On September 30, I shared a strategy from Read Naturally for explicit instruction on regular high frequency words. Today I want to share strategies from research and my colleagues for systematic, explicit instruction around irregular high frequency words.

In the Teaching foundational reading skills Part 2 webinar, Read Naturally organizes the First 200 High-Frequency Words in a strategic way I haven’t seen organized before. Words with common vowel spellings are on the right and irregular words are on the left. Words with common vowel spellings are words that students can sound out, if they know the letter sounds in the words. Irregular words need to be treated differently in instruction because they do not follow predictable letter sound patterns. Because these words appear in text frequently, we need to offer multi-modal systematic, explicit instruction on the words.

Spell-Out Instruction. In the webinar, at around 15:40, this strategy is introduced:

The teacher models and gradually releases responsibility:

1. 1. Read the word
   2. Spell the word
   3. Read the word

Independent practice: say, trace and write, say letters out loud, say the word again.

Orthographic Mapping.

Orthographic mapping is “the mental process we use to permanently store words for immediate, effortless retrieval. It is the process we use to take an unfamiliar printed word and turn it into an immediately recognisable word.” ~Kilpatrick

Shifting the Balance provides a routine for introducing the irregular part of a word to students in Shift 4:

1. 1. The teacher says the word in a sentence so students can hear it and know how it is used, what it means.
   2. The teacher says the word slowly to stretch out each sound. The students say the word and count the sounds, one sound per finger or counter.
   3. The teacher writes the word while stretching out the sounds.
   4. The teacher shows the students which letters go with each sound by writing the word in an Elkonin box, one box per sound. The teacher reads the word again, using a finger to match each sound with the corresponding letters. Then the teacher points out the tricky part/s of the word.
   5. The students read the word while the teacher points to each part. The teacher erases the word and students say the word, stretching each sound, to write it themselves. Once the word is written, students read it, erase it and repeat this step.
   6. The teacher asks a question using the word to reinforce meaning and usage. Students ask their partners a question using the word and answer the questions.

This Orthographic Mapping: What It Is and How To Do It video models an abbreviated version of the 6 steps above (at 1:30).

Heart Words. Heart words are sight words, words we know “by heart” from having read them many times. In order for irregular high words to become sight words, there are two ideas I want to highlight:

• • When writing irregular words, use one color for letters representing the typical sound. Use another color to write the tricky part of the word.
  • Put a heart above the tricky part of the word, to call students’ attention to that part of the word.

It is important to note that all of these strategies

• use encoding and decoding
• have students reading, writing, and using oral language, and
• are visual, calling out the irregularities in the words.

I hope you all find these strategies useful and I know you will have powerful feedback to help me increase my knowledge of high frequency words. I look forward to hearing from you!