Pam Kastner discusses the connection between spelling and reading. She emphasizes that teaching spelling is teaching reading, as spelling is a higher linguistic skill that requires complete and accurate recall and memory for words. Spelling helps students understand the internal structure of words and improves their reading abilities. She suggests using instructional routines that integrate phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to teach spelling effectively. 

Takeaways

• Teaching spelling is teaching reading, as spelling is a higher linguistic skill that requires complete and accurate recall and memory for words.
• Spelling helps students understand the internal structure of words and improves their reading abilities.
• Effective spelling instruction should be explicit, systematic, and teach spelling patterns from least complex to most complex.
• Instructional routines should integrate phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to teach spelling effectively. Direct and systematic spelling instruction is essential for students' language development.
• Spelling inventories are valuable tools for assessing students' understanding of language and identifying areas for targeted instruction.
• Spelling can be used as a teaching tool, allowing students to learn from their errors and improve their spelling skills.
• Spelling instruction should be aligned with the research and evidence-based practices to ensure its effectiveness.

Resources

• Pam Kastner's Padlet with resources (password PT2)
  
  

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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.

From 3/4/2022

We’ve been asked about spelling and the connection to reading science more times than we can count. Today, we talk with expert J. Richard Gentry,  author of Brain Words and blog contributor to Psychology Today: Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers (An Expert Guide for Parents).

He tells us all about spelling and how it connects to our speech and language system. Moreover, he supplies teachers with practical, meaningful, science of reading-aligned strategies to teach spelling. 

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In this episode, Jessica Farmer shares tips for teaching heart words. She explains the importance of blending and introduces the concept of continuous blending. Jessica defines heart words as high-frequency words with irregular or temporarily irregular spellings. She emphasizes the need to follow a scope and sequence and provides a routine for introducing new heart words. Jessica also discusses the process of orthographic mapping and suggests engaging activities for teaching heart words. She concludes by recommending additional resources for teaching heart words.

Takeaways

• Blending is the process of putting sounds together to form words, and continuous blending is a method that connects phonemes without breaking between the sounds.
• Segmenting is important for spelling, while continuous blending is effective for decoding words.
• Heart words are high-frequency words with irregular or temporarily irregular spellings, often involving vowel sounds.
• Teaching heart words should be done in a systematic and routine-based manner, following a scope and sequence.
• Engaging activities for teaching heart words include coloring by sounds and unscrambling the spelling.

Resources 

• Find Jessica at Farmer Loves Phonics on social! 
• Connected Phonation Research 
• A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words
• Blending Pyramids
• Heart Word Cards
• 30 Early High Frequency Words for Beginning Readers 

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Julie VanLier and Dr. Svetlana Cvetkovic discuss their experiences and successes teaching phonics.  They both highlight the importance of a speech-to-print approach and the impact it has had on their students' reading and spelling abilities. The conversation also delves into the principles of speech to print and the scope and sequence of instruction.  They emphasize the importance of interleaving, where concepts are revisited over time. The integration of phonics into all aspects of reading and writing is key, as well as the use of authentic text. Overall, their approach focuses on engagement, flexibility, and integration to ensure student success in literacy.

Takeaways

• Teaching phonics using a speech-to-print approach can lead to significant improvements in students' reading and spelling abilities.
• The principles of speech to print include the understanding that one, two, three, or four letters can spell a sound.
• A sound can be spelled in many different ways, and the same spelling can represent different sounds.
• The scope and sequence of instruction in a speech-to-print approach involves teaching students the different sound-spelling patterns and helping them understand the logic and patterns of the English language.

Key Tenets of Speech to Print 

1. Sounds can be represented by 1, 2, 3, or 4 letters. 
2. Sounds can be spelled different ways.
3. Spellings can be pronounced in different ways.

Resources

• Julie's iReady scores infographic
• Kinder spelling phase comparisons using traditional & speech-first phonics approaches infographic
• Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI) 
• Li & Wang (2023) self-teaching meta analysis -- self-teaching was enhanced through phonological recoding via spelling 
• A step-by-step pdf for k-2 teachers using FREE speech-first resources-- I especially encourage kinder teachers to take the free 1-hour Udemy course by John Walker (founder of Sounds-Write) as it includes a full scope & sequence for teaching the basic code and even into the beginning advanced code
• Ep. 147: Hot Topic Series: What is Speech to Print? 

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From August 12, 2022

Talking with Dr. Julia Lindsey is like popping into the classroom next door to chat with your best teacher friend after school. On this podcast, Julia shares what evidence says that young readers need to know to help them decode words efficiently. We discuss foundational reading skills, starting with oral language and print concepts through multisyllabic word reading. Instructional swaps take this conversation to the classroom where Julia tells us what to swap to improve instruction. Efficient and effective instruction is critical when teaching decoding. 

Resources
Reading Above the Fray by Dr. Julia B. Lindsey

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 Yvette Manns discusses the schwa and its importance. She shares insights from her book, The Not So Lazy Schwa, and explains how it helps children understand the schwa sound. Yvette also tells all about National Schwa Day, a holiday she created to celebrate language and literacy in schools. She provides suggestions for celebrating the day and highlights the resources available in the National Schwa Day toolkit. 

Takeaways

• The schwa is a neutral unstressed sound that is the most common sound in the English language.
• Teaching the schwa is important for helping students decode and encode multisyllabic words.
• National Schwa Day is a holiday created to celebrate language and literacy in schools.
• The National Schwa Day toolkit provides resources and activities for teachers to implement the holiday.

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Danielle Colenbrander and Katie Pace-Miles discuss orthographic mapping, irregular word instruction, and the different terms used to describe high frequency and irregular words. They translate research about the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching irregular words. They also discuss the role of morphology - how understanding morphemes can help students decode and understand words. 

Takeaways

• Irregular words exist on a spectrum, ranging from completely regular to highly irregular.
• Different teaching approaches, such as mispronunciation correction, can be effective for teaching irregular words.
• Meaning and context play a crucial role in word recognition and understanding.
• Teachers should provide students with a toolbox of strategies to decode and understand irregular words.
• Temporary irregularity is a helpful concept for students, emphasizing that irregular words are only temporarily challenging until they learn the necessary grapheme-phoneme correspondences.

Resources

• Hear more from Danielle Colenbrander on Teaching Literacy podcast (Ep. 38) and Thinking Deeply About Primary Education podcast (Ep. 76)
• Assessing the Effectiveness of Structured Word Inquiry for Students in Grades 3 and 5 With Reading and Spelling Difficulties: A Randomized Controlled Trial by Colenbrander et. al. 
• Katie's PRINTABLE Word Analysis Manual, a resource to support learning and word analysis activities to use with high frequency words (and any word, really!)
• Treasure trove of additional research articles (Katie Pace-Miles, Devin Kearns, Linnea Ehri, and more!)
• http://reading-ready.com/ 

Our guests mentioned the work of Lyndall Murray but meant Bruce Murray. The correct article is linked above. 

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Denise Eide, author of Uncovering the Logic of English, helps us understand the logic of English! It actually makes a lot of sense... and can help your students learn to read and spell. 

Takeaways

• English spelling and decoding can be logical and systematic when taught with complete phonics rules.
• All words in English are decodable when the rules are understood.
• Incomplete knowledge of rules can lead to misconceptions and difficulties in reading and spelling.
• Teaching phonics rules explicitly and fostering curiosity can empower students and improve their reading skills.
• Be open about not having all the answers and learn alongside your students.

Resources

• Phinder.org 
• Understanding the Logic of English book 
• LogicofEnglish.com Free Resources! 
• Sold a Story podcast 

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In this episode, teacher Christina Winter, better known as Mrs. Winters Bliss on Instagram, talks about the practical application of sound walls in the classroom. She provides her top 3 tips and shares how sound walls can be used in instruction. She also provides ideas for how students can interact with sound walls, such as through dictation, chants, and games. 

Takeaways

• Sound walls can be used during direct instruction to introduce new phonemes and provide a reference for students. 
• Students can interact with sound walls through activities like dictation, chants, and games. 
• It is important to prioritize the most common sound-spelling patterns.
• Resources and tools, such as phoneme-grapheme dictionaries and frequency lists, can support teachers in implementing sound walls effectively.

Resources

• Mrs. Winters Bliss Website 
• FREE DOWNLOADABLE Science of Reading RESOURCES! 

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Sound wall expert Mary Dahlgren explains how sound walls differ from word walls, why it's important to teach all 44 speech sounds, and how sound walls can help students make sense of English. She shares evidence to support the use of sound walls in your classroom and gives practical advice for implementation. 

Takeaways

• Sound walls are an instructional tool to help students see and understand the 44 speech sounds of the English language.
• Sound walls provide a visual representation of the sounds and their corresponding spellings. 
• Sound walls help students make connections between sounds and letters.
• Sound walls support phonological awareness, phonics instruction, and the development of decoding skills.
• Sound walls are beneficial for all students, including English learners, as they provide a structured and visual approach to learning the sounds of the English language. Teachers should be aware of the different phonemes in their students' languages and teach the phonemes in English.

Resources

• Sound Walls: A Tool for Students to Use by Mary Dahlgren

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Spencer Russell, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher and the founder of Toddlers Can Read, shares his motivation for teaching reading and emphasizes the importance of simplifying the teaching process. He provides practical tips for starting with letter sounds and engaging children in fun learning activities. Spencer also discusses the importance of assessing understanding and offers guidance on where to start when teaching letter sounds. Listeners can find Spencer on social media at ToddlersRead or visit ToddlersRead.com. 

Takeaways

• Start with letter sounds that are easier to pronounce and more familiar to children.
• Engage children in learning activities that involve movement and play.
• Assess understanding and retention through quick and frequent assessments.

Resources

• Find Spencer on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or ToddlersRead.com
• Check out these videos on Instagram: Teach a Toddler to Read in 3 Easy Steps, Mispronouncing Sounds, Fourth Graders Reading at K Level Where Do I Start?

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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.