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.
Teaching Step by Step
The Reading Universe Taxonomy is your interactive, step-by-step guide to teaching reading. It's designed for teachers, reading coaches, tutors, and caregivers — anyone who wants to help a child learn to read. Watch below to learn more — 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.
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Real Teachers in Real Classrooms
Reading Universe highlights great teaching from across the country, as in this video featuring Leonor Delgado, a veteran teacher at P.S. 109 in the Bronx, and Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, a bilingual reading specialist and speech pathologist. The educators help students build their oral language skills during a structured literacy lesson
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[music]
Lenore Delgado: What sounds do birds make?
Jisbel: Hoo …
Lenore Delgado: They tweet, right? Tweet, tweet, tweet? Okay, well, today, we’re going to be reading a story, and the title of the story is called “Yip Yap.”
Leonor Delgado is a veteran teacher at P.S. 109 in the Bronx. She’s been getting coaching from English Learner expert Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, who’s joining her class today.
Ms. Delgado: Have you ever had a puppy?
This small group is working on reading fluency, and Ms. Delgado is learning from Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan how to intentionally integrate language development into this structured lesson.
Ms. Delgado: Have you ever seen a puppy?
Student: Yes.
Ms.Delgado: You’ve seen? How do they behave?
She begins by getting the kids talking about puppies, the topic of the story they’ll be reading later.
Ms. Delgado: They’re babies? And what do they do? What do pups do?
Jisbel: They, they do bad, and they broke your stuff.
Ms. Delgado: Oh, yes, they break … say, “Puppies break your stuff.” Can you say that?
Jisbel: Puppies break your stuff.
Second grader Jisbel clearly has background knowledge about puppies … and she’s in an environment where she feels comfortable sharing it, thanks to Ms. Delgado. It’s critical for English Learners like Jisbel to get plenty of chances to speak, building upon the language skills they already have as they learn to read in a new language.
Ms. Delgado: So we are going to practice the short vowel sounds, okay. Name?
Students: ‘a’
Ms. Delgado: Sound?
Students: /ă/
The students begin their reading fluency practice with individual sounds.
Ms. Delgado: Name?
Students: ‘i’
Ms. Delgado: Sound?
Students: /ĭ/
Next, it’s fluency with individual words … words that will appear in the story they’ll be reading at the end of the lesson.
Ms. Delgado: I want you to look at row one. We are going to read the words, and then I will ask you a question after each row. Okay. Ready? Begin.
Students: Bug, van, dug …
Instead of just plowing through the word list, Ms. Delgado stops and focuses on different characteristics of the words … starting with the phonology of the word hug, the sounds it’s made up of.
Ms. Delgado: Which word, or words rhyme with the word hug?
Ms. Delgado gives Carol plenty of time to answer.
Carol: /h/
Ms. Deglado: /d/
Carol: /d/, /ŭ/? Dug?
Ms. Delgado: /d/, /ŭ/
Carol and Ms. Delgado: Dug.
Ms. Delgado: Very nice.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan takes a moment to extend the students' knowledge of rhyming, which can help them eventually decode new words with ending patterns they already know.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: How did you know it rhymed? I'm confused.
Carol: Because the …
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: How did you know?
Carol: It has the same ending as bug.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: What's the ending?
Carol: ‘u’, ‘g’, and, and, and the word I said have the same ending sound.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: It has the same ending. And what changed? Only what?
Carol: The, the, the, the first letter.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: The first letter. The first letter changed. The first sound changes. And that's what makes a rhyming word.
With a little push from Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan, Carol is now primed to take the step from identifying a rhyme to being able to generate rhyming words, because she’s talked through how rhymes are made.
Ms. Delgado: Okay. Row two.
Students: Wags, not …
After looking at sounds in a word, Ms. Delgado now explores meaning in other words from the list.
Ms. Delgado: Which word means to move from side to side? What word? Yes.
Jisbel: Wags.
Ms. Delgado: Yes. Very good. Wags. And who wags his…?
Jisbel: The tail … the dog wags the tail.
Ms. Delgado: Very nice. Okay, let's go to line three.
And there’s a word they’ve been discussing all week … sobs. Ms. Delgado reviews it today with visuals, a sample sentence, and gestures.
Ms. Delgado: And the word is sobs. Can you say that?
Students: Sobs.
Ms. Delgado: And I'm going to read the sentence: “The boy sobs when he misses his mom.” So what do you think sobs means? What does it mean? Yes, Jisbel.
Jisbel: To cry noisily.
Ms. Delgado: Yes, to cry noisily. So when you sob, you’re not just crying, you're crying and you're making noise. Can we practice that? Can we practice sobbing?
Ms. Delgado and Students: [crying noises]
Now they’re ready to read the story. They’ll read it a few times, to work toward fluency … accurate, automatic, and expressive reading. On the first go-round, accuracy is the focus. Each student reads at their own pace, with both teachers nearby, in case a little help is needed.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: /h/. Look at it.
Carol: /h/, /o/, /p/, pop?
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: What’s right here? /h/
Carol: ‘h’!
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Mmhmm. ‘h’ says what? /h/
Carol: /h/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Next one.
Carol: /o/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: /o/. Good. /p/.
Carol: /p/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Put it all together.
Carol and Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Hoooop. Good.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Say it again.
Carol and Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Hop.
For their next reading, Ms. Delgado and her students read the story together.
Ms. Delgado: So now we are going to read the story a second time. And we are reading for expression and fluency. So when you come to punctuation and the exclamation, you sound what?
Carol: Loud!
Ms. Delgado: Excited. We are excited. We sound … say, “We sound excited.”
Students: We sound excited.
Ms. Delgado: Are we ready? I'm going to model, but I want you to read along with me.
Ms. Delgado and Students: Jim finds how Wags got out. Wags dug and ran!
By reading along with Ms. Delgado, students hear … and can mimic … the correct pacing, pronunciation, and expression. This good practice helps them build confidence in their second language, too.
Ms. Delgado and Students: Wags wags. Did Wags hop up in our van? She did not.
Ms. Delgado: Okay, so I want you to turn to your partner, and I want you to retell the story from the beginning, middle, and end.
[students speaking over each other]
This gives students the chance to practice expressing their ideas out loud … and to demonstrate their understanding of the story.
Ms. Delgado: So how was the problem solved?
Byron: The problem is solved because they find him.
Ms. Delgado: Beautiful.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: And where did they find him, may I ask?,
Byron: In the … in. … They found Wags in the mud.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: “They found Wags in the mud.” That was a complete sentence. Very nice.
Byron ends the lesson on a high note, bringing language and meaning together.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: That was good reading.
Ms. Delgado: Good reading.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Give yourselves a round of applause. [clapping]
Ms. Delgado: Thank you for coaching me in …
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: You’re welcome!
Ms. Delgado: … and having them expand their thinking and their, um, sentences. Thank you.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Pleasure to be here.
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 anonymous donors.
Special thanks to Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan … and in New York City: P.S. 109 - The Sedgwick School, Bronx District 9, and the New York City Department of Education.
If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel … at-R-U Teaching.
Reading Universe is a service of WETA-Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
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?
Timely Talks from Experts
Take an in-depth look at critical reading topics. Watch reading specialist Margaret Goldberg explain the science of how children learn to read. No registration required. Watch Julie Washington, Ph.D., offering guidance about teaching children who speak African American English at home. Watch Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Ph.D., discusses best practices for teaching English Learners.
Reading Skill Explainers
You Asked ... Experts Answered!
How long should students work with decodable text?
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Louisa Moats: Decodable text is a necessary part of a phonics lesson. What's the point of learning the correspondence unless you can use it in reading? So it's to provide that practice. Many students need a lot of practice using what you've taught them in a phonics lesson. It's not often not great literature; it's not for that purpose. It's for providing practice and reinforcement. So how long does it need to go on? ... Until the student can use most of the regular correspondences to read words accurately, and the student has a sight vocabulary, if you will, of probably several thousand words. Students differ. Some students can make that transition more quickly than others. So you have to keep data on the accuracy of student reading with decodable text to be sure that they have internalized what they've been taught.
Dr. Louisa Moats, author of the LETRS professional development for teachers discusses the importance of reinforcing sound-letter correspondences with decodables and how to know when it’s time to move on.
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.