USER GUIDE FOR SAMPLE

READING LESSONS

APRIL 2018
Zachary Weingarten, Ed.D., Tessie Rose Bailey, Ph.D., and Amy Peterson
User Guide for Sample Reading Lessons

Zachary Weingarten, Ed.D., Tessie Rose Bailey, Ph.D., and Amy Peterson,
National Center on Intensive Intervention at American Institutes for Research

This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
Grant No. HH326Q160001. Celia Rosenquist is the OSEP project officer. The views expressed herein do not
necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by
the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this publication
is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part
is granted. Although permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: Weingarten,
Z., Bailey, T. R., & Peterson A. (2018). User guide for sample reading lessons. Washington, DC: National Center
on Intensive Intervention, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 3

Introduction

The National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) provides a series of reading lessons to support
special education instructors, reading interventionists, and others working with students who struggle
with reading. These lessons address key reading skills and incorporate instructional principles that can
help intensify and individualize reading instruction. The reading lessons are examples of brief instructional
routines that may be used to supplement reading interventions, programs, or curricula that are currently in
place. These lessons are designed to supplement, not supplant, reading instruction and interventions for
struggling readers. They do not represent an exhaustive reading curriculum. It is expected that teachers
would customize these lessons to meet the needs of their target students.

The NCII reading lessons provide standards aligned instructional routines that
incorporate the intervention principles described in Section 2 of this guide.
DID YOU KNOW?
The lessons are adapted with permission from materials made available from
NCII Reading Lessons generally
the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk and the Florida Center
take no more than 5–10 minutes,
for Reading Research. Teachers can use the lessons to supplement current
making them easy to implement
instructional programs or interventions. For example, a teacher may want to
across the curriculum.
provide an additional dose of vocabulary instruction after identifying vocabulary
as an area of need for a student or group of students. In this case, the teacher
can incorporate the vocabulary routines into the program or intervention that is currently in place in order
to provide additional explicit instruction and practice opportunities.

This guide is intended to accompany the sample reading lessons and activities on the NCII website.
It is divided into four sections.

ƒ Section 1: The Five Components of Reading. This section provides a brief overview of the five
components of reading instruction addressed in the lesson plans.

ƒ Section 2: Instructional Principles of Reading Instruction Intervention. This section summarizes

key instructional principles for intensifying reading instruction highlighted in the lesson plans.

ƒ Section 3: How to Use the NCII Reading Lessons. This section describes how the reading lessons
are structured and can be used.

ƒ Section 4: Additional Resources. To support further learning, this section includes a list of additional
resources to support struggling readers.
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SECTION 1
The Five Components of Reading

The NCII reading lessons are organized around the

five components of reading identified by the National
Reading Panel (2000):

ƒ phonemic awareness

ƒ phonics

ƒ fluency

ƒ vocabulary

ƒ comprehension

Intervention programs for struggling readers may

focus on just one or a few of these components,
or may include all five components. The National
Reading Panel (2000) found that explicit instruction
in phonemic awareness, systematic phonics instruction, guided oral reading, and direct vocabulary
instruction are effective practices for improving reading outcomes. Below is a comparison of the
five essential components.

Reading What
Did You Know?
Component Is It?

Phonemic The ability to ƒ Instruction in phonemic awareness helps children learn to decode and spell new words.
awareness identify and ƒ It provides an important foundation for reading development.
manipulate the
ƒ It does not involve teaching the relationships between letter sounds and letter
smallest units of
names, and instead it focuses on the sounds heard in words.
sound in spoken
language ƒ Phonemic awareness skills develop through oral activities such as rhyming,
segmenting, and blending of letter sounds.

Phonics Knowledge of ƒ It includes instruction in basic letter/sound identification to more complex skills
the relationship such as decoding multisyllabic words.
between letters ƒ Students benefit from practicing letter/sound relationships in isolation as well as
and sounds applying phonics skills in context by reading decodable texts.
ƒ Students benefit from opportunities to practice irregular words and high-frequency
sight words during phonics instruction.
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Reading What
Did You Know?
Component Is It?

Fluency The ability to ƒ Being able to read fluently is important because it allows readers to focus their attention
read accurately on the meaning of the text rather than on decoding individual words and phonemes.
and at an ƒ Guided repeated oral reading with teacher feedback is an effective strategy for
appropriate improving the reading fluency and word recognition skills of elementary school
pace students.

Vocabulary Knowledge ƒ Students learn new vocabulary both through direct instruction as well as through
of words and conversations with peers and adults.
what they mean ƒ When directly teaching vocabulary, teachers provide student-friendly definitions and
connect the word to the text that is being read.
ƒ Students are provided opportunities to use word learning strategies including the
analysis of word parts and use of context clues.

Comprehension The ability to ƒ Explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies helps students recognize
understand and apply ways of thinking that strong readers use to understand text (Shanahan
written text et al., 2010).
ƒ These strategies help students become more purposeful and active when they read
and can be used before reading, during reading, and after reading.
ƒ Reading comprehension strategies include activating prior knowledge and making
predictions, self-monitoring for understanding, asking and answering questions,
making inferences, and summarizing or retelling.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 6

Sample NCII Reading Lessons Available by Reading Component

Phonemic awareness ƒ Blending

ƒ First Sound Isolation
ƒ Syllable Isolation
ƒ Phoneme Segmentation

Phonics ƒ Read and Write Words With Consonant Blends

ƒ Change One Letter
ƒ Short or Long
ƒ Concentration
ƒ Ladders
ƒ Hide and Seek

Fluency ƒ Letter-Sound Identification 1: Quick Sounds

ƒ Building Automaticity: Letter Sound Identification 2: Snap
ƒ Letter Sound Identification 3: Beat the Clock

Vocabulary ƒ Base Words and Affixes

ƒ Base Words and Prefixes
ƒ New Vocabulary
ƒ Identify and Define Multiple-Meaning Words in Context
ƒ Identify and Sort Common Objects Into Categories

Comprehension ƒ Word Learning: Context Clues

ƒ Generating Examples and Nonexamples of Words
ƒ Word Knowledge: Semantic Feature Analysis
ƒ Word Knowledge: Semantic Mapping
ƒ Part 1: Identifying Text Structures
ƒ Part 2: Identifying Narrative Text Structures
ƒ Part 3: Identifying Expository Structures
ƒ Part 4: Graphic Organizers for Text Structures

NCII will continue to add new sample reading lessons. Visit the NCII website for the most recent collection.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 7

SECTION 2
Instructional Principles of Reading Instruction Intervention

This section defines the instructional principles outlined

in the instructional routines and provides examples of
how these instructional principles can be applied while
implementing the routines. The instructional principles
discussed in this guide are:

ƒ explicit instruction;

ƒ systematic instruction;

ƒ precise, simple, and replicable language;

ƒ repeated opportunities to practice, build fluency,

and review;

ƒ frequent opportunities to respond; and

ƒ specific error correction and feedback.

Explicit Instruction
Research demonstrates that explicit instruction is associated with improved reading outcomes among
struggling students (Gersten et al., 2008; National Reading Panel, 2000). In an explicit instruction lesson,
teachers provide modeling, scaffolding, and prompting until students are able to apply a skill independently
(Archer & Hughes, 2011). Although there are no specific guidelines concerning how much time should be
devoted to each phase of an explicit instruction lesson, the bulk of the instruction is likely to occur within
the guided practice phase (NCII, 2013). See the table that follows for further explanation of each of phase.

Lesson Phase Teacher Actions

Modeling ƒ Demonstrate the skill or strategy.

(I do) ƒ Use “think alouds” to describe how to apply the skill or strategy.
ƒ Use clear, consistent, and direct language.
ƒ Involve students in the examples.

Guided practice ƒ Provide prompts and scaffolds to promote student success with the new skill or strategy.
(We do) ƒ Fade prompts as students demonstrate success.
ƒ Ask questions to support students’ understanding.

Unprompted practice ƒ Provide students with an opportunity to apply the skill independently.
(You do) ƒ Monitor student understanding.
ƒ Provide error correction and feedback.
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Systematic Instruction
Systematic instruction is planned in such a way that the skills presented in
each lesson or activity build upon previously taught skills in a logical sequence.
DID YOU KNOW?
Instruction begins with simple skills and move to more complex ones. For
Research has identified “thinking aloud”
example, systematic phonics instruction may begin with initial consonants and
as an effective strategy for working
progress to short vowel and consonant combinations. Additionally, systematic
with students with learning disabilities
instruction includes clear student objectives as well as a plan for assessing
(Vaughn, Gersten, & Chard, 2000).
students’ progress. For many students, teachers plan systematic instruction
in all five components of reading and connect reading instruction across these
five components. However, some of the components of reading are developmental and are unlikely to be
taught after the primary grades, e.g., phonemic awareness.

Precise, Simple, and Replicable Language

Many students in need of intensive intervention have difficulty processing the language that teachers use
when providing instruction. Teachers use precise, simple language and ensure that their instructions and
requests are short and clearly stated. Additionally, teachers use consistent language when modeling a
reading skill or conducting a “think aloud.” Think alouds are ways in which the teacher demonstrate orally
how a skilled reader thinks about a reading task. Short, clear, and consistent phrasing helps students
focus on key information and remember the steps involved in completing a task (Archer & Hughes, 2011).

Example from the

Strategy NCII Reading Lesson
NCII Reading Lessons

Explain the purpose of the “Today we are going to learn about words that have more than Identify and Define Multiple-
lesson using simple language one meaning. This will help us understand what we read.” Meaning Words in Context

Keep instructions and “I’m going to say a word. Next I’ll say the first sound of the word. Phonological Awareness:
requests short and clear Listen: sun /sss/. /sss/ is the first sound in sun. Now let’s say it First Sound Isolation
together: sun, /sss/”

Express the concept in “When you are brisk in the way you move, you are quick and Vocabulary Instructional
a consistent manner active. What does brisk mean? (quick and active)” Routine: New Vocabulary

Repeated Opportunities to Practice, Build Fluency, and Review

Students benefit when teachers provide opportunities for guided practice that includes teacher support of
a previously taught skill, as well as independent practice in which students work individually or in small
groups to develop mastery with previously learned content. Practice opportunities for learned skills
are embedded across the curriculum to increase maintenance and generalization of newly mastered
skills. After students have reached an appropriate level of mastery of the new skill or content, then it is
appropriate for them to engage in related tasks independently. Independent practice follows mastery to
assure that students do not practice mistakes.
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Increasing opportunities for students to practice a reading skill include providing a “double dose” of
instruction in which a previously taught skill is retaught, using small group or one-on-one instruction, and
using technology to facilitate reading practice (Gersten et al., 2008).

Frequent Opportunities to Respond

When providing intervention, teachers may consider ways of increasing students’ opportunity to respond
to instruction. Instruction in small groups is an effective method for increasing students’ opportunities to
respond (Gersten et al., 2008). For students with the most intensive needs, research suggests that groups
of two to four students or one-on-one instruction may be the most effective (Vaughn, Wanzek, Murray, &
Roberts, 2012). The following table provides examples of strategies from the NCII Reading Lessons for
increasing opportunities to respond.

Tool or Technique Examples From NCII Reading Lessons NCII Lesson

Response cards “I’m going to show you a picture. You’ll respond by holding up Identify and Sort Common
the green “yes” card if the picture shows an animal. Hold up the Objects
red “no” card if the picture is not an animal.”

Personal whiteboards “Now it is your turn. Use your whiteboard to write a word and Change One Letter
then change just one letter in it to make a new word.”

Turn and talk to a partner “Now turn to your partners, and 1s whisper to 2s which part Ladders
of the word—the beginning, the middle, or the end—needs to
be changed.”

Choral response Remember, the prefix “re” means again, so “reread” means to Base Words and Prefixes
read again. What does “reread” mean? (read again)

Specific Error Correction and Feedback

Providing students with both positive feedback and error correction is essential to their learning (Hattie
& Timperley, 2007). When students make errors, it is important that they receive immediate feedback so
they do not continue to practice incorrectly. Teachers use precise language to inform the student which
parts of the task were performed incorrectly. Additionally, teachers model the correct response and provide
students with opportunities to practice the skill correctly. Error correction procedures outlined in the NCII
Reading Lesson Plans generally utilize the following three basic steps:

ƒ Step 1. Point out that the answer is incorrect and briefly explain why.

ƒ Step 2. Model the correct response for the student.

ƒ Step 3. Prompt the student to provide a correct response before

moving on in the lesson.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 10

SECTION 3
How to Use the NCII Reading Lessons

The NCII Reading Lessons use a standard format to assist

teachers in implementing the lessons with fidelity and
increasing usability. This section describes the essential
features of the lessons and explains how educators can
implement each part of the lesson.

Part 1. Lessons Standards and Objectives

NCII Reading Lessons are aligned with college- and career-
ready standards. Near the top of each lesson, users will find
a list of grade-level College- and Career-Ready Standards
associated with the lesson plan. In addition, the intended
objective for the lesson plan or routine is listed above
the standards.

Part 2. Suggested Materials and Grouping

Each lesson includes a list of suggested materials. In some cases, the materials are provided at the end
of the lesson plan. These may include teacher or student materials necessary to conduct the lesson.
Some lesson plans, such as First Sound Isolation or Phoneme Segmentation, require users to download
supplemental materials found on the NCII website. Having the materials selected and ready prior to
implementation helps maximize the instructional time with the student(s).

The suggested schedule and grouping size are meant to serve as a guide and may be adjusted to
match student need and intervention schedule. Most lessons suggest daily instruction for no more
than 5 minutes per session. As mentioned previously, these lessons are meant to supplement existing
intervention and instruction. For students who need additional exposure or opportunities, consider
embedding the lesson content throughout the instructional day. Because of the explicit, systematic nature
of the lessons, it is recommended that group sizes be no more than five students (Vaughn et al., 2012).
This will provide ample opportunities for student response and feedback.

Part 3. Instructional Principles and Instructional Routine

The next part of the lesson plan includes the instructional routines and associated intervention
and instructional principles. The first column lists the instructional principles discussed in Section 2:
Instructional Principles of Reading Instruction Intervention that appear in the lesson. The second column
describes how the instructional principles are implemented during the lesson. It also includes the
instructional routines, or steps, for implementing the lesson. The following script is an example of
how this part looks in the lesson plan.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 11

The script includes words that are bolded, italicized, placed in parentheses, or a combination of these.
The purpose is to clarify what the teachers says and does versus what the students may say or do.
The following key will be helpful in interpreting the sample script and procedures.

The following guide can help with interpreting the sample script and lesson procedures.

Text Format Interpretation

Bold text Bold, nonitalicized text is intended to represent sample language the teacher may SAY to the students.

Italicized text Italicized text represents what teachers or students will DO or SAY during the lesson. In some cases,
sample student responses will be provided.

General text Text that is neither bolded nor italicized is used to provide information to the educators to assist them in
conducting the lesson. For example, this text may provide additional examples, explanation of a strategy,
or extension activities.

Part 4. Error Correction Procedures

Each lesson will include a sample script or procedures for correcting student errors. The script will follow
the same text format as described in the previous section. In some cases, general information about
error correction procedures are provided as opposed to a sample script. As with other routines, these are
offered as a model, and users may decide to adapt parts of the script to match the individual needs
of students.

Selecting Appropriate NCII Reading Lessons

Educators use diagnostic data to identify instructional needs and match appropriate instruction to those
needs. Diagnostic tools in reading can be either informal, which are easy to use and can be administered with
little training, or standardized, which must be delivered in a standard way by well-trained staff. Educators may
find it helpful to initially consider using more informal and easily accessible diagnostic tools and data to avoid
loss of instructional time. Standardized diagnostic tools that require more time to administer and interpret
may be required for students who continually demonstrate a lack of response or require special education.

The table that follows provides examples of informal and standardized diagnostic assessments that may be
used in the data-based individualization (DBI) process. The purpose of the table is to provide an illustrative
sampling of literacy diagnostic tools available to educators. The table’s content is neither comprehensive nor
intended to be viewed as NCII recommended tools. Unlike our behavior progress monitoring tools chart and
academic progress monitoring tools chart, these diagnostic tools have not been evaluated independently by
an NCII technical review committee.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 12

Sample Diagnostic Literacy Tools

Examples of common diagnostic ƒ Error Analysis in Word Reading and Spelling*

data sources ƒ Phonics Inventory*
ƒ Running records
ƒ Intervention or curricula specific diagnostic tools
ƒ Word list reading (e.g., Dolch, Fry, curriculum sight word lists)
ƒ Analysis of student work (e.g., classroom assignments, work samples, tests)
ƒ Observation and anecdotal notes
ƒ Student or family interviews or checklists about reading behaviors

Examples of published tools for ƒ Developmental Reading Assessment®, 2nd Edition PLUS (DRA2+)
diagnostic assessment** ƒ Diagnostic Assessment of Reading™ (DAR™)
ƒ Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI)/Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)
ƒ Quick Phonics Screener, 3rd Edition

*These tools are available through the NCII website at no charge.

**These tools are only available through a publisher and may have an associated cost.

Considerations for Using the Lesson Plans

1. The NCII Reading Lessons include a script as a model that may be adapted by teachers. Before
implementing the NCII reading lessons, teachers are encouraged to review the plan and consider
what adaptations, if any, are needed to meet the needs of the target student(s). For example,
teachers may wish to substitute easier or more challenging words in the examples.

2. Prior to implementing the lesson, gather the necessary materials and have them easily accessible
during the lesson. Having the materials selected and ready prior to implementation helps maximize
the instructional time with the student(s).

3. Because of the explicit, systematic nature of the lessons, it is recommended that group sizes be no
more than five students, though it may be necessary to adjust based on individual student needs.
This will provide ample opportunities for students’ response and feedback.

4. The NCII reading lessons suggest daily instruction for no more than five to 10 minutes per session. As
mentioned previously, these lessons are meant to supplement existing intervention and instruction.
For students who need additional exposure or opportunities, consider embedding the lesson content
throughout the instructional day.
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 13

SECTION 4
Additional Resources

The following list of selected resources can be used by school personnel to support students who struggle
with reading and students with disabilities. These resources are organized by center and are not intended as
an exhaustive list of resources available.

Center Resources

The Meadows Center for ƒ Designing and Delivering Intensive Interventions: A Teacher’s Toolkit
Preventing Educational ƒ Intensive Interventions for Students Struggling in Reading and Mathematics: A Practice Guide
Risk
ƒ Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Practice Brief

The IRIS Center at ƒ Intensive Intervention (Part 1): Using Data-Based Individualization to Intensify Instruction
Vanderbilt University ƒ Intensive Intervention (Part 2): Collecting and Analyzing Data for Data-Based Individualization
ƒ PALS: A Reading Strategy for Grades K–1
ƒ PALS: A Reading Strategy for Grades 2–6
ƒ CSR: A Reading Comprehension Strategy
ƒ RTI (Part 3): Reading Instruction
ƒ Progress Monitoring: Reading

Florida Center for ƒ Student Center Activities

Reading Research ƒ School Leader’s Literacy Walkthrough

What Works ƒ Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier
Clearinghouse Intervention in the Primary Grades
ƒ Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9
ƒ Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
ƒ Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade

Regional Educational ƒ Toolkit for Differentiating Reading Instruction for Grades K–3
Laboratories ƒ Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Middle School (PRISMS) Toolkit

National Center on ƒ Literacy Strategies to Support Intensifying Intervention

Intensive Intervention ƒ Academic Intervention Tools Chart
ƒ Academic Progress Monitoring Tools Chart
ƒ Standards-Relevant Instruction & Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), or Response
to Intervention
ƒ Error Analysis in Word Reading and Spelling
 SAMPLE READING LESSONS | 14

References

Archer, A., & Hughes, C. (2011). Explicit instruction: Effective and efficient teaching. New York, NY:
Guilford Publications.

Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C.M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan-Thompson, S., & Tilly, W.D. (2008).
Assisting students struggling with reading: Response to Intervention and multi-tier intervention for reading
in the primary grades. A practice guide. (NCEE 2009-4045). Washington, DC: National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Retrieved from [Link]

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.

National Center on Intensive Intervention. (2013). Data-based individualization: A framework for intensive
intervention. Washington, DC: Office of Special Education, U.S. Department of Education.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel—Teaching children to read: An
evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for
reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., & Torgesen, J.
(2010). Improving reading comprehension in kindergarten through 3rd grade: A practice guide (NCEE
2010-4038). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance,
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from [Link]
ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/14

Vaughn, S., Gersten, R., & Chard, D. J. (2000). The underlying message in LD intervention research:
Findings from research syntheses. Exceptional Children, 67, 99–114.

Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Murray, C. S., & Roberts, G. (2012). Intensive interventions for students struggling
in reading and mathematics. A practice guide. Washington, DC: Center on Instruction.
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