Putting the “Structure” into Structured Literacy: Part 2
This is the second piece in a 4-part blog series. You can read part 1, part 3, and part 4 here.
So what does a day in a primary structured literacy block look like now?
We begin by working on orally blending and segmenting a few words that review our previous phonics skills.
Then, I take 8-10 grapheme cards and we practice our sounds. I choose these cards based on assessment data.
After the visual drill, I use the blending board, and we practice substituting, deleting, and adding phonemes to produce new words while making phoneme-grapheme connections.
Finally, students use their whiteboards while I dictate 5-6 sounds while students respond with the grapheme(s) that represent the sound.
Students then work on a word chain activity (5-6 words per day).
This all happens during the first 10-15 minutes of the block. Since everything covered during this time is a review, I use classroom assessments, progress monitoring, and other available data to help determine what areas I need to target more than others. For example, based on a spelling test, I might see the students are still having trouble discriminating between b and d. We will make sure to practice this during our visual and auditory drills as well as during our word chains and dictations.
The next 30-40 minutes is spent working on a new concept. Here is the outline of the lesson:
Introduce New Concept
Handwriting (I do, we do, you do)
Oral Blending and Segmenting (1-2 minutes)
Blending Lines
Practice Activities
Here is an example of a lesson that reviews the letter sound /b/ but focuses on spelling and reading CVC words.
I begin by reviewing the letter name and sound /b/. We will quickly review the sound and mouth formation for the letter focusing on any misconceptions or errors students might be having.
Then, I move into practicing letter formation using the gradual release model of I Do, We Do, and You Do. I can quickly monitor and provide feedback for children writing the letter incorrectly.
After practicing the formation for the letter b, students return to the carpet area and I have them orally blend and segment a few words with the letter b such as bag, tub, bed, and bug to warm up.
I then show them some CVC words that include b. I model how to blend the sounds together, we do a few together, and students return to their seat to practice blending CVC words independently while I monitor and provide feedback.
Lastly we move into spelling CVC words that include the letter b. If there are any new irregular words I will introduce them.
Finally, we read our connected text. When introducing our new decodable passage, I begin by reading the passage aloud to them and ask a few basic questions about the passage. I teach any unknown vocabulary or confusing words and provide background knowledge. For example, in one story we read about a girl who sits in a pit. I explain that a pit is a hole in the ground but it could also be the stone of a fruit. I provide a photo example for each and then ask them to decide which one the girl fell into. This entire process only takes 2-3 minutes but gives students necessary background knowledge to comprehend the story and does not take away from the decoding process.
After introducing the story, students will highlight any heart words (irregular words) using a pink highlighter. Occasionally, we will also highlight our new skill words with a yellow highlighter when learning skills such as ch, sh, or magic e.
We chorally read the text, students independently read the text while I monitor and provide feedback, and finally students draw a picture to show understanding of the story.
While they draw a picture I can continue to listen to students read individually. I generally am able to listen to all students read each day–even if it is just a few sentences. I can also determine who may need some additional practice later in the day.
The remainder of the one hour block is either spent practicing our new heart word, practicing our new skill using a game such as UFLI’s roll and read, or grabbing our reading folders and practicing our decodable stories from the class library.
This provides me a great opportunity to pull students individually or in a small group to work on targeted skills. I can also check in with students around the room while they read. My foundational skills block recommendations would be to use a systematic, structured program such as UFLI Foundations or Core Knowledge Skills. Both of these are very easy to implement and cost-effective for schools. These programs align phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular word instruction, handwriting, and connected text. They could be paired with a knowledge building curriculum, which I will discuss in Part III.
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I would stay away from programs that are disjointed and don’t follow a scope and sequence that makes sense in how students progress. Make sure to look at the sequence and determine if it goes too fast or too slow and see how it aligns to your district’s universal screeners. For example, one curriculum I looked at for kindergarten didn’t start teaching any letter sounds until February, but students in my district are expected to have all their letter sounds, blend CVC nonsense words, and segment words with 3-4 phonemes by January. Obviously, this program wasn’t going to be a good fit to help us meet our goals.
I would also stay away from programs that are exclusively taught with small groups skills. These programs sound wonderful in theory as they promote differentiated instruction or meeting students “where they are.” Now, I don’t argue against filling in gaps in skills or scaffolding materials to fit needs, but I do argue against starting everyone off in a small group and moseying along at different speeds. In my experience, this will only hold students back in the long run. I also argue against having students work independently at rotations, seatwork, centers for long periods of time while teachers meet with small groups.
I compared one popular reading program which uses a small group for all philosophy and my foundational skills block. Students in the popular reading program would receive 60 minutes of foundational skills instruction per week and 240 minutes of independent work time. In my foundational skills, block students are receiving 45-60 minutes of instruction per day and only 10-15 minutes of time is expected to be independent for students who are at or above grade level expectations. During the independent practice time students are either practicing reading or writing connected to the skill we are learning. This will drastically increase the amount of instructional time students receive.
I recommend looking for programs that start off with a strong whole group for Tier 1 and then meet with students after to fill in any skills gaps. I would also use universal screening data and other diagnostic data to determine where students are able to begin in the scope and sequence. When I taught first grade, we always used diagnostic data as a grade level team to determine where to begin in the sequence. One year, we needed to spend the first six weeks of school learning letter sounds and how to decode CVC words because our screening data was so low. By the end of the six weeks, most students had mastered their letter sounds, blending, and encoding CVC words. This reduced the amount of students needing Tier II interventions drastically, and we still made it to the end of our expected sequence by end of year. Another year, most of our students came in having their letter sounds and CVC blending/spelling mastered. This allowed us to do a quick review, form Tier II groups as needed, and actually speed up the sequence.