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Creativity to the Core

Getting Started with a Sound Wall

Literacy, Sound Walls

Why use a sound wall?

Babies are born and quickly learn the sounds of their native languages. They are sponges, soaking up the language, recognizing similar sounds, building connections between sounds and words, and eventually speaking. Our brains are wired for spoken language. This is not new. Humans have been speaking since they first existed. 

Contrary to popular belief, our brains are not wired to read. There is no part of the brain that has the sole function of reading text. There is, however, a part of the brain that has the sole function of producing speech. When children or adults learn to read, they are quite literally rewiring the brain. Humans utilize many parts of the brain when learning to read. The connections between these parts (orthographic processor, phonological processor, meaning processor, and visual processor) have to be created, strengthened, and repeatedly used to achieve automaticity.

We can facilitate a learner’s early reading and writing journey by approaching the code from their point of view (speech) and leading them toward our point of view as a fluent reader (print). Sound walls help by building upon what students already know (spoken language) when they are acquiring new knowledge. 

What is a sound wall?

A sound wall is an interactive reading and writing instructional tool for students. By definition, a sound wall focuses on sound, the 44 phonemes in the English language. Sound walls are created to facilitate the connection from speech (spoken language) to print (reading and writing). A sound wall has two main components – a vowel wall (often referred to as a vowel valley) and a consonant wall. They focus student attention to each specific speech sound, rather than each of the 26 letters, and how that sound is formed by the lips, tongue, or teeth. 

Students are directed to first focus on what words sound like because that is what students already know. Sound cards are organized by the sound’s category (vowel or consonant, plus consonant types) and how it is articulated. The place of articulation (where the sound is produced) and the manner articulation (how the sound is produced) are used to determine how sound wall cards are organized and posted for students. Most sound walls have pictures of student mouths or pictures of mouth clipart that show students what the mouth looks like when producing that sound. These pictures are placed above each of the sound cards. Students are encouraged to feel their mouths, look in mirrors, and focus on the vocal cords and air flow in order to determine sounds and their spellings. Commonly used graphemes (spellings) are listed beneath each sound in the frequency that they occur in English. For example, on the /oi/ phoneme card, the grapheme OI will be listed first. Then the grapheme, OY will be listed below the OI. This shows students that the most likely spelling is OI, followed by the next likely spelling OY. Learners use this as a support along with the core instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics.

What is not a sound wall?

Phonics posters, grapheme (common letter combinations in English that spell a specific sound) walls, and word walls are not sound walls. Sound walls focus first on the phonemes (sounds), and then on the graphemes (spellings that represent that sound). Sound walls include all 44 phonemes. If using phonics posters or grapheme walls, that is a wonderful support for students as well. Just remember, that it is not a sound wall if it does not represent all 44 sounds in English.

A Common Comparison

Teachers and parents of elementary age students are typically familiar with word walls. Word walls are common in K-5 classrooms around the country, and the world! Word walls are a student support posted on a classroom wall or placed in a folder. Word walls typically are organized in alphabetical order from A to Z, the 26 letters of the alphabet. Many times, high frequency words and irregular words (often referred to as “sight words”) are placed on the word wall. Words are posted under their initial letter. For example, the word “she” would be placed under letter S. Therefore, words are placed based on their visual first letter, or what you actually see first in the word. Students are encouraged to use the word wall as a resource to help them spell these words. 

Many would see sound walls as another option instead of or in addition to a word wall. I personally do not use a word wall any longer. However, I do see how a word wall may be helpful with more of a vocabulary focus for math, social studies, or science content.

The Common Predicament

Because word walls are organized from A-Z, there are often words posted under a letter that do not match with the word’s initial sound. For example, the word “she” is placed under the letter S on a word wall. Visually, there is an S at the beginning. However, “she” does not begin with the sound /s/…. “she” begins with the sound /sh/. The SH digraph consists of two letters that make one brand new sound. An emerging writer will walk up to the word wall, looking for this word and saying it aloud: “she”. No matter how slowly they say the word or how many times they say it, they will never hear /s/ at the beginning.

Think about this: If the learner does not yet know how to spell the word, then they probably will not know the initial letter either. How will this learner find the word they are looking for? How will they write the word in their story?

The same scenario happens with hundreds of other words in the English language. English has 44 phonemes (sounds). Forty-four. Yet, the English alphabet only has 26 letters. How can we expect all of the words to fit within those 26 letters? We cannot. Think about these words. Where would you place them on a word wall? Where would you place them on a sound wall? What would students be thinking of if they were speaking these words aloud while searching for them on a classroom wall?

that, chat, photo, she, gnat, out, autumn, of, arm, oil, about

A Personal Connection

This is the situation that radically transformed my thought process. Word walls had always been a requirement at each school I’ve worked in. Requirement. As in, “We are coming in with the beginning of the year checklist, and one of the items is WORD WALL”.

About a year ago, I first heard a presenter say something like “Why would you put ‘she’ under S?”. I quickly made a decision to research this more. I was determined to have a classroom support that would be continuously used as a tool in reading and writing instruction and practice. I was determined not to have another “resource” that became wallpaper as students interacted with it less and less.

Fast forward to this year. I have used a sound wall for eight months so far in my first and second grade classroom. It has transformed the way I teach. I have the knowledge to instruct students in the phonemes of our language. Because of using a sound wall and doing my own research to fully understand its components, I am equipped to help my students make sense of our language.

It has also strengthened the way my students interact with words. They now have the knowledge and the tools to read, spell, and write confidently. They aren’t searching for words that are posted. Rather, they are using what they know about the individual sounds in the target word, segmenting them, and determining how to spell each sound. What a way to build self-confidence. You CAN do this. Use your tools to help you.

Never before have I had a student explain the complete reasoning behind why a vowel changes slightly when it’s coarticulated (pronounced together) with a letter like N or M. Now, my students are eager to explain the nasalization of the vowel while pointing to the sound wall. They say /n/, /m/, and /ng/ are nasal sounds and that the sound is produced by air passing through the nose. Therefore, when a vowel is beside a nasal sound, the sound of the vowel also gets pulled into the nose a bit as we get ready to say the sound of the nasal consonant /n/, /m/, /ng/. I don’t think I even knew this last year. And I would never have expected a student to describe it. They are also able to explain the many ways to spell the /j/ sound, with the letter J or with the letter G. They can tell you which is most common and which is used when. I could go on and on…

Student knowledge of speech sounds and how they are written in English has improved. Reading has improved. Spelling has significantly improved. Confidence has increased exponentially. 

Of course, I cannot say that the sound wall caused all of this to happen. Yes, I’m doing tons of other things throughout the day and teaching many different foundational skills. However, I can tell you that using the sound wall has literally changed how I approach teaching everything (phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, high frequency words, and writing) and it has changed the way my students approach words.

If you are interested in learning more about sound walls, I encourage you to dig into these resources.

Sound Wall Wakelet – a collection of resources about sound walls put together by Pam Kastner from PaTTAN. Such a wealth of information, PD, and free documents to help you on your journey.

Tools4Reading – created by international sound wall expert Mary Dahlgren. Mary Dahlgren’s KidLips products are perfect for building your sound wall. The back of each sound card includes valuable information about the phoneme, how and where it’s articulated, and how it is commonly spelled. Highly Recommend.

Creativity to the Core on Instagram – See highlight labeled “Sound Walls” as well as various posted videos.

Sound Wall with Real Photos – Creativity to the Core on TpT

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! You can leave a comment below or contact me directly on Instagram @creativitytothecore or by email at creativitytothecore@gmail.com.

5 Comments

Comments

  1. Jackie says

    March 16, 2021 at 5:13 am

    Well written! So helpful!

    Reply
  2. Chris says

    March 16, 2021 at 11:10 pm

    Where do you put your high frequency words on your sound walls? Do you put them under the beginning sound?
    Thanks,

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      March 18, 2021 at 1:15 am

      Great question! You may choose to put high frequency words under the sound wall cards, you may also choose not to. I have personally found that it’s not necessary if you are simultaneously teaching HFW reading and spelling by decoding rather than memorization. If students have difficulty spelling a few HFW (often irregular HFW), I will write it large on a sheet of printer paper and place it on the wall, separate from our sound wall. However, MANY people do list their HFW underneath. Both options are appropriate. If you DO choose to put HFW on a sound wall, you definitely put them under the beginning sound. Keep in mind that this does not always match up with the initial letter – “one” would be placed under /w/ because as students are searching the sound wall for that /w/ sound, they will then find “one” beneath it. Putting the words under the beginning sound allows students to quickly find what they are looking for.

      Reply
  3. Danielle says

    March 19, 2021 at 12:06 am

    How do you know what order to teach the phonemes & graphemes?

    Reply
    • Meredith says

      March 19, 2021 at 2:20 am

      A sound wall is an instructional tool to use with your curriculum scope and sequence. You explicitly teach one phoneme at a time, and one grapheme at a time. For example: Long e /E/ can be spelled many ways, but you do not expose students to all of these at once. Start with the most frequently seen (most common) grapheme. Typically, these will be the first spelling shown on a sound wall card.

      If you do not have a scope and sequence, you can grab one for free online. Here are a few recommended:

      West Virginia Phonics – Click “Login” and create an account. You will have access for free.
      Orton Gillingham Scope and Sequence
      Keys to Literacy

      Reply

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I'm Meredith, a South Florida teacher who loves coffee and creating.
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creativitytothecore

Today we practiced using certain colors to help us Today we practiced using certain colors to help us organize our writing. 📝 Blue for the main idea (big wide sky), green for supporting ideas (trees reaching up to the sky), and yellow for the details (shine light on topic). Using a graphic organizer and color coding is so simple, sets kids up for success, and makes each intentional part of writing visible for students.💓

If there’s one thing LETRS volume 2 has taught me, it’s: support, support, support! Give students the support they need to be successful and then slowly pull those scaffolds away. I’ve always attempted to do this, but I now have very tangible ways to implement and assist students. 🙌🏼 Whether it’s color coding, sentence stems, high quality questioning, formats of various planners...I love that I can try them out whenever they fit into our units.

Nothing fancy or shiny. Just crayons and some paper. The important thing to remember, is that if we want students to be independent writers of an entire text, we need to start SMALL.❤️

#writinginstruction #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram
Sound walls are the talk of the town currently. Bu Sound walls are the talk of the town currently. But who’s sound wall is it?

📢Make. It. THEIR. Sound. Wall. 

As teachers, we can often get caught up on how something looks. Does it clutter the room, does it dampen my classroom theme, does that bookshelf look better here or there? (Speaking from experience 🤪) We must make sure that sound walls are used by students. 

When using a sound wall daily, it doesn’t become wallpaper, or just another poster. It becomes the canvas. 🎨 Students learn to use it as a starting place for reading and spelling. But they must be allowed to touch it, interact with it. The canvas has to be painted in order to become a masterpiece. It isn’t untouchable by the artist.

Tips for getting kids to interact with a sound wall:
1) Include it in morning meeting or calendar - have kids point to sounds to mimic mouth placements together.
2) Encourage learners to walk up if they need a closer look. Allow them to bring papers and write while they’re at the wall.
3) Put your sound wall at their level. Keeping it low will help students to see and interact with each piece.
4) Add a full length mirror. Turn it sideways and hang it above the low sound wall. Students can use this to check mouth placement while writing and referencing the wall.

Thank you to @love.lit.joy who shared this picture of her sound wall below a bulletin board. ❤️

#soundwalls #soundwall #structuredliteracy #teacherspayteachers  #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #scienceofreading
An analogy by Steve Dykstra *shared with permissio An analogy by Steve Dykstra
*shared with permission*

“For the most part, we expect children will learn to read typically until we see clear evidence they might not.  What if we flipped that around?  What if we expected children would struggle to read until we saw clear evidence to the contrary?  How would that change things?

Think of the swim test at the public pool. The lifeguards assume everyone is going to drown and no one should go in the deep end until you can prove that you swim well enough. They don't assume everyone is a swimmer. They assume everyone is a non-swimmer. Plenty of kids prove they can swim and they get to play in the deep end. The other kids get lessons. You don't have to prove you need lessons. You have to prove you don't.

Think of how that would change the screening process. We wouldn't be setting a low bar and passing every kid who got over it. We would be setting a high bar, releasing the few kids who got over it, and responding effectively to everyone else. We wouldn't respond the same way to every kid who went under the bar any more than the swim lesson would be the same for every child who didn't pass the swim test. Some kids are closer to being swimmers just like some kids are closer to being readers and we would respond differently to them than the kids who are afraid to get in the water or the kids who don't even know the alphabet.”

-Steve Dykstra

Please save and share if you agree. And follow @thereadingleague 🤍

#teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #scienceofreading #structuredliteracy #teachertraining #everystudenteveryday
Does anyone ever know what to do with their hands Does anyone ever know what to do with their hands when posing?? I mean, really. I can teach children to read, but I do not know what to do with my hands during photos. Zero knowledge. 

Thankful for @jemphotography68 and her amazing skills behind the lens. It was like a direct instruction lesson. 😂 I do (Jenna models what Meredith should do). We do (Meredith practices while Jenna watches and supports). You do (Meredith gives it a go). Without her, this would not have happened. So grateful!🤍

Stepping out of my comfort zone, taking some pictures, and bringing some more literacy goodness your way. In case you didn’t notice, my blog photo is from student teaching. 9 years ago. It’s about time...📚

...And at some point in the process, I learned to cross my arms for this picture.😆

#teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteach #iteachtoo #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #stepoutofyourcomfortzone
Have you signed up yet?🙌🏼 I never miss an o Have you signed up yet?🙌🏼

I never miss an opportunity to learn from Dr. Stephanie Stollar. She is a consultant and professor at Mount Saint Joseph University in Cincinnati. I can always rely on Dr. Stollar to be rooted in research and evidence. She presents information clearly and always welcomes others in the conversation.💭

This free webinar will give you a helpful overview on the Science of Reading in a way that is easily understood. You will learn more about Dr. Stollar and her Reading Science Academy, which is my favorite learning community to date.📖 

📢Sign up today! Link is in my profile. Recording will be available if you cannot attend live.

https://bit.ly/GettingStartedWithSoR

Share this post to your stories to spread the word! Click the paper airplane icon to share!✈️ 

*not an affiliate. Just sharing what I love and have found truly helpful in my own journey.🤍
I’ve chatted with many teachers recently about s I’ve chatted with many teachers recently about sound walls & how to make them work.

The common questions- 
🧡Will that work in my grade level? 
💛How does that work with littles? 
💚Is it worth it in upper elementary? 
💙But I have English language learners...will it be helpful? 
💜I’m an interventionist...how do I make it accessible for varying levels?

I hope this helps you to gather some ideas  and create a picture of what a sound wall can look like and what it can create in your classroom.❤️

Link in my profile. 
bit.ly/soundwallsthroughoutschool

#soundwall #soundwalls #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading #phonics #phonemicawareness #speechtoprint
The Science of Reading is not only phonics.📢 S The Science of Reading is not only phonics.📢

Scarborough’s Rope model and the Gough and Tumner’s Simple View of Reading show us that in order to have skilled reading comprehension, we must have strong word recognition and strong language comprehension. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It’s not a one or the other situation. This is not an option.

Although it is a fact that foundation skills MUST be the unbalanced focus in K-2 and with struggling readers, that does not mean that we ignore building language skills.❤️

Today’s LETRS training was an in-depth look and practice with planning and preparing a text before reading and anticipating the purpose, vocabulary, questions, and difficult language in the text. 🙌🏼 My biggest takeaway: planning is essential, but time consuming.⏰

🔎To be honest, I need to restructure my planning time and process to pay closer attention to all of these components in order to fully involve **multiple** elements of language into my daily instruction. 

❤️When we know better, we do better. We are all learning and growing in this process. There’s ALWAYS room for growth.❤️

#structuredliteracy #languagecomprehension #readingcomprehension #alwaysalearner #knowbetterdobetter
Why use a sound wall? What is a sound wall? What i Why use a sound wall? What is a sound wall? What is not? What comparisons can be made? 

Head to the link in my profile to read all about getting started with a sound wall.📢

bit.ly/soundwallgettingstarted

#soundwall #soundwalls #iteach #iteachtoo #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #structuredliteracy #literacy #speechtoprint
When foundational skills instruction is given thro When foundational skills instruction is given through systematic, sequential, teacher-led lessons, we will get the best results with the MOST students. 

Foundation skills are an essential part of K-3 instruction. Foundational skills = phonological awareness, decoding, sight (immediate) word recognition.

BUT. Language comprehension needs to be taught as well. Students should be exposed to high-quality fiction and nonfiction books and learn through themes in order to gain knowledge about topics. They must discuss, collaborate, and build oral language. Language study (vocabulary, grammar, writing) must be taught. 

If we focus too much or only on foundational skills, we tend to miss out on the big picture. We read for meaning. That is the point! Still, we have to build up to that. We cannot just assume students will get there. We need to scaffold them until they have the strong foundational skills needed to tackle texts on their own.

Phonics, comprehension skills, AND language study are essential. These must be taught together and work together to strengthen all learners. Research on this was conducted in 2003 by Foorman and Schatschneider. They looked at 55 public school classrooms of first and second graders. They found that students who were taught with a code-emphasis, tended to be better at reading comprehension skills than students who were taught with a meaning-emphasis at the end of second grade.

Moats & Tolman, 2019, Vol. 2, pg. 149 & 153

#foundationalskills #structuredliteracy #languagecomprehension #wordrecognition #orallanguage #englishlanguagearts #iteach #iteachtoo #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram
Do you teach syllable types?📚 Instruction in s Do you teach syllable types?📚

Instruction in syllable division as a strategy for decoding multisyllabic words has been a great help to my second grader this year! 🙌🏼 

It’s not a perfect science. You must be flexible and think about how patterns of letters work in English. BUT it’s a fabulous strategy for students to have so that they can attempt a word rather than skip over it. This leads to higher levels of comprehension while reading.💭

Last night, I attended a session from Kendore Learning hosted by Jessica Hasser. She discussed that knowledge of common consonant blends in English will help students to break apart words without all the extra labeling such as VC/CV, V/CV, VC/V, etc. ⭐️ Of course we still need to teach the common types that students come into contact with (Vowel-R, vowel team, closed, open, magic E, consonant+Le) but once they have that, looking for common blends can simplify the process.👍🏼

At the end of the day, the goal is to find the correct pronunciation of the syllables so that the auditory system recognizes it as a word, and then the student can put meaning to the printed sequence of letters.📚❤️

#teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #syllables #syllabledivision #structuredliteracy #structuredliteracyinstruction #scienceofreading
Keys to success when tutoring.🔑 ⭐️Plan in Keys to success when tutoring.🔑

⭐️Plan in advance. Write a lesson plan every time. Be prepared. Share a digital Google Doc with parents so that they can see what was done and what is to come along with comments.
⭐️Prep every single sound, word, or sentence you want kids to write. Write those down before hand. Set yourself up for success.
⭐️Organize your sessions so they follow a format. Students feel comfortable when they know what to expect. This also helps you to determine which sections of the plan are difficult or lack student interest or attention.
⭐️Use a variety of materials. Nothing fancy necessary, but using a group of materials each time diversifies the tutoring time and keeps attention.
⭐️Be flexible. If a student needs a break or an activity change, then be prepared for that. Including lots of hands on items allows you to make activities into games in an instant. Freeze dance is also a great way to get wiggles out midsession or as a reward.
⭐️Fill the time with many activities. I’m an hour session, I usually do 9-10 activities. Each takes about 1-5 minutes. They all build on each other and relate to the same skill and goal. Using many short activities keeps engagement up and gives you the ability to switch gears immediately if something isn’t working as you’d hoped.
⭐️Keep a folder of finished and unfinished work for the student. Date everything. Students can practice from that folder at home and always have something to reread as fluency practice. Dating papers allows you to see progress over time and works well when schools want to see progress.

📚Do you tutor? What tips do you have? Leave them here!👇🏼

#tutoring #tutoringtips #readingtutor #structuredliteracy #iteach #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #soundwall
👋🏼Let's chat about the Language Comprehensio 👋🏼Let's chat about the Language Comprehension part of the Simple View of Reading:

Word Recognition✖️Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

📚Language comprehension has an initial focus on vocabulary and background knowledge. These are two strands of Scarborough's Rope that are very closely linked and interdependent. Vocabulary knowledge is shown in reading and listening (receptive vocabulary📖) and writing and speaking (expressive vocabulary📢).

"One of the most well-established findings of educational research is that reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are highly correlated with one another, and that knowledge of individual word meanings accounts for as much as 50-60 percent of the variance in reading comprehension (Adlof & Perfetti, 2014; Stahl & Nagy, 2006). While the Reading Rope model indicates that other factors are also important in accounting for reading comprehension, 📣vocabulary is the most important single factor, once children have learned the alphabetic code."📣

⭐️Moats and Tolman explain that it is important to remember that sound, symbol, and sense are connected.⭐️ Great phonics instruction includes decoding and activities that explore word meaning. When we know a word well, we know all or most of the parts of the dimensions of the word's meaning. If we build a strong, well developed network of connections around each new word (swipe to see picture 3), the new word will be stored deeply and retrieved quickly. 

👩‍🏫👨‍🏫Teachers can help to create these networks by focusing new word instruction on the following:
1️⃣Talk about pronunciation, spoken syllables, phonemes (sounds), morphemes (base words & affixes)
2️⃣Look for graphemes (spellings)  or patterns/generalizations that you know
3️⃣Identify and talk about synonyms, antonyms, examples, categories.
4️⃣Bring connotations of words into discussion
5️⃣Talk about and describe multiple meanings in context

(Moats & Tolman, 2019, Volume 2, p. 6, 14)

#vocabulary #vocabularybuilding #vocabularywords #vocabularyinstruction #languagecomprehension #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading #iteach #iteachk #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers
The face you make when it’s time for your nightl The face you make when it’s time for your nightly Heggerty brain workout. 🧠🏋️

#musictomyears #parentsupport #parentadvocacy #phonologicalawareness #phonemicawareness #heggerty #primethebrain #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading 
*Shared with permission
The Science of Reading is not just phonics. I repe The Science of Reading is not just phonics. I repeat, evidence based reading instruction does not mean we teach only phonics.⭐️

Drs. Moats and Tolman describe all components of effective reading instruction: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and language comprehension. These 5 components have been front and center since the National Reading Panel report in 2000. We should look at our instruction and our curriculum with this lens. Are all 5 components present and prominent?💭

It is imperative to develop word recognition in order to support students reading comprehension as they grow to be independent readers. Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001) also shows that it’s imperative to build students’ language comprehension: background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures (syntax, semantics), verbal reasoning (inference, metaphor, etc.), and literacy knowledge (genres, print concepts, etc.).📚

We know from the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) that reading comprehension is the PRODUCT of word recognition and language comprehension. This means neither word recognition or language comprehension can be lacking if we want to achieve proficient reading comprehension.🙌🏼

Word recognition & language comprehension are dual goals, as Moats and Tolman stated. They should be strengthened together. While it is necessary to focus more time into phonics instruction in the early grades, a phonics only lens will never support this dual goal.

#teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteach #iteachtoo #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading #wordrecognition #languagecomprehension
If you’ve been following along this year, you pr If you’ve been following along this year, you probably know that I homeschool for a family. I teach 2 siblings each day, full time.❤️

Well, this morning I walked into a classroom decorated with hearts and pink post it’s. They found all the pink and red books and put them up on the display shelves.📚

And...drumroll please...they made this hilarious shirt for me. Before to the word “Academy”, they wrote their last name. 😂 So now we have a legit one room school house. And I’m the ONLY teacher...soooo apparently I win Teacher of the Year at this school.😝

I’m still laughing, and my heart is full. Enjoying all the humor in this crazy year.
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! 

#teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #iteach #iteachtoo #iteachfirst #iteachsecond #soundwall
Drawing attention to the syllables, onset and rime Drawing attention to the syllables, onset and rime, or phonemes in words is extremely helpful when students are learning to orthographically map words AND when they are learning new vocabulary words. It helps the brain form a connection between the spoken word, and the printed word.🗣

We’re working on -EST in words, but I wanted to increase the difficulty by focusing on meaning a bit more. I chose words that had -est as the rime or word family unit. I also chose words that contained the suffix -est at the end of a base word.📚

Each time I said a word, they would repeat the word. I would give a sentence and then students would segment it into either onset and rime or into syllables, depending on the length of the word.🤍

If the word had an onset and the rime -est, they would quickly notice that the onset was not a word on its own (n - est). BUT, if the word had an onset and a longer rime (f - astest), we would try to divide it by syllables instead (fast - est). We would ask ourselves if the base word (fast) was a real word. If they said yes, we talked about how -est changes the meaning of that word and how it is a suffix.⭐️

We would look at our T chart and decide if it should be written on the “rime unit” side or the “suffix” side. I carefully chose base words with a variety of endings so that we could practice doubling the final consonant (biggest), changing y to i (happiest), and dropping one e (largest). We did this entire activity guided and with manipulatives, talking through each word together.📝

#speechtoprint #phonologicalawareness #phonemicawareness #spellinginstruction #wordstudy #structuredliteracy #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #iteachtoo #iteachfirst #iteachsecond
Teensy post-its make everyone’s day.📝 Word s Teensy post-its make everyone’s day.📝

Word sorts are a great way to practice new skills, review previous ones, or a combination of both! Here we reviewed many phonics patterns while working on syllable types.🔍

I like using word sorts when students do not have to write because it creates more time for me question. I’m constantly asking questions and providing clarifications. Students answer aloud and explain their thinking. I often think aloud with them to model how to analyze certain tricky words. Soon, they’re able to think aloud on their own which builds a deeper understanding.💭

Sort from Flyleaf decodable homework handouts (free online) which are provided for every digital decodable that they have.

#teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteach #iteachtoo #wordsorts #phonicsfun #phonicspatterns #syllabletypes #structuredliteracy #flyleaf
Flyleaf has the most beautiful and engaging decoda Flyleaf has the most beautiful and engaging decodable readers.📚

We love switching between their nonfiction and fiction decodables. The pictures and illustrations are beautiful. The fiction books have great story lines. The nonfiction books are so informative and fun! They have tons of real pictures and text features.🙌🏼

They are free online, but cannot be printed. There are weekly handouts supplies for each book. They include handwriting practice, orthographic mapping, syllable division, reading comprehension with text evidence, and essay prompts. My students do some of this work as independent work throughout the week.✏️

Swipe to watch my first grade reader.⭐️

#iteachtoo #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram  #iteachfirst #iteachk #iteachsecond #structuredliteracy #decodablereaders #scienceofreadinginstruction
Teaching reading IS rocket science (thanks, Dr. Lo Teaching reading IS rocket science (thanks, Dr. Louisa Moats!) but curling your hair doesn’t have to be. 📚😂

I know this isn’t reading or teaching related. I’m also not a fashion blogger. 🤪 BUT the gram needs to share this tip. Thanks to my friend @ally.applegate, I can do this more often because it’s speedy and it works!

I have THICK long hair. If I want to curl it, it could take 30 minutes! And it won’t hold longer than a few hours to a day. I have two littles (as you can hear in the background), so that doesn’t work. But this hack! This makes it doable in just 7 minutes!!! SEVEN! 🙌🏼 

It’s the little things. That is all. ❤️ 

And don’t worry. I won’t change from sharing reading tips to sharing beauty tips. Just this one.😝
Since I first started virtually teaching about fou Since I first started virtually teaching about four years ago, I have been amazed at how quickly relationships are built through a screen. When I first started with VIPKid, I had friends in China and students who are excited to learn every class. I’m not currently teaching for VIPKid, but still keep up with a few regular students and hope to meet them one day. 😍

Today I started virtually tutoring a kindergartner in Canada. 🇨🇦 We have only had an assessment and one session together & the same is true. We’re learning and giggling together. Having fun, getting to know each other, and learning to read.📚

Teaching is hard, but little moments make it so worth it to me!💓
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