Overview

Use the materials below to support schools with foundational skills instruction and reading comprehension in grades K-2. Check out our section for upper grades as well for reading remediation support. Curious where to go next? Check out the related resources below for other ways to address literacy unfinished learning. 

<Start Here!> Foundational Skills and the Science of Reading 

If this content is new for you, we recommend building your expertise with these resources in the order they are presented and considering the reflection questions along the way to deepen your understanding.   Downloaded a grab-and-go one-pager of these resources here. 

• NY Times’ Why are We Still Teaching Reading the Wrong Way? 
  • Consider: How does this resonate with your own personal teacher prep program/classroom experience?
• K-2 Literacy Virtual Learning Module 
  • Consider: How familiar are you with the foundational standards? What role do they currently play in planning/instruction of foundational skills?
• David Liben’s   Why a Structured Phonics Program is Effective  
  • Consider: What new insights does this article provide? What are the differences between structured phonics texts vs. other program texts? Why is structured phonics beneficial to all, but critical for some?
• SAP’s  Checklist of the Components of Structured Phonics Program 
  • Consider: How does the current program/implementation of the phonics program align with current instruction?
• SAP’s Foundational Skills Mini-Course and then try all 7 modules 
  • Consider: How much time and space is dedicated to teaching phonological awareness currently? What’s going well? What can be stronger? (How is this different/similar to oral drill as currently used?)
• Adam’s   Phonemic Awareness in Young Children  : This textbook, developed by experts in the field, includes flexible assessments and daily activities to boost preliteracy skills in 15-20 minutes a day. 

“Research indicates that, without direct instructional support, phonemic awareness eludes roughly 25% of middle-class first graders and substantially more of those who come from less literacy-rich backgrounds.”- Marilyn Adams

Foundational Skills Unfinished Learning in the Upper Grades

• Supporting Struggling Students in Grades 3-12: This ANet compilation includes recommendations, resources, and a Q&A session with Meredith Liben from SAP about foundational skills in the upper grades. 
• When Older Students Can’t Read: This article from LD Online gives recommendations for effective reading instruction for older students struggling with foundational skills. 
• Toolkit for Struggling Readers: A practical guide for grades 6-12 educators from the Utah State Board of Education. 
• How to Improve Text Fluency in the Middle Schools and High Schools: This blog post from expert Tim Shanahan discusses specific ways to help reluctant readers in the upper grades. 

Additional Recommended Reading

• ‘Both and’ Literacy Instruction K-5: A Proposed Paradigm Shift for the Common Core State Standards ELA Classroom by David and Meredith Liben 
• “Know Better, Do  Better,” David and Meredith Liben’s newest book, addresses how to invest stakeholders in the research behind foundational skills, and provides applicable protocols even for older students. 
• What Do the Common Core State Standards for ELA/Literacy Say About Kindergarten? Myths vs Facts by Student Achievement Partners
• Why Aren’t Kids Being Taught to Read? from American Public Media
• Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties by David Kilpatrick
• Causes and Remedies of the Literacy Gap by EL Education

“{I highly recommend Causes and Remedies of the Literacy Gap because it} articulates the factors that prevent students from being competent readers (citing the research) and gives concrete suggestions on what to do about it.  It would be great to use this to support teachers/leaders in understanding the components of their literacy curriculum and/or literacy block (potentially to identify its strengths and weaknesses).”— ANet Coach & Foundational Skills Expert, Christina Lippert

Instructional Tools

From The Achievement Network: 

• [NEW] Checklist of Key Research-Based Lit Practices
• [NEW]  “Just in Time”    Word Attack Strategies for Fluency Instruction
• Literacy Standards Guides:  ANet’s K-12 documents include parts of the standard and example question stems to reflect the skills of the standard.
• Kindergarten &   1st Grade   Lesson Plans: This ANet compilation provides sample CCSS-aligned lessons from Achieve the Core and Better Lesson. These are also available on the myANet Standards Tab by clicking on “View all Standards Resources.”

From Student Achievement Partners: 

• Foundational Skills Practice Strategy Resource  for Teachers and Families
• Foundational Skills Observation Tool
• K-2 Instructional Practice Guide
• Read Aloud Project
• Sample K-2 Literacy Block
•  Fluency Resources  for Grades 2+
• Foundational Skills Collection, which includes:
  • Guidance  documents to build an understanding of foundational skills
  • Fun, student-friendly games and activities
  • An informal assessment protocol for phonics and high-frequency words
  • A Decodable Reader Protocol to support repeated reads
  • Foundational skills mini-course modules and foundational skills blog series

From Other Trusted Sources: 

• UnboundEd’s   Building Fluency Guide to Grades K-2 ELA Standards: This four-part K-2 guide demonstrates how fluency practice can be integrated across content areas.
• Literacy Resources Inc.’s   Phonological Awareness Screeners for K, 1, 2 +

Curriculum Connections

• EdReports Reviews of foundational skills materials.

Videos

Classroom Footage: 

• Text Dependent Questioning in a 2nd Grade Classroom: In this video, a teacher shares her approach to text-dependent questioning (TDQs).
• Text Dependent Questioning in Lower Elementary: In this video, watch students answer text-dependent questions (TDQs) by citing evidence and engaging in turn and talks.
• Teacher Text Talk in 2nd Grade:  In this video, a teacher engages in a text talk about a story in their curriculum that they will use in upcoming instruction.
• Text-Based Planning and Instruction in 2nd Grade: In this video, we hear a 2nd-grade teacher at Liberty in Western Massachusetts describe her approach to planning from texts— and then see her instruction in action.

Expert Opinions:

• Meredith Liben on Balancing Types of Instruction in Lower Grade Classrooms

UFLI Content

• Lesson Structure — UF Literacy Institute: Here you will find templates and sample lessons for teaching foundational skills virtually.

• Word Work at a Distance: In this video, Dr. Nell Duke (of the University of Michigan School of Education) offers ideas and recommendations on how to provide phonological awareness, phonics, interactive writing, and vocabulary instruction for young children at a distance.