Phonics Lessons for Reading A to Z Decodable Books #1-68

As teachers we know that in the early grades we must provide practice for our students to read text in order for new words to be learned. One of the hardest resource to find is decodable text that contains the spelling patterns being taught that are easy enough for them to read, yet hard and long enough for them to have text reading practice. 

Reading A to Z.com provides great decodables for phonics instruction! We use them in our classrooms and have written explicit phonics lesson for every decodable book. We use these in TIER I, TIER II, and TIER III levels of instruction. The Reading A to Z decodables books are not included in this download, as they are downloadable from the Reading A to Z website and require a subscription. There is a free trial that allows your to download a limited number books, check it out! Many principals are more than willing to buy schools or your classroom a subscription as well. It never hurts to ask! https://www.readinga-z.com/books/decodable-books/


This PDF download includes:

• Lessons for every Reading A to Z Decodable Book (#1-68) - refer to our scope and sequence in the preview for specific vowel focus patterns.
• CVC (#1-35) 
• Consonant Blends (#36-41)
• vCe (#42-45)
• Consonant Digraphs (#46-51)
• Open Vowels, Vowel Digraphs, Other Vowels (#52-58)
• Variant Vowels (#59-62)
• Diphthongs (#63-64)
• R-Controlled Vowels (#65-68)
• How our lessons work explanation
• Steps to an explicit phonics lesson
• Engagement ideas throughout the lesson
• Reading strategy for multisyllabic words
• Scope and Sequence (Included in PREVIEW)
• Binder spine labels in 1" or 2" options
• File folder labels 
• Binder Cover
• Lesson Cards for each book included in the download

Effective Fluency Instruction

We are thrilled to finally release these teaching and practice FLUENCY resources! We hope you enjoy. Let us know if you have any questions. Email us! thesimpleteachers@gmail.com

You can download the "Let's Teach Fluency" or "Let's Practice Fluency" separate or as a bundle to save some money. Teachers need to save a couple bucks, right? :)

We recommend these products for TIER I and/or TIER II instruction for grades 1-3. TIER II instruction for grades 4-5. 

Here is an example lesson! 

Fluency by definition is the ability to read with proper speed, accuracy, and prosody.  

The three elements of fluency,
1. SPEED
2. ACCURACY and
3. PROSODY,
are what we watch for in our readers as we listen to them read aloud.
(Our downloads are geared toward PROSODY elements!)

SPEED AND ACCURACY are used for assessment!

We have many predictors of good reading, one strong predictor is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF).  We can use ORF norms to determine where our students should be in terms of speed and accuracy at a given point in time when they are reading grade level text.  It is best to use reliable and valid measures of ORF when making these determinations (ex. DIBELS, AIMs Web).  You can refer to our ORF  file for further information on this. Download everything you need for progress monitoring ORF on TPT.

Our Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring download focuses on assessment, which we measure through speed and accuracy.
If accuracy is an issue, Download our phonics lessons to see improvement!  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Simple-Teachers/Category/Phonics-263921
Sight words could also be the issue... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Words-Assessment-and-Practice-Pack-107-Zeno-High-Frequency-Words-2805910

PROSODY ELEMENTS are used for teaching!

When we teach fluency, we focus on the elements found within Prosody.
The prosody elements are: intonation, volume, stress, pitch, punctuation, expression, smoothness, and phrasing.  These elements of prosody, when taught to young readers, will improve their rate and ability to comprehend text.

A FEW FLUENCY TEACHING REMINDERS...

The most important thing you need to remember is to get kids reading TEXT!  More time spent reading text improves reading ability! As you teach explicit fluency instruction to your class remember it is more than just giving them practice reading.  Here is a quick list of what it is and is not:

What Fluency Instruction IS:

• Focuses on Good Reading = PROSODY!
• Accuracy (Problems in accuracy tell us a Phonics diagnostic assessment is needed.)
• Rate (We do not teach kids to read fast, we use rate as an outcome of our prosody element focus instruction.  We may even teach kids to slow down to comprehend.)
• Uses the Gradual Release of Responsibility
• Includes a Teacher Demonstration with a Think-Aloud
• Teacher Provides Specific and Corrective Feedback to the Students
• Includes Repeated Reading of Texts AND Wide Reading of Texts

What Fluency Instruction IS NOT:

• Getting Kids to Read Fast
• One-Minute Timed Readings (That is how we assess fluency - download our Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitor pack!)
• Only Student Practice Opportunities (We must model and think-aloud)
• Matching Interests of Reader and Text 

Long Vowel Phonics Lessons and Decodable Passages

It's been awhile! Whitney had her baby and has been on maternity leave while Angie has been working hard wrapping up another semester. We hope you enjoy these long vowel passages to incorporate into your whole group and small group lessons. We've enjoyed seeing how teachers have organized this resource. We've seen teachers paperclip the lesson to the passages and keep in binders either hole punched or in sheet protectors. Some teachers tape the lesson to a file folder with the passages inside. Such great ideas! 

Long Vowels (vowel teams)  Explicit Phonics Lessons and Passages are now available on Teachers Pay Teachers! (Click on the words for links.)

See our earlier blog post on effective phonics instruction by clicking here.

K-1 Dibels Progress Monitoring

Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers, this download is everything you'll need to effectively use Dibels progress monitoring! Administration and reading coaches, this is a great pack to use for professional development to help your k-1 teams use Dibels progress monitoring to guide their tiers of instruction. 

Spring ComprehensionLessons

Enjoy our Spring Comprehension Lessons!

The Ugly Vegetables
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

The Tiny Seed
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Library Lion
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

January and February Comprehension Lesson Plans

Enjoy our January and February Comprehension Lessons!

January:

Akiak
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King!
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

February:

Each Kindness
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Henry's Freedom Box
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Looking at Lincoln
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Somebody Love's You, Mr. Hatch
Lesson: TPT Link
Book: Amazon.com

Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring

Click here to download on TPT!

Using DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring is a common question (if not THE most asked question) Angie receives from teachers and administration. This resource is full of  professional development and all the resources you'll need to effectively progress monitor your students' ORF. We hope it clarifies all the misconceptions about DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency as well as allows teachers to use time wisely when assessing reading. We truly want to help teachers work "smarter and not harder"!

We have many predictors of good reading, one strong predictor is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF).  We can use ORF norms to determine where our students should be in terms of speed and accuracy at a given point in time when they are reading grade level text.  You can refer to our ORF file for further information on this and for everything you need to progress monitor on TPT.

We recommend DIBELS as a progress monitor because it is a Valid and Reliable measure and has been since 2001. Why?

1)      It is fast,

2)      Fluency is a great place to see most of the reading components very quickly put into action.  I can see Phonics improve, fluency improve, discuss comprehension or get a quick measure with a retell, and even do a running record on the DIBELS progress monitor score sheet. 

When you are progress monitoring your students, you can see if they are making adequate progress to meet their goals that are determined by their target lines (ambitious and expected). The progress monitoring data points should remain within the two target lines. Download our ORF resource for more information. 

Check out some of our other teaching resources to increase ORF!

• Effective Phonics Instruction
• Sight Words 
• Effective Fluency Instruction through Prosody Elements COMING SOON!

More Phonics Lessons and Decodable Passages! Long Vowels - vCe

Long Vowels (vCe, final silent e)  Explicit Phonics Lessons and Passages are now available on Teachers Pay Teachers! (Click on the words for links.)

See our earlier blog post on effective phonics instruction by clicking here.

Comprehension Graphic Organizers

16 Editable Graphic Organizers

Strategies:

Predict, Inference, Monitor/Clarify, Visualize, Question, Summarize, Connect, Evaluate/Comment, Story Structure, Knew, New, Q

Text Structure:

Cause/Effect, Problem/Solution, Question/Answer, Description, Sequence or Time Order, Compare/Contrast

Click here for the TPT link. 

 11 Editable Multistrategy Graphic Organizers

Multistrategy Graphic Organizers included:

·         Knew, New, Q, Monitor and Clarify,  Predict and Summarize with somebody, wanted, but, so, Reciprocal Teaching, Summarize and Comment, Summarize and Infer, Summarize and Predict, Summarize and Question, Summarize, Predict, and Question, Summarize, Comment, and Predict, Summarize, Comment, and Question

Click here for the TPT link. 

Comprehension Strategies
Strategies that we use to understand text are done primarily during reading. They occur in our heads as we read. Good readers are able to use strategies. Novice readers, on the other hand, often need to be taught how, when, and why we use strategies. The best way to ensure that a reader learns to use a strategy is first, one at a time and then, combining strategies into multiple strategy lessons. All of these variations of strategy lesson need to follow the Gradual Release model; I do with teacher modeling and think-aloud, We do, You do together, and You do alone.

Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers are exactly what they say, they are graphic representations that organize our thinking and keep track of information found within the text. Graphic organizers are best when they match the text they are being used with. These editable graphic organizers are meant to be used with the comprehension strategies you choose for the texts you are teaching. The best way to determine what strategy to use in a text you are teaching is to read the text and think about what strategy you are using (be metacognitive, after all isn’t that what we want our students to be able to do?!). That is always a good place to start.

The benefits of using graphic organizers or concept mapping has been seen in a wide range of practices. The use of graphic organizers during comprehension instruction is first, a good way to teach students how to use strategies as they see you writing and talking about your own thinking, but they are also a good way to assess their strategy use. You can use what they have written on their own organizer as a part of assessing their strategy use.

Planning a Comprehension Lesson
When planning a comprehension strategy lesson, it is important that you completely read and fill in a graphic organizer during your lesson creation so when you turn the kids out for the You do together and You do alone portion of the lesson you already have your thinking down on your own graphic organizer. Having this done allows you to engage in conversation, discussion, and generate elaborative responses from your students as another means of assessing their comprehension of the text. After all, discussion is still one of the very best assessments of comprehension we can use. The graphic organizer is not the focus of the comprehension strategy lesson, but is the keeper of our thoughts until we can get to the time for discussion.

Reciprocal Teaching UPDATE!

Download our Reciprocal Teaching for Literacy Groups Mega Pack! 

WE HAVE UPDATED THIS PRODUCT!!

• MANY MORE graphic organizers that include a place for you to write stopping stops for your students. There are also g.o.s with chapter headers for use during chapter books. 
• Binder Labels
• More strategy poster options

Student Example of a student's work Summarizing and Predicting 

Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) uses the strategies Summarize, Predict, Clarify, and Question together and the goal is for the students to be able to do the thinking and the discussing about a text on their own. I have found it important to teach each strategy separately before teaching them together. Then it is important to use reciprocal teaching in a gradual release model during whole group comprehension lessons before they are ready to do the thinking and especially the discussion on their own.

We have included a variety of items for you to use as you teach the strategies in isolation or in different combinations. You can use these in whole-group settings with a gradual release method, or in small-group lessons.

Click here to access the resource on TPT!