- Keep saying /aaa/ with the students. Slide your finger from the letter a to the letter t. Point to the
letter t for only an instant and have students respond along with you: /t/. - Point just to the left of the word flat and say: Let’s read this word. With your finger, sweep quickly
under the word as you lead students in saying the whole word: flat. - Provide additional guided practice as appropriate.
*Check
Print the word flag on the board. Say: Now I am going to lead you in sounding out words. You’re going
to sound out some words along with me. Remember, we’ll keep saying a sound until I point to the next
letter. Point just to the left of flag and say: Let’s blend this word. Formative in-the-moment assessment
provides the teacher with information necessary to determine whether to continue, scaffold, or alter the
lesson.- Move your finger to the letter f for one or two seconds to signal students to say and continue to say
the sound for the letter f. (/fff)/) Nod or provide corrective feedback as necessary. - Slide your finger from the letter f to the letter l. Point to the letter l for one or two seconds to
signal students to say and continue to say the sound for the letter l. (/lll/) Nod or provide corrective
feedback as appropriate. - Slide your finger from the letter l to the letter a. Point to the letter a for one or two seconds to signal
students to say and continue to say the sound for the letter a. (/aaa/). Nod or provide corrective
feedback as appropriate. - Slide your finger to the letter g. Point to the letter g for only an instant to signal students to say the
sound for the letter g. (/g/) Nod or provide corrective feedback. - Lift your finger and point just to the left of the word flag. Quickly sweep your finger under the word
to signal students to respond by saying the whole word. Provide feedback and ask students to point
to the flag displayed in the classroom. - Repeat the routine with additional words.
Follow-Up (in the same or subsequent lessons after students have demonstrated success)- Use more difficult sound order or combinations, such as words beginning with stop sounds.
- Demonstrate blending “in your head.” Print several words on the board. Slide your finger from
letter to letter, whispering or mouthing the sounds, elongating those that can be elongated without
distortion. Then return your finger just to the left of the word and quickly sweep it under and say
aloud the whole word. Model the process, lead the students to join you (whispering or mouthing
sounds, then saying the word), and finally have students blend a word in their heads as you (or
individuals) point. - Have the students print orally presented words (thus shifting from decoding to encoding). Use the
same words from the lesson or new words that contain the same sound-letter correspondences.
Source
*These sections are adapted from
Honig, Bill, Linda Diamond, and Linda Gutlohn. 2013. Teaching Reading Sourcebook. Novato, CA: Arena Press.Fluency
Grade one children learn to read aloud fluently in a manner that resembles natural speech.
Although important in its own right, fluency has significant implications for comprehension. If children
are not fluent, automatic decoders, they spend so much mental energy decoding words that they have
little energy left for comprehension (Stanovich 1994). Comprehension clearly involves more than fluent
word recognition but is dependent on fluent word recognition (Shanahan, and others 2010).
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