11 Science of Reading Resources Every Educator Should Know About
Keeping Up With the Science of Reading
Hello, educators! Since our original “30 Science of Reading Resources” blog post was published in December 2020, many NEW resources have been created. We would like to share ELEVEN additional resources that we have found helpful in our learning and growth around the Science of Reading.
💻 Blog Post: Read the original “30 Science of Reading Resources” blog post here! Our literacy specialists curated a list of 30 resources for educators who wish to further their knowledge about the Science of Reading.
Podcasts
1. Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast:
Is it part of your New Year resolution to listen to more podcasts and become more informed about literacy in the school systems? Whether you are an educator, administrator, parent, or just looking to learn more about literacy, Melissa and Lori have the podcast for you. The topics range from decodable books to dyslexia, reading to writing, applicable classroom practices, and everything literacy. Take a listen to four of our team’s favorite episodes:
- Episode 120: Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills with Julia Lindsey
- Episode 131: Dyslexia, The Brain, and Reading Science with Neuroscientist and Professor DJ Bolger
- Episode 119: How Reading Science Works for English Learners with Elsa Cardenas-Hagan
- Episode 103: From Workshop Model to Reading Science in Pentucket
2. Sold a Story Podcast by American Public Media:
Another podcast worth adding to your “must-listen” list, is the Sold a Story Podcast, hosted by Emily Hanford. This six-episode podcast series digs into the history of balanced literacy and also shares how literacy instruction ended up where it is today. As a former classroom teacher who taught the Units of Study and Fountas & Pinnell curriculum, as mentioned in the Sold a Story podcast, there were many connections, aha moments, and opportunities to reflect on how my practice has improved and changed over the years.
📥 Free Download: “Supporting Early Reading Skills at Home” guide – your one-sheet guide to practicing early reading skills at home with your child!
Infographics
In our earlier post, we shared this research brief for educators embracing the science of reading from the EAB District Leadership Forum. In this post, we wanted to highlight the visual below which illustrates that almost all students (95% of elementary students) have the cognitive capacity to read. While only half of students will learn how to read regardless of the type of instruction they receive, it is critical to notice that many students need high-quality Tier 1 instruction in order to become successful readers, and for even more students, additional intensive support is needed.
Websites
Directly from the What Works Clearinghouse website, “the WWC has been a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. We review the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings. We focus on high-quality research to answer the question “what works in education?”. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or educator working with children or adults in learning more around education, literacy or other content areas, this website is sure to have something new for you.
Webinar
5. The First Steps to Science of Reading: A Closer Look at Foundational Skills
Phonological Awareness, decoding, and sight recognition are essentials for reading instruction, but they’re not always found in every classroom. Join Heggerty Literacy Specialist, Lauren Walsh, for a discussion on what foundational skills are and how you can bring these skills to your classroom in a fun and engaging way. In this webinar, Lauren defines each of the skills in the word recognition strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope, unpacks why they are important, and explores ideas on how to help your students grow in phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition!
📥 Free Download: Elkonin Boxes– Elkonin Sound Boxes are used as a visual aid to help children isolate and blend the sounds they hear in spoken words. This free printable provides a template to use with your Heggerty lessons.
Article
6. Print-to-Speech and Speech-to-Print: Mapping Early Literacy by Jeannine Herron, et al.
Do you work with early learners and are curious about what the essential components of early literacy instruction should be? Easing the debate of speech to print and print-to-speech, a group of researchers and practitioners gathered a summary of what they believe are the most important components of early literacy instruction. Read this article published by reading rockets to learn more about what children need to be successful with literacy.
eBooks
7. Science of Reading Defining Guide from The Reading League
The Reading League has developed a Science of Reading Defining Guide that shares information for anyone looking to learn more about the Science of Reading. This is a great conversation piece to use during professional learning sessions, as well as an excellent resource to learn more about the why and the importance of the Science of Reading.
We believe in a future where a collective focus on applying the science of reading through teacher and leader preparation, classroom application, and community engagement will elevate and transform every community, every nation, through the power of literacy.
The Reading League, Science of Reading Defining Guide
📚 Heggerty: Learn more about our curriculum, download free resources & shop on our website.
Books
8. Reading Above the Fray by Julia Lindsey
Are you looking to learn more about the importance of foundational skills in helping students to improve their decoding skills? Julia Lindsey’s book Reading Above the Fray is an excellent and easy-to-follow book to learn more about the importance of foundational skills in learning to read. Read to learn more about how oral language and vocabulary, print concepts, phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, and sound-spelling knowledge impact our early readers as they learn to tackle words at an early age.
“It’s important to keep in mind that foundational skills are not an end in themselves, but rather a mean to an end.”
Julia Lindsey, Reading ABove the fray
9. CORE’S Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 3rd Edition
The literacy bible, also known as the CORE’s Teaching Reading Sourcebook, is an excellent resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of reading instruction. With over 15 chapters you can dig deeper into the what, why and how of each reading skill and walk away with practical takeaways. This sourcebook is a great tool for learning, full of resources for planning, and covers all things reading.
The population of ELLs in the United States continues to grow and in 2019, 10.4% of students in the United States (5.4 million) were labeled English Learners (Institute of Educational Sciences). Dr. Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, an early literacy expert, and an expert in working with the ELL population, recently published a book titled Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction. This book is a phenomenal resource for teachers and educators who work with students that are learning English as a second language and struggle to find ways to support their literacy learning.
💻 Free Webinar: Phonemic Awareness with English Language Learners– Watch this on-demand webinar to learn more about the importance of phonemic awareness with English language learners in both Tier 1 and small group settings.
This book shares the work of leading literacy experts on how to design and target structured literacy interventions, especially geared toward at-risk readers. Each chapter focuses on a different component of literacy instruction and features the evidence-based work of a leading expert. Chapters include phonological awareness, basic and multisyllabic word decoding, fluency, spelling, building vocabulary, oral and reading comprehension, and written expression. The chapters are written to share key features of instruction and include case studies, sample intervention activities, lesson plans, and end-of-chapter scenarios to give the reader the opportunity to check for understanding. Structured literacy approaches value explicit, systematic, and sequential instruction and this book is a wonderful addition to any K-6 teacher or interventionist’s toolkit.
⭐️ Want to learn more? Don’t forget to read the original “30 Science of Reading Resources” blog post here! Our literacy specialist curated a list of 30 resources for educators who wish to further their knowledge about the Science of Reading.
Thanks for this great list – your content is so relevant at the right time!