So I don’t want to admit it, but we’ve all done it before: we’ve all used decodable texts in our classrooms!  Back when I taught first grade when students came across a word they didn’t know, I gave them strategies to figure it out.  “Look at the picture!”  “Just skip over it and come back!” “What would make the most sense here?”  Even typing these words just makes me cringe!  I was creating a class full of great guessers - not great readers.  But, when you know better, you do better. Thank goodness I found the blessing of decodable texts!  These decodables w ..read more

When you read a blog post, listen to a podcast, or read an article about the science of reading, it’s almost always covering instruction. And for a good reason - instruction is where the heart science of reading happens.  But do you know what drives and influences such great instruction?  Assessments!  We can’t have meaningful, effective instruction without assessments.  If instruction is the sail of a boat, assessments are the winds that drive and guide it.  Before we can teach effectively, we need to know the needs of our students as well as their capabilities. Today ..read more

Even though I’m now a literacy coach, I too have been caught teaching with leveled readers!  In my first-grade classroom, when my students came across an unknown word, I’d have them guess by looking at the picture or even skipping the word.   I was simply creating a classroom full of great guessers - not great readers.  But as we always say here at Literacy Edventures - when you know better, you do better! I had a hunch this wasn’t the best approach, but I also didn’t know what else to do.  That’s when these decodables entered my life and saved the day!  Today, we’re g ..read more

You guys, when our students can finally reach fluency while reading, is there anything better!?  We all know that fluency bridges the gap between decoding and reading comprehension, which is why this is such a beautiful thing. When this happens, we see students actually understand and benefit from the text. In short, fluency helps them read the text as it has been intended for - enjoyment, information, and entertainment!  We are so excited to share some fluency activities with you that get your students to this point.  But first, let’s take a short time to chat about what fluenc ..read more

Why We Love It   Fluency is such an important aspect of reading.  The more fluent the reader, the better they can understand the meaning behind the text.  Oftentimes we get so caught up in teaching phonics skills that we often forget to practice fluency.  But fluency truly is the bridge that allows students to access the text. With good fluency, students are better able to understand the text that they’re reading because their brain is freed up from sounding out each letter of each word.   That’s why it’s so important to practice fluency at all grade levels ..read more

Why We Love It We say it all the time here at Literacy Edventures: decoding and encoding are so important for future reading success.  The sooner we can get to these skills after we’ve done phonological awareness, the better.  There’s plenty of ways to practice these skills: word chaining, using Elkonin boxes, etc.  A really fun way to practice these skills is to use picture puzzles!  In this activity, students will form pictures of images that they are sounding out.  One particularly great aspect of this is that students who are early in their understanding of encodin ..read more

One common issue I hear when it comes to decodable text is “ Where’s the comprehension?” Well today, my friends, I am bringing the comprehension! Why We Love Them There’s nothing like a good decodable, is there?  We love them here at Literacy Edventures, so we decided to give you free, short decodable passages that aligned with our scope and sequence as practice pages or literary centers!  We love these passages because they're short and sweet, yet effective.  Each one is accompanied by a short follow-up activity, such as retelling the story, comprehension questions, or identif ..read more

Did you know that dictation actually starts at the sound and CVC level? Yep, it’s true, even our youngest readers can begin to put dictation into practice! Let me share with you how we do it! Check out these dictation sheets, specially designed with young readers in mind!     Why We Love It Dictation is a fancy word for another fancy word: encoding.  And encoding? Well, it simply means spelling!  Dictation is a very effective way to tell if students are successfully able to transfer sounds they hear to print. As we all know, encoding and decoding go hand-in-hand. When you ..read more

Are you looking for a fun way to reinforce those phonics skills? I’ve got you covered!     Why We Love It Who doesn’t love the age-old game of I Spy?  One of the best aspects of this game is that everyone knows how to play it, so it’s a great independent activity for your literacy centers.  But really, the best aspect about this I Spy resource is that it comes aligned to my scope and sequence.  Sometimes you get an awesome resource and it only covers a handful of phonics patterns - or maybe even less!  The good news about this activity is that no matter where yo ..read more

I don’t know about you, but teaching blends can be tricky. Blends, also known as consonant blends, are two or three consonant sounds that appear together in a word without any vowel sounds in between. These are words like flip, stop, strip, help, desk, and spring. When students begin learning blends, they struggle to hear both sounds at the beginning or at the end. They often leave out the second sound. This happens because they are so used to reading and writing CVC words and this shift makes it difficult. Today, I am going to share with you a few ways that you can make blends stick for your ..read more