Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills

by Julia B. Lindsey

Dr. Julia B. Lindsey’s evidence-based routines help young readers decode words efficiently so they can spend more energy on comprehending—and enjoying—what they read! You’ll
1. Need-to-know essentials of how kids learn to read.
2. Principles of high-quality foundational skills instruction.
3. Teacher-approved instructional “swaps” to improve early reading instruction.
Dr. Lindsey addresses content learning, culturally responsive practices, and the importance of engaging readers from the start.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Professional Development, School

160 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2022

Reviews

[Krista]

This is an excellent educational book to understand the science of reading and how to apply it in the classroom for grades K-2. Lots to take in. Very informative, especially as I study for the STR. I marked my book up with notes and expect to reference it often in the classroom as needed.

[Jill Culmo]

4.5 stars rounded to 5

This is a straightforward text from which beginning literacy educators who are wanting to align their practice with research can benefit. Easy to implement ideas for teaching early literacy skills and decoding are included. I especially appreciated the chapter on decoding multisyllabic words--a topic on which there are not many professional resources available. This is the book I wish I had last semester when teaching my college junior-level course on the science of teaching reading.

[Becky]

Not sure why it took me so long to finish. I just wanted to read other fun things first I guess. This is a good overview of basic reading instruction. Here are some of my take aways -

Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of reading instruction, and each chapter follows the basic outline of 1 - how the instruction should be explicit and systematic (told what they need to know and have it taught in a logical way) 2 - instruction that is effective and efficient 3 - it should respond to learners' needs 4 - integrate the skills into both reading and writing

National Reading Panel outlines the following foundational skills - alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatic naming, concepts about print, print knowledge, oral language, visual processing
Common Core outlines - print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency
What works clearinghouse practice guide - oral language and academic vocabulary, phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency

This book covers
- decoding and its essential elements (phonics is "a type of instruction, specifically instruction in sound-spelling relationships and in using those relationships to spell" decoding is how to use sound-spelling relationships to read ("decoding is the product of phonemic awareness and knowledge of sound spelling correspondence" it utilizes the skills of oral language and vocabulary, print concepts, phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, and sound-spelling knowledge),
orthographic mapping
-oral language and vocabulary
- print concepts- print knowledge is "knowledge about written language, both in how it operates and how it's spelled, or its orthography" print concepts "relate how printed texts operate, starting from very basic to more complex (print meaning, text organization, sentence organization, letter and word knowledge) - don't have to have all this mastered before starting alphabet instruction
-phonemic awareness - ability to hear and manipulate sounds in language, only a few minutes a day needed, - Phonological awareness includes syllables, rhymes, onset and rimes, and phonemic awareness (which in turns includes beginning of word, ending of word, middle of a word, generating, isolating, segmenting, blending) - hear and distinguish phonemes/sounds, generate - say phonemes, isolate - hear and identify, blend, segment, manipulate, can add letters with it, sound boxes, start with continuous sounds - m, s, f, l, r, n, v, z
- alphabet knowledge "knowing name, form, and common sounds for each alphabet letter", teacher letter names and sounds together, don't teach letters that are too similar at the same time - either by form or sound, devote more time to harder to learn letters - lmnop (middle of alphabet), bdck (similar in form or sound), hqwy (mismatched names and sounds), wxyjqy (infrequent letters), in K ideal to introduce 3 letters a week, slower in preschool, possible scope and sequence mtabsnperdlcifkjvoughvzxwy - then review infrequent wxzjqy, mismatch sounds and names hqwycgs, visit middle, visual similar - EF, MNW, PR, bd pq mnu, revisit vowels - kids needs should also drive review, use century gothic font, letter m spells the sound /m/
- sound-spelling knowledge - phoneme with grapheme, phonics - mapping spelling to sounds, this is more than alphabet knowledge - e.g. /i/ can be eigh in height, 44 phonemes and it least 250 ways to spell them, focus first on highest utility of sound-spelling relationships, orthography - spelling, most effective activities will have reading and spelling and be hands on with manipulatives, word ladders, sort the sound, building words are examples
- using the elements to decode words - assess frequently - as much as 1 x a week, write/decode words in isolation, apply decoding practice across all subjects -integrate into all areas, research supports the value of decodable texts (more likely to be accurate in reading and rely less on teacher, early use may help children apply phonics and not guess, support beginning readers at any level and multilingual learners), beyonddecodables.com, textproject.org, decodables should be at least 80 percent decodable (total words - not decodable words)/total words
-add the elements for chunking - chunk multisyllable words, morphology - affixes (prefix and suffix) root words, syllables, syllables are units of pronunciation, one vowel sound, build awareness about syllable types, and are useful but only a part, morphology - morpheme smallest unit of meaning in a word, morphemes that can stand on their own are free morphemes, bound morphemes cannot stand on their own, inflectional morphemes - change grammatical property of the word (ed, s, ing) - change tense or pluralize, indicate possessive, derivational morphemes (affixes) added to root word to change meaning of the word, affixes are stable, good morpheme focuses on utility and follow a reasonable scope and sequence, use PQRST to analyze word - P - prefix, QR _ queen root, s - look for suffix, t - tie all parts together, pronounce word
- 10 fluency - reading accurately and automatically with prosody , fluency and comprehension go hand in hand

other resources mentioned - Bring Words to Life by Isabel Beck, What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide: Improving reading comprehension; Melissa and Lori Love Literacy podcast
speak to print by louisa cook moats, https://www.nellkduke.org/, megabook of fluency by rasinski

[Ellen]

This is a great book that really walks you through the importance of Foundational skills to develop thoughtful decoders in early readers. It brings the importance of phonemic awareness and decoding to the growing understanding of what it means to read. I liked the very pragmatic "swaps" that can be made to current teaching practice to bring it all up a notch for our students. I also liked the discussions about decodable text to be used as a means of decoding practice - but also the fact that these texts should be engaging and meaningful. Who knew that Captain Underpants is a decodable text!!??

[Shalynn]

As the title implies, this book is meant to be a discussion on teaching reading without getting into the arguments and debates surrounding best practices. Julia Lindsey presents clear and concise tips and information on implementing research-backed practices. It makes for a wonderful resource I know I can return to easily based on the layout. Each chapter goes over a specific foundational skill and gives ideas on how to start implementing changes immediately.

[Morgan]

I finished this book and forgot to update my progress! I enjoyed this book and all the tips and tricks it includes to help teach literacy. There were times I found it hard to read certain chapters, but only because I had already learned about the topics in a previous semester.

Overall, this book was/is very helpful and informative. I will use it along with other materials I have gained in my future teaching!

[Marlene Scholfield]

This was one of the presenters during the Title 1 Conference.. just getting around to reading her complete text.. great reminders in here about how to start pivoting your SOR instruction and keeping foundational skills at the forefront because that will help develop proficient readers.. happy reading

[Abbey Ferris]

What a truly excellent read! I’ll be using this with both my undergraduate and graduate students as they take their literacy practicums. I appreciate Dr. Lindsey’s emphasis on joy, responsiveness, and research-informed practices that move beyond the noise. I also appreciate the way she highlights contextualized instruction.

[Lisa]

This book is an overview of the science of reading without committing to a particular program. This was used in my professional book club. It caused varied discussions. How to teach reading brings about much debate depending upon which side of the reading wars you subscribe to.

[Kari]

I have read several books based on reading research. I was looking forward to adding to my bank of activities to support my students but didn’t find this book particularly helpful in that area. It is geared more towards early primary.

[Beth Huntley]

Outstanding book (and webinar) designed to support and increase reading practice with students. Easy swaps available in each chapter for teachers...plenty of research and connections to the classroom.

[Chloë Edmonson]

Fascinating to learn the building blocks of reading. I discovered so many strategies I can use at home w my kid. It’s definitely geared to early ed teachers but it’s organized in such a way that I was able to work my way through it!

[Carrie Davis]

If you are looking to get the Science of Reading in a concise read, this is the book. The chapters are short and packed with information. Great for a Book Study. Author provides resources that are useful for educators!

[Niki Schuster]

I read this for PD for work. My math background has minimal knowledge about literacy, especially for elementary students. This was super helpful, has a great breakdown of all the components of literacy and how they work together to make fluent readers who read with comprehension.

[Tracy]

Easy to follow with helpful charts and tips throughout the book. Suggested routines are easy to implement.

[Heather]

Excellent resource for elementary teachers!

[April]

I like the swaps.

[Kristin Lawrence]

I read through this in one day and definitely plan to go back and go through each chapter in more detail. It aligns with the LETRS training I’m working on. I love this book.

[Denise]

This is a fantastic resource for K and 1st grade teachers! Lots of good tips and reasons/research behind the why of Science of Reading.

[Shaime]

If you want to learn about the science of reading, this should be your first book. It introduces all areas without being overwhelming. Great starting point.

[Kassie Rybeck]

Informative and practical tips/swaps to try out. Quick and easy to understand read.

[Lori Emilson]

Great little book that spells out the components necessary for teaching students to read words. Very useful for K-2 teachers.

[Jennifer Lones]

Good general information for K-2, if you are unfamiliar with the science of reading. If you are already proficient in SOR this is more of the same.

[Trinadey Coville]

great for phonics instruction

[Casey]

Skimmed this one. It's more or less a repeat of things I just learned in my graduate program, but I'll revisit this book.

[Mylie McKissack]

Great strategies and information.

[Sami ❤️ fallinginlovewithreading]

Lots of good info for teachers in this one! :)

[Gracie]

sad i had to give this book back to school

[Delonna Gibbs]

Reading Above the Fray is filled with tips, examples and “do tomorrow” action steps. Plan to gift this book to a couple of teachers.

[Valerie D]

Wow, I’ve never been one of the first reviewers of a book before, this is a lot of pressure???

I read this for grad school and I love how direct and accessible it is. Unlike some other reading instruction resources, it stays light on the jargon and is easy to digest for teachers who are often already overloaded with professional learning resources. Many chapters are paired with easily applicable instructional strategies, or as the author calls them, “do it tomorrow” strategies. I love the research-based discussion on how some aspects of early literacy influence others or correlate with others. I also appreciate the focus on culturally relevant learning and student motivation - two topics that sometimes get brushed over when we talk about reading instruction. Overall, great resource for any reading teachers, but especially those in the PK-3 grades.