Welcome back to our spelling series! In this post we'll discuss spelling rules and which ones are worth teaching. First, I should note that I am talking about spelling, not reading rules. Some rules, like the FLOSS rule, make perfect sense when it comes to teaching spelling. But I don't think that we need to explicitly teach this rule for children to read words like hill, miss, and buzz. It's enough to ... Read More
Should you teach syllable types?
In this post we'll be looking at the six syllable types and considering the question: Should you teach them? What are the syllable types? Most written English syllables can be organized into six kinds of syllables (called syllable types) based on their spelling. Because every syllable has a single vowel phoneme (sound), the syllable types are defined by the location and/or spelling of the vowel ... Read More
What do phonology, orthography, and morphology have to do with spelling?
Welcome to the second post in my series about teaching spelling! Today we'll be diving deep into the structure of words as I answer this question: What do phonology, orthography, and morphology have to do with spelling? Sometimes my oldest son likes to take regular English words and pronounce them "correctly." For example, he'll say, "The word raining should really be pronounced /r/ /a/ /i/ /n/ /i/ /n/ ... Read More
Do’s and don’ts for how to teach spelling
Welcome to the first post in my series about teaching spelling! How to teach spelling: Do's and don'ts Let's examine some "do's" and "don'ts" for teaching spelling in the primary grades. A scope and sequence tells you what to teach, and when. A quality scope and sequence orders skills from simple to more complex. DON'T create personalized spelling lists for each student - when you watch for words ... Read More
Balancing whole group and small group reading instruction with Dr. Sharon Walpole
TRT Podcast #148: Balancing whole group and small group reading instruction with Dr. Sharon Walpole Dr. Sharon Walpole explains how teachers can balance whole group and small group reading instruction using her free open-access curriculum, Bookworms, and the phonics lessons in her book, How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction. Listen to the episode here Full episode transcript Resources ... Read More
How to teach summarizing in the early grades
This is the final episode in our series about reading comprehension strategies! Let's talk summarizing. What does it mean to summarize a text? When you summarize a text, you give a brief statement of the main points. Why should students learn to summarize? Summarizing goes hand-in-hand with comprehension monitoring and is a powerful strategy for improving comprehension (National Reading Panel, ... Read More
How to improve comprehension by asking and answering questions
Welcome back to our series about reading comprehension strategies! What are reading comprehension strategies? First, let's review what reading comprehension strategies actually are. According to Shanahan et al (2010), comprehension strategies are deliberate mental actions to improve reading comprehension. In other words, you do something on purpose to help you understand the text. Teach ... Read More
Teaching expository text structure
Welcome back to our series about reading comprehension strategies! An awareness of the different kinds of expository text structure can help students understand informational text. In this post I'll list the five different kinds of expository text structure and share a routine you can follow when teaching them. What is text structure? Text structure is how an author organizes a text. Research shows that ... Read More
Teaching narrative text structure
Welcome back to our series about reading comprehension strategies! In this post I'll explain how an awareness of text structure can help students understand text. I'll also share a simple routine for teaching narrative text structure. What is text structure? Text structure is how an author organizes a text. Research shows that explicit instruction in text structure leads to gains in reading comprehension ... Read More
How to teach comprehension monitoring
My second son is currently a teenager with those silly cool bangs that are in style right now. Today's post brings me back to when he was a kid learning to read. He was a good decoder from early on. But by fourth grade he had developed the bad habit of speed reading. Since he would much rather play outside (or do anything rather than sit with a book) he saw reading as a word reading task only. Just read the ... Read More