The Science of Reading is like a recipe for success in literacy. And just like a recipe, it requires multiple ingredients to make it work. Phonics is an important ingredient, but it’s not the only one. We also need to make sure we are teaching our students comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and writing to help our students become proficient readers!
One way to do this is by incorporating phonics and fluency instruction into your small group reading lessons. As a kindergarten or first-grade teacher, I know that you are always looking for ways to make the most of your small-group reading time.
That’s why I’m excited to introduce you to my new resource- Phonics and Fluency Lesson Pages. In this blog post, I’ll share what they are, how to use them, and how they can help you maximize your small-group reading time.
What are Phonics and Fluency Lesson Pages?
Although I called them Phonics and Fluency Lessons, these actually incorporate more than that. It’s just not as easy to say Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Comprehension, and Writing Lessons in one breath!
But these are just that! Phonics and Fluency Lesson Pages are a no-prep resource that incorporates all of the above, making small-group reading instruction more effective and efficient.
Each 2-page lesson provides quick, focused instruction on a specific phonics skill. The lessons are designed to gradually guide students through 7 activities, incorporating phonics, decodable text, fluency, comprehension, and writing.
Each section has the directions for you to make it easy for you to guide your students through the entire lesson. The pack also has a teacher guide with sample lesson language, as well as useful information.
How to use Phonics and Fluency Pages
STEP 1: ASSESS
Before using, you can assess your students to see which skills they need practice with. The assessments included will help give you a starting point. Group 3-5 students with similar results and start with the appropriate lesson. You can use the Scope and Sequence to find the lessons that target each skill.
STEP 2: Get Ready
Each lesson is 2 pages. Copy them back-to-back (select ‘flip on long side’ on your printer settings), choosing which writing option you’d like for the level 1 lessons. There are two options: writing 2 or 4 words.
Each student gets their own copy because they will write on these.
Once copied, you can keep a master copy in a binder if you like, or clip originals together for future use.
You’ll also need the Word-Mapping strips and/or mats to model mapping the high-frequency sight words.
OPTIONAL: You can incorporate fun tools like magnetic letters, googly-eye rings, transparent chips, or other manipulatives to make it extra fun, BUT all students really need is a pencil!
STEP 3: USING THE LESSONS
Each 2-page lesson has 7 activities. The front page has the decoding, while the back has the encoding. Here are the activities. *Your free sample has more explicit sample language to use.
- Target the sound: Students point to the picture, say its name, and isolate the beginning, middle, or ending sound, depending on the target skill.
- Highlight and decode words: Teach the grapheme, or letter representation, for that sound. Have students highlight the letter(s), then read the words.
- High-frequency Sight Words: Review previously-learned HFSW, and/or introduce a new word and map it. Use the mapping strip for modeling and refer to the enclosed HFSW list for how to map it.
- Fluency: Have students practice reading phrases that include the target phonics skill and/ or high-frequency words.
- Read the passage: Have students highlight the target skill pattern, then read the text. The first few lessons have very simple sentences and later lessons have a short story. Practice fluency again by reading 3 times and coloring in a star each time.
- Comprehension: Students show comprehension in fun ways! Finishing a picture to match the text, labeling the characters to differentiate, coloring in the matching picture, or answering questions will keep your students engaged.
7. Writing: On the back, students will write words (and in later lessons, sentences) with the target phonics skill. In level 1, you choose between 2 or 4 words. Students tap the word for the picture, map it, then write, while you coach them through correct letter formation. In level 2, students map the words and practice phoneme manipulation as they change one sound to make the next word. Level 2 also has the addition of a dictated sentence.
STEP 4: MONITOR PROGRESS
I also included Fluency Drills with real and nonsense words for extra practice and/or progress-monitoring.
You can use the same assessment sheets multiple times for each student. Simply use a different-colored pen and mark the test date in the same color.
As students progress, you’ll want to consider rearranging groups to ensure your students are getting instruction that they need.
TRY IT FREE!
Watch the video below to see a sample lesson. Then, scroll down to get it free so you can try it yourself!
What Skills do Phonics and Fluency Lessons Cover?
Unit 1 introduces letter sounds one at a time and is a different format from the remainder of the units. You can view it here: Sounds to Letters pack. Since I use the same letter sequence in Unit 2 (CVC), Unit 1 can be used in tandem with Unit 2, after the first six Unit 1 lessons. If that sounds confusing, the first 6 lessons in Unit 1 cover the letters m, a, p, t, s, c. Once students have learned those letters, they are ready to start learning to blend CVC words and can start Unit 2.
Unit 2 focuses on CVC words, with some additional skills:
- Introduction to blending CVC words, while reviewing consonant sounds in the alphabet
- CVC with short vowels; 3 lessons for each short vowel
- Suffix -s for plural nouns, as well as for verbs, covering both the /s/ and /z/ sounds
- Glued sounds -am, -an, -all
- Open syllables E and O: he, me, be, we; go, no, so
Unit 3 focuses on digraphs and double-consonants.
- SH, CH, TH, WH, and CK
- FF, LL, SS, ZZ
Unit 4 focuses on beginning and ending consonant blends.
Unit 5 focuses on VCE or silent E.
Unit 6 focuses on multisyllabic words, with closed syllables (VCCV)
The Growing Bundle will include these units by the end of August, 2023:
- Unit 7: R-controlled vowels
- Unit 8: Vowel teams
Each unit will build on and spiral-review the skills from previous units.
How can I get the Phonics and Fluency Lessons?
You can click on the links below to purchase in my Tejeda’s Tots shop.
- Unit 1: Alphabet
- Unit 2: CVC
- Unit 3: Digraphs
- Unit 4: Blends
- Unit 5: VCE
- Unit 6: Multisyllabic Words
- Growing Bundle
You can also purchase them from my TPT store here.
Be sure to subscribe to my emails for notifications of new units, as each one is posted at a big discount for a limited time.
To get your FREE sample, and join my email list, sign up below.
Phonics and Fluency Lesson Pages make small-group reading easy, so you don’t have to spend enormous amounts of time planning. Your students get practice with phonics, fluency, comprehension, and writing all in ready-to-implement lessons.
Let me know if you have any questions! You can comment below or email me at brenda@brendatejeda.com
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