reading, summarize, and ask yourself questions and try to answer them
• Use activities, such as text annotations, that collect and synthesize strategies such as ask a question, answer a question, make a connection to your life or to the world, point out what you love or agree with, and make note of words you don’t know or passages that confuse you.
• Provide a classroom library, forward facing books displays, and unleveled book bins full of many types of books, specially picked to reflective the interests and diversity of students in your classroom.
• Provide time to read-read-read, including time in a large group but especially guided in small groups (leveled readers, book clubs) and through supported independent reading time, where students can pick the books they are most interested in and then read on their own or with buddies.

​Of the actions I’ve pointed out in this blog, most are presented in detail in my 2021 Corwin book How to Prevent Reading Difficulties. Also, if you visit my YouTube channel, you can see me model some of the teaching practices or actions I mentioned, including Look-Touch-Say, flip folders, word ladders, and sky writing. 

Wishing you successful weeks of teaching and a relaxing and happy holiday break!