At Reading Universe we use an evidence-based approach popularly known as structured literacy. Structured literacy is a way of organizing and delivering reading instruction to ensure students get all the skills they need in an efficient timeframe — and without any gaps. With this approach, teachers use explicit or direct instruction. Read more about structured literacy here.
We recommend a daily phonics lesson routine that looks something like this:
Your lesson will start with a quick phonemic awareness activity or Listening Game. For multisyllabic words, the listening game can include counting syllables in words, like in the word comprehension: "How many syllables do you hear in this word?"
The Warm Up includes a review of the syllable patterns your students need to practice (closed syllables in this case) using flash cards (opens in new window). When we are teaching multisyllabic words, we should include syllables that will be used in words later in the lesson. For example, if we plan to practice decoding the word contest in our lesson, we can include con- and -test in our flash cards. We can also include syllables that occur frequently in words, such as im- — as in important or impact — or -ent — like in talent or present.
New/Review is where you would introduce the syllable division pattern — in this case, words with two closed syllables that follow the VCCV syllable division pattern. How you do that will be the focus of the rest of this skill explainer.
During Dictation, students will practice spelling multisyllabic words that follow the pattern you just taught, closed syllables with the VCCV pattern.
All of this leads up to the last portion of the lesson, in which students practice putting all the skills together and Reading with Fluency.
