by Jan and Kari | Aug 19, 2022 | Blog, Fluency, High-Frequency Words, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
If we asked you to guess how many encounters with a new word a typical reader needs to be able to retrieve the word instantly and automatically, without guessing, decoding, or relying on other hacks . . . what number would you guess? 20? 30? 40? More? Well, you might...
by Jan and Kari | Aug 16, 2022 | Blog, Fluency, High-Frequency Words, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
If you’re looking for a bit of magic in your sight word instruction, you’re in the right place! The real magic, of course, comes from HOW you teach high-frequency words. And spoiler alert – successful word instruction has everything to do with leveraging the...
by Jan and Kari | Aug 3, 2022 | Blog, High-Frequency Words, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
We’ve all been there! We’ve all said some version of this phrase! After chanting and practicing and highlighting and rainbow writing a word repeatedly, a student encounters the word in print (or goes to use it in their writing) and looks at it like it’s a martian with...
by Jan and Kari | Jul 29, 2022 | Blog, Fluency, High-Frequency Words, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
If you’re like us, you’ve likely used these two terms – high-frequency words and sight words – interchangeably.But to really understand the brain science of word recognition, it’s important to get clear on the difference between these two labels...
by Jan and Kari | Jun 30, 2022 | Blog, Knowledge Building, Language Comprehension, Video, Vocabulary
Words! Oh, wonderful words.Serendipity, keen, disparate, convivial, camaraderie, eclectic, gratuitous, inveterate–and the list goes on and on (and on!) We are definitely lovers and learners of words ourselves, and we know you are, too! Word learning is for...
by Jan and Kari | Jun 25, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Fluency, High-Frequency Words, Language Comprehension, Literacy Leadership, Meaningful Independent Practices, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Prompting & Feedback, Word Reading Instruction
If you are a teacher or literacy interventionist struggling to: assess students in meaningful ways, provide more effective differentiated instruction, manage the diverse needs of your students with limited time, or find the instructional resources you need (like...
by Jan and Kari | May 21, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Literacy Leadership, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
What could be more fun than thinking about pups? We really can’t think of much.Speaking of puppies, if you’re familiar with our book, Shifting the Balance, then you know that Chapter 6 is about finding “aligned” texts for students. Aligned texts are more than...
by Jan and Kari | May 13, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Meaningful Independent Practices, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
Last week we offered seven ways to use our “Decodable Lists and Sentences” to supplement and support your phonics instruction. Based on the positive response from readers, we decided to add one more way to use these collections. Today’s idea is focused...
by Jan and Kari | May 6, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Fluency, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
Last week, we introduced you to our two sets of decodable word lists, and we even suggested you might want to organize them in a binder for easy access. And today, we share seven simple and practical ideas for using these two collections of word lists and sentences....
by Jan and Kari | Apr 30, 2022 | Blog, Decodable Texts, Fluency, Phonics, Word Reading Instruction
Maybe you already knew about our Decodable Word Lists and Sentences. Maybe you didn’t. Maybe you saw the lists and weren’t sure what to do with them. Whatever the case, we want to offer seven simple ways to use these resources to enhance your phonics instruction and...
