Get informed around the differences between decodable readers and leveled readers and when to use each in this blog post from the Iowa Reading Research Center.

FastBridge sight words are high-frequency words that are frequently found in text for beginning readers. These are not all true sight or heart words. If these sight words are taught in conjunction with an explicit phonics program it will give students access to reading more connected text at the beginning reading level. Click on Sight Words in Early Reading Instruction to learn more about FastBridge Sight Words.

Click on Sight Word Movies to find movies with the FastBridge sight words using an explicit instructional routine. These movies may be used asynchronously for instruction and practice. In the future, these movies may be great for independent practice during centers or as part of an intervention.

The google slides of the words are also included at the link so that teachers can customize the words taught each week and use an instructional routine that is already familiar to their own students.

This lesson supports educators in using technology to teach foundational reading skills to students in elementary grades. During this virtual literacy lesson, students engage in a variety of facilitated activities to support phonemic awareness, phoneme-grapheme correspondence, irregular and high-frequency words, writing, and connected text. Educators may present this lesson to students one-on-one or in a small group. The templates were adapted from content developed by the University of Florida Literacy Institute to support educators implementing virtual instruction. The collection includes a tip sheet, video examples, and slides illustrating the lesson.

“...essential to literacy is the ability to closely read complex text—to understand what it says and how it says it. Struggling readers traditionally have not been allowed to experience reading complex texts. Successful ELA programs build the confidence and competence of these students through engaging them in multiple readings of grade-appropriate complex text for different purposes. It also means scaffolding the reading experience through a series of text-dependent and text-specific questions and other supports. Simply put, close reading provides all students with the opportunity to engage with the rich complex text that is critical for keeping their post-secondary dreams alive” (Pimentel, 2017).

Check out the Framework for Preparing, Implementing, and Assessing Close Reading Lessons as well as this Short Guide to Creating Questions for Close Analytical Reading