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July 27, 2022

How do teachers prepare for the first days in the classroom?

It is official....school supplies and backpacks have hit the shelves at stores near me. 


Personally, I still have a lot of "summering" left to do....so these stores are CrAzY!!! But.... I know my brain will switch to school mode soon.

I will begin asking myself:

  • How do I prepare for the new school year?
  • What are my first day plans?
  • How do other teachers start the school year? 

To ready myself for the first days in the classroom, I think through how to create a strong foundation for my students.  

Much like a builder at a construction site, your classroom REQUIRES a well-built foundation in order to have a positive and strong impact for your students.  A sturdy base includes:

  •  preparations for building and maintaining relationships
  • creating classroom routines
  • behavior management
  • communication
  • organization  

Once you are ready to flip that switch to "school mode," give yourself a chance to think through the following questions:

Relationships

  1. How will students get to know you?
  2. How will you get to know your students?
  3. How will your students get to know one another? 

Routines

  1. What routines do your students need to know?
  2. How will you teach them?
  3. How will they practice the routines? 

Classroom Management

  1. How will you prevent problem behavior? 
  2. What are the student expectations?
  3. What is your philosophy?
  4. How will you co-construct the agreements/rules together?
  5. How will you encourage positive behavior? 

Communication 

  1. How will you promote all of the awesome things you are going to do this year?
  2. Will you use social media?
  3. How will you keep communication positive? 

Classroom Organization

  1. How will you decorate your classroom?
  2. Where will you put supplies?
  3. What will be the best way to organize to keep your transitions efficient? 
  4. How will students organize their supplies? 
Click the image below to download the above guiding question and a graphic organizer to record your thoughts.  It is a great freebie! 


July 21, 2022

5 Mistakes Teachers Make with CVC Word Family Instruction

Teaching word families can be tricky!  Most of us never took a class in college which covered effective reading instruction...AND as elementary teachers we have more than just one subject to devote our time to studying. 

Plus there are so many questions we can ask ourselves...

  • When should I start word family instruction?
  • What word family should I start with?
  • What is the best way to teach word families? 
  • What are the best word family activities, games and worksheets? 
  • How long do I teach word families before we move on to another phonics skill? 

Some teachers may just be winging the whole "word family thing,"  Teachers are simply doing the best they can with the tools they have in their toolkit.  So, it seems reasonable that we might be making a few mistakes.  The good news---common mistakes are easy to fix!  

Keep reading to find out the top 5 mistakes teachers make with cvc word family instruction, AND what you can do to fix those mistakes!


1. Beginning before kids are ready 

Dr. Linnea Ehri has done extensive research within the realm of  reading and spelling acquisition. In Ehri's body of research, she concludes that word families come AFTER letter-by-letter decoding.  

Students must master the sound-symbol association of letters in our alphabet.  This means students need to have letter sound mastery before their brains are ready to begin word family instruction. 

2. Starting with long vowel word families

There are MANY word families you can teach children, but don't start with long vowel word families (i.e. ain, ake, ame, eet, ice, etc. ).  In The Timing and Teaching of Word Families,  Dr. Francine R. Johnson says starting word family instruction with short vowel word families (CVC word families) is the best choice.

Typically students in this stage of reading development are not aware of silent letters or vowel teams that are needed to represent long vowels. 

3. Not using data

It is always important to track student progress, and word family mastery is no exception.  Many students will pick up on word family patterns quickly and will be ready to progress to phoneme blending (letter by letter tasks, ex: c-a-t).  

Make sure you aren't holding students back from progressing along the phonics continuum by continuing with word family instruction when they are clearly ready for the next phonics skill.

Check out Reading Rocket's Assessment In Practice article, as it has great links to various reading assessments you can use with your students. 

4. Zero Application

Don't just teach word families in isolation!  Make sure you include word families within word study by helping kids discover word families in other places.  

For example once the word family -at is auditorily and visually mapped it can be used to read and spell numerous one syllable words like cat, chat, flat and spat. A great idea is to point out studied word families in shared reading, or have kids find word family words within their own text.

In addition /-at/ is a syllabic chunk in larger words like category, acrobatic and problematic.  Students likely won't be able to read these multi-syllabic words, but it is advantageous to show students how small chunks (word families/rime units) help create larger words.


5. Not using a multisensory approach

When we make instruction multi-sensory and fun; retention soars.

Make sure to include multisensory activities which engage more than one sense at a time.  For example moving a letter tile while also saying its name and sound.  Or, saying the letters as you are writing them. Give students a chance to use sight, sound, movement and touch.

Keep kids engaged with fun games like Roll, Read and Color,  Slap Words or Color by Codes. Add pyramid sentences or decoding drills to literacy centers. 




July 14, 2022

8 Top Tips for Teaching Word Families




Oh Maya, she spoke such powerful words. Such truthful words.

I am guilty of always trying to be the best.  If I learn something new, I want to be an expert at it immediately.  Forget the productive struggle, I just want to be excellent from the start. Ha!

Are you like that too? 

When I teach a new concept to my students, I want the lesson to go flawlessly.  I want 100% engagement.  I wanting soaring student success!  Of course, this doesn't happen all the time...but a girl can dream, right?  AND...I can ALWAYS reflect and do better for the next time.  Just like Maya Angelou said!

Teaching word families can be a powerful way to get kids reading and spelling....which means I want to know THE BEST instructional tips for word family instruction.  

I am sharing the EIGHT top instructional tips for teaching word families with you.......so keep reading!  



1. Teach word families AFTER students have mastered basic grapheme-phoneme correspondence


Basic grapheme-correspondence is another way of saying letter sound mastery. Why should word family instruction come AFTER letter by letter decoding?

 Dr. Linnea Ehri has done extensive research within the realm of  reading and spelling acquisition. In Ehri's body of research, she concludes that word families come AFTER letter-by-letter decoding. 

Before students get to the consolidated alphabetic phase, where students begin to notice patterns including common word families, they must first progress through the full alphabetic phase.  Ehri describes this phase as where kids are learning to accurately decipher words by attending to each letter. 

Students must master the full alphabetic phase before their brain is ready for the consolidated alphabetic phase.  However, once students are in the consolidated phase their automaticity in word reading really takes off!  

 

2. Start with short vowel word families


In The Timing and Teaching of Word Families,  Dr. Francine R. Johnson  does not identify a correct sequence to teach word families, but she does suggest starting with short vowel word families. 

Dr. Johnson says short vowel word families are a better choice than long vowel word families, as students at this stage in reading development are typically not aware of  silent letters needed to represent long vowels. 

Additionally, short a word families (-at, -am, -ap, etc.)  make a great starting place because they are very common in reading materials for young students. 


 3. Teach one word family at a time (in the beginning)


In the beginning start by only teaching ONE word family at a time.  For example teach /-at/, before you move on to /-an/.  The study of one family at a time stabilizes your child's sense of rhyme and gives them a visual support that rhyming words not only sound alike but can look alike too. 

In-depth studies of one word family at a time could take up most of the school year.  So, once your data tells you that your students are understanding and mastering picking the word families you have introduced begin introducing two, three or even four at a time!   


4. Don't teach in isolation 

Don't just teach word families in isolation.  Include word families during word study by helping kids discover the patterns in other places.

For example once the word family -at is auditorily and visually mapped it can be used to read and spell numerous one syllable words like cat, chat, flat and spat.  In addition it is a syllabic chunk in larger words like category, acrobatic and problematic.  Students likely won't be able to read these multi-syllabic words, but we can point out their presence. 

It is our job to help students crack the code of our language and one way to do that is by showing students the patterns that are present in our language.  Our brains LOVE patterns, so lean into that love by teaching word families!

 

5. Word Study


If your students are zipping through word family activities with accuracy, it is time to move on to the study of other patterns.  Typically, kids become experts at chunking and identifying rimes to read and spell new words rather quickly.  Basically don't hold kids back--if they are ready to move on, move them on!

Word study should continue throughout the grades as students continue to examine words for commonalities (sounds, spelling patterns, etc.). The study of word families is not the entire answer for word study--but is a GREAT starting strategy to help kids become adept readers and spellers.  



6. Use a variety of activities 

When we make instruction multi-sensory and fun retention soars.

Make sure to include multisensory activities which engage more than one sense at a time.  For example moving a letter tile while also saying its name and sound.  Or, saying the letters as you are writing them. Give students a chance to use sight, sound, movement and touch.

Keep kids engaged with fun games like Roll, Read and Color,  Slap Words or Color by Codes. Add pyramid sentences or decoding drills to literacy centers. 



7. Use the 37 most common rime units 

Students can read and spell 500 primary words if the 37 most common rime units are taught!  Whoa! Download a **free**list of the 37 most common rime units by clicking the image below.

Are you ready to teach word families to your students?

Word family instruction is a powerful way to get kids reading and spelling new words!

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    8. Use Data 

    As always, pay attention to your data!  I mentioned before many students will pick up on word family patterns quickly and will be ready to progress to phoneme blending (letter by letter tasks ex: c-a-t). 

    However, you may have some students that need more work with word families.  So, make sure you have a good data tracker to keep kids moving!


    July 6, 2022

    Resources to Teach Word Families

    Word family instruction is important!  As I mentioned in What are Word Families & Why are they Important, word family instruction is a POWERFUL way to get kids reading and spelling!

    If you are in need of a solid instructional routine to teach word families, check out How Do You Teach Word Families

    So, the next question is... what about the resources? 

    Before we dive in to materials, I found this quote from the article The Timing and Teaching Word Families by Dr. Francine R. Johnson to be quite helpful.

    "The thoughtful use of materials with a high percentage of words with the same patterns as those taught in phonics lessons makes sense (Hiebert, 1998; Stahl, Duffy-Hester, & Stahl, 1998) as it increases the chance that children will make connections between the teacher-directed study of word families and their own encounters with words in meaningful contexts."

    As teachers, if we carefully select resources which include directly taught phonics patterns, we will increase a students ability to decode unfamiliar text.  We will be setting students down the path to reading success! Whoop!

    So.....resources..... 


    In, How Do You Teach Word Families, I broke word family instruction down into four steps. Let's take a look at resources for each of those four steps.

    Step 1: World of Sound (phonology)

    I use poems, books, riddles, nursery rhymes and songs to introduce students to word families.  Any resource will do, as long as you are selective in your choice.  You will want to make sure the word family pattern you are introducing is used frequently in the text.

    During step one, students are just **listening** for the word family pattern.  No text, or spelling is introduced.  Adding movement to this activity (raising hand, standing up, jumping, snapping, etc) every time a word family is heard will increase engagement. 

    Step 2: I Do (teacher modeling)

    For the I do portion, I am attaching a symbol (grapheme or letter) to the word family.  In this simple step, I will scribe out word family words on marker boards, chalkboards, magnetic letters, etc.

    Another great resource for this step are Jack Hartmann's videos!  Hartmann has TONS of free videos on his YouTube channel--and they are GREAT!



    Step 3: We Do (word building)

    When students are building word family words in we do, I find it best to use an alphabet arc or letter tile board.  

    When we make instruction multisensory (physically moving a letter or letter time, pointing and saying, etc.) student's retention is better.  



    If you don't have those available during word the word building portion, you can download free letter tiles by clicking to download below!

    Need word building letter tiles for your students?

    Using letter tiles for word building is a perfect way to make reading and spelling new words multisensory!

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      I also have Word family Letter tiles in my Mind Sparks store on Teacher's Pay Teachers, which includes the regular set of word building letter tiles PLUS the 37 most common word families!  
       
      Additional ideas for word building would be using strips of paper where initial letters can be threaded through a cutout besides the rime, or word family wheel.  Check out some of the DIY options below!



      Step 4: You Do (decodable text)

      Application of word families in decodable text is SO IMPORTANT!

      For decodable text and word reading Hubbard's Cupboard has some free word family worksheets and decodable readers. The decodable readers from this website do include high frequency words that would need to be pre-taught to students before they are able to read the text. 

      I also LOVE using pyramid sentences! As a reading interventionist, I often work with students that see a story, paragraph or even an sentence and they get overwhelmed.  Reading is difficult for them, and seeing a large chunk of text causes anxiety.  

      Pyramid sentences present the text in a scaffolded manor starting with the first word, then the first two, then the first three and so on.  The repetition of words and focus on a particular pattern gives students success and decreases overwhelm!  



      I also like to include games like Roll, Read and Color,  Slap Words or Color by Codes during literacy centers and small group time. These activities make learning fun and offer variety while still practicing a taught phonics skill.  GENIOUS!