Routine · Longer words
Flexible routine for big words
A step-by-step way into any long word: circle the parts, find the vowels, split, read, flex, check.
- Time
- 4 to 7 minutes
- Skill
- Longer words
- In a session plan
- Word reading
When to use it
Late in the sequence, and for older students who can read short words but freeze at long ones.
Materials
- The word list
- A pencil
Steps
Shown with example words: word fantastic; words fantastic, dentist, pumpkin.
Get ready
Show fantastic. Tell the student there is a plan for any long word.
I do
Think aloud through the plan: circle any prefix and suffix, dot the vowels in what is left, split into syllables, read each part, then read the whole word.
Say: Circle the parts I know. Dot the vowels. Split. Read each part. Put it together: fantastic.
Show the last step: if the word does not sound right, change one vowel sound or move a line and try again, then ask whether it is a real word.
We do
Work through the next word together, the student leading each step while you prompt with the step names.
You do
The student works through fantastic, dentist, pumpkin using the plan.
Student: Circles, dots, splits, reads, and flexes when needed.
Check
Read a sentence with one of the words in it. Ask what the word means there.
If the student...
Gives up after the first part.
Point to the next dotted vowel and say that each part has one. Read the first part together, then cover all but the next part. Continue part by part, then read the whole word.
Reads a part as a different word they know.
Point back to the letters in that part and read it sound by sound. Then reread the whole word from the first part.
Tips
- Write the plan as a short list on a card the student keeps. Fade it as the steps become automatic.
- Older students often prefer this to drills. Use words from their science or history books.
- In a group, assign each step to a different student for the first word, then everyone does all steps.
Example words
- Word
- fantastic
- Words
- fantastic, dentist, pumpkin
Original routines written by Literacy Trail. In the app, every routine is filled with your student's lesson.
Related routines
- Circle the parts, read the baseCircle a prefix and suffix, read the base word, then put the parts back together.3 to 6 minutes · Word reading
- Split between two consonantsFind the two vowels, split between the consonants in the middle, read each part, then the word.4 to 6 minutes · Word reading
- One consonant between vowels: try long, then shortSplit before the middle consonant and try the first vowel long; if it does not make a word, split after it and try it short.4 to 6 minutes · Word reading
- Sound-by-sound blendingRead a new word one sound at a time, joining each sound to the ones before it.3 to 6 minutes · Word reading
Have this routine filled in for every lesson
In Literacy Trail, the session plan picks a routine for each block and fills it with the words, sounds and sentence from your student's lesson. Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial.