Practicing Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

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Katina Johnson: Okay, friends, you ready? Before we do our sentences and phrases, we're going to practice our red words really quickly, okay? And you can arm tap them too. Ready? Here we go. The ... 't', 'h', 'e' .. the. Let's tap it. Here we go ...

Ms. Johnson and students: 't', 'h', 'e' .. the.

Narrator: During her phonics lesson, reading specialist Katina Johnson reviews irregularly spelled high frequency words with her first grade students. Ms. Johnson calls them red words.

Katina Johnson: sad. Good. Are you sweeping all the way down?

Narrator: Ms. Johnson uses a multisensory technique, spelling on her arm, to help students remember how to read and spell words that don't follow the phonics patterns they've learned so far.

Katina Johnson: Let's tap it together all the way up to your shoulder. Ready? Go. 'f', 'r', 'o', 'm' ... from. Good. Now this one is so tricky. We have a hard time with this guy. of ... ready?

Ms. Johnson and students: 'o', 'f' ... of. what ... 'w', 'h', 'a', 't' ... what.

Katina Johnson: Now, friends, as we're arm tapping, extend your arm out. This one's got four letters. We need a little bit of space. Okay.

Narrator: As our students learn new phonics patterns, some irregular words become regular. Students can decode them. Watch as Ms. Johnson explains.

Katina Johnson: And then ...

Students: with.

Katina Johnson: with. This is not a red word because now we know the digraph 'th'. Yeah, we know that sound. Okay. So we could actually sound it out. Ready ... /w/, /ĭ/, /th/ ...with ... so what's the word?

Students: with ...

Katina Johnson: Alright, so we're going to go through 'em really quickly. You ready?

Narrator: Ms. Johnson wraps up her review by asking the students to read each word automatically. This practice builds fluency and prepares students for reading these words in phrases and sentences.

Ms. Johnson and students: my ... what ... with ...

Katina Johnson: Okay, good.

Narrator: Enjoy 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.

Katina Johnson: I'm Katina Johnson, and this is Reading Universe.