None of the four students could spell more than two of the words accurately. The high-frequency words the students were responsible for knowing in this lesson were the color words: blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, and green. Her students had learned to read CVC words and this was their first lesson with digraphs. We observed her teaching the digraph th to a group of four Tier 3 first grade students. It is as if the high-frequency words are a special set of words that need to be memorized and can’t be learned using sound–symbol relationships.Ī number of years ago, a teacher we respect enormously asked for help because many of her Tier 2 students and all of her Tier 3 students in first and second grades were failing to learn high-frequency words, even though they were progressing in their phonics lessons. For years we have been struck that even schools embracing research-based reading instruction teach high-frequency words through rote memorization.
We have visited many schools to observe intervention lessons and core reading instruction.
