Route2Reading

Leading the Way: Supporting Teachers with the Science of Reading Feb 18, 2025

All About Lisa Russo:

Administrator in New York Public Schools at P.S. 152.
Became a teacher in 2022 at P.S. 152 and taught for 13 years in a variety of grades.
Pursued a masters and became assistant principal at P.S. 152 for seven years - the same school she grew up in!
Now serves as the principal at P.S. 152.

You mention that you have former students who return as staff members or with their own children. Can you talk about that?

It’s so incredible and unique - a true family.
It makes my job more important because I have a great connection with the families, staff, and kids. I grew up alongside them!
Having my own students come back or have their children is just so special.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Mastering Small Group Instruction Feb 03, 2025

Small group instruction: where the magic happens. It's here where we get to see those long-awaited lightbulb moments. But with so many needs and so little time, it can feel overwhelming. Today, we will help you simplify your planning, chat about why small groups are so important, and give you all the tools you need to make your small group instruction successful.

Why Small Groups Matter

Small groups allow us to meet them where students are and provide targeted support.

In fact, research supports that this time is one of the most effective ways to boost reading success.

But with so much planning, what do we do?
We follow a structure and this three-part framework:

Warm-up with cumulative review
Explicit teaching
Application.

Following a framework takes the guessing out of planning and ensures that your lessons are aligned with the science of reading.
This framework works because it’s digestible, it’s consistent, it’s aligned with the science of reading, it’s efficient for teachers, and gives students a confident path towards reading.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

The Importance of Decodable Text with Elise Lovejoy Jan 20, 2025

LE Podcast #52

The Importance of Decodable Text with Elise Lovejoy

All About Elise Lovejoy:

Former teacher and currently serves as an probono interventionist at a nearby school.
Runs Express Readers, a foundational skills reading program as well as a decodable book series.
Passionate about the science of reading.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Podcast #51: New Year, New Goals: Using Data to Reset and Plan for 2025 Jan 06, 2025

LE Podcast #51

New Year, New Goals: Using Data to Reset and Plan for 2025

What’s the most important question we can ask ourselves as teachers and reading specialists and coaches? That’s easy: How do we teach reading in a way so that we can reach every student and every need? The answer may not be what you think! It all starts with assessments. Analyzing data we get from assessments can completely transform our reading instruction and help us reach every student. Today, we’re doing a deep dive into assessments and why we need them to drive our reading instruction.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

LE Podcast #50: Moving Students From Letter Sounds to CVC Words: The Secret Sauce Dec 08, 2024

I want to share with you essential building blocks that can help your students move from letters to reading CVC words. Before we begin, let’s start with some vocabulary we’ll use during these show notes today.

Phonemic awareness - the ability to blend, segment, and manipulate phonemes. This is oral and doesn’t involve letters or print.
Phonemes - our smallest units of sound.
Alphabetic principle - taking the sounds and connecting it to written letters.

The Checklist That Students Need Before Reading CVC Words

These foundational skills must be in place if we want to support our students efficiently.

Letter name knowledge - They have to be able to look at the letter and know the name and sound of that letter.
Automaticity - Simply knowing their sounds isn’t enough. Students must be able to say their letter sounds automatically, which is what will help them blend and decode words.
Phonemic awareness - blending and segmenting is critical for our students.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Anna Geiger Nov 18, 2024

All About Anna Geiger:

Author of Reach All Readers: Using the Science of Reading to Transform Your Literacy Instruction.
Former teacher in 1st-4th grades.
Currently serves educators through her website, www.themeasuredmom.com.
Shares tons of hands-on lessons, thoughtful articles, and printable resources and has been doing so since 2013.
Hosts a weekly podcast called Triple R Teaching and presents at various summits and conferences.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Yearlong Phonics Pacing Guide Nov 07, 2024

Podcast #48 - Yearlong Phonics Pacing Guide

Show Notes

You guys - it’s here! My Yearlong Phonics Pacing Guide for Grades K-2 is designed to help you plan and implement effective phonics instruction throughout the school year. Here, we’ll share tips on how to make the most of this invaluable resource in your classroom.

Plan Ahead: Take Control of Your Phonics Instruction

Ensure a smooth and successful school year by planning ahead.

Benefits of planning ahead:

You have organization and clear goals and timelines to keep you on track.
You have consistency to ensure a logical progression of skills.
You have flexibility because you’re able to see ahead and adjust the framework as needed.

Start by mapping out your phonics instruction for the entire year.
Use the pacing guide to outline your weekly goals and objectives.

Doing so will help you stay organized and, best of all, reduce stress throughout the entire year.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Neena Saha Oct 14, 2024

All About Neena Saha:

Neena earned her master’s degree in educational neuroscience from Columbia and has a PhD in special education from Vanderbilt.
Her doctoral work on decoding resulted in a patent and her research can be found in journals like The Journal for Learning Disabilities and The Reading and Writing Interdisciplinary Journal.
Upon graduating, Neena founded Elemeno, which helps bridge the research practice gap in early literacy.
Meta Metrics acquired Elemeno and Neena joined their team to help build out early literacy products, tools, and services.
Neena also continued the Reading Research Recap, which is a newsletter aimed at translating recent research into useful information for teachers.
Currently, she’s exploring better ways of translating research for all.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Structuring Literacy Blocks Sep 30, 2024

Scheduling literacy blocks and finding enough time in a day is an ever-present challenge in our classrooms. How do we do it, and where do we start? Today, we’ll go over some of the challenges we face, what to do about them, and how we can get in the time we need to teach literacy.

The Challenges of Literacy Blocks

Not enough time

Teachers are interrupted many times a day with student needs, broken copiers, announcements, and so on. There’s sometimes simply not enough time in our day to implement literacy blocks in the way we’d like.

Overload of materials

You may have a phonics program, fluency program, a comprehension program, etc. All of these materials are simply too overwhelming. And when we get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, what actually happens is that we don’t end up starting at all.

Over-adopting curriculum

With the rise of the science of reading (yay!), many districts have adopted new curriculums. Although the intention is good, this leads to an overwhelming amount of resources. When we over-adopt curriculum, start valuing quantity over quality.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Meghan Hein Sep 16, 2024

All About Meghan Hein:

Proudly been in education for 20 years with jobs as a 2nd grade teacher as well as a math coach.
Eventually transitioned into a literacy intervention teacher and served there for 5 years.
She’s now back in the classroom using the skills and knowledge she learned as a literacy interventionist.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Letter Formation Sep 04, 2024

The Complexity of Letter Formation

Letter formation is the foundation for literacy development. This is because practicing letter formation helps students with shapes and sounds of letters, which is important for foundational reading skills.
Students also need fine motor skills in order to accomplish appropriate letter formation. Good letter formation needs good fine motor skills.
Writing by hand engages the parts of the brain that enhance memory and learning. When students are writing the letter and saying the sound, we’re helping them make the sounds stick.

One study found a significant correlation between letter recognition and handwriting fluency in students who were practicing their letter formation and had handwriting fluency. This proves that children who practice writing letters become more familiar with their shapes and sounds.
Another study showed that explicit instruction in letter formation is effective. As educators, we need to guide students through the correct strokes, use correct visual aids, and even teach students chants so they can understand how to write each letter.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Alphabet Quest Aug 22, 2024

The Birth of Alphabet Quest

During the pandemic, I was asked to leave my literacy coaching role and teach kindergarten. When I went back to the classroom, I discovered that we were in desperate need of speeding up and enriching how we learned our alphabet.
My time in the classroom was what birthed a really fun and effective idea I had: Alphabet Quest! Alphabet Quest is the idea of teaching the alphabet in an intense, systematic (and faster) way.
I returned to my literacy coaching role and introduced Alphabet Quest to my co-workers.
Instead of teaching one letter a week and spending 26 weeks inside the alphabet, Alphabet Quest was designed for children to learn their alphabet and letter sounds in only 5 weeks’ time.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Melanie Brethour Aug 12, 2024

All About Melanie Brethour:

Full-time elementary resource teacher in Montreal, Canada and also a parent to a child with severe dyslexia.
Passionate about dyslexia and the science of reading, specifically supporting parents through navigating the dyslexia journey.
Her son was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of nine. This influenced her to learn more about dyslexia and how she could support both her son and her students.
Founded Decoding Dyslexia Quebec, which raises awareness about dyslexia and gives support to educators and parents.
Her passion resides in sharing resources and information for parents, teachers, and all educators so that those with dyslexia can feel supported.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Developing Readers Academy with Megan & Laura Jul 15, 2024

All About Megan & Laura from Developing Readers Academy:

Both taught in the same intervention room at a school in Minnesota.
After looking at their end-of-the-year data, they realized their students simply were not making progress.
Megan and Laura then went through LETRS and Orton Gillingham training to sharpen their skills.
After that, they devoured every single SOR training and resource they could!
When they implemented these practices, they instantly saw results in their intervention room.
Megan and Laura wanted to ensure all kids were being given the resources that they need in order to be successful readers - not just the ones in their own small intervention room.
So they started sharing ideas on Instagram and realized how fun it was to share structured literacy approaches and the magic of the science of reading.
From there, Developing Readers Academy was born.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Jake Daggett Jul 01, 2024

All About Jake Daggett:

Began teaching in 2015 and mostly has taught in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classrooms.
Recently took a new role as Foundational Literacy Director at a school in Milwaukee.
Loves sharing ideas about the science of reading, especially about how we can make it fun and engaging for students.
Focuses on the rhythm and movement in literacy classrooms.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Interview with Wiley Blevins Jun 17, 2024

All About Wiley Blevins:

Author, travel-lover, and expert in all things literacy.
Comes from a history of grandparents who were illiterate - books were not a part of his everyday life. It was these limitations that encouraged him to perform well in school and learn to read.
When he began teaching, he didn’t know how to teach reading, so he had to do his own mini studies in his classroom.
This led him to graduate school at Harvard where he learned how children learned to read.
His educational journey led him to work with and learn from people like Jeanne Chall, Marylin Adams, and Louisa Moats.
With their expertise, he took their research and knowledge and applied it to his own classroom, made it practical, tested out nuances, and talked about how we can better help our students.

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Defining MTSS an Interview with Stephanie Stollar Mar 27, 2024

Full Show Notes Here

All About Dr. Stollar:

Former Vice President for Professional Learning at Acadience Learning Inc.
Part-time assistant professor in the online Reading Science Program at Mount St. Joseph University.
Founding member of a national alliance for supporting reading science in higher education.
Support educators to learn about and implement the science of reading.
Consults and helps other teacher programs to align programs to reading research.
Has an online membership community called The Reading Science Academy where she supports educators to learn about the science of reading and implement it in their various educational roles.

What does MTSS stand for?

MTSS:

…stands for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.
…is first and foremost a framework for putting into place things that we know about reading research.
…uses data to make decisions that allow schools to eliminate barriers to student reading success.

For example, we know that reading problems can be prevented for the vast majority of students primarily through the way we teach reading for the first time in the classroom. Research also tells us there are effective ways to intervene for the students who have difficulty with reading.

…is all about making decisions as a team at a variety of levels within schools (district, school, grade) that will allow the educational system to get all students reading. Everyone can become a reader, but they’re not going to do so with the same type or amount of instruction.
…is made up of three tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. These are tiers of instruction and intervention.
…is set up to be a continuum of instructional supports that are available to every student from day one of kindergarten. It’s the school’s job to get the system of supports in place. Each school will have its own way of doing this - think of these tiers as customized to the needs of the school community, its students, and its resources.
…and the science of reading aren’t separate - they’re joined together. They are not separate initiatives. Let’s think about MTSS as the delivery system for what’s in the reading research.
..is a model where each and every student is considered (from accelerated to struggling).

Check Out Dr. Stollar:

Website: https://www.readingscienceacademy.com/
- https://www.readingscienceacademy.com/#section-1591199462991

Check out her MTSS course, plus her Reading Science Academy membership!:

Instagram: readingscienceacademy
YouTube: @readingscienceacademy
Email: stephaniestollar@gmail.com

Using Quick Checks to Monitor Progress Mar 18, 2024

Let’s talk assessments and get straight to the point: 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. Let’s chat!

Assessments are important because they:

identify strengths and weaknesses
Inform instruction
track progress
guide intervention
support differentiation
inform curriculum planning

Tools and Resources

Check out my Phonics Quick Checks for the best starting place! They are easy to use and, yep, you guessed it - quick!

Check out my Phonemic Awareness Screener for free!
My Phonics Screener for Units 2-4 assesses both decoding and encoding.
Also check out my Letter Name/Sound Check (5 Word CVC).

Remember that reading is not a race - it’s a journey. When we embrace ongoing assessments in our classroom as well as data-driven instruction, we can ensure that we are delivering the best possible instruction to our students - no matter where they are.

Full show notes here!

Choosing and Using a Scope and Sequence Feb 19, 2024

The Importance of Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction, which teaches the relationship between sounds and letters, is a fundamental component of reading development. To ensure effective phonics instruction, teachers must follow a well-designed scope and sequence. When it comes to choosing or creating a phonics scope and sequence, there are many things we should consider.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of choosing and following a phonics scope and sequence by drawing insights from current research. Understanding the significance of this structured approach to phonics instruction can lead to improved reading outcomes for our students. So let’s dive in!

Full Show Notes Here

How to Support Students with Dyslexia interview with Heather O'Donnell Feb 05, 2024

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Heather O'Donnell

Former special education teacher who worked with kids with autism
Dyslexia practitioner through Wilson Reading System
Structured literacy dyslexia interventionist
Started tutoring practice called New Paltz Multisensory in September 2018
- Works with students not only with dyslexia but also with kids with special needs, autism, and children who are in self-contained classrooms.
Passionate about reading and writing instruction and loves watching kids’ confidence soar

Full Show Notes Here

Using Decodables Effectively Jan 30, 2024

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 skipping the word. I was 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 will chat about decodable texts, what they are, who needs them, and how best to utilize them in the classroom.

Full Show Notes

Tips and Tricks for Building Fluency Jan 08, 2024

Congrats! You’ve got students who can decode words effectively. This is half of the battle! Now for the other half: Are they efficient yet? This second part can take an ample amount of time, and students need plenty of practice building fluency. Fluency is so important because it bridges the gap from decoding to comprehension, especially in the foundational years. For our kindergarten through 2nd graders, developing fluency in reading, writing, and communication is crucial for future academic success. Today, I’m sharing some tips and tricks to help build fluency during these foundational years that you can walk away with and start tomorrow!

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Resources from Episode

My Favorite Resources Regarding Fluency:

Scooping Phrases (FREE)

Fluency Builders

...and MORE!

My Favorite Books and Articles Regarding Fluency:

Rasinski, T. V. (2020). The importance of fluency instruction in the early grades.

Chard, D. J., & Pikulski, J. J. (2005). Developing fluency: Theory, research, and practice.

Gambrell, L. B., & Morrow, L. M. (2017). Best practices in fluency instruction for early readers.

Allington, R. L., & McGill-Franzen, A. (2016). Fluency: Still waiting after all these years.

Early Decoding: The Lesson Breakdown Dec 30, 2023

Wouldn’t it be wonderful that as soon as students knew their letter sounds and could blend phonemes, blending CVC words would be a breeze? We can dream, can’t we!? Sometimes it’s not always that simple. We still need to explicitly teach them how to put all of the reading pieces together. CVC instruction still needs to be systematic, logical, practiced in whole group and small group, and needs to follow a “gradual release” model - I Do, We Do, You Do.

I’ve found that having a prerequisite list to word reading is super helpful when beginning to learn CVC words. I’m here to share that with you today, along with what it looks like to put CVC instruction into practice in a classroom setting.

Full Show Notes and Freebies Here!

Letter Sound Dos and Don'ts Dec 18, 2023

These days, we’re often told what not to do while teaching reading, but what we’re often lacking is what we should replace those “don’t do” activities with. Well, I have a list of don’ts that are accompanied by a list of do’s when it comes to specifically teaching letter sounds

Full Show Notes Here

More of What You Need:

Check out my other two podcasts that compliment this one and give you more info on how to make your students masters of letter sounds:

Tips and Tricks for Mastering Blends Nov 27, 2023

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.

But it doesn’t have to be! That’s why today I am going to share with you a few ways that you can make blends stick for your students. No longer will you have to fear blends on your scope and sequence, because these tips and tricks will make them easy and fun!

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Five Ways to Boost Your Phonics Instruction Nov 14, 2023

"Phonics instruction should be an essential component of a comprehensive reading program to ensure that children develop strong foundational skills necessary for reading success."

-National Reading Panel Report

The Role of Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction plays a crucial role in developing strong reading skills in young learners. By teaching the relationship between sounds and letters, we can equip students with the necessary tools to decode words and comprehend texts. To ensure effective phonics instruction, it is essential to incorporate explicit and systematic teaching methods into our instruction. In this blog post, we will explore five powerful strategies that can boost phonics instruction and promote reading proficiency in your students.

See Full Show Notes Here

Tips and Tricks for Literacy Coaches Nov 06, 2023

Meet Chrissy Beltran

Check her out!
- Website: Buzzing with Ms. B
- Instagram: buzzingwithmsb
- YouTube: Buzzing with Ms. B
- Podcast: Buzzing with Ms. B: The Coaching Podcast
- Courses: Instructional Coaching Courses

Three Moves Literacy Coaches Should Make at the Beginning of the Year

The beginning of the year can be tough - there’s lots to do, lots of overwhelm, and the tasks ahead seem daunting. But it’s important to start it off right, because it can set the tone for the entire year. Below, Chrissy shares three tasks that literacy coaches can do to begin the year on the right foot.

First things first: Chrissy states that it’s foundational to introduce your role as a literacy coach to teachers and staff and let them know what they can expect from you. Before these three steps, be sure to define your role within the school and in what ways you’ll be helping them.

Full Show Notes Here

Cracking the Code to Decoding: Dr. Julia Lindsey Oct 28, 2023

Recap:

In today’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Julia Lindsey, author of Reading Above the Fray. Julia is a literacy expert and reading researcher. In this episode, she helps us bust some common myths about decodables. Full show notes here.

A Peek Inside One Second Grade Teacher’s Literacy Block Oct 27, 2023

Meet Kaylee McCaslin:

Currently teaching second grade in Washington
9th year of teaching
Our very own Literacy Edventures member!
Reach out to her!: kaylee.kinsey@gmail.com

We love to feature all kinds of people here on the LE Podcast, and we feel that teachers who are still in the classroom are so important to hear from because they’re in the trenches with us. Today, we’re chatting with Kaylee about a “day in the life” in her amazing classroom!

Full Show Notes Here

Building Background Knowledge with Michelle Sullivan Oct 18, 2023

Show Notes:

Michelle Sullivan, a literacy coach in New Jersey talks with listeners all about background knowledge. She shares what it is, why it’s important, and five ways we can easily implement it in our classrooms. See full show notes here.

Seven Mighty Moves with Lindsay Kemeny Oct 16, 2023

Meet Lindsay Kemeny:

Currently teaching first grade
Once a kinder teacher who taught balanced literacy, she went on a quest to find out what it really meant to teach reading when her son was diagnosed with dyslexia and depression.
Author of Seven Mighty Moves
Check her out!

Full Show Notes Here

Success With Letter Sounds Sep 10, 2023

Full Show Notes Here:

Automaticity of letter names and sounds is important because letter-sound correspondences are the foundation to phonics and decoding. So the quicker they are, the faster they can decode. When we help students connect the letters and sounds and help them both master and be automatic, we’re giving them a strong reading foundation.

Using Assessment to Drive Your Instruction Aug 21, 2023

One common question that’s always asked when talking about the science of reading is, “Where do I start my instruction? What do my students need?” The answer lies in assessments.

Four aspects to keep in mind when choosing assessments:

Each assessment serves a different purpose.
The assessments we are using need to be closely linked to our instruction and should be the driving force behind our instruction.
The data from these assessments must answer the questions we have about our students and those questions must drive our instruction. It’s absolutely vital that the assessments you’re choosing are at the developmental abilities of the students so that the data can reflect their areas of strength and weakness.
We need to be informed of what assessments are out there and how each one can help us in different ways.

Full Show Notes Here

The Power of Dictation Jul 04, 2023

Dictation and its Importance:

What Is Dictation: Dictation is an activity that provides students the opportunity to spell phonics patterns that they are currently focusing on, as well as the opportunity to practice previously-taught skills.
What it Is Important: When students practice dictation, they’re connecting sound to symbol. Many studies show that when students practice these letter-sound relationships, students excel. Dictation is a great way to practice this. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand, and once you incorporate dictation into your lessons, you’ll find quicker student success!

Full Show Notes Here

Tips for Building Fluency with Sarah Paul Jun 18, 2023

Full Show Notes Here

The other day, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the one and only Sarah Paul, the mastermind behind Sarah’s Teaching Snippets. She’s a current reading interventionist for K-3rd and a prior first-grade teacher. As with many of the experts on my podcast, she too was a balanced literacy teacher who found that her students were struggling to read and wasn't sure why. So, she set out on her own science of reading journey in order to learn more about how kids really learn to read. Through this, Sarah’s Teaching Snippets was born and now she helps educators teach reading the right way.

Where to Find Sarah:

Blog - Sarah’s Teaching Snippets
YouTube Channel - Sarah’s Teaching Snippets
Instagram - Snippets by Sarah

Today, we’re asking Sarah all of our fluency questions and getting some awesome answers. Through this conversation, we chat about what exactly fluency is, how we can help our kids achieve fluency, and the importance of it.

Cumulative Review with Savannah Campbell Jun 05, 2023

Savannah Campbell shares all about the importance of cumulative review!

Full Show Notes Here

Cumulative Review:

Cumulative review is simply giving children enough practice in the skills that we have taught them, so they are able to read to automaticity.
We do a great job teaching the “skills” from day to day, but what we don’t do is give them multiple opportunities to practice.
Automaticity is a precursor to reading comprehension. We have to practice these skills 4-6 weeks after we have taught them.

Connect with Savannah:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Resources for Cumulative Review:

Cumulative Review Blog Post- Savannah Campbell

Sound Decks

Fluency Grids

Word Chaining

Dictation Helpers

How Phonics Instruction Supports Comprehension May 23, 2023

Many of us hear the words “science of reading” and automatically assume it’s just about phonics. While phonics is an essential part of learning to read - it’s not the only thing. Let’s take a look at how phonics is related to another very important aspect of reading: comprehension. Full Show Notes Here

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

Comprehension Visuals

Mystery Words Phonics Activity

Phonemic Awareness Activities (Blending & Segmenting CVC)

Blog Posts:

What is Comprehension?

5 Engaging Phonics Activities

Mentor Texts

Orthographic Mapping: Preparing the Brain to Read with Jessica Farmer May 09, 2023

Full Show Notes Here All About Jessica:

Former elementary school teacher for 13 years, mostly in 1st grade
Certified in reading grades K-12
Jessica learned about the science of reading in 2019 and although her heart sank with guilt at how she was initially teaching her students, she began to read and learn all she could about the science of reading. Fast forward and she’s now sharing Tik Tok phonics videos that help both teachers and parents learn about phonics so they can best teach their students and kids!
Connect with Jessica Farmer:

All About Orthographic Mapping:

Orthographic Mapping is NOT an activity - it’s something that happens in our brain.
Our brain is not hard-wired to read. Because of this, we must create pathways and roads that help our brains learn how to read.
Orthographic Mapping pathways look a little like this:

Choosing the Right Phonics Activities Apr 25, 2023

Full show notes can be found here.

When we sit down to plan our small group time, we must keep the end goal of phonics in mind: we want to produce strong decoders and strong writers. When students are strong in decoding, they can become fluent. And when they become fluent, they can comprehend - that is our ultimate goal! I’ve put together a checklist of six things to keep in mind when choosing the right activities for your small group time.

Resources:

Word Detectives - Short Vowels CVC Words

Word Chaining Bundle

Letter Sound Fluency Grids & Successive Blending

Blog Posts:

5 Engaging Phonics Activities

My Favorite Phonics Activities

Phonics Routines That Work

Phonics: Do's and Don'ts Apr 10, 2023

Full Show Notes Here

With all of the rules out there on how to teach phonics, it can all feel overwhelming. I’ve put together a reference of Do’s and Don’t’s when it comes to teaching phonics so you can feel confident in your instruction.

Additional Resources & References:

Blog Posts:

5 Engaging Phonics Activities

Phonics Routines That Work

A Deeper Look at Phonics

Phonics Lesson in Action: Part Two Mar 27, 2023

Full Show Notes Here

We know that small group time is so important. We have a group of students who have a need, and we want to be the ones to meet it! Take a look at Part 2 of our phonics lesson to learn how.

Helpful Phonics Resources:

Phonics Reading Roadmap: phonics instruction with the science of reading in mind. Learn how to teach systematic and explicit phonics instruction.
Kindergarten Roadmap: focus on letter sounds and phonemic awareness, be equipped with tools you’ll use in your small group lessons that will encourage phonics and decoding
Phonics Lessons & Activities MEGA Bundle: includes a scope and sequence, blank templates, phonemic awareness warm-ups, drill cards, sentence pyramids, and so, so much more.
Blog Posts:

Phonics Lesson in Action: Part One Mar 13, 2023

(Full Show Notes Here) When preparing a phonics lesson, we need to be sure we’re conducting it in three parts: a warm-up, explicit teaching, and application of skills. Below, you’ll find the first part of the lesson (the warm-up) and its four parts: a visual drill, an auditory drill, a blending drill, and a vowel intensive.

Helpful Phonics Resources:

Phonics Reading Roadmap: phonics instruction with the science of reading in mind. Learn how to teach systematic and explicit phonics instruction.
Kindergarten Roadmap: focus on letter sounds and phonemic awareness, and be equipped with tools you’ll use in your small group lessons that will encourage phonics and decoding
Phonics Lessons & Activities MEGA Bundle: includes a scope and sequence, blank templates, phonemic awareness warm-ups, drill cards, sentence pyramids, and so, so much more.
Blog Posts:

What the Science Says About Phonics Instruction Feb 27, 2023

(Full Show Notes Here)

Wondering how to ensure your phonics time is effective? Here’s a quick look at what solid phonics instruction looks like, plus a little lesson in how our brain reads words.

FIRST, WHAT IS PHONICS?:

Phonics is the connection between sounds of spoken words and the individual letters or groups of letters that make up that word.
Solid phonics instruction is so important because it is a key contributor to future reading success.
This process is nuanced and complex as it happens in our brains

WHERE CAN I FIND RESOURCES TO HELP ME?

Phonics Reading Roadmap: phonics instruction with the science of reading in mind. Learn how to teach systematic and explicit phonics instruction.
Kindergarten Roadmap: focus on letter sounds and phonemic awareness, and be equipped with tools you’ll use in your small group lessons that will encourage phonics and decoding
Phonics Lessons & Activities MEGA Bundle: includes a scope and sequence, blank templates, phonemic awareness warm-ups, drill cards, sentence pyramids, and so, so much more.
Blog Posts:

Introducing Letter Sounds and Making Letter Sounds Stick Feb 13, 2023

The Importance of Letter Sounds (full show notes here)

Alphabetic Principle - having knowledge of letters and the sounds that make up those letters.
Letter name knowledge is the best predictor of reading achievement from kindergarten to 2nd grade.
We must be sure that letter sounds stick.
- Explicit
- Systematic
- Consistent

Alphabet instruction must be three things:

Explicit

HOW we are teaching letter sounds.
- If you’re teaching the letter m to your students, you may not initially show them the actual letter. Instead, you may show them a picture of a mouse, moon, or muffins.
- Teacher: “Mindy the mouse makes muffins. What sound do you hear at the beginning of those words?”
- Students: “/m/!”

Systematic (Sequential)

WHY we are teaching letter sounds.
We must:
- Example: A scope and sequence that covers letters b, d, p in the same week would not be beneficial to students because of how similar those letters are.

teach in a variety of ways - from simple to complex.
be purposeful.
choose a scope and sequence that makes sense.

Consistency

WHAT we are teaching our students.
What activities are we using to help move the needle forward?
Choose 4-5 activities that students are familiar with and use them for each letter sound you teach. When you introduce a new letter, do it in the same manner you did it for the previous letter.
Routine, routine, routine!

Additional Resources & References:

FREE Resources:

FREE Short Vowel Intensive

FREE Find It! Dot It!

FREE Spin It, Say It, Write It

Letter Sound Resources:

Alphabet Boot Camp

Letter Name and Sound Sorts

Letter Name Recognition

Letter Sound Strips

References:

Episode 5: Five Fun Ways to Practice Phonemic Awareness

10 Simple Letter Sound Recognition Activities

Teacher Prerequisites for Teaching Letter Sounds

Making Letter Sounds Stick

**Want my most requested resources for FREE?? No problem, gift-giving is my love language! Head to this link and snag them!!

Teaching Letters and Sounds: Your Questions Answered Jan 30, 2023

(Full Show Notes Here )We all know how important it is that our students learn their letter sounds. But how? Where do we start? Sounds first, or letters? What ones? Is there a scope and sequence? How do we choose the best one? When it comes to the all-important alphabet, the questions are truly endless. I’m here to help you answer some of these questions as to where to start!

Check out my courses!

Phonics Reading Roadmap: phonics instruction with the science of reading in mind. Learn how to teach systematic and explicit phonics instruction.
Kindergarten Roadmap: focus on letter sounds and phonemic awareness, and be equipped with tools you’ll use in your small group lessons that will encourage phonics and decoding

Check out my resources!

Brand New Letter Sound Curriculum is 50% through 1/30/29

Check out my blog posts on:

BONUS EPISODE: Independent Reading: A Conversation with Christina Winter Jan 29, 2023

Main Questions about Independent Reading: (full show notes here)

Is there a place for independent reading in the classroom? If so, what does it look like?

Independent Reading Is:

Intentional, purposeful reading
Tailored to each specific student and their needs
Looks different on each reader based upon their level
Within a student’s range of skills
Sitting with a decodable!
Dinner with a little dessert (see below)

Independent Reading Is NOT:

The age-old direction of “Drop Everything and Read”
Reading alongside students and modeling reading for them at your desk
Showing your students how much YOU love reading by reading a book yourself
Sustained and silent
Strictly timed
A substitution for what we are doing in our small group time

Check out Christina Winter

The Alphabetic Principle Jan 16, 2023

The Alphabetic Principle: An Introduction (full show notes here)

The Alphabetic Principle

What is it?:

Having knowledge of letters and the sounds that make up those letters.
Rollanda E. O’Connor states that the Alphabetic Principle is “how phonemic awareness and knowledge of letter/sound correspondences come together in the practical application of reading and spelling.”

Why is it important?:

With knowledge of the Alphabetic Principle, students are able to decode words they see into words they can read. They are able to realize that any word that we say can be broken up into letters and groups of letters from the alphabet. Therefore, when they have a full grasp of the alphabet, they have the ability to encode (write and spell) and decode (read).
Through phonemic awareness, students break down sound orally and later on apply it to print.
Teachers may assume that phonemic awareness, along with the alphabetic principle, would lead directly to reading and spelling. Unfortunately, this isn’t always true.

Students sometimes have a difficult time bridging the gap between the two.
Students have difficulty understanding that letters and letter patterns represent spoken language.

The Scoop for Teachers:

Because of this struggle, we must establish the Alphabetic Principle as early as possible.
Students do not in fact have to learn all the letter names and sounds before reading words. They only need a handful of letters and sounds and they can begin to blend and segment these phonemes before instruction can begin.
We begin this instruction through assessments.

Additional Resources & References:

FREE Resources:

FREE Short Vowel Intensive

FREE Find It! Dot It!

FREE Spin It, Say It, Write It

Letter Sound Resources:

Letter Sound Bundle

Letter Name and Sound Sorts

Letter Name Recognition

References:

10 Simple Letter Sound Recognition Activities

Teacher Prerequisites for Teaching Letter Sounds

Making Letter Sounds Stick

**Want my most requested resources for FREE?? No problem, gift-giving is my love language! Head to this link and snag them!!

What Does the Research Say About Phonemic Awareness with Christina Winter Jan 02, 2023

Podcast Episode 6: Interview with Christina Winter (full show notes here)

What is Phonemic Awareness and What Does the Research Say?

Meet Christina Winter - a former first-grade teacher and science of reading rockstar who now creates resources for elementary school teachers and empowers them to lead their students to amazing heights. Below, she dispels some commonly believed myths about phonemic awareness and sheds light on its importance.

Check her out!:

Mrs. Winter’s Bliss website
Mrs. Winter’s Bliss Instagram @mrswintersbliss
Mrs. Winter’s Blog Post (on phonemic awareness? Or just blog in general?)
Freebie from Christina!

Myth: We have to spend all of our time on rhyme, sentence segmenting, and syllables.

Myth: As teachers, we need to do the entire program that’s handed to us by our schools or reading specialist

Myth: Phonemic awareness can be done in the dark.

Myth: Phonemic awareness and phonics are two separate entities

Fact: Reading has a beautiful path

Phonemic awareness → mapping → decoding and encoding words → sentences → reading a whole text!

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

References:

National Reading Panel Report (Amie, I think I found this report on my own, but wanted to be 100% sure so I’ll wait for your link)
What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?
Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness
Does Phonemic Awareness Belong in Your Phonics Lesson?

**Don’t want to miss another podcast? Sign up for my email sequence and opt-in to receive an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to the day’s podcast.**

Phonemic Awareness Five Fun Ways to Incorporate It! Jan 01, 2023

Phonemic Awareness Five Fun Ways to Incorporate It!

What is it?: Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words.
Why is it important?: Well, actually, it’s one of the most important skills we can teach our early readers. Studies show that phonemic awareness is an indicator of future reading success.
The Scoop:

In fact, David Kilpatrick, author of numerous reading books and professor of psychology, states that, “The most common source of reading difficulties is poor phonemic awareness.”

To boot, he also mentions that there’s no age limit on phonemic awareness - which stresses its importance.

Phonemic awareness needs to be incorporated daily with lots of modeling. It should be applied to print, but we also want to be sure students can be doing it like it’s second nature.

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

Phonemic Awareness Warm Ups

Phonemic Awareness Bundle

Phoneme Segmentation Activities

References:

What Does Phonemic Awareness Mean?

Making the Most of Phonemic Awareness

5 Ways to Incorporate Phonemic Awareness Every Day

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence? When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Phonemic Awareness Dec 31, 2022

Phonemic Awareness: An Introduction

Phonemic Awareness

What is it?: Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words.
What is it not?: Phonemic awareness is not phonics. Phonics refers to how letters and sounds correspond and how we decode those words.
Why is it important?: Phonemic awareness is important for students to understand phonics. Phonemic awareness helps kids make the leap from sounds → letters → decoding.

A student’s ability to manipulate individual sounds in words is a strong predictor of later reading success. Phonemic awareness also aids in vocabulary and fluency. The National Reading Panel found that “students who had a solid foundation in phonemic awareness had improved ability to read and spell in the long run.”

The Scoop:
- Isolation
- Blending
- Segmenting
- Manipulation (adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes)

There are four main categories of phonemic awareness:

Full Show Notes Here

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

References:

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence ? When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Hands on Phonological Awareness Dec 30, 2022

Podcast Episode 3: Interview with Kristina Harrill 5 Hands-on Activities That Teach Phonological Awareness (Full Show Notes on Website)

Meet Kristina Harrill - founder and author of Sweet for Kindergarten, a Teachers Pay Teachers store and blog where you can find her hard at work giving tips on how to simplify phonics instruction without sacrificing engagement and effectiveness.

Check her out:

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

References:

**Don’t want to miss another podcast? Sign up for my email sequence and opt-in to receive an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to the day’s podcast.**

Phonological Awareness Dec 29, 2022

Phonological Awareness: An Introduction

Phonological awareness is the beating heart of reading. It’s where a reader’s journey first begins, and it’s of the utmost importance. As educators, we are called to introduce phonological awareness as our readers set out on their reading adventures.

Full Show Notes HERE

Additional Resources & References:

Resources:

References:

**Did you miss signing up for my podcast email sequence ? When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

Your Reader's Journey Dec 28, 2022

Podcast Episode 1: Your Reader’s Journey

The path all readers take to become successful readers

The research all points in the same direction: all people learn to read in the same way. But how? What are the steps to becoming a successful reader? Which direction should they take? What are the foundational skills? Let’s look at the steps that every reader takes on his or her journey to become successful.

**Before we begin, sign up for my podcast email sequence! When you opt-in, you get an email each day a podcast is released, plus a portion of an intervention e-book that corresponds to and compliments each podcast’s subject.**

The Reader’s Journey (Full Show Notes Here)

Podcast Trailer Dec 21, 2022

Welcome!! I am so glad that you are here! The first podcast will go live on December 28th, 2022! Click the link below to join the waitlist.

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