Teaching students to read is one of the most important things we do as educators.
Reading Universe can help. You'll find ready-to-use teaching strategies, in-classroom videos, interviews with teachers and reading experts, and quick, concrete answers to common questions about teaching reading and writing. And it's all free! We're glad you're here.
What skill are you teaching today?
The Reading Universe Taxonomy is your map to teaching every essential reading and writing skill ... from short vowels to sentence expansion. You'll find free classroom videos, lesson plans, student practice activities, assessments, and more. Watch the demo below — or dive right in and give it a try.
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[Music] If you teach reading, you know how rewarding it can be. But you've probably also found that in every class there will be students who really struggle with learning to read.
Reading Universe is here to help. With expert guidance we've developed a new framework to support educators everywhere. It's called the Reading Universe Taxonomy.
How does this free professional resource work? It's built upon the leading research on how we learn to read. We are born with the ability to learn oral language, but making sense of the written word doesn't come naturally; so we need to teach students that the letters on a page represent the sounds we all use to speak with each other.
The path to literacy is through word recognition. Children need to crack the alphabetic code using phonological awareness and phonics. They need to be able to hear that a spoken word like net is made up of separate sounds: /n/, /e/, /t/. That's phonological awareness. And they need to connect those sounds to the letters of the alphabet to see 'n', 'e', 't' and read net. That's phonics.
But being able to read words is just one part of the process. Students also need to understand what the words mean. That's called language comprehension. As children gain more knowledge of the world around them, they begin to recognize more of the words that they sound out. Then they can build on their knowledge through more reading. Only students who develop word recognition and language comprehension can achieve reading comprehension. It takes both to become a good reader.
Inside the Reading Universe Taxonomy you'll find everything you need to know about how to teach the reading skills your students need to master. Each literacy component is broken down into its many skills and processes. For each skill we show why it matters and how to teach it effectively, and we offer ideas for supporting students who need extra help. We don't just describe effective teaching, we show it with in-classroom video filmed in schools around the country.
Ongoing assessment is critical to effective teaching, so we provide guidance for determining what each student needs and how to tailor your instruction to meet those needs. Reading comprehension is not just one skill. It's the product of all the many skills that we teach our children.
We hope the Reading Universe Taxonomy will become your trusted go-to guide and that, together, we can give more children the chance to excel as readers and in their lives. This is Reading Universe.
Special Thanks
Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and three anonymous donors.
Courses and Toolkits
How to Teach a Phonics Lesson, a video guide for setting-up your daily routines
Model Course Syllabi, ready-to-use resources for higher ed faculty
ParaReading, a five-course series for paraprofessionals about how to teach reading
Real Teachers in Real Classrooms
Reading Universe highlights great teaching from across the country, as in this video featuring teacher Gina Inzitari reviewing the two ways the letter ‘c’ can be pronounced — with the /k/ sound as in car or the /s/ sound as in cent.
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Gina Inzitari: We practiced hard and soft 'c'. Do you remember the two sounds that 'c' can say? Blake, what's one?
Blake: /s/
Gina Inzitari: 'C' can say /s/.
Blake: And /k/.
Gina Inzitari: And /k/! Good job, Blake. Catherine, can you think of a word that has the /k/ sound in it that starts with 'c'?
Catherine: Cat.
Gina Inzitari: Cat! Good job, Catherine.
Narrator: Because the letter 'c' can make two sounds, the hard 'c' sound, /k/, and the soft 'c' sound, /s/, it's important for young readers to know when to use each one. At Stillmeadow Elementary in Stamford, Connecticut, first grade teacher, Gina Inzitari is reviewing with her students how to make the right choice.
Gina Inzitari: 'C' says two sounds. 'C' says, /s/, and 'c' says, /k/. We called it hard 'c' and soft 'c'. Which one is the soft 'c'? What sound?
Student: /s/.
Gina Inzitari: It says /s/, right? When it says /k/ what sound is that?
Students: Hard!
Gina Inzitari: That's the hard one. Good. When does 'c' say the /s/ sound? Anybody remember?
Blake: 'E' or 'i' or 'y'.
Gina Inzitari: Oh my goodness, Blake. Good job!
Narrator: Blake is right. 'C' makes it soft /s/ sound when it's next to an 'e', 'i', and 'y', like in scent, city, and cycle.
Gina Inzitari: And then what about when 'c' says the /k/ sound?
Student: It can spell cake.
Gina Inzitari: Like in cake! What vowels do we remember have the ... when it says the /k/ sound?
Student: 'A'.
Gina Inzitari: 'A' is one.
Blake: 'A', 'e' ...
Student: 'O'.
Gina Inzitari: 'A' and 'o'.
Catherine: 'U'.
Gina Inzitari: And 'u'. Good job, Catherine.
Narrator: You'll hear the hard 'c' when it's followed by the vowels 'a', 'o', 'u', like in cat, cot, and cup, but also when it's followed by a consonant, like in clap or crab.
Gina Inzitari: And any other consonant letters. Right? So if 'c' is next to a 'l' or an 'r', it's going to say /k/ the sound. Okay?
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Literacy How, Stillmeadow Elementary School, and Stamford Public Schools in Stamford, Connecticut. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
Gina Inzitari: This is Reading Universe.
The Big Picture
Children across the country are struggling with reading. What can research tell us about how children learn to read? What can we all do to help more students succeed?
New! Timely Talk with Joan Sedita on Teaching Writing
If you'd like to know what it really takes to teach children to write well, this video is for you. Dr. Joan Sedita explains the Writing Rope and discusses the skills students need to become confident and skilled writers.
Reading and Writing Skill Explainers
You Asked ... Experts Answered!
When students mispronounce a word, when and how should I address that?
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Hi, I'm Antonio Fierro. Let's listen to this next question. "When students mispronounce a word, when and how should I address that?" Address that mispronunciation, right? Well, that's a tricky question, and you have to think about it from a different standpoint.
Let's think about where your English learner might be as far as language acquisition. I've spoken about the fact that many of our newcomers who have never heard English before or have pronounced any English words, are going to be in that silent period or that pre-production stage of language acquisition. Now, if they're slowly coming out of this stage or this phase and going into the early emergent phase, then be careful because I want them to be using words, right? I want them to experiment with those words. I want them to use vocabulary — and congratulations, because the student is feeling safe. You have provided a safe environment, a welcoming environment that says, "oh, okay, I can go ahead and try out words, or try out my new words that I am learning."
So take that. Go ahead and listen to that. Yes, applaud that. Make a big thing out of it, that there are, they are actually now expressing themselves. If you feel that the student is okay, won't be perhaps disappointed or take it personally, then you can recast. So for example, if the student says, "I chase it, the cat yesterday." I would just come back and say, "Oh, Antonio, you chased the cat yesterday, right?" And again, if this child is feeling self-confident, feels good about it, about himself or herself, then you can go and say, "Hey, why don't you say that with me? All right, I chased the cat yesterday. That's wonderful." All right, so we can go ahead. I say it, I want them to go ahead and hear it. And then what about them trying it along with you as well? Now you can go the next step and say, "Okay, now you try it by yourself.
All right, you do it. You say it." Now, for the student who is already in a speech emergence phase, for example, 3000 plus words, then I would absolutely do the recast. I want them to go ahead and say the word with me. "I chased the cat yesterday." Right? We'll say it together, let them say it, and hey, better yet, you know what, why don't you say that sentence to your neighbor, to your peer, to your friend, and have them try that as well.
So really it's about professional judgment. Be careful and be mindful and meet your student at the level that they are currently at. Okay? Have fun with it.
Antonio Fierro, an ESL/Bilingual specialist and distinguished reading teacher, provides a thoughtful video response to this important question. (2:43)
Building on decades of experience ...
Reading Universe is a service of WETA/Reading Rockets, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and three anonymous donors.