Phonics or Sight Words? The Verdict is Out!

Hello, everyone!  It's Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars here with some thoughts about using phonics AND sight words to help with reading instruction.

The other day at our library's story time, a friend of mine who homeschools her children and I started talking.  She wanted to "pick my brain" since I am a reading specialist.  I love moments like these because it gives me a chance to help parents out who are in need of it.

She said that she was struggling with teaching her kids reading and could barely get through 15 minutes of a lesson and would love to know how we did it as teachers!  The question that hit me the hardest was

Phonics or Sight Words?

My answer was "a little of both!"  Both have importance in learning to read and need to be taught for students to be successful in learning to read.  Though there is so much more to reading and writing success, these are two aspects that many teachers argue are both important.

Learning to read with phonics instruction helps with the following:

1.  Left to right progression ~ When students attend to all parts of the words, they realize they read words from left to right.

2.  Sounding out unfamiliar words ~ Many times when students come to an unfamiliar word, they make something up if they have not had solid phonics instruction.  With phonics instruction, the students have a chance to learn letter sounds and can work through words to sound them out.

3.  Blending sounds in words ~ Readers who do not have a solid foundation in blending words will struggle with reading.  My son is the perfect example of this.  He was not taught to blend words and still has a hard time with that when reading.

4.  Fluent reading ~ We may think of students who have to sound out words as being disfluent, but once they learn the onsets and rimes of words, they can use them to read words more fluently.

5.  Spelling words more accurately ~ Using a word study or similar approach helps students to see patterns in words and then use them to spell words more accurately.  Come back tomorrow when Carla tells us all about word study!

The picture below shows some examples of phonics instruction I use that helps students with learning phonetic principles.

Knowing sight words is also important for success in reading instruction.  There are two commonly used lists:  Dolch and Fry.  Either way, both word lists have the high frequency words students need to know.  Sight word instruction helps with the following:

1.  Many high frequency words cannot be sounded out phonetically.  Since words like "have" and "gone" do not follow normal patterns.  Knowing those words are beneficial for children as they learn to read.

2.  Much of what children read are sight words.  50-75% of what we read is comprised of these high frequency words, so it helps with fluency as students learn to read.

3.  Confidence building ~ Children who can read sight words in context feel better about what they can read.  Knowing those words automatically helps with reading more confidently.

4.  Fluency ~ Being able to read and spell  those high frequency words automatically helps them to read more fluently.

5.  Chunking words ~ When students know sight words, they can use them to help them read longer words. While I was working with the student I tutor the other day, he got stuck on the word "onto".  He can read both "on" and "to" automatically, so I helped him find those words within the word.  The next few times he saw the word, he read it with no problems!

Here are some examples of how I use sight words when I teach reading.

So, which do you use ~ phonics or sight words ~ when teaching students to read?  And what are some of your methods for teaching them?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Organizing Your Classroom Library

The task of organizing a classroom library can be SO daunting.  Where to begin?  How many tubs to do I need? What is the best way to sort my books?  How can I make it easy and inviting for my students?  This has been my summer task and today I am sharing with you how it is going.  Please keep in mind, that I am nowhere near done (it will take me ALL summer to organize the number of books that I have) but I am getting there!!

This is my confession to you!  I own so many books it is ridiculous!!  I have FIVE bookcases FULL at school and FOUR bookcases FULL at home.  (These are NOT small bookcases.) My husband swears that he will not buy me anymore bookcases because I will just fill them up!  This is terrible, but part of me cannot wait until my littlest son is older so that I can take all of my children's books from home into my school classroom library! My name is Jessica, and I am a book hoarder.  I also have a really hard time letting the kiddos touch my special favorite books (isn't that terrible?).  It truly is an addiction!

Yesterday, my friend Em shared with you a whole list of places to buy books.  Obtaining a full classroom library truly takes time and money (something that we teachers do not have a lot of).  We are helping you find some cheap places to gather these materials!  You can check out her list here.  And if you have any others to add, please let us know!  I know that here in Virginia, we have what is called the Green Valley Bookfair.  It is a serious addiction.  Every few months they open up this huge warehouse (it used to be a barn and they have had to add on to it) filled with discounted books.  Teacher's Paradise!  Do NOT let me in this place with a credit card!  (My husband only allows me to go twice a year!)

Since my classroom is currently being cleaned, I can't really get into it at the moment.  Instead, I have loaded up the car and brought some of them home.  I could only fit about half of them into the back of the van but it gives me a good start.

Next, I had to decide how I wanted to sort my books.  There are many ways to go about this and a lot of it depends on you and your school.  Personally, I like when my students can find books that interest them.  I want them to easily be able to find their favorite race car book or Pete the Cat.  The other thing that I want to consider is the reading levels of my books.  I have had years when I sorted my books strictly on book level and students were only allowed to choose from certain shelves that contained their level.  This is great for readability but not for interest.

This year, I have decided to do BOTH!  Each book will contain 2 stickers on the inside cover, one with the topic of the book and the other with the level of the book.  Books will physically be sorted by their topic but students (and I) will also be able to see what level the book is.  At my school, we use Fountas and Pinnell.  This is what I will be leveling my books by.  I prefer this leveling system to AR, grade level, and Lexiles.  I think that it considers the book as a whole better than other leveling systems.  It looks at the readability, content, vocabulary, and appropriateness of the book.  I do recommend looking to Lexiles for your outlying students however (older students reading at a low level, younger students reading at a high level). But that is a topic for a different day! =)

So, why am I choosing to sort using both concepts?  Many teachers do not believe in letting students know their reading level because they judge one another and themselves against their peers.  I get that.  I do.  I also get that students are going to do this regardless of us telling them their reading level or not.  I think that this strategy can be used appropriately and with gentle care, and can then be very successful in the classroom.  In my classroom, my students track their own progress throughout the school year, using this chart that I made.  You can pick it up for free at my store.

They always know what level they are.  We set goals together.  We discuss their reading progress together.  Please understand that I also spend a lot of time helping students to understand that they are capable and that everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  We celebrate each time that a student meets their goal and I put more emphasis on reading growth than on reading level.

Each student in my classroom has a book box.  They are allowed to choose 3 books from my library each week.  Two of these books must be within their reading level and one can be ANY level.  This is to give them the opportunity to just enjoy reading!  I have made my reading levels color coded and in groups so that students who are reading at a C, D, or E are all reading books with green stickers.  These students may choose any book with a green sticker.  Keep in mind that this should be their INDEPENDENT reading level, not their instructional level.  I plan to keep an index card paper clipped to the inside of the book box that will contain a sticker for the student's current level as a reminder for them.

So now that I have decided HOW I am going to sort, it is now time to do it.  Where to begin?  I find it easiest to begin with my books that are in a series.  These books are obviously going to go together.  Magic Tree House in one tub; Cam Jansen in another.  Little Bear in a tub; Frog and Toad in another.

I found these great tubs at the Dollar Tree and started sorting them.

Then I began labeling them.  I created these labels with the topic and a space that says "This book belongs to ________."  These went on the inside cover of the book.  (I didn't put them on front because I don't want it to be distracting to the students).   I will also place a matching sticker on the front of the basket that holds these books.  So a Magic Tree House sticker will go on the inside of the book AND on the tub holding the Magic Tree House books.

Next, I had to find the guided reading levels for each of the books.  I found that Scholastic Book Wizard had the majority of the levels that I needed.  Book Wizard even has an app now where you can scan the bar-code for easy look up.  I had a little trouble with the scanning, but since I was only looking at series books at this point it was easy to search Magic Tree House and find all of my levels.  Then I place the leveling sticker on the inside cover of the book under the topic sticker.

You can get the guided reading labels for free here!

Next, I started in on my picture books.  This part is still on-going.  Picture book topics come in a huge range and determining the topics is the most daunting task (for me anyway).  I am a bit of a perfectionist so I have a really hard time with this.  I think the easiest thing to do is clear a big space on the floor and spread them out.  Find a few books that are on a similar topic (probably an easy start would be animals) and put them into a basket.  Keep going until all books are "categorized."  Then go back and look at your baskets and see if any of your topics need to be broken up into smaller categories, such as farm animals and ocean animals.

You can see that I laid a piece of scrap paper with the topic written on it in front of each basket to remind me of its contents!
 

Once I have the topics labels in my picture books I will go back and add the level for each of these.  I have found that I have a lot of old books from the Rigby series as well as others.  These are obviously not going to show up in the Scholastic Book Wizard.  I will share with you below a few places that I have found for finding levels.  Please understand that there may be some discrepancy among these levels as they are not coming directly from the Fountas and Pinnell website.  Sometimes you just have to use your own judgement.

A-Z Teacher Stuff
Hubbard's Cupboard
The Classroom Library Company - This one had my Superphonics book levels from Rigby
The Story Box - McGraw-Hill
Sundance - Little Red Readers
Rigby and Harcourt Levels
Conversion Chart
McGraw-Hill Science Readers - grade 1
McGraw-Hill Science Readers - grade2
Rigby Grade Level Chart


If you have a series of books that you cannot find the levels for, my best advice is to find the publisher's website.  I was amazed at how often I was able to do a search on the company website and find the reading level right there!

Have one basket just for damaged books - The Book Hospital - and one basket just for returns!  This is a classroom job in my room.  My librarian helpers return the books to their correct baskets simply by matching up the topic pictures on the inside cover of the book!  Every week or so, I will fix any damaged books placed in the book hospital basket and move them to the return basket for my librarian helpers to put away.

Now, once I have topic stickers and guided reading stickers in each of my books, my library should be able to run itself. Students can easily find the books that are their level.  They can easily find books of interest to them.  They can easily PUT THE BOOKS AWAY to the correct basket!

We want to know how YOU organize YOUR library!  Take pictures of your classroom library and post them on INSTAGRAM or our Facebook Page.  Tag it with #LitLandLibrary.  I will be back with you next month to share my final library pictures as well as some of yours!

Building a Classroom Library

A classroom library...it has always been one of my favorite things about teaching.  I love looking at books, reading books, organizing books, and buying books.  And even though I don't have my own classroom anymore, I continue to build my classroom library!
Today I wanted to share some ways to stock your library...inexpensively!

* Thrift stores and consignment shops: I have found some good ones at Once Upon a Child.

* Local half price book stores: Half Price Books is my local favorite and they sell books online!  Check out the "bargain basement books".

* Scholastic Warehouse Sales: I have also volunteered during these sales.  By volunteering, I earned money to buy books from the warehouse!

* Garage sales, garage sales, and more garage sales!

* Discount stores like Ollies, Gabriel Brothers, or Big Lots.

* Retiring teachers

* Donor's Choose

* Childhood books: You never know what your parents may have kept from your childhood!

* Donations: Your classroom families may want to donate some of their "old" books.

* Local library sales

* Ebay

* Book clubs

* State Welcome Centers: I like to pick up maps and brochures for my classroom library.

* Restaurants: I also like to add some menus!

Where do you go to stock up on classroom books?

Motivating Big Kids and Teens to Read

Hello, Literacy Land readers!  It's Lauren here today from Teacher Mom of 3 to continue a collaborative discussion about motivating readers and sustaining that momentum. Last month I shared my tips for Motivating Our Littlest Readers. You can read that post here.

Today, I want to share ideas and professional reading suggestions to keep the spark alive with older readers- those in grade three and above.  Some of you may not know that I have spent roughly half of my twenty-five years in education working with students in grades 6-12.  Although much has changed since I first stepped into my classroom back in 1989, one constant remains:  kids of all ages are wired to learn, are curious, and want and need to see purpose and authenticity in their learning.

As literacy teachers, we want to ignite the spark and fan the flame to create life-long readers. Miller and Gallagher state that "The highest priority is to create lifelong readers".  But what happens when the spark that was ignited in the early elementary years wanes?  Just the other day, one of my dearest friends who teaches eighth grade ELA, stated that her struggling readers see no purpose in reading.  They are burned out by the time they get to her classroom from reading to prepare for the "big test".  They see no joy in reading.  In the book Readicide by Kelly Gallagher, he states, "Students are taught that the reason they should become readers is to pass a test" (p.17).  Jeffrey Wilhelm, author of You Gotta BE the Book shares that we must help students to pursue reading in a personally, meaningful way.  In addition, Smith and Wilhelm found that boys, especially, want to understand the value of reading and need a reading purpose that relates to their lives.

But how do we as teachers accomplish this?  How can we create passionate readers and share with parents the importance of continuing to encourage their children to read at home?

Here are a few ideas that research supports and that I have found to work in my classroom.

Tips for Teachers:  Creating Passionate Readers

• Before we can help unmotivated readers, we need to find out why they are reluctant to read.  Is it because they are struggling readers, reading below grade level?  Is it because they are are not interested in the texts we use in the classroom?  Are they burned out from too much test prep and lack an understanding of the importance of reading?  Do they see no joy in reading?  Is it because the way we are presenting, teaching, structuring our lessons does not appeal to their learning style?  Once we determine the why and diagnose the issue, then we can work to remediate.

• How do we accomplish this?  I suggest using interest surveys, learning styles assessments, Multiple Intelligence surveys, and student conferences.  Laura Candler has some free resources for determining students' learning styles and interests.  Check out free printable forms here and here to get started.

• Gallagher recommends that we use the 50/50 approach when planning our reading instruction.  That is, 50% of reading in the classroom should be recreational, independent, student-selected reading.  The other 50% should be academic reading. Gallagher shares that if we are only doing academic reading, we will not develop life-long readers ( p. 109).  He goes on to say that "Kids who do the most recreational reading become the best readers" (p. 42).

• Make sure that every student has a book to take home and read for fun that they have selected and that they have an invested interest in. This is the single most important issue in our quest to develop readers (Gallagher, p. 46).

• Implement teacher and student Book Talks, Graffiti Walls, flexible reading groups, literacy circles, and acknowledge all types of reading as important including magazines, digital texts, audio texts, manuals of how to fix things or to figure out how things work, or reading about how things work. Be passionate and enthusiastic in sharing your own reading experiences. Allow for student choice and time for reading in the classroom.

Of course, this is just a starting point.  For more information, check out the following professional books to help ignite passionate, life-long readers and thinkers {click on the pictures to view the books on Amazon}:

What ideas do you have to motivate older readers?  How do you instill confidence in struggling readers and help them to discover the joy and pleasure of reading?  Share your ideas in the comments section!

How to Run a Successful Independent Reading Program in the Middle Grades

Hey! It's Erin from Lovin' Lit. I often receive questions about how I handle independent reading in addition to teaching reading content. I did a guest post several months ago on this topic for a blog that has apparently disappeared - along with my post! - so here's the updated version.

When I moved from technology director to middle school literature teacher a few years ago, my first and most important goal was to get my students reading more. So many of my 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade students were strong, capable readers, but independent reading was not something that ever occupied their time. Why not? Here is precisely why. No one had ever told them that they should be reading in their spare time, no one had ever handed them a book that they loved, no one had ever inundated them constantly with a stream of high-interest book choices, and/or no one had ever held them accountable and rewarded them for their reading. Without these 4 things mentioned above, a capable yet reluctant reader will not read.

Why should you encourage independent reading in your classroom? Well, if you’re looking for research or need to convince your principal to support your program, you can certainly cite this research by the American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume32000/independent. What it all boils down to is this: The more you read, the smarter you are. The more you read, the higher your test scores are across the board.

During the last school year, my roughly 130 middle school students in grades 6, 7, and 8 earned just over 22,000 AR points. For those of you who may not “speak” AR points, this translates to an average of sixteen 300-page novels per student. Of course, some read more and some read less, but WOW, what an average, right!?

So, what do you need to do to have a successful independent reading program in your classroom?

1. Read yourself! Read the books that your students are reading and model good reading habits.

2. Be a book pusher!

3. Provide time for independent reading and enforce it.

4. Expect that students carry a book at all times.

5. Never assign work or attach a grade to independent reading.

6. Set individual goals and reward students for reading often. Make sure it's a reward they will work for!

7. Maintain a classroom library. Quality is much more important than quantity.

1. Read yourself! I have a reserved section of my board that reads at all times "Mrs. Cobb is currently reading ______." Sometimes I also write in comments such as "sooo good!" or "bored so far" or even "what should I read next?" My students love making recommendations for me and it's a big deal to them when I read the books they have recommended. How do I keep up with all that reading? Audiobooks! I love listening when I'm in the car, doing housework, getting ready for school in the morning, and even while in the bathtub. I subscribe to Audible and also check out digital audiobooks through my local library with the Overdrive Media app.

2. Be a book pusher! I find that the majority of my students are willing to read and enjoy it when they do but don't seek it out themselves. My 13-year-old son, Tyler, is one of my 7th grade students this year and is the perfect example. He has a specific type of book that he enjoys and is very picky. Now that I've figured out what that is (edgy or funny realistic fiction), I'm able to keep recommending books to him that fit his interests, making it easy for him to read. It's also crucial here that I follow Tip #1 above so that I know enough about the books in my arsenal to make wise recommendations. My students know when they ask me for a book to reference another one. "I just finished The Hunger Games. What should I read next?" or "Do you have something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid?" I spend a good deal of time each week helping students choose books. This is also where having an awesome school librarian comes in handy. We visit every 2-3 weeks and she also helps me push books! Another important part of book pushing is constantly talking about the books I’m reading and encouraging my students to talk informally (but during class) about what they are reading. I can push books all day long, but sometimes the most reliable recommendations come from other students. The #1 way to get me off topic during my class is to mention a book or ask something about a book I’ve read.

3. Provide time for independent reading and enforce it. Each Monday, we have Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) for a minimum of 30 minutes. Ideally, this should be done daily, but with my 50 minute reading classes this isn't possible. I do squeeze in extra SSR time each week as it is available. We don't waste a single minute! Even if a week starts on a Tuesday or is a short week, the students know that the first day of the week is always SSR.

4. Expect that students carry a book at all times. Anytime something unexpected comes up that requires my attention, the students have to be prepared to whip that book out at my command and read. Anytime they finish a test or assignment early, they know that their only option is to read their books when they have finished. I have also explained this to the other middle school teachers and several of them are supportive enough to require independent reading as the early finisher task in their classes as well.

5. Never assign work or attach a grade to independent reading. Summarizing what you've read or doing any paperwork related to independent reading is a major fun-buster! Having to write something for each book read can definitely be a deterrent to reading more books for many students. Find a better way to hold them accountable for what they have read. I'm lucky enough to have Accelerated Reader (AR) at my school and any similar program will work. Assigning a minimum number of books or points per grading period in order to earn a certain grade is also a fun-buster and a great way to get students to only do the minimum reading required!

6. Set individual goals and reward students often. Find rewards they will work for! At the beginning of each new grading period (9 weeks at my school), I work with students to set individual point goals. We look at what they read last year or last 9 weeks and agree on a goal that is challenging but doesn't stress them out. I usually have a minimum (10-20, depending on the grade) but don't announce what it is and sometimes make exceptions for kids who need it. I try to make each goal attainable. Also, I make sure to check in on them regularly during the 9 weeks and ask them about their progress. At the end of the 9 weeks, we have an AR Popcorn Party. I schedule it on an SSR day and it's really just that day's class. All students attend the "party" of course, but only students who have met their AR goal get to eat popcorn. We have one of those absolutely wonderful movie theatre-style popcorn machines in our concession stand. I get to school early and start popping, so the aroma fills the hallway. Students are drooling over the smell by the time they get to my class. This has proven to be the most powerful motivator I have found! Most of my students make SURE they are getting popcorn that day. Additionally, the top 5 students for each grade each 9 weeks receive a Lunch Line Fast Pass. This is also a big deal for them since they get to go to the front of the lunch line (or microwave line!) every day for the following 9 weeks. I find this to be especially motivating for middle school boys!

7. Maintain a classroom library. Quality is much more important than quantity! Make sure you have multiple copies of the super-popular titles (think Wimpy Kid new releases, etc.) and order new books constantly. I do the Scholastic Book Clubs (now Scholastic Reading Club) monthly and end up getting most of my books free that way. I also order copies from Amazon, eBay, and my favorite, thriftbooks.com, where you can get almost any title used for $3.95 or cheaper with free shipping and quantity discounts! I also volunteered to organize the Used Uniform Sale every May and August at my school and my principal lets me use the proceeds (usually $300-400) to refresh my classroom library over the summer so that I'm ready for the new school year.

The absolute best compliments I get as a teacher are from parents who tell me that their kids are finally interested in reading for the first time because of my class! The truth is that most of these kids WOULD read IF someone would tell them they should and give them a book they'll love.

For more information on how I organize my classroom library and other topics related to middle grades reading, be sure to check out the Teaching Tips section of my blog at http://imlovinlit.blogspot.com.