The Structured Literacy UnConference today was really inspiring and backed up many of the things that I am currently doing in my classroom.
Big Ideas
Structured literacy is most important for those learners in the orange and red zone in the Ladder of Reading.
Lesson Ideas
- Struggling learners need to interact with the sounds and ideas ideally 2 - 3 times a day - how can this be incorporated into my timetable?
- A4 laminated sheet with the 5 vowels and picture visible during all lessons
Structure of the lesson is always:
- Review (the letters/sounds from previous levels)
- Explicit Teaching
- Student Practice
- Application
Explicit teacher always includes I Do, We Do, You Do and is specific, clear and direct.
Ideas for Review:
- Zip through the sounds from earlier packs quickly
- Heart words - say and spell and say again e.g. my m_y my
- Word cards from previous levels/teaching
Ideas for Specific Teaching:
- Use of Google Slides (even on the iPad to support lessons, particularly with higher levels)
- Use different colours for new spelling patterns and underline each sound with a dot and new sounds with a dash
- Use of your full arm for blending - going down the arm
- Use of a metal tray with the magnetic letters - red letters for vowels
- Introduce only one new sound each day
- For new letters, picture cards starting with that letter e.g. yak, yellow, yoghurt
Ideas for Student Practice:
- Student practices words (encoding)
- Ensure explicit teaching on how to write a sentence as part of dictation (from approx. level 3)
- Mix this up each day e.g. dictated sentences/read a book
Ideas for Application:
- Read and sort words - could do this via Seesaw
- Pictures to encode - again, could be done via Seesaw
- Speed words - these could be sent home
Ideas for Sending Home for Further Practice:
- Speed words e.g. from the back of the books sent home for further practice
- Heart words
- Word building sheets (to be shared)
- Games to play at home (with notes on specific teaching)
- Little Learners Love Literacy app - stage 1 is free but rest can be purchased
- Reading fans
Further Readings and Research
- Gough & Tumner - Simple View of Reading
- The Reading League website
- Milo's Birthday Surprise - a great book to introduce letters
- The Science of Reading
- Heggarty Hand Actions
- How the Brain Learns to Read - Professor Stanislaus Dehaene
- Sunnyhills School - Presentation to Families
- Lifting Literacy Aotearoa - case studies
