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The Science of Reading: The Basics

If you prefer, read the text-version of the infographic.

There are so many pieces to the Science of Reading that it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are a few highlights about what the Science of Reading IS and what it IS NOT. This knowledge will help you on your journey to teaching all children, including those with diverse needs and cultural backgrounds, to read.

A Collection of Research

Research, over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read.

Teaching Based on the 5 Big Ideas

Phonemic Awareness - The ability to identify and play with individual sounds in spoken words.

Phonics - Reading instruction on understanding how letters and groups of letters link to sounds to form letter- sound relationships and spelling patterns.

Fluency - The ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly, with enough speed, and expression .

Vocabulary - Knowing what words mean and how to say and use them correctly.

Comprehension - The ability to understand what you are reading.

Ever Evolving

There is new research and evidence all the time. As populations, communities, and approaches evolve, so should practice.

What it is NOT

A program, an intervention, or a product that you can buy..

The Science of Reading could be considered an approach to teaching reading that is based on decades of research and evidence. It is NOT a specific program.

Phonics-based programs that drill phonics skills.

Phonics is an integral part of teaching reading based on science, but it is just one of the five big ideas that should be taught so all children can learn to read.

Complete and no more study needs to be done.

As with any science, it is never complete. We can always know more. More study happens all the time and researchers, teachers, and families can work together to bring the best research into classrooms.

Suggested Citation

National Center on Improving Literacy (2022). The Science of Reading: The Basics. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy . Retrieved from https://www.improvingliteracy.org .

Get started on your Science of Reading journey with these highlights about what it IS and what it IS NOT.

Related Resources

What are the characteristics of effective literacy instruction?

Science of reading: defining guide.

The "Science of Reading: Defining Guide" provides a firm definition of what the science of reading is, what it is not, and how all stakeholders can understand its potential to transform reading instruction.

Topic:  Evidence-based, General Literacy

More on Evidence-based

• A Snapshot of RTI Implementation a Decade Later: New Picture, Same Story
• Are Individual Differences in Response to Intervention Influenced by the Methods and Measures Used to Define Response?
• Comparison of Reading Growth Among Students With Severe Reading Deficits Who Received Intervention to Typically Achieving Students and Students Receiving Special Education
• Important Pieces of School-Based Intervention for Students with or at Risk for Dyslexia: Evidence from 40 Years of Research
• NCIL Intensification Framework

The research reported here is funded by awards to the National Center on Improving Literacy from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in partnership with the Office of Special Education Programs (Award #: S283D160003). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of OESE, OSEP, or the U.S. Department of Education. Copyright © 2024 National Center on Improving Literacy. https://www.improvingliteracy.org

Welcome to the Teacher's Library

Words to empower, inspire, and celebrate, on the blog, teaching the science of reading: best practice & best resources.

• 11 March 2024
• - 5 min Read

In recent years, teachers worldwide have been increasingly turning to the Science of Reading as a guiding framework for literacy instruction. But what exactly is the Science of Reading, and why has it gained such widespread recognition and acclaim? 🤔

This research-backed approach draws upon decades of scientific inquiry to provide teachers with evidence-based strategies for effective instruction. By focusing on five key areas—phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension—teachers can provide students with a strong foundation in literacy that will serve them well throughout their academic journey and beyond! 💛

The roots of the Science of Reading can be traced back to pioneering research conducted in the mid-20th century by scholars such as Jeanne Chall, Isabel Beck, and Linnea Ehri. Their work laid the groundwork for our current understanding of reading acquisition and provided compelling evidence for the effectiveness of explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. In recent decades, advances in technology and neuroscience have further deepened our understanding of the reading process, leading to the refinement and validation of the Science of Reading principles. Neuroimaging studies have revealed the neural pathways involved in reading and have underscored the critical role of phonological processing in literacy development 🧠

So why is the Science of Reading so effective? Simply put, it works because it is grounded in rigorous scientific research ⭐️ By aligning instructional practices with the underlying cognitive processes involved in reading, teachers can provide students with the support they need to become skilled readers and writers.

Here at TT, we absolutely love the Science of Reading and what it can do for you and your students, so we’ve worked hard to make sure you have all of the resources and tools you could ever need to implement this approach effectively in your classroom (with as little effort on your part as possible!) 💛 In this blog post, we’ll explore the five core components of the Science of Reading and discuss practical strategies for incorporating them into your classroom instruction using the TT webby. Join us as we embark on a journey to unlock the power of reading together!

Phonemic awareness lays the groundwork for proficient reading and writing by focusing on language sounds. Activities like rhyming games, sound segmentation, and blending exercises help students develop this essential skill. Incorporating phonemic awareness activities into your daily routine can strengthen students’ ability to manipulate sounds, setting the stage for success in phonics instruction.

💛 Spin & Splat: This easy, low-prep task card game is available for all multi-letter sounds and is perfect for practising phonemic awareness! Students spin to an image on the spinner and use a counter or manipulative to cover the matching image. It can be used independently, in pairs, in small groups or as an assessment task.

💛 Spin, POP, Graph & Write: Are your students still obsessed with the ‘pop’ fidget toys? They’ll love this interactive activity that helps students to identify, segment and blend sounds. You can use the paper image to tap and pop the bubbles, or use the actual fidget toys for an added element of fun! This resource is available for CVC words and CVCC/CCVC words.

💛 Phonemic Awareness Assessment EDITABLE:   Use this comprehensive early years assessment to obtain critical recorded data on how your students’ phonemic awareness is progressing. It’s editable too, meaning you can alter it to suit your students and context!

Phonics instruction teaches the relationship between letters and sounds, enabling students to decode written words accurately. A systematic and explicit approach to phonics, supplemented by multisensory activities, is critical to helping students grasp these concepts effectively. You can empower students to become confident readers and writers by providing structured phonics instruction 🌈

💛 Phonics Interactive PowerPoints: Available for every single and multi-letter sound, these interactive digital presentations will help your students learn to match letters to sounds. No prep needed, just download and press play! Did you know there are also matching workbooks for every presentation?

💛 Phonics Reading Mats: These handy resources are available in pond , garden and space variations, in both printable and digital formats! Each contains three letter sets and asks students to use their phonics knowledge to blend sounds and create CVC words.

💛 Phonics Craftivities: Match each letter to the initial sound of a word and then create a fun hands-on craft using the lower-case letter and the created word! These craftivities are available for every letter of the alphabet and are just so fun and engaging 🥰

💛 BONUS: Digi-Tool Dashboard Word Builder: We love the Word Builder and we think you will too! Customisable to include exactly the sounds you’re looking to explore, you can use the word builder to create and change words. Check your blending using the in-built voiceover!

A rich vocabulary is crucial for comprehension and academic achievement. Integrate explicit vocabulary instruction into your lessons, exposing students to a diverse range of words and teaching them strategies for word learning 💡 Encourage reading across various genres and provide opportunities for meaningful discussion to deepen students’ understanding of vocabulary in context.

💛 Book Tasting Event: Genre Study: Explore different book genres to support vocabulary expansion using this fun book tasting event! Set up like a restaurant, students move from table to table, ‘tasting’ different book genres and responding to what they’ve read.

💛 Dive into Topic-Specific Vocabulary: These no-prep worksheet sets come in three different topics and are perfect for upper years students looking to explore different topic-specific vocabulary. Simply provide the themed passage to read, then explore the challenging vocabulary used!

💛 Digi-Tool Dashboard Flashcards: Encountering specific vocabulary daily in your school and context? Use our Digi-Tool Dashboard to record new vocabulary as a flashcard set. You can then use the dashboard as part of a daily or weekly routine to practise reading and defining new relevant vocabulary!

Fluent reading involves reading text accurately, smoothly, and with expression 🗣️ Incorporate repeated oral reading, modelled reading, and fluency-building exercises into your classroom routine to promote fluency. Focusing on fluency enables students to read more efficiently, allowing them to devote more attention to comprehension ⭐️

💛 Speech Sound Fluency Strips: Perfect your students’ pronounciation and fluency in reading with these handy oral language strips! Each strip explores the sound and relevant mouth shape, and gives plenty of word examples for your students to practise reading with fluency.

💛 Read the Decodable Sentence LET’S STEAL: We have lots of amazing digi-games perfect for practising fluency, but this one is definitely one of our favourites! Students read each decodable sentence and select the image that best matches the sentence.

💛 Make a Sentence: This Science of Reading-based activity is available for all major multi-letter sound patterns, and helps students to develop fluency through sentence creation. Students connect task cards to create legible sentences.

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, as it involves understanding and interpreting a text instead of simply recognising the language. It’s so important to teach students various comprehension strategies, such as predicting, summarising, questioning, and making connections 🧠 Providing explicit instruction in these strategies and fostering critical thinking skills empowers students to engage deeply with the texts they read!

💛 Book Units: We have a wide range of book units available for both lower and upper years! Pick and choose the resources that best suit your students and context. For lower years, try Giraffes Can’t Dance , The Very Noisy Bear , or Snap! Teaching upper years? You’ll love our resources for Fox by Margaret Wild and The Peasant Prince by Li Cunxin.

💛 Reading & Comprehension Package: Need something super easy and low-prep? You’ll love this collection of comprehension packages, each focused on different sound patterns. Ideal for fast finishers or relief teacher folders, or just for an easy afternoon English lesson!

💛 The Miserable Magpie Oral Comprehension Package: Does your school follow Talk 4 Writing? This package is ideal for practising oral comprehension and fluency and is easily adapted to a Talk 4 Writing context. The download includes displays, worksheets, discussion cards and a comprehensive text passage.

By embracing the Science of Reading in your classroom, you can provide students with a strong foundation in literacy that will serve them well throughout their academic journey and beyond. By prioritising phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, you set your students up for success in reading and writing.

Let us know what you’re doing in your classroom by tagging us @topteacher 💛

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A Science of Reading-Aligned Phonics Scope and Sequence for K-2

In this post, I’m sharing a FREE research-based, science of reading-aligned phonics scope and sequence for kindergarten, first and second grade.

If you’ve begun your journey into the science of reading, you’ve surely come to see that phonics instruction plays a big role in effective reading instruction. Studies have found that systematic phonics instruction produces significant benefits for k-6 students and for children who have difficulty learning to read.

So we know it’s an important thing to teach, but what’s the best way to do so? I hear from so many of you who aren’t given any direction about what order to teach these skills.  You want to know where to begin and you need a roadmap to follow! 

So to help you out, I’m sharing a FREE research-based phonics scope and sequence. I’ll discuss the qualities of effective phonics instruction and leave you with a science of reading-aligned phonics scope and sequence for Kindergarten, first and second-grade students.  

Characteristics of Quality Phonics Instruction

While there are many different ways you can teach phonics skills, the most effective phonics instruction follows these essential, evidence-based principles of quality instruction and is based on the “I do, We do, You do” model.   

Instruction is explicit.  In explicit instruction, the objective of the lesson is clear and the teaching is intentional. The teacher takes center stage and directly teaches concepts to students. There are opportunities for guided practice with decreasing levels of support. It follows the “ I do, We do, You do” model.

Instruction is systematic.   Skills taught and practiced are based on a research-based scope and sequence. Each lesson and activity builds upon itself.  Students are not asked to do anything they haven’t first been taught.  When instruction is systematic, nothing is left to chance.

Instruction should be engaging. When students understand why they are learning what you are teaching and they are provided with the appropriate support for success, they see learning as relevant to their lives and are more engaged and motivated.

Instruction is intensive. This means instruction is data-driven and focused on essential skills.

Practice activities should be cumulative.  Once a student moves forward with a new concept, they must continue to review the skills they already learned.  In his book, A Fresh Look at Phonics , Wiley Blevins reminds us that a new skill needs to be systematically and purposefully reviewed for four to six weeks after you first introduce it. Take a look at this post for ideas of daily routines and activities you can do with your students throughout the day to help ensure they receive the practice they need for mastery. 

A Phonics Scope and Sequence for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grade

While there is no one best way to teach phonics, we do know that effective phonics instruction must be systematic. The key to ensuring your instruction is systematic is to have a research-based scope and sequence to follow. The good news is I’ve got a great one for you and it’s FREE! Let me tell you a little bit more about it…

✏️ This K-2 phonics scope and sequence is researched-based and aligned with the science of reading. You can feel confident using it as a roadmap for your phonics instruction!

✏️ It starts with the simplest phonics skills and builds to the most complex, always building on previous learning.

✏️ It teaches students to form words as early as possible. This is because we know that the simple act of writing by hand provides a perceptual-motor experience that unifies what is being learned about the letters (their shapes, their sounds, and their motor plans), which in turn creates richer knowledge and fuller, true learning.  

✏️ It teaches high-frequency sounds before less useful sounds and minimizes learning interference. 

This k-2 scope and sequence comes as a part of my FREE Science of Reading toolkit. Each day I receive many questions about the science of reading, so to help answer some of those questions created this toolkit. It provides teachers with information and a variety of resources about the science of reading. In addition to a phonics scope and sequences for kindergarten, first and second grade, the toolkit also includes:

-A Phoneme-Grapheme Dictionary

-Editable parent letters that teach about the Science of Reading & the Heart Word Method

-Heart Word and Syllable Types Teaching Posters

-Word Mapping Activities- Seasonal Word Mapping Mats and Pop-it Fidget Mats

Finally, when you sign up to receive the toolkit, you’ll also receive a  5-day series of informational emails . This email series was created to help you learn more about the science of reading and answer some of the most commonly asked questions. Each day focuses on a different aspect of the SoR and will help you understand how to use the resources offered in the toolkit and more free resources to support you.

Drop your email below to get the FREE SoR SCOPE AND SEQUENCE and TOOLKIT instantly!

*87% of the time, school spam filters block emails like mine ? Please use a personal address so you don’t miss a thing!

I hope the information and FREE SoR resources I have shared today will help to make phonics instruction more systematic and effective in your classroom!

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Spelling Strategies That Follow Science of Reading + FREE Guide

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If you’re looking for spelling strategies to help struggling learners then keep reading. In this post, I share my favorite effective multisensory spelling strategies that help with any kind of spelling list.

These spelling strategies have been very successful with struggling learners because they integrate multiple senses and provide several options for the information to be processed. They are based on the science of reading and have been proven to be the most effective methods for teaching spelling.

SCIENCE OF READING QUICK START GUIDE

Grab your free guide with the 5 tools you need to get started with sor.

*Most school spam filters block my emails, so please use a personal email.

Effective Spelling Instruction

Effective spelling instruction should include:

• Alphabetic principle – knowing that letters represent sounds and are read from left to right
• Pattern information – knowing word patterns such as CVC, CVCe, CVVC, etc. and how they represent sounds
• Spelling variations based on word origins – for example, /k/ is spelled with a ch in words of Greek origin like chaos
• Meaning information (morphology) – which groups of letters represent meanings, such as prefixes and Greek and Latin roots.

Most English words follow patterns and spelling rules or generalizations, and only about 10% are truly exceptional and must be memorized. Therefore, we must focus on incorporating these 4 areas of effective spelling instruction to prevent that widespread and incorrect idea that “English doesn’t make sense”. Because 90% of the time, it does.

The problem with traditional spelling lists

But first I want to mention a problem that many children face with traditional spelling lists. The best way for struggling readers and spellers to learn new words is by isolating spelling patterns . This means that the whole spelling list should only contain one spelling pattern for a particular sound.

Say for example the class is working on vowel teams with the long a sound. The long a sound can be spelled as ai, ay, ei , and sometimes ea . Most spelling lists will include a mix of words with these different spelling patterns, or they may even mix different sounds like long a and long e. This causes lots of confusion and frustration for struggling learners, especially students with dyslexia.

Isolate Spelling Patterns

The better way to do this for struggling learners is to only include one spelling pattern in the list. This helps the students isolate the pattern and get enough exposure to create the visual memory of the sound.

Remember that children who struggle in reading and spelling have a hard time associating the correct letters to sounds, so developing their sound-symbol imagery is critical. Giving them different spelling patterns only confuses them. Before they work with several spelling patterns together, they need to master them in isolation. Of all the spelling strategies out there, isolating spelling patterns is probably the most effective for students who really struggle with spelling.

Phonogram cards are a great tool to use to help isolate spelling patterns. Phonograms are are just the spelling of a sound, such as ch for /ch/ and c for /k/. These cards only display one spelling pattern for a sound, as the focus is on the spelling of that sound.

Effective Spelling Strategies

The following spelling strategies have been shown to improve students’ spelling skills. It helps to use phonics based spelling lists, but even if you don’t, you can apply most of these strategies.

Color code spelling patterns in mixed lists

If you don’t have control over the spelling list, then this tip can really help. I often use this as a dyslexia intervention with my students since their spelling lists are all over the place.

Teach students to group and color code the different spelling patterns in the list.

This is a great dyslexia spelling strategy. Identify a few patterns in the list and pick a color for each one. Then write the words in the chosen color in different groups. This gives students a visual cue they can use when spelling the word. They will associate the spelling pattern with a color so that when they are asked to spell the word, they will be able to recall the color that word was in, and thus identify the spelling pattern for that color. That is the sound-symbol imagery they need.

Remember to refer to the spelling rule for each pattern after color-coding them. This way it is easier for them to see it. For example, the spelling pattern usually ai goes in the middle of a word. But if you have all the different patterns mixed in the list, they cannot see that as easily as you can. Once you isolate the words by color coding the list and grouping them together, they can see that spelling rule and understand how to apply it.

Here is an example spelling list:

Pattern groups:

Bake, plane, mane

Pray, clay, play, sway

Train, main, brain, grain

You would write each group in a different color as shown in the picture below.

If you can incorporate explicitly teaching spelling rules then try as this is the best way to remediate spelling difficulties. I highly recommend this book to help guide you. Even parents can read it and look for multisensory ways to then teach the spelling rules.

Simultaneous Oral Spelling

This is a 6 step multisensory strategy that helps build phonological awareness . When using the SOS method, students listen to the word, repeat it, perform a few quick steps to spell the word, and finally write the word. You can read more about it in this post: Simultaneous Oral Spelling Multisensory Spelling Strategy

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping

Phoneme awareness is critical to developing spelling skills. If students cannot hear each individual sound in a word then they can’t spell the word.

Phoneme grapheme mapping activities match letters (graphemes) to their sounds (phonemes). Students must split words into their phonemes then spell each phoneme, which is exactly what you want to focus on in spelling. By working on this, students develop phoneme awareness and in turn, their spelling and reading improve.

Read more about phoneme grapheme mapping in Phoneme Grapheme Mapping Activities That Develop Orthographic Mapping , and check out my word mapping template below to get started with phoneme grapheme mapping today.

Teach spelling generalizations and rules

There are quite a few spelling generalizations and rules, but learning these helps students become better spellers. Take a look at the graphic below showing some spelling patterns for long a.

This is an area where word origin is helpful, as many words are spelled a certain way based on where they came from.

Check out these resources to help you teach spelling generalizations:

• How to teach long vowels
• The Logic of English 31 spelling rules listed out

I compiled all the long vowel spelling generalizations in this set: Spelling Generalizations Charts for Long Vowels .

Teach word patterns and syllables

Word patterns such as CVC, CVCe, CVVC, etc., and the 6 syllable types help students know how to spell words.

Check out the resources below for more on teaching patterns and syllables:

• How to teach CVC words
• The 6 syllable types
• Syllable division rules

Teach morphology

Instruction in affixes and roots is especially helpful in upper elementary as students will come across more words with these groups of letters.

Teach the exceptions

There are always exceptions, and you should take the opportunities to teach them.

Oftentimes, exceptions are due to word origin in which a little etymology lesson can be fun. I find my students really appreciate it when I explain why a word is an exception. And they always find the history of the word interesting.

Phonogram Drills

Use phonogram cards with the spelling patterns you’re working on along with some you have taught previously to do phonogram drills. These are really quick and easy and really help students.

To do a phonogram drill, simply hold up a phonogram card and ask students to say the sound and keyword and spell the sound. Then flip to the next card and repeat until you’ve gone through all your cards.

For example, look at the card below for the phonogram /ew/. The keyword is chew, which the picture helps remind students. Students would look at this card, say the sound /ew/, spell the sound aloud, and say the word ‘chew’.

After you have worked on a specific spelling pattern, do a dictation activity with sounds, a few words, and a few sentences. I always use the new sounds and words I taught along with some review, so students don’t forget.

Below I was reviewing some long vowel phonograms, but I also threw in /sh/, /b/, and /k/. For the sounds section, I say “write all the ways to say /k/” for example, and students should write all the phonograms they know for that sound. Then for words I say the word once, say it in a sentence, and repeat the word one more time. I use both new and review spelling words. For sentences, I say the sentence one time only, not too fast or slow, and I try to include spelling words, high frequency words, and anything that needs to be reviewed. You can download this dictation worksheet in my freebies library .

Sight Words

For sight words, I use 3 strategies.

The first is the Heart Word Method . This method incorporates a few strategies to help students map the words out and remember them more effectively than traditional spelling activities like repeated writing and ABC order. Essentially, you decode the decodable parts of the word and remember the tricky part by heart. Check out my resource for heart words below, or read the blog post for more info on this method.

The second is using as many multisensory strategies to spell a word as I can. Options include tapping out the letters in the word, air writing, salt tray spelling, magnetic letters, and writing the word in a variety of ways. Then use the word in a sentence to give it some context. Do all of these with the word shown to the student. After writing the word several times and using it in a sentence, remove the image of the word and have the student write it from memory.

The last strategy is creating a picture association. I discuss a possible image that can help the student remember the word. One example is drawing eyes on the “oo” in the word look . Picture association is really helpful for dyslexic students.

Use Nonsense Words

The best way to test if students really know the spelling pattern is to give them nonsense words and see if they can spell them correctly on their own.

For example, after working on long a words, you would ask them to spell the nonsense word dray . They should know for the long a sound to be at the end of the word it has to be spelled as ay . Just come up with nonsense words that would follow the spelling rules in the list. Once they can do that without help, they have mastered that spelling rule.

These spelling word activities ensure students are not only memorizing but really learning how to apply a spelling rule.

Spelling Word Activities

Along with the activities mentioned above as effective spelling instruction, below are some effective spelling word activities for students to practice their spelling words.

• Sentence writing using spelling words
• Games that use words, such as crosswords, puzzles, etc.
• Cloze passages
• Word Mapping Centers

Bottom Line

Moving away from thematic spelling lists that rely heavily on memory to phonics based systematic lists is key to effectively teach spelling. But if you can’t, using these effective spelling strategies will go a long way in helping your students become better spellers.

• Reading Rockets: Spelling
• Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6
• Uncovering the Lofic of English by Denise Eide
• Equipped for Reading Success by David Kilpatrick

Check out some other products in my shop !

Want to remember this? Save Spelling Strategies for Spelling Lists  to your favorite Pinterest board!

Delilah Orpi is the founder of Thrive Literacy Corner. She has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, a Master's degree in TESOL, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association. She is an experienced educator and literacy specialist trained in Orton Gillingham and Lindamood Bell. Delilah creates literacy resources for educators and parents and writes to create awareness about dyslexia and effective literacy instruction based on the science of reading.

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Thank you for this post. It is very helpful when thinking about how to specifically streamline my spelling instruction in my second grade classroom. I have always used a word wall that posted high frequency words for students to reference when they were writing and expected them to spell those words correctly because “they were right there”. As I read more about SOR and how children learn words I think I’m understanding why this is not the best practice. I now have a sound wall with a separate section for “heart words”. The heart words are just kind of thrown up on the wall right now in no particular order and I fear that is quite confusing for struggling learners. Do you have any advice about posting heart words? And, do you have any advice about giving students individual spelling books/folders etc to write words that they want to know how to spell when they’re writing? Thank you!

Hi Kathleen. That is such a great question. If you’re teaching heart words to the class, I would just display the words you have taught. Since every student will struggle with different words, I would have each student keep a “heart words list” that they could reference. They could write in the words they want to have on their list.

I love how this blog post highlights the connection between spelling strategies and the science of reading! The practical tips and the free guide are super helpful for educators looking to improve their students’ literacy skills. Thank you for sharing such valuable resources!

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30 Spelling Activities for ANY List of Words

• March 6, 2020

We work hard to teach our students the correct way to spell words.  We spend countless hours creating spelling practice activities that are fun and not just writing the word multiple times.  Are you ready to get some of those hours back?!  Take a look at these fabulous EDITABLE Spelling Activities we have created for your students to practice their word lists.

Our Spelling Activities are super simple to use!!!

• Enter your spelling list into the first page of the packet.
• Choose the activities you want to use that week.  (We have 150+ different pages  to choose from!)
• Print those activities.

These spelling activities can be sent home as homework, used in a word work center, or as independent practice. You can find all of our editable spelling activities, (general, seasonal, and holiday-themed) on Education to the Core Premium. Join today as a monthly or annual member for instant access to this resource and thousands more.

* Spelling Activity Line-Up *

1. spelling list.

This is the page where you will type in your spelling words (up to 15 words).  It can be sent home for students to study during the week, as well as for parents to cut apart and use as flashcards.

2. MAGIC WORDS

Write each spelling word in white crayon, then color over with a marker to watch them “magically” appear.

3. ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Write each spelling word in ABC order.

4. RAINBOW SPELLING

5. WRITE A SENTENCE

6. SECRET CODE

7. ROLL A SPELLING WORD

Roll the dice to see which way you are going to practice your spelling words.  Which number did you roll the most?

8. WORD ILLUSTRATIONS

Students choose 4 different spelling words to illustrate. As an extension, can they write a sentence to go with the picture?

9. TRACE WORDS

Practice each word as you trace it with different writing tools.

10. EMOJI SPELLING

11. PATTERN BLOCK SPELLING

12. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

13. SCRABBLE SPELLING

14. SPIN IT — SPELL IT

15. SPELLING MAZE

16. SPELLING SPIRAL

17. SPELLING WORD SYLLABLES

Students practice separating their spelling words into syllables. Count on fingers, clap your hands, or stomp your feet to see how many syllables are in each word. Then circle the corresponding number.

18. SILLY WRITING

19. PYRAMID SPELLING

20. SPELLING RHYMES

21. SPELLING COLORS

22. WORD SEARCH

For your higher-level kiddos, this word search is great! They write their words either across, down, or as a challenge, diagonal on the grid. Then place random letters among the words. Share with a partner to see if they can find all of your “hidden” words!

23. WORD ART

24. CREATE A STORY

How many spelling words can your students include in a story? Write a short story that makes sense and illustrate it.

25. KEYBOARD WORDS

26. STAMPING SPELLING WORDS

Everybody loves dot markers! Grab a few different colors and stamp your spelling words as you read them.

27. SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS

For a more challenging activity, connect spelling practice with vocabulary work by finding a synonym and antonym for each spelling word.

28. SIGN LANGUAGE SPELLING

29. How Many Sounds

30. Tic-Tac-Toe Spelling

Perfect for partner spelling activities. Your students can each take a color and play tic-tac-toe with their spelling words.

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15 Useful Science of Reading Activities for Upper Elementary

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Science of reading activities can be so helpful for students of all ages. Reading is an essential skill to have in order to succeed in school and life. It’s not just about being able to read the words, it’s about understanding what you are reading and connecting those ideas with what you already know.

In this blog post, I will share some amazing science of reading activities that any teacher can use in the classroom. These activities are sure to engage your readers while helping them build important skills along the way! So let’s get started!

15 Science of Reading Activities for Upper Elementary Students

Just a quick note before we dive into these science of reading activities . . . each of these strategies supports at least one of the big 5 essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary). Check out this blog post for more details on those components.

1. Word Squares

Word squares are a great way to help students learn new vocabulary words and increase their word recognition skills. In this activity, students must fill in a square grid with nine letters. They can either use the nine letters provided or come up with their own unique set of nine letters. Once they have created the grid, they must then find and fit words into the grid that meet certain criteria such as starting with specific letter combinations.

This exercise helps students become familiar with prefixes, suffixes, and root words which aids in improving their reading comprehension abilities. This one is a must-do in the world of science of reading strategies!

2. Word Jumbles

Word jumbles are another great way to help students stretch their reading muscles! A favorite among science of reading activities, word jumbles require students to unscramble a series of mixed-up letters to form meaningful words or phrases. Once they have identified the correct answer, they must then use those words in sentences or explain what the word means. This encourages deeper thinking about language and helps build important vocabulary skills.

3. Creative Writing Exercises

Creative writing exercises can help 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders practice their ability to express ideas through written language while also improving their understanding of grammar and sentence structure rules. These science of reading activities involve writing stories, poems, plays or other forms of literature based on given prompts or topics of interest determined by the teacher or student themselves. ( Ready-to-go writing prompts are the perfect starting place for this strategy!)

Through these exercises, students can develop strong narrative skills that will transfer over into other areas of reading comprehension such as summarizing or analyzing texts more effectively.

4. Picture Book Analysis

Picture books provide an excellent resource for teaching literacy skills such as inference, visualization, theme development and more! In this activity, upper elementary readers are asked to analyze a picture book by looking at elements such as characters’ motivations, settings, plot development and other literary devices used by the author throughout the story’s progression.

After discussing their observations in small groups, they then write an essay that summarizes what they learned from their analysis of the picture book and how it relates to real life events or experiences.

5. Storytelling Circle

Storytelling circles provide a great opportunity for students to practice active listening skills while also deepening their understanding of stories’ themes and characters’ motivations through retellings from multiple perspectives!

During this activity, students sit in a circle where one person begins telling a story he/she has previously read aloud from beginning to end without interruptions from others in the group until reaching its conclusion point; at which time another person starts telling his/her version of the same story but adding some personal spin before passing it along again until everyone has had an opportunity to tell part(s) of it! This exercise encourages better engagement with text and a deeper level of comprehension.

6. Reading Board Games

Reading board games are a fun and interactive way to help 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders practice and refine their ELA skills! To play, get out a set of reading task cards and any board game. Use the reading task cards as game play cards. Every time a student gets an answer right, he or she can advance on the game board or take a turn rolling the dice, moving a checkers piece or advancing a token.

Playing these types of games encourages critical thinking by requiring players to recall information from the text as well as make inferences to come up with accurate answers quickly.

7. Main Idea Bingo

Main Idea Bingo is an excellent way to reinforce the concept of summarizing while also improving reading comprehension skills at the same time. To play this game, each student is given a bingo card filled with words (or phrases) related to a particular topic that they must then find within a given text or passage. Whoever identifies the most words in relation to the main idea first wins!

This exercise provides students with an opportunity to pick out key information from longer pieces of writing which will help them become better readers in general.

8. Alternative Book Reports

Book reports don’t have to be boring, but they surely can be beneficial to increasing engagement with a specific book or story! Increase comprehension and understanding of main idea, characters, theme, etc., with a fun, hands-on book report, such as this FREE Book Report Lapbook! This is a favorite of students and teachers alike! Did we mention that it’s free?

9. Vocabulary Map Exercises

Vocabulary map exercises are yet another science of reading activity that helps upper elementary learners learn about and study new vocabulary words! During this activity, students use graphic organizers like webs, double bubble maps, Venn diagrams etc., depending on what type of vocabulary terms they are trying to learn.

This helps students gain deeper insights into how language works so that they can use new vocabulary correctly when communicating orally or through writing later on down the line! Vocabulary maps are great science of reading activities!

10. Word Walls

Word walls have become increasingly popular among teachers looking for creative ways to get their 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders engaged in language acquisition processes! This strategy involves displaying words across multiple surfaces throughout classrooms such as bulletin boards, chalkboards etc., so that students can easily reference them throughout lessons whenever needed. This allows for greater exposure and usage opportunities when it comes time for assessments later on in school year.

11. Summarizing Strategies

These Science of Reading strategies are a great way for older students to learn how to make sense of longer pieces of writing by condensing them into shorter, more concise versions. To do this, they must first identify main ideas and supporting details within a given text before selecting the most important parts of it. Then, students can use these elements to compose their own summaries that can be shared with the class!

Doing this exercise regularly will help students develop better comprehension skills as well as critical thinking abilities.

12. “Find Someone Who”

“Find Someone Who” is an interactive way to practice language skills while also having fun at the same time! This exercise works by giving each student in a class a list of questions related to a particular topic or subject area (i.e., grammar rules, vocabulary terms etc.) that they must then answer by finding someone in the room who knows the answer. Whoever finds all of their answers first wins!

This game is one of my favorite science of reading activities! It encourages active engagement with material while also helping build social skills like communication and cooperation among peers too.

13. Word Study

Word study is an excellent strategy for helping upper elementary students become more independent readers and writers in general! To do so, teachers typically provide targeted instruction on specific word patterns or rules that are designed to make understanding new words easier (i.e., phonics, morphological analysis, roots etc.). Then, through regular practice exercises such as creating sentences using certain vocabulary terms etc., students can put what was learned into action so that it eventually becomes second nature when it comes time for assessments later on down the road!

This Greek and Latin Roots Word Wall is perfect for word study!

14. Read Alouds

Read alouds are an effective activity for improving comprehension development among 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade learners since they allow students to listen and interact with stories being read out loud! During these Science of Reading activities, teachers typically provide contextual clues about characters/settings before reading passages out loud which helps cultivate curiosity around what’s next!

Afterwards, open-ended discussion questions and other reflective tasks encourage active engagement with material which ultimately leads to deeper understanding of content overall. This makes read alouds an excellent tool for developing comprehension for all levels of learners!

15. Text Talk

Text Talk is another favorite among science of reading activities for older students; one that encourages collaboration and higher-level thinking at the same time! This exercise works by dividing students into small groups. Learners are given short pieces of writing (i.e., articles, poems etc.) before being asked various questions about it such as characters, main idea, or theme connections.

Asking these types of questions encourages deep thinking about topics covered within text while also promoting problem-solving skills too!

So there you have it, a list of 15 science of reading activities that are super helpful in the upper elementary grades ! Each one is designed to foster comprehension development as well as critical thinking abilities which are invaluable tools in any student’s academic toolkit.

Whether you’re looking to increase retention rates or just want your kids to enjoy learning more, these science of reading activities should help get the job done!

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Shelly Rees

Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.

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Are weekly Spelling Tests Effective in a science of Reading classroom?

As the Science of reading becomes more popular in educational settings, many teachers are wondering if weekly spelling tests effective orshould they throw them out completely.

We know that good spelling should not be based on rote memorization for better spelling development.

Conventional weekly spelling tests emphasized spelling lists with 10 -20 spelling words. But what is the best approach to teaching students spelling skills?

Do weekly spelling tests still have a place in literacy classrooms or should we simply throw out the weekly spelling test? Let’s take a closer look at what is important to include with spelling instruction in an education setting that focuses on science of reading principles.

Orthographic Mapping & Spelling

I do believe that learning word patterns and using fun spelling activities still teach important phonics skills.

One key component of helpful spelling instruction is orthographic mapping . Orthographic mapping is the process by which readers make connections between speech sounds and written letters.

Spelling requires analyzing words, noticing spelling patterns, and understanding how words are constructed from individual sounds.

Use Orthographic Mapping Templates in Weekly Spelling Tests

Using Orthographic mapping helps students learn how to spell and read words accurately and retain them over time. It also gives them a greater understanding of English language spelling rules which can help students become better spellers and also increases students reading ability.

You can teach students using Orthographic Mapping templates when giving spelling tests to assess how well students understand the letter sound relationships. It also helps to decrease spelling errors

Use Elkonin boxes with Dots or Stairs For Weekly Spelling Tests

One of the best activities I know of to teach this sound symbol correspondence is to use either spelling stairs or dot and write sheets. The boxes contain one sound rather than one letter per box and this helps students to learn concepts like digraphs and vowel teams. The students must say the sounds of the letters as they write them.

Spelling Should Be An Indicator of A Student’s Understanding of Sound Letter Correspondence

As a Certified Academic Language Therapist, I feel it is important to incorporate as much writing and spelling into literacy instruction. Students’ spelling skills are an indicator of sound-letter correspondences when students are taught spelling correctly!

Use Simultaneous Processing with Struggling Spellers and Readers

With struggling spellers and readers it is helpful to use simultaneous processing. With simultaneous processing, a student goes through a process of saying a sound, hearing a sound, and writing the graphemes (letters) associated with that sound all at the same time. It is one of the most powerful tools in a teacher’s literacy instruction toolbox!

Sound Boxes and dots help Students to Orthographically Map Words

Teaching Spelling Generalizations and Rules

Another important aspect of teaching spelling is teaching generalizations and rules about how English words work. These generalizations can be used to help students remember the correct spelling patterns for commonly used words as well as new words they encounter. Additionally, understanding these rules can help students become more confident spellers and readers and you can check if students remember these rules on the weekly spelling tests.

Going Beyond Spelling Memorization

It’s important that we move beyond memorization in weekly spelling tests in an educational setting that follows science of reading principles. Simply memorizing words may help students pass tests, but it doesn’t provide them with skills that they can use throughout life. We need to make sure we are incorporating fun spelling activities into our lessons that focus on helping students understand how English works.

Spelling with Better Phonological Awareness & Phonemic Awareness Helps Reading Instruction

We can help students spell common words and more complex words if they understand the spelling system. Teaching Children better phonological awareness helps both spelling and reading.

Learning to spell high-frequency sight words will help students reading comprehension by increasing reading fluency.

Using Morphology to Aid in Understanding Spelling

Finally, morphology—or the study of word parts—can help students become better at recognizing patterns in English spelling as well as meaning-making. Spelling and paying attention to morphology help increase a student’s vocabulary.

Study Words Roots with Prefixes and Suffixes

Word Study of roots, prefixes, suffixes, base words, etc., students gain an understanding not only of what a word looks like but also of word meaning. This helps them not just remember a single spelling but also build broader knowledge which can help them learn new vocabulary and correct spellings. Morphology helps build vocabulary and assists students with unknown words.

If you put the root “spect” into Neil Ramsden’s Word Searcher you will 271 related Words! What a fantastic way to build a word wall or spelling list.

Spelling Should Teach Meaning as Well as Sound Symbol Relationships

The root word spect can be used to build the following words:

-Aspect: a particular part or feature of something

-Expect: to think that something will happen or be the case

-Inspect: to look closely at something in order to check that it is correct, safe, or clean

-Respect: to feel admiration or approval for someone or something

-Suspect: causing one to have doubts about the honesty or truth of someone or something

-Inspector: a person who carefully watches something or someone

-Spectator: a person who is present at an event and watches it happen

-Reinspect: to inspect again to confirm the results of the first inspection

-Respecter: someone who shows respect for others

-Suspected: believed to be true, but not yet proven

Introspect: to examine one’s thoughts, feelings, and motives

Nonsuspect: not likely to be guilty of an offense

Prospector: a person who searches for mineral deposits

Prospectus: a document giving details about something such as a business

Spectacles: an optical instrument consisting of lenses in a frame, used to correct defects of vision or protect the eyes.

Spectrally: relating to the spectrum which is a range of color, energy, or frequencies

Weekly Spelling tests Should be used to Assess Concept Understanding Not Memorization Ability

  A New Type of Assessment                                           

Weekly Spelling tests have been used for decades but their role has changed with the introduction of Science of Reading principles in our classrooms. Rather than being viewed as assessing pure memorization tasks, these tests should now incorporate meaningful activities such as orthographic mapping, generalization rules and word study to assess a deeper understanding of the English language.

Spelling Instruction Should Create a Deeper Understanding of the English Language

By approaching, weekly spelling tests from this perspective educators can facilitate a deeper understanding of phonics instruction. Then educators can use these assessments to guide their instruction rather than just assess how well a student memorizes words.

Check out my science of reading based spelling bundles for first, second, and third grade

Download an Orthographic Mapping Template Remember Say the Sounds as you write the letters.

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The Science of Spelling

What is the science of spelling.

The Science of Spelling is a systematic approach that involves understanding the relationship between sounds and written symbols.

It utilises the large body of Science of Reading research to implement evidence-based best practices and strategies to teach and practise spelling. Learning to spell is a key ingredient to becoming a good reader and is far more intricate than just memorising words.

Each lesson has a main objective taken from the relevant year’s content descriptors. Committing each word to memory would be an enormous and daunting task for any learner. Instead, The Science of Spelling teaches children to recognise spelling patterns and highlights notable exceptions. Words are taught in context and linked to other words with similar patterns in order to fully explore their meanings.

Why is Spelling Important?

Research confirms that spelling enhances young children’s ability to read and write. However, as children get older, the continued teaching of appropriate spelling practices (spelling patterns; studying the meaning of roots, prefixes and suffixes; the historical development of the English language and words’ language of origin) could provide them with significant benefits (Moats, 2005).

Moats (2005) describes the two big sources of complexity in English spelling as the layering of various languages as English evolved and the emphasis on meaning instead of sounds. Explicit spelling instruction in these areas can help students unlock clues about the meaningful relationships between words as well as contribute to vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. The Spelling Shed Stages 3-5 lists slowly begin to introduce these concepts and provide for rich vocabulary and morphology acquisition.

Written language is a form of communication. Errors in spelling can lead to misunderstandings and a loss of meaning. While the basic meaning may still be conveyed in a message peppered with spelling errors, the authority and tone of the communication have likely been lost. Daffern and Fleet (2021) note that: “In an age of fast-paced digital modes of communication such as texting, emailing, and messaging through social media platforms, it seems more important than ever to be able to efficiently spell words in a range of contexts."

How Does Spelling Impact Reading?

Learning to spell is a key ingredient to becoming a good reader and is far more intricate than just memorising words. Catherine Snow et al. (2005) summarise the real importance of spelling for reading as follows: “Spelling and reading build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading.” Encoding (spelling) is a developmental process that impacts fluency, writing, pronunciation and vocabulary. Fluency is best developed through a combination of mastering systematic phonics, practicing high frequency words and repeated readings (Moats, 1998; LeBerge & Samuels, 1974; Rasinski, 2009).

As students begin to master phonics, it is advantageous to use those skills to practice the 300 high frequency words that make up 65% of all texts (Fry, 1999). When the relationship between spelling and reading is conveyed, students gain a better understanding of the code and demonstrate gains in reading comprehension (Moats, 2005), vocabulary (Moats, 2005), fluency (Snow et al., 2005) and spelling (Berninger, 2012).

How Does Spelling Shed Use The Science of Spelling to Deliver Effective Spelling Lessons?

To deliver effective spelling lessons that align with the principles of the Science of Spelling, we must focus on research-backed approaches. This means teaching strategies rather than memorising them. These strategies include direct instruction, word study and practice. Spelling Shed lists were developed by applying the Science of Reading research and follow a systematic progression of phonics and word study skills typically addressed in each Stage.

Spelling Shed supports differentiated learning, allowing students to progress at their own pace and receive activities tailored to their individual needs. This personalised approach aligns with the Science of Reading's emphasis on accommodating diverse learning styles and abilities.

At Spelling Shed, every lesson has a main objective from the National Curriculum 2014. We use word study and the latest spelling research to effectively teach spelling. The timing is flexible to fit with your school’s needs. Spelling Shed provides children with multiple methods for approaching spelling. Each lesson is planned and has resources, including a lesson plan, a lesson presentation and worksheets.

At the beginning of each Stage, there is an intentional spiral review of skills expected to have been acquired in the previous Stage but they also include words of increasing difficulty. Throughout the progression, new and more advanced concepts and skills are delicately intertwined within the review. This aids in linking past learning to the new concepts and skills and reinforces and solidifies learning. If students are struggling with a particular skill, teachers can use previous Stage lists, which will have a more in-depth focus to match students’ needs. The majority of the words selected for each list contain only the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC’s) that have been previously reviewed to avoid cognitive overload, help ensure focus and attain mastery of the skill at hand.

Practising to read high frequency words is essential to becoming a fluent reader but not by memorising the whole word. Brain research shows that strong readers, even when they process a written word, such as ‘instantaneously,’ are reading by sounds. Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that readers who read fluently are able to map phonograms to their sounds automatically. The process occurs so quickly that it appears they are reading “by sight” (Ehri & Snowling, 2004). Most high-frequency words are decodable and are more efficiently taught alongside the corresponding phonetic patterns. When students use their knowledge of the sounds to learn and master high-frequency words, they simultaneously strengthen the skills that will enable them to read thousands more.

The Linguistic Tapestry

An effective speller draws upon the entire rich linguistic tapestry of a word to spell it correctly. the threads of this tapestry can be identified as phonological knowledge, orthographic knowledge, morphological knowledge, etymological knowledge and visual knowledge. (apel et al., 2004a, b; henry, 1989; masterson and apel, 2010)..

Phonological Knowledge

This is simply knowing the phonemes (sounds) and understanding how to represent them as graphemes (letters). Using Spelling Shed, students will be systematically taught the different graphemes for each phoneme.

Orthographic Knowledge

‘Ortho’ meaning ‘correct’ and ‘graph’ meaning ‘to do with writing’. Orthography is the spelling system of a language. It is the patterns the language can use.

“Alongside phonological knowledge, students must have orthographic knowledge, that is, understanding which letter sequences are both possible and plausible in English.” Adoniou (2024, p. 146)

Let's take 'drip' as an example. It can’t be spelled ‘dd’ with /d/ because ‘dd’ is most often in the middle of words or before a suffix. It would never be at the beginning of a word.

“Orthographic mapping is the cognitive process by which readers associate speech sounds with written letters (phoneme-grapheme associations) in a written word to store it for immediate retrieval “on sight”.” Mather & Jaffe (2021, p. 15-16)

As it is a cognitive process, it is not something you can directly teach; however, you can use methods that support orthographic mapping. This might include breaking down words in different ways: sound buttons, Elkonin boxes or syllables and looking at the positional best fit of words.

Teaching morphemes and word origins helps students understand the meaning of words at a deeper level, which helps them connect to and recognise unfamiliar words. This means that explicit and systematic spelling instruction can increase vocabulary acquisition.

Morphological and Etymological Knowledge

“visual memory is dramatically better when meaning can be attached to the to-be-remembered pattern.” bowers & bowers (2017, p.132).

Morphology and etymology are important aspects of language that can significantly aid in learning to spell correctly.

Understanding Word Structure: Morphology

Morphology deals with the structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units called morphemes (the smallest units of meaning). Understanding morphology helps students break down words into meaningful parts, such as prefixes, suffixes and root words. Knowing common prefixes and suffixes can provide clues about the meaning of a word and its spelling. For example, the prefix "un-" often indicates negation (e.g., unhappy) and recognising this can help in spelling related words.

Identifying Word Origins: Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history and origins of words. Knowing the origin of a word often provides insight into its spelling and meaning; e.g., ‘ch’ can be pronounced as /k/ in words such as choir, school and stomach. Words that pronounce ‘ch’ as /k/ are often Greek in origin. Words with similar roots or bases often have similar spellings. For instance, if you know that "bene-" means "good" or "well" (as in "beneficial"), you can apply this knowledge to spell and understand other words with the same prefix, such as "benefit" or "benevolent."

Learning morphology and etymology enhances vocabulary. As students become familiar with root and base words, prefixes, and suffixes, they can more easily recognise and learn new words.

Memorised Words (Lexical Store)

“in order to spell well, children need to learn how to strategically use knowledge about phonology, orthography, morphology and etymology. it is also a visual activity that involves the laying down and retrieval of visual representations of words and word parts in the memory.” oakley & fellowes (2016, p.1).

Research shows that visual memory is dramatically better when meaning can be attached to the to-be-remembered pattern. As spellers, we build up a mental lexicon. This is a bank of words we have committed to our visual memory and can spell almost automatically.

Effective spelling instruction teaches strategies that support spelling skills. Often, we rely heavily on visual memory for spelling, but there is much more to it than that. Word study directly teaches the linguistic skills that contribute not only to effective spelling but also to reading and further literacy skills such as spoken language.

Strategic Knowledge and Application

We often start with explicit, systematic phonic instruction. However, in later years, this is frequently disregarded. This is best demonstrated using the overlapping waves theory (Siegler, 1996). Wave theory explains that as children grow up and experience different things, they rely on different strategies to learn new things.

Direct instruction should be explicit and systematic, teaching patterns of the English language as well as common exceptions.

This includes:

• Alphabetic Principle (an understanding that oral language can be converted to written language by using alphabet letters—graphemes)
• Spelling-Pattern Knowledge (phonics)
• Patterns, not ‘rules’

Word study involves teaching students strategies for decoding and encoding words, such as identifying morphemes, prefixes, suffixes and roots.

• Spelling variations based on word origins (etymology)
• Meaning (morphology)

Practice should be both guided and independent, giving students opportunities to apply their learning to new words and contexts. Additionally, it should also be differentiated, meaning different students will be given different activities or tasks to work on in order to meet their individual needs. It is also important to incorporate multisensory techniques and activities to build a broader understanding of a concept.

As the concepts and skills advance in difficulty in Spelling Shed Stages 2–5, the importance of teaching the etymology and morphology of words increases. As Venesky (1967) stated, “The simple fact is that the present orthography is not merely a letter-to-sound system riddled with imperfections, but instead a more complex and more regular relationship wherein phoneme and morpheme share leading roles.” Words are encoded by their relationship between sounds (phonemes) and meaning (morphology). Moats (2005) states, “Learning to spell requires instruction and gradual integration of information about print, speech sounds, and meaning—these, in turn, support memory for whole words, which is used in both spelling and sight (automatic) reading."

• Moats, L., & Snow, C. (2005). How Spelling Supports Reading. American Federation of Teachers, 1–13. How Spelling Supports Reading by Louisa Moats
• Daffern, T., & Fleet, R. (2021). Investigating the efficacy of using error analysis data to inform explicit teaching of spelling. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties (accepted). Investigating the efficacy of using error analysis data to inform explicit teaching of spelling | Tessa Daffern
• Berninger, V. “Evidence-based, developmentally appropriate writing skills k-5: teaching the orthographic loop of working memory to write letters so developing writers can spell words and express ideas.” Presented at Handwriting in the 21st century?: An educational summit, Washington, D.C. January 23, 2012.
• Ehri, L. and Snowling, M.J. (2004). Developmental variation in word recognition. In Stone, C.A., Silliman, E.R., Ehren, B.J., and Apel, K. (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy: Development and disorders, pp. 433-460. New York: Guilford.
• Fry, E. B. (1999). 1000 Instant Words: The most common words for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials.
• LaBerge, D., & Samuels, J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.
• Moats, L. (1998). Teaching decoding. American Educator, Spring/Sum, 1–8.
• Snow, C. E., Griffin, P., and Burns, M. S. (Eds.) (2005). Knowledge to Support the Teaching of Reading: Preparing Teachers for a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Rasinski, T.V. “Introduction: Fluency: The Essential Link From Phonics to Comprehension.” Essential readings on fluency. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 2009. 1-10. Print.
• Venezky, R. L. (1967). English orthography: Its graphical structure and its relation to sound. Reading Research Quarterly, 75-105.
• A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words | Reading Rockets
• A New Phonics-Based Approach to Teaching High Frequency Words
• Teach “Sight Words” As You Would Other Words
• High-frequency words: some ways to teach and help students practice and learn them
• How Phonics Helps Your Child To Read
• II. Overlapping Waves Theory - Chen - 2000 - Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development - Wiley Online Library