I have a couple of low students in my class who are pretty strong with their letters and sounds...but they are having trouble with reading and writing. What is the next step with these kids? What should I focus on next? Suggestions?
Well if they are low in reading and writing, but they have strength in their letters and sounds- they need to learn how to take those letters and sounds to create words. First make sure they really do have the ability to find the beginning/middle/end sound of a word, along with recognize long and short vowels. Then, I would work on segmenting and blending words. Make sure they can combine words with digraphs and blends. Look at base words with special endings and compound words, or words with that silent e. By working on building words up, students can then continue to put the skills together when reading.
