Listening Speaking Reading and Writing

Reading
101: A
Crash
Course and
Resource
Melanie Sedergreen
English is the hardest language to learn.
What do English is weird and it makes no sense.
you
know about Reading is a combination of memorizing letter sounds,
looking at pictures, and memorizing words.
teaching Written English is the amalgamation of numerous

languages over hundreds of years. Each word has a
reading? story that makes sense in its own ways.
Written English has many common patterns that are

easily learned, and when done properly this frees up
cognitive space to work on the more challenging words
The Science of Reading Review Language +
Phonological Awareness
The Scarborough Rope (2001)

• Spoken and received
language is the foundation
for reading. Kids need
vocabulary and background
knowledge to develop
conscious awareness of
language.
Phonological Awareness
is an umbrella term that
describes learning
progression from sounds
of words and syllables, to
segmenting those sounds
through to letter-sound
relationships.
From: National Center on Improving Literacy:

https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/phonological-awareness-what-it-and-
how-does-it-relate-phonemic-awareness
How does phonological
awareness work?
Phonological awareness helps students to isolate and blend
word sounds which prepares them to associated these
sounds with letters. Learning progresses from simple to
complex to provide scaffolds for additional learning. For
example, CAT:
Words with the same beginning sound (then end and middle).
Words that rhyme with cat.
Words that don't rhyme with cat.
Words that sound similar but are different (mat / sat, can,
cap)
CAT = three sounds: C-A-T
Orthographic mapping
• Words that fit within a sound pattern (sat, fat, pat)
are stored in memory by forming connections
between individual graphemes (letters) and their
respective phonemes (sounds). This is called
orthographic mapping (Ehri, 2014, as cited in Peltier,
2021).
• Words that are mapped become automatically
recalled – they are recognized on sight and no longer
require problem solving strategies. These are called
sight words (Ehri, 2014, as cited in Peltier, 2021).
• This automaticity frees up cognitive room to focus on
meaning (Ehri, 2014, as cited in Peltier, 2021).
Dr. Ehri's 1. Grapheme-Phoneme (letter-sound) relations
Instructional 2. Phoneme Segmentation
Guidelines (as 3. Decoding

4. Spelling
cited in Peltier, 2021)
5. Reading aloud and pronouncing words
6. Text reading practice
Grapheme-
phoneme
relations
Phoneme
Segmentation
• Students begin to segment
sounds in activities such as
'matching the picture with
the beginning sound.
Decoding
Once they have

mastered a set of grapheme- Ehri suggests vowel- Students should also practice
phoneme relations (e.g. a, m, consonant (CV) words first decoding a set of letter-
s, f, o, t) they (i.e. to, am, as,) then CVC (i.e. sounds in different parts of a
can practice reading and mat, sat) word
writing short words.
Spelling lessons should scaffold onto
prior phonological awareness learning.
• Early phonological learning teaches students to analyze

sounds and where the are in the word e.g. Map – is mmmm
at the beginning, middle or end? This needs to be
continuously reinforced and when students are taught
spelling they begin to remember the grapheme-phoneme
relations.
Reading aloud activates
the sound memory and
promotes grapheme-
phoneme connections.
Reading aloud
to reinforce
and practice
pronunciation.
What about • Dr. Ehri suggests that most
words that irregularly spelled words have some
regular grapheme-phonemes. For
example, in said, the s and d follow
don't fit easily a regular pattern. From there
students can work on the middle
sound.
decodable • Sue Heglund (2018) suggests that
morphology and understanding a
sound word's story can help
students remember these more
challenging words. In this case you
patterns? could begin by talking about past
tense – said is past tense of say. It is
rooted in the past. ‘Said‘ is
connected to the archaic word
‘saith‘, pronounced /seth/, which
was replaced with ‘says’ in the 13th
century. Both ‘say‘ and ‘said‘ are
also derived from the same Old
English root ‘secgan’ meaning to
utter, inform, speak, tell, relate
(crackingthecode, n.d.).
Why is word
study important?
Why not just
• The answer is in cognitive processing and comprehension.
memorize and
• When students have phonological awareness, they have
use context clues strategies and can build an internal repository of sight
to guess? words. This allows them to spend more time
comprehending texts. If they try to just memorize, their
cognitive functioning is used up on that.
What about ELL and older
students?
• The same principles apply. You might just look for
instructional resources and practice activities that are
less juvenile – but regardless, vocabulary, background
knowledge, phonological awareness, and orthography
are the building blocks for teaching reading.
Consider University of Florida Literacy Institute
• University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) - Foundations – this is a very affordable

manual with a scope and sequences informed by research and best practices. The
Foundations book is approximately $70 USD. The website offers slide decks, and multiple
ready made materials.
• This was mentioned to me by a primary teacher-colleague, but also linked to in Peltier's
(2021) post the science of reading and on Ehri's instructional advice. It seems to be
current, research based and teacher tested. The scope and sequence follows the
phonological awareness to orthographic mapping progression.
Consider Heggerty
• Another primary teacher-colleague uses Heggerty phonological awareness program. I

have been in the room, and I found the videos appealing because they weren't 'juvenile'
and I felt they could be used with older students. Heggerty offers different manuals by
grade and each one is approximately $80 USD. Also, to access the videos one needs to
purchase a subscription. So, this is a much more expensive program than UFLI.
• The scope and sequence follows the phonological awareness to orthographic mapping
progression.
• Heggerty has a specific intervention manual that might be useful for ELL.
Consider – a combination of free online resources
• I first found the video on phonemic awareness that I used earlier in this presentation on
Reading Rockets, but I went to the youtube channel and looked at the playlist
here: https://www.youtube.com/@rrfts976/featured
• There are short helpful videos that can be used as professional development and for
instruction. I have used the 44 phonemes video multiple times with students since I found
it.
• One might use the free resources available to build a program based on the science of
reading and Ehri's instructional advice – but this could take a lot of prep time.
Consider Words Their Way
• I have not used this program and I don't know anyone who does. Mainly my hesitancy has
been that it requires a lot of preparation and classroom management. However, as an ELL
specialist I have had second look. However, it is similar to Heggerty in that one has to
purchase multiple resources. This can become pricey.
• The scope and sequence follows the phonological awareness to orthographic mapping
progression. I don't love Pearson the company – but that said...
• Words Their Way does offer ELL specific resources.
Final thoughts on resources...
• I think it can be easy to spend too much money

• I think we can also spend too much time on planning and preparation while trying to save
money
• Ask yourself if this is a resource that will save you time in preparation and help you deliver
differentiated instruction.
• Of all the resources I looked at UFLI is the one I am personally considering the most. It was
not created to be a money maker – is was created from research to support learning.
References
• Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Learning A-Z. Retrieved from: https://www.learninga-z.com/site/resources/breakroom-blog/reading-rope-resources
• Heglund, S. (2018). Learningaboutspelling.com. Retrieved from: https://learningaboutspelling.com/2018/11/06/comprehending-spelling/
• National Center on Improving Literacy (2022). Phonological Awareness: What Is It and How Does It Relate To Phonemic Awareness. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved
from http://improvingliteracy.org.
• Peltier, T. (April 18, 2021).Dr. Linnea Ehri’s List of Instructional Guidelines for Enhancing Orthographic Mapping and Word Learning. Understanding The Science of
Reading. Retrieved from: https://understandingreading.home.blog/2021/04/18/dr-linnea-ehris-list-of-instructional-guidelines-for-enhancing-orthographic-
mapping-and-word-learning/

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What are the components of phonological awareness?

How does orthographic mapping work?

Reading

What do English is weird and it makes no sense.

teaching Written English is the amalgamation of numerous

reading? story that makes sense in its own ways.

Written English has many common patterns that are

The Scarborough Rope (2001)

From: National Center on Improving Literacy:

Guidelines (as 3. Decoding

Once they have

• Early phonological learning teaches students to analyze

• University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) - Foundations – this is a very affordable

• Another primary teacher-colleague uses Heggerty phonological awareness program. I

• I think it can be easy to spend too much money

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