If a student, for example, cannot orally blend the sounds /h/ /a/ /t/ (without any print present), then she is not going to be able to sound out the word in text. Students who struggle with rhyming, counting syllables, segmenting and blending phonemes, etc. are also likely to have problems decoding words.

Decoding is a key skill for learning to read that involves taking apart the sounds in words (segmenting) and blending sounds together. Decoding is essential to reading. It allows kids to figure out most words they’ve heard but have never seen in print, as well as sound out words they’re not familiar with.

Decoding is the process of translating print into speech by rapidly matching a letter or combination of letters (graphemes) to their sounds (phonemes) and recognizing the patterns that make syllables and words. There is an area in the brain that deals with language processing and does this process automatically.

Here are nine classroom activities that can help struggling readers improve their decoding skills, use more imagery and become stronger readers.

1. Hide-and-Seek Words. What it teaches:
2. Draw Your Words.
3. Pool Noodle Word Play.
4. Build a Bead Slide.
5. Window Writing.
6. Movin’ and Groovin’
7. Game Time!
8. Sing It loud, Sing It Strong.

Decoding is the ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven’t seen before.

Typically, decoding skill is measured through the child’s ability to read words out of context. Isolated words are presented to the child one at a time, and the child is asked to say the word aloud (this is not a vocabulary test, so children should not be expected to provide meanings for the word).

A Guide to Types of Assessment: Diagnostic, Formative, Interim, and Summative.

The Beginning Decoding Survey assesses students’ ability to read high-frequency words and single-syllable decodable words with short vowels, digraphs, and blends. The Advanced Decoding Survey assesses how well students read unfamiliar single-syllable decodable words with more advanced vowel patterns.

Sight words provide clues to the context of the text. If your child is familiar with the sight words, she may be able to decode the meaning of the paragraph or sentence by reading the sight words.

Really Great Reading is focused on preventing and remediating decoding weaknesses in students in all grades (and even adults). We provide educators the tools and knowledge to teach all students (not just those who learn easily) to read. We make assessments and grouping practical, efficient, and accurate.

Really Great Reading Complimentary Downloads Thank you for visiting our complimentary download page. For each download you will receive individual emails*. In each email please click the link to access each diagnostic tool or sample lesson.

Browse Full Catalog

SKU	Description	Price
HDESW1	HD Word, Essentials Student Workbook 1 (Grades 5-8)	$11.00
HDFSW1	HD Word, Foundations Student Workbook 1 (Grades 2-5)	$11.00
HDLSW2	HD Word Linguistics, Student Workbook 2 (Grades 8-12)	$11.00
HDESW2	HD Word, Essentials Student Workbook 2 (Grades 5-8)	$11.00

Really Great Reading’s programs for emerging and beginning readers are evidence based, teaching students the key skills they need to become efficient and accurate decoders, which ultimately leads to their success not only in word identification, but also in comprehending what they read.

The practice activities follow a standard Orton Gillingham scope and sequence. The activities are engaging, mature, and move at a pace that is appropriate for students in grades 3-12.

Our instruction is systematic, explicit, and multisensory. Student practice is cumulative and controlled. At the heart of Really Great Reading’s instruction is phonics; students are taught to understand the systematic relationships between sounds and the spellings of those sounds.

Really Great Reading Company We have a comprehensive set of tools called Phonics Suite to diagnose, group and teach students with weaknesses in their foundational reading skills. Teach – Our lessons, Countdown, Blast, HD Word, Boost, and Blitz help prevent and remediate decoding weaknesses in students of all ages.

HD Word is a set of lessons that build the important and lifelong foundations needed for all future academic and life success. While the focus of HD Word is word study (phonics and phonemic awareness), there is a high rate of transfer to students’ skills in other areas of reading, such as fluency and comprehension.

The term “science of reading” refers to the research that reading experts, especially cognitive scientists, have conducted on how we learn to read. This body of knowledge, over twenty years in the making, has helped debunk older methods of reading instruction that were based on tradition and observation, not evidence.

Blast targets the skills students need to build confidence with decoding skills in order to become accurate fluent readers. Blast has 25 units which are comprised of 5 lessons per week. In one week, students are immersed in 75-100 minutes of explicit instruction.

53 lessons

Blast is a cutting-edge education platform that uses Alexa. or Google Assistant as an intelligent personal study assistant, resulting in a state-of-the-art study method that is not just effective but makes learning enjoyable.

Phonics Blitz is a set of 50 intervention lessons for students in grades 4–12. The lessons help students who are unable to effectively read complex text. Blitz is designed specifically for students who read less accurately than expected because they lack key foundational skills.

SyllaBoards help students break words into chunks for reading and spelling, and can be used in place of a whiteboard for classroom activities. SyllaBoards are single-sided dry erase boards the size of index cards (3” x 5”) and are made for use with dry erase markers.

Introduce Syllabication If kindergartners have never heard of the concept of syllabication before, they’ll need an introduction. Tell them that syllables are the parts of a word, the number of “chunks” that a word breaks into when you say it. Then give them examples, clapping once as you say each syllable.