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All About Teaching Reading & Writing
Taxonomy
The Simple View of Reading

Word Recognition x Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

Assessment

The process of measuring students' progress and providing information to help guide instruction

(active)
Word Recognition

The ability to see a word and know how to pronounce it without consciously thinking about it

Phonological Awareness

A group of skills that enable you to recognize and manipulate parts of spoken words

Articulation

Syllables

Onset-Rime

Phonemic Awareness

(active)
Phonics

A method for teaching children the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters so they can learn to decode and encode

Sound-Letter Correspondence

(active)Phonics Patterns

Common letter combinations found in words.

Short Vowels Skill Explainer
Closed Syllables Skill Explainer
Glued Sounds Skill Explainer
Open Syllables Skill Explainer
Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k' Skill Explainer
Consonant Digraphs Skill Explainer
Blends Skill Explainer
‘-ck’ Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
FLoSS(Z) Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
‘y’ as a Vowel Skill Explainer

Coming soon.

    Magic 'e' Skill Explainer
    Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' Skill Explainer

    Coming soon.

      R-Controlled Vowels Skill Explainer

      Coming soon.

        Vowel Teams and Diphthongs Skill Explainer

        Coming soon.

          '-tch' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
          '-dge' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
          Consonant '-le' Skill Explainer

          Coming soon.

            Schwa Skill Explainer

            Coming soon.

              Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

              Multisyllable Words

              Words that have more than one word part

              Prefixes

              How to add meaningful beginnings to words

              Suffixes

              How to add meaningful endings to words

              Language Comprehension

              The ability to understand the meaning of spoken words

              Reading Comprehension

              The ability to understand the meaning of printed text

              Text Considerations

              Characteristics of a text that impact the ease or difficulty of comprehension.

              Strategies and Activities

              How a reader approaches a specific text, depending on their purpose for reading

              Reader’s Skill and Knowledge

              The skills and knowledge a reader brings to the reading task that are necessary for comprehension

              Sociocultural Context

              Elements in a classroom that affect how well a child learns to read

              Fluency

              The ability to read accurately with automaticity and expression

              Fluency: Accuracy, then Automaticity

              Reading or decoding words correctly (accuracy) and reading at an appropriate rate (automaticity)

              Accuracy, then Automaticity Skill Explainer

              Coming soon.

                Fluency: Expressive Text Reading

                Reading characterized by accuracy with automaticity and expression

                Expressive Text Reading Skill Explainer

                Coming soon.

                  Writing

                  The act of putting thoughts into print using transcription and composition skills

                  Features of Structured Literacy

                  A systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading based on research

                  • Short Vowels Skill Explainer

                  Teaching the Short 'u' Sound: Full Lesson

                  In a phonics lesson focusing on the short ‘u’ sound kindergarten teacher Fadia Olrich of Riverside Elementary School, in Toledo, Ohio, starts with phonemic awareness, moves to letters, and ends with reading words, which helps children develop the skills they need to become strong readers. Throughout the lesson, she uses various strategies, including the Roller Coaster strategy and giving students mirrors to see their mouths.

                  To learn more, visit our skill explainer on teaching short vowel sounds.

                  Video thumbnail for Teaching the Short 'u' Sound: Full Lesson
                  Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book
                  Hide Video Transcript Show Video Transcript

                  Fadia Olrich: Good morning, everybody.

                  Narrator: Today, teacher Fadia Olrich will teach the short /ŭ/ sound to our kindergartners. She begins this phonics lesson with a listening game to help her students hear all the sounds and words.

                  Fadia Olrich: So we've been working on blending sounds together to make words, right?

                  Students: Yes.

                  Fadia Olrich: Yeah. So we've been using different strategies like the Stretching-Out Strategy, right? So let's practice real quick. So like the word bat ... repeat ...

                  Ms. Olrich and students: bat ... /b/, /ă/, /t/ ... "bat ....

                  Fadia Olrich: And we've also done the Tap-It-Out Strategy. Let's try that. Let's try the word bat again. Say Bat, bat ...

                  Ms. Olrich and students: bat ... /b/, /ă/, /t/ ...  bat ....

                  Fadia Olrich: Well, guess what? We're going to learn a whole other strategy as well. This is the Rollercoaster Strategy. Isn't that cool?

                  Students: Yeah.

                  Fadia Olrich: So the rollercoaster strategy helps us figure out the sounds and words, especially the middle vowel sound. So watch this first word. This word is "met." Say met ...

                  Students: met ...

                  Fadia Olrich: So watch what I do. I'm going to start at the bottom of the rollercoaster ...

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /m/, /ĕ/, /t/ ... met ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Good. Let's do the word hat. You ready? Repeat after me, hat ...

                  Students: hat ...

                  Fadia Olrich: All right. Finger at the bottom of the rollercoaster ...

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ă/, /t/, hat ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Good. All right. So the next thing we're going to do is we're going to practice our letters and letter sounds, okay? All right. What letter is this?

                  Students: 't' ...

                  Fadia Olrich: 't' says /t/ ...

                  Narrator:  Now Ms. Ulrich runs through these letter flashcards to help her students build automaticity with naming letters and sounds.

                  Fadia Olrich: 'i' says /ĭ/ ... Good job, friends.

                  Ms. Olrich and students: 'm' says /m/ ...

                  Narrator: Next, Ms. Ulrich will provide direct, explicit instruction in the short 'u' vowel sound, including how to make the sound.

                  Fadia Olrich: This is letter 'u'. Can you say you 'u'?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: 'u' ...

                  Fadia Olrich: And 'u' says /ŭ/ for umbrella. Can you say umbrella?

                  Students: umbrella ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Do you hear the /ŭ/ sound, in umbrella?

                  Students: Yes ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Yes. So what we're going to do is I'm going to give you a mirror and we're going to practice making the /ŭ/ sound with our mirrors. Sound good?

                  Students: Yeah.

                  Fadia Olrich: Okay. Go ahead and open up your mirror. You can do one quick smile, cheese. Very good. Look at those beautiful smiles. Look at your mirror. And I want you to find your mouth. You see your mouth in your mirror? Look very carefully. You got it? All right. So say the /ŭ/ sound.

                  Students: /ŭ/ ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Now look at your mouth. Is it open or is it closed?

                  Students: Open ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Yep. Kaeylina?

                  Kaeylina: Open.

                  Fadia Olrich: It's open. All right. Try it again. Say, /ŭ/ ...

                  Students: /ŭ/ ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Good. Now your tongue is at the bottom of your mouth. It's relaxed and it's touching the bottom of your teeth, right? Now, touch your throat and say /ŭ/ ...

                  Students: /ŭ/ ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Did you feel a vibration when you made the ah sound?

                  Students: Yes ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Yes, so it's a voiced sound, right? All right. Ready? Look at your mirror. All right, say up ...

                  Students: up ..

                  Fadia Olrich: upstairs ...

                  Students: upstairs ...

                  Fadia Olrich: unfair ...

                  Students: unfair ...

                  Fadia Olrich: And now we're going to say words that have the /ŭ/ sound in the middle of the word. Okay? So look at your mirror. Say hum ...

                  Students: hum ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Now look at your mouth ... /h/ /ŭ/, /m/. You see the /ŭ/ sound that you're making, and you hear it? All right. Good. Now try your rollercoaster. Ready? Start at the bottom. Let's write through the word hum again. Ready?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ŭ/, /m/ ... hum ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Let's try bug. Ready?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /b/, /ŭ/, /g/ ... bug ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Do you hear ...

                  Narrator: Ms. Ulrich ends today's lesson by having the children blend sounds together to read words with the short 'u' sound.

                  Fadia Olrich: So now we're going to read some words that have the /ŭ/ sound in them to practice because you guys are rock stars with the /ŭ/ sound, aren't you?

                  Students: Yeah.

                  Fadia Olrich: So again, you says, /ŭ/ ...

                  Students: /ŭ/ ...

                  Fadia Olrich: All right. So let's practice this word. Ready?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... hut ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Let's try another word. So remember, this can be real or a nonsense word. So let's see. What letter is this?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: 'd' ...

                  Fadia Olrich: And 'd' says /d/ ... ready?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /d/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... dut ...

                  Fadia Olrich: Is that a real or nonsense word?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: Nonsense word ...

                  Fadia Olrich: All right, let's try this word. What letter is this? 'g' ...

                  Students: 'g' ...

                  Fadia Olrich: And 'g' says /g/ ... Ready?

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /g/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... gut ...

                  Narrator: The structure of this short /ŭ/ phonics lesson, starting with sounds, moving to letters, and ending with reading words helps children develop the skills they need to become strong readers.

                  Ms. Olrich and students: /c/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... cut ...

                  Fadia Olrich: You are awesome. Yay. All right. Good job, friends. Yay!

                  Narrator: Enjoyed this video? Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to the Toledo Federation of Teachers, Riverside Elementary School, and Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, Ohio. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., The Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

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                  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.