Mary-Lynn Butcher

CIRG 653-231
March 20th, 2023

Chapters four, five, and six of Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students discusses

fostering emergent and early literacy, teaching phonics, high-frequency words, syllables, and

building vocabulary. The three topics that I am choosing to discuss are: phonics instruction, high

frequency words, and shared and interactive reading practices. I am a first-grade teacher and all

of these skills discussed in these chapters are important; but phonics, high-frequency words, and

reading practices are the skills I try to emphasize in every day instruction.

In chapter five of Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students, the author states:

“phonics skills are absolutely essential for all readers. Most of the words we read are sight

words. We’ve encountered them so many times that we don’t need to take time to sound them

out” (Gunning, 171 & 172). Some of my first-graders have great difficulty reading and

remembering high-frequency words; despite how often we practice reading them. We do several

high-frequency word activities throughout each day in the classroom with interactive Jack

Hartman sight word videos, games, scavenger hunts, guided reading groups, etc. There is a

particular game that my students enjoy playing that is called “hidden partners.” Each student is

given one card that has a letter on it, and a high-frequency word is written on the top. The

students have to find the other students that have the rest of the letters that go in their high-

frequency word. The students always get excited to play this game, and it is a great way to

review previously learned high-frequency words. I attempt to provide interactive, fun, and

consistent high-frequency word practice and review to increase my students’ high-frequency

word knowledge, and their ability to read those high-frequency words when they see them in

books, signs, etc. The author of Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students, states: “words are
read in one of five, often overlapping ways. They are predicted, sounded out, chunked, read by

analogy, or recognized immediately” (Gunning, 172).

My students have had great difficulty learning phonics skills that are essential for reading

and writing. A lot of my students began first-grade not knowing all of the letter sounds. I still

have some students who are not able to consistently recall all letter sounds. This has made it

difficult to teach other phonics skills. I spend 30 minutes every morning reviewing the sounds

displayed on our sound wall, spelling patterns, digraphs, blends, and high-frequency words. We

practice reading the high-frequency words, as well as spelling them. We have played several

phonics games throughout the school year including a digraph match activity where the students

were asked to match pictures with the digraph that was in the picture name. The students also

complete small group phonics activities daily with hands-on activities. I believe that repetition

and consistency make a difference.

Another skill that is important for my first-graders, is reading fluency. Chapter five of

Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students references the following statement: “fluency has

two components: accuracy and automaticity. Students are accurate readers if they can recognize

the words. They have automaticity if they recognize the words rapidly. Students can be accurate

but slow readers” (Gunning, 224). This is especially true with my first-grade students. I have

several students who are still learning to read accurately and fluently, and they aren’t able to

retell much of what they had just previously read.

Chapter five of Creating Literacy Instruction For All Students suggests several strategies

and activities to build reading fluency. These include: choral reading, paired reading, repeated

reading, recorded books, read-alongs, alternate reading etc. (Gunning, 226-228). Choral reading

includes students reads together in unison. Paired reading includes a proficient reader pairing
with a student to read the book together. Repeated reading consists of students re-reading a text

to improve timing or expression. Recorded books provide the students with an example of how

the text is read fluently and accurately; the students can practice reading along with the

recording. Fluency read-alongs consist of students reading stories out loud, then hearing the text

read aloud. Alternate reading consists of an adult and a student taking turns reading a text.

The reading strategy that I have used in whole-group is choral reading. I always read a

story aloud to the students to introduce them to the text. The next time we read the text/story

together. I also provide opportunities for students to read a book of their choice with a partner;

when time allows. My students enjoy partner reading because they have the ability to choose

what they want to read, and it also takes pressure off of them because they know they are not

reading in a whole-group setting. Providing students with ample opportunities to practice

phonics and decoding skills, read and spell high-frequency words, and read text independently

and with assistance, is crucial for their reading success.

     
 References

Gunning, Thomas G. Creating Literacy Instruction: For All Students. Pearson, 2023. 

https://www.janrichardsonreading.com/next-steps-and-the-science-of-reading