Reading Resources
Sight Word Materials General Reading Instruction
Here is a must have list of the top 100 common words found in texts. Automaticity of these words can make a real difference in reading fluency and progress. Scholastic has a good list of classroom activities and environments to support sight word learning. Learning High Frequency Words is another great document that gives great strategies. Pinterest is another way educators share ideas and her are two links that have loads of ideas. Mrs. Perkins has a great website where she provides free materials to teach the Dolch Sight Word List.
Sparklebox does have many word lists but a few words are spelled differently since it is a UK website but still worth a look. Sightwordgames is another great sight filled with downloads and game ideas. Clever Classroom is another great resource for videos and printables. Many educators like the material from Carl's Corner. Here are over 600 free downloads from teacherpaysteachers, not bad! This program has many handouts and is organized to teach sight words. The Reading and Writing Project shares the results of their research and institutes. This 2-page article on sight words is very helpful in understanding why we teach high frequency words. Pearson Publishing has also shared a chapter about the importance of sight words and ideas for teaching them. Roadsters also talks about a new way of teaching high frequency words. |
Get Ready to Read! is designed to support educators, parents, and young children in the development of early literacy skills in the years before kindergarten. Intended for use with all children, the resources and information provided on this site promote skill-building, communication between adults, and ways to address concerns.
FreeReading is a free, high-quality, open-source reading program addressing literacy development for grades K-3. Leveraging the collective wisdom of researchers, teachers, reading coaches, and other education and industry professionals, FreeReading provides a high-quality, cost-effective alternative to static materials.
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Automaticity of Words: Although the English language contains many thousands of words, research by Solity 2005 has shown that just 16 words (a, and, he, I, in, is, it, my, of, that, the, then, to, was, went, with) make up a quarter of all the words in a typical text, whether aimed at adults or children, and that a total of 100 words (including the 16 most common) represent half the words in a text. Learning these "high frequency words" can give your child a head start in learning to read.
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Here is a great resource for teaching literacy. It provides student characteristics, student goals and text characteristics for each developmental stage. Supporting Struggling Readers
Using Interactive Read-Alouds and Graphic Organizers is a great, practical idea and a short article gets you thinking about how to use graphic organizers during Read Alouds. This is a 96-page resource book of reading activities that can be easily used during literacy time. Cherry Carl has put together a easy to read booklet on strategy ideas for specific literacy challenges. It is clear and well-organized. Here are over 33,000 free Reading Activities through teacherspayteachers, wow! Fluency is another area that requires support when it becomes challenging and this may help you rethink how to support growth in fluency. Here is a checklist that helps learning and teachers remember all of the elements of fluency: Speed, Feelings, Punctuation, Tone of Voice and Natural Talking Character Voice. If you are very interested in Fluency then this text may be quite helpful. This two-page article is a great starter for working with non-readers: Strategies for Struggling Readers. What Really Matters to Struggling Readers is an article by Richard Allington, a long time supporter struggling learners. You may not agree with all of his ideas but it provides a place to rethink and reaffirm what you do believe works. Allington also wrote Every Child, Every Day in which he described six key elements to a successful learning environment. Here is another opinion about literacy intervention by Fountas and Pinnell. It is a 15-point intervention guide written in 4 pages. They have also produced a lesson framework that you may also want to incorporate. Teaching problem solving behaviors in reading is another area of interest with Fountas and Pinnell. Here are instructional strategies that encourage literacy learning across content areas. |
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Here is the Massachusetts 2011 Literacy Framework that has incorporated Common Core curriculum expectations. Here is the National Principal's Guide to Literacy Instruction and The Child Becomes a Reader recommendation guides. Put Reading First is another national publication that thought about reading instruction. Creating Readers for Life is an amazing resource when thinking about your entire classroom and engagement in learning how to read. Scholastic also put together a Guided Reading research paper worth reading.
We can also use checklists to think about what we include in our classrooms. Here is a early literacy checklist and one for grades one and two. |