Phonics instruction, which teaches the relationship between sounds and letters, is a fundamental component of reading development. To ensure effective phonics instruction, teachers must follow a well-designed scope and sequence. When it comes to choosing or creating a phonics scope and sequence, there are many things we should consider.

I don’t know about you, but teaching blends can be tricky. Blends (also known as consonant blends) are two or three consonant sounds that appear together in a word without any vowel sounds in between. These are words like flip, stop, strip, help, desk and spring.

In today’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Julia Lindsey, author of Reading Above the Fray. Julia is a literacy expert and reading researcher. In this episode, she helps us bust some common myths about decodables.

Michelle Sullivan, a literacy coach in New Jersey talks with listeners all about background knowledge. She shares what it is, why it’s important, and five ways we can easily implement it in our classrooms.

So how do we help students make the transition from letter-sound knowledge to CVC reading? The first thing we must do is ensure we are practicing phonemic awareness.

Automaticity of letter names and sounds is important because letter-sound correspondences are the foundation to phonics and decoding. So the quicker they are, the faster they can decode. When we help students connect the letter and sound and help them both master and be automatic, we’re giving them a strong reading foundation.