Guides
- How to Teach Blending Sounds
Blending pushes sounds into a word. Compare chunking with sounding out, and use this correction when a child guesses from the first sound.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Consonant blends: l, r, and s lists, and the digraph test
Consonant blends keep every sound. Here are l-blends, r-blends, and s-blends, final s-blends, and how they differ from digraphs.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Consonant-le Syllables: Count Back Three
Divide consonant-le words by counting back three letters. See table, apple, turtle, and needle, plus when the consonant before le doubles.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- CVC words: a list by vowel, the words to skip, and a blending routine
CVC means consonant-vowel-consonant. Here is a checked list by vowel, the words to skip, and how to blend the three sounds.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Digraphs: sh, ch, th, wh, and ck, and how they differ from blends
A digraph is two letters and one sound. Teach sh, ch, th, wh, and ck, the ck spelling, and the blend test.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Diphthongs: oi, oy, ou, and ow Word Lists
A diphthong glides from one vowel sound to another. See oi, oy, ou, and ow lists, the position pattern, and how cow differs from a monophthong.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- The Doubling Rule for One-Syllable Words
The doubling rule, checked word by word: one syllable, one vowel, one final consonant, before a vowel suffix. Includes the words it skips.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- How to Use Elkonin Boxes
Elkonin boxes mark one square per sound. Start with counters, then letters, including a digraph and a long-vowel spelling.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What explicit, systematic phonics instruction looks like
Explicit phonics shows the sound and the spelling. Systematic phonics follows one planned order and reviews it. Here is the lesson.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- The FLOSS rule: the spelling, the word list, and the exceptions
Double f, l, s, or z after a short vowel in a one-syllable word. Word list, exceptions, and how the rule works in decodable text.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Fluency Strategies for K-2: Match the Practice to the Problem
Choose a fluency strategy from the reason the reading is slow: decoding errors, or phrasing on text the child can already read.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Glued sounds: why ang and ink are taught as units
Glued sounds are letter chunks that are hard to separate: ng, nk, and am, an, all. Word lists, and why ill is not in that set.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Heart Words: What They Are and How to Teach Them
A heart word is a high-frequency word with an irregular part. Here is the K-2 routine that marks only that part and reads the rest by sound.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- High-Frequency Words: Which Ones Are Decodable?
High-frequency words are the words that show up most often in print. Here is a K-2 sort of regular words and words that are irregular for now.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- How to teach letter sounds so the first words appear this week
Teach letter sounds a few at a time, with a short vowel early, so children can read real words in the first week.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Teaching phonics with one daily routine
Teaching phonics means four steps each day: hear the sound, build words, read them, and spell them. You set the minutes.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Inflectional Endings: -s, -es, -ed, and -ing
A K-2 guide to inflectional endings: when to add -es, when to drop silent e before -ing and -ed, and the three sounds of -ed.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Kindergarten phonics: what to teach and in what order
Kindergarten phonics starts with a few letter sounds, then short CVC words. See the order, a short lesson, fun practice, and a simple year-end check.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Long Vowel Sounds: K-2 Spellings and the Order to Teach Them
Long vowel sounds say the letter name. See each long vowel, the K-2 spellings in teaching order, and how long vowels differ from short ones.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Multisyllabic Words: A Division Routine for Second Grade
Second graders can divide multisyllabic words with three cuts: VC/CV, V/CV, and VC/V. Word list, lesson order, and longer-word examples.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Open and Closed Syllables: The Vowel Test
Open syllables end in a long vowel. Closed syllables end in a consonant and keep a short vowel. The vowel test, word lists, and both two-syllable splits.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Oral Reading Fluency Norms for First and Second Grade
The 2017 Hasbrouck and Tindal oral reading fluency norms, as published, for first and second grade, plus how to read the table and score a one-minute read.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Orthographic Mapping?
Orthographic mapping is how a word gets stored for instant reading. A routine for one regular word and one irregular word.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- How to Teach Phoneme Segmentation
Phoneme segmentation pulls a spoken word into every sound. Use this ladder from two sounds to blends, with the prompt and the error at each step.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonemic Awareness Activities for K-2
Scripted phonemic awareness activities for kindergarten through second grade, grouped by skill. Each turn uses the teacher's voice only.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonemic Awareness vs Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness covers words, rhyme, syllables, and onset-rime. Phonemic awareness is only the single-sound layer, with one example per level.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonics activities that practice a real skill
A sound-only hearing step is a warm-up, not phonics. Practice links a sound to its letter, then builds, reads, or writes. Kindergarten games fit those jobs.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What goes in a phonics lesson plan
A phonics lesson plan names one spelling, the review, the model, the read, the spelling, and the check. Copy the outline, then see a filled example.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonics Rules Worth Teaching in K-2, and the Ones to Drop
Teach a short set of K-2 phonics and spelling rules, and drop slogans that fail. See the reliable patterns, the exceptions, and what to skip.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- A K-2 phonics scope and sequence
Scope is the skill list. Sequence is the order. This K-2 map uses ten units, from letter sounds through prefixes, with a grade band on each.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonics vs Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness hears the sounds in a spoken word. Phonics maps those sounds to letters. See ship taught both ways, and which job comes first.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Phonics vs Whole Language
Phonics teaches letter-sound links in order. Whole language starts from stories and whole words. A side-by-side of what each lesson looks like.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Prefixes and Suffixes for K-2
K-2 prefixes and suffixes to teach first: un- and re-, plus -s, -ed, -ing, -er, -ful, and -less, with meanings and example words.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- R-Controlled Vowels: Word Lists for ar, or, er, ir, and ur
R-controlled vowels are the ar, or, and er sounds. See word lists for ar, or, er, ir, and ur, why those three match, and how to teach the pattern.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Repeated Reading: A K-2 Routine with a Three-Reading Record
Repeated reading is reading the same short passage several times with feedback. Here is a K-2 routine and a record for three readings.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Scarborough's Reading Rope
Scarborough's Reading Rope is a metaphor for skilled reading as woven strands. See each strand as a K-2 activity, and where phonics fits.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Should a Science of Reading Curriculum Include?
A science of reading curriculum for K-2 phonics needs a sequence, daily code work, decodable text, and language. Use this checklist on any program.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Short vowel sounds: keywords, mouth cues, and the pairs children mix up
The five short vowel sounds, a keyword and mouth cue for each, the pairs children mix up, and short vowel words to read next.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Silent E Words: Lists by Vowel and How to Teach the Pattern
Silent e words use the vowel-consonant-e pattern. See lists by vowel, pairs such as cap and cape, the s-as-z note, and how to teach the pattern in K-2.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is the Simple View of Reading?
The Simple View of Reading says comprehension is decoding times language understanding. Four reader profiles, and what to teach in a K-2 day.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is a Sound Wall, and How Do You Set One Up?
A sound wall is organized by sounds, not by whole words. Here is how it differs from a word wall, and an order for revealing cards through K-2.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Spelling activities for K-2, from sound boxes to dictation
Spelling activities for K-2 follow the pattern just taught: sound boxes, one sound change, then a short dictation. List games come after that mapping.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Six Syllable Types With K-2 Example Words
Six syllable types with K-2 example words, a vowel test for labeling each one, and why a seven-type chart usually splits vowel teams from diphthongs.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Three Cueing?
Three cueing prompts children to guess from meaning, syntax, or a picture. Here is what to say instead, with sources.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Vowel Teams: Examples by Sound and Which to Teach First
Vowel teams are letter groups that spell one vowel sound. See examples by sound, including ea, and which teams to teach first in K-2.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Are Decodable Books?
A decodable book uses only the letter sounds and high-frequency words a child has learned. Here is a quick test for the books in your room.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Sight Words: What They Are and How to Teach Them in K-2
Sight words are words a reader knows instantly. See how they differ from high-frequency words, and teach them with a K-2 mapping routine.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is a Grapheme?
A grapheme is the letter or letters that spell one sound. See the K-2 types, a ship mapping, and how to count graphemes rather than letters.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is a Phoneme?
A phoneme is the smallest sound that can change a word. English uses 44 of them. Count the sounds in common K-2 words, apart from the letters.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Decoding in Reading?
Decoding means sounding out a written word and blending those sounds. Steps on one real word, K-2 practice, and how decodable text helps.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Phonemic Awareness?
Hear and move the sounds in a spoken word: that is phonemic awareness. This guide gives the K-2 order, one oral example per skill, and one honest limit.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Phonics?
Phonics teaches the sounds letters stand for so children can read and spell. A K-2 pattern order, the main approaches, and a free home routine.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Reading Fluency, and How Is It Measured?
Reading fluency is accuracy, rate, and expression together. Here is a one-minute words-correct check for K-2, and what a slow reading usually means.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is Structured Literacy?
Structured literacy is explicit, systematic teaching of reading, not a brand. See the principles as parts of one daily K-2 lesson.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- What Is the Science of Reading?
The science of reading is a body of research on how children learn to read. This guide names the five pillars and a daily K-2 phonics block.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Word chains for phonics lessons
A phonics word chain changes one sound at a time. Model it with letter tiles, then copy ready chains for short vowels, blends, and silent e.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- How to use word sorts for phonics
Word sorts group words by a spelling already taught. Give headers for a closed sort, hide them for an open sort, and copy the ready word sets.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27
- Y as a Vowel: Three Sounds and When Y Is a Consonant
Y is a vowel at the end of a word and in the middle of gym. See the three vowel sounds, word lists by sound, and when y still says /y/.
Published 2026-10-27 · Updated 2026-10-27