Core
Intervention
Strategy
Manual
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Introduction
The Core Intervention Strategy Manual is designed to assist teachers in delivering
research-based instructional strategies when teaching the core language arts
curriculum.
Teachers may use these strategies along with the core reading in order to enhance
their instructional strategies. Academic Support Specialists can assist with resources or
by modeling or observing and critiquing teachers in their use of the strategies.
Intervention teachers may use these strategies with the small groups of students they
serve in order to frontload material before students encounter their material in the
regular classroom.
As teachers begin incorporating these strategies with the core curriculum, we hope to
add to this manual by including lesson plans that align with the intervention strategies,
the curriculum resources and pacing guide
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Reading—Phonemic Awareness
PHONEMIC AWARENESS INTERVENTIONS
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Reading—Phonemic Awareness
Elkonin Boxes
Grade Levels: K-2
Specific Skills Assessed: Phoneme segmentation and blending
Individual or group administration: Can be individual or as a group
Approximate Time: A class period, depending on amount of words to complete
Description: Elkonin boxes can be used to teach phonemic awareness by having
students listen for individual sounds and marking where they hear them in the boxes.
Each box in an Elkonin box card represents one phoneme, or sound. Though not
originally intended for teaching spelling, Elkonin boxes can be used to practice spelling
from a synthetic phonics point of view.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Have children draw three boxes on a sheet of paper or dry-erase board.
2. Distribute counters to the children. Have them place counters above the boxes.
Model the activities before children begin.
3. For each phoneme, children move a counter to each box in a left-to-right
progression. For example: Say the word let.
4. Children move the counters that represent the sounds they hear in the word: /l/
/e/ /t/
5. Children say the word again, sliding their finger below the boxes from left to
right: let.
Other Information:
 Ask children to listen for a certain sound in a word. Say a word that has that
sound. Children place a counter in the first box if they hear the sound in the
beginning of the word, in the middle box if they hear the sound in the middle of
the word, and in the last box if they hear it at the end of the word.
For example, “Listen for the /m/ sound in the following words. Place a counter in
the first box if you hear the /m/ sound at the beginning of the word; place a
counter in the middle box if you hear the sound in the middle of the word; or
place it in the last box if you hear the /m/ sound at the end of the word. Listen
carefully: ham.”
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Reading—Phonemic Awareness
 Replace the counters with several letters after appropriate letter-sound
correspondences have been introduced. For example, give children the letters a,
l, p, s, and n. Have children place the corresponding letters in the boxes for the
phonemes as you say words. For example, say, “Lap. The cat sat in my lap.”
 Have children write letters in the boxes as you dictate words. For example, say,
“Spell the word big. The big dog barked at the squirrel.”
Other Resources: http://bogglesworldesl.com/elkonin_boxes.htm,
http://www.u-46.org/dbs/roadmap/files/Appendix/5Elkonin-soundbox.pdf
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8289362/Elkonin-Boxes-Cards
Video Demonstrations:
www.easdpa.org/EarlyChildhoodEducation/Elkonin.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOqXpltuLpo
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Reading—Phonemic Awareness
Sound Sorts
Grade Levels: Primary Grades
Specific Skills Assessed: Phonemic Awareness of beginning, middle and ending sounds
Individual or group administration: This can be administered with a partner, by
themselves or under the teacher’s direction.
Approximate Time: Depending on the student, a few minutes to 10 to 20 minutes.
Description: Students will use pictures to sort by initial consonant sound, rhyme, or
the number of syllables.
Steps in Intervention Delivery: Teacher models picture sorts first. Students are given a
group of pictures to place under the letter sound that it begins with. For example, the
students may have a picture of a ball at the top of one column and a dog at the top of
another column. The student is holding a picture of a baby, which should be placed
under the picture of the ball. Have them say the names of the pictures as they place
them under the correct letter. After working with the teacher to complete the guided
activity students can work independently for more practice.
Other Resources:
Picture This! Picture Sorting for Alphabetics, Phonemes, and Phonics by Shari
Nielson-Dunn, M.Ed.
Words Their Way by Donald Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, Francine
Johnston.
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Reading—Phonemic Awareness
“Say it Fast”
Grade Levels: Pre-k through 2nd
Specific Skills Assessed: This activity is conducted to improve phoneme
segmentation by saying words and taking them apart. It reinforces their ability to
properly articulate words from their separate phonemes.
Individual or group administration: Large group, small group, or individually
Approximate Time: 10 minutes
Description: The teacher will explain to the students that they will play a game
called “Say it Slow/Say it Fast.” In that game students will have to listen to what
the instructor does to the words (familiar and unfamiliar). Teacher will break the
word up into word parts slowly and gradually increase to say it fast. Say it slow then
say it fast.
Steps in Intervention Delivery: Choose words with single syllables then complete
with multi-syllabication and gradually go from syllables (ti-ger) to onset-rime
(c-ake) to individual phonemes (c-a-t).
Other Information:
 Pictures or images of the words are helpful while administering the activity.
 This activity can be done with letter tiles. Each tile should represent a
phoneme (Example /sh/ should be written on ONE tile as “sh”). As the
student says the phonemes faster and faster, he or she pushes up the letter
tiles while saying the sound.
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Reading—Phonics
PHONICS INTERVENTIONS
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Reading—Phonics
Alphabet Arc
Grade Levels: K-1
Specific Skills Assessed: Letter Names and Sounds
Individual or group administration: Can be individual or as a group
Approximate Time: 5-10 minutes
Description: The student will name and match letters of the alphabet using the
alphabet arc(s).
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Place the Alphabet Arc and the set of letters on a flat surface.
2. The teacher points to each letter and says its name/sound. The student
echoes the teacher.
3. The student chooses a letter, names it (e.g., "p"), and places it on the
corresponding letter on the Alphabet Arc. Continues until all letters are
matched.
4. The teacher points to random letters and the student identifies letter
name/sound.
5. Students match lowercase letters on clothespins to uppercase letters on a
circle. Place the uppercase letter circle and clothespins on a flat surface.
Taking turns, students choose a clothespin, name the letter (e.g. "a"), and
place it on the corresponding uppercase letter on the circle. Continue until
all letters are matched.
Other Information:
 Ask student to put both arms in the air above their heads. Demonstrate with
your back to the student that the right hand is the after hand. Have student
lower his/her right arms as they say, “My right hand is my after hand.” Ask
student to form the pointer fingers of both hands into a pointer and point to the
letter T on their mats as they say t. Ask the student to move his/her after (right)
hand to the letter after T. Ask the student to name the letter after T. Then ask
the student to say in a sentence: “U comes after T.” Continue through 4 or 5
more letters with the same process.
 The student places the letters in the center of his/her mat and turns the letters
right side up. Student is led to find the first letter of the alphabet (A) and place it
on the arc at the bottom of the mat. Then the student is led to find and place
each letter of the alphabet on the arc on the mat on top of the matching letter.
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Reading—Phonics
After placing the 26 letters, the student touches and names the 26 letters again.
As student places the letters back into the bag, student says the letter names
again. If a student continues having difficulty, pair that student with a stronger
student. When the stronger finishes his/her arc, s/he helps the weaker student
by pointing to the letter on the arc. The weaker student names and finds the
letter.
Other Resources:
http://www.alphabetmats.com/activities.html
Video Demonstrations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8nnx4VlnXk
Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Snow, C., Burns, M., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young
children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Texas Education Agency. (2002). The Alphabetic Principle.
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Reading—Phonics
Folding In
Grade Levels: K-2
Specific Skills Assessed: decoding, fluency w/decoding words
Individual or group administration: Both
Approximate Time: 10-15 minutes
Description: Incremental rehearsal builds student fluency by pairing unknown items
with a steadily increasing collection of known items. This intervention makes use of
concentrated practice to promote fluency and guarantees that the student will
experience a high rate of success.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. On individual index cards, the teacher writes down each letter that a student is
expected to master. The teacher/tutor reviews the collection of index cards with
the student.
a) Any of the letters or letter sounds (depending on the intervention) that the
student can orally answer correctly within two seconds are considered to be
known and are separated into one pile.
b) Letters or letter sounds that the student cannot yet identify within two
seconds are considered 'unknown' and collected in a second pile -- the 'unknown
letters/letter sounds' deck.
2. The teacher/tutor next randomly selects 9 cards from the pile of known
letters/letter sounds and sets this subset of cards aside as the 'known' deck. The
rest of the pile of cards containing known letters/letter sounds is put away
('discard deck'), not to be used further in this intervention.
Each day of the intervention the tutor follows an incremental-rehearsal sequence:
 First, the tutor takes a single card from the 'unknown letters/letter sounds'
deck, reads the letter/letter sound on the card aloud and then prompts the
student to read the letter/letter sound.
 Next, the tutor takes a card from the 'known letters/letter sounds’ deck and
pairs it with the unknown letter/letter sound. When shown the two cards in
sequence, the student is asked to read the letter/letter sound of each.
 The student is judged to be successful if he or she orally provides the correct
answer to that card within 2 seconds. If the student commits an error on any
card or hesitates for longer than two seconds, the tutor reads the letter/letter
sound on the card aloud, then prompts the student to read the same unknown
letter/letter sound.
 This review sequence continues until the student answers both cards within two
seconds without errors.
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Reading—Phonics
• The tutor repeats the sequence--taking yet another card from the 'unknown
letters/letter sounds' deck to add to the expanding collection of letters/letter sounds
being reviewed ('review deck'). Each time, the tutor prompts the student to read the
whole series of letters/letter sounds in the review deck, beginning with the unknown
and then moving through the growing series of known letters/letter sounds that follow
it.
• When the review deck has expanded to include one 'unknown' letter/letter sound
followed by nine 'known' letters/letter sounds (a ratio of 90 percent 'known' material to
10 percent 'unknown' material), one of the original 'known' letter/letter sounds is
discarded (put away with the 'discard deck').
• The student is then presented with a letter/letter sound taken from the ‘unknown'
deck. With each new 'unknown', the review sequence is again repeated as described
above until all letters/letter sounds are known.
Other Information:
Other Resources:
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMvBodxoJWk
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Reading—Phonics
Timed Word Sorts
Grade Levels: K-1
Specific Skills Assessed: decoding, fluency w/decoding words
Individual or group administration: Both
Approximate Time: 20-25 minutes
Description: Students sort words the teacher has provided into categories based on the
spelling of the word. The student tries to see how many words they can sort in a given
time period.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. The teacher selects an orthographic feature to focus on that meets the needs of
the students. The teacher then constructs a list of words (approximately 15-20)
that can be contrasted that focuses on this orthographic feature. (example. The
list of words would include examples of words with the –an word family and the
–at word family)
2. Each word should be written on a card. Each student will receive a set of these
cards with all the words printed on them. The student will also receive two
words written in a different color or printed on a different color of card that will
serve as the “headers” of each word column. (For the example above, the two
words might be “can” and “mat.”)
3. The teacher models how to select a word card, read the word card and then
decide which column the word belongs in.
4. The student practices sorting several times. When the student feels he or she is
ready, the teacher will time how many words the student can sort in under a
minute or some other predetermined time limit.
Other Information: It is important that the student must read the word on the word
card before placing it in the appropriate category, as this activity is focusing on having
the student read words more fluently. We do not want the student simply relying on
visualization.
Other Resources: Words Their Way, 4th ed. by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston
(Pearson)
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3NhYLKJ7MA
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Reading—Phonics
5X5 Speed Drills
Grade Levels: K-1
Specific Skills Assessed: decoding, fluency w/decoding words
Individual or group administration: Both
Approximate Time: 10-15 minutes
Description: The students practice reading words they already know faster and faster.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Select a set 5 words students can accurately identify
o Select high-priority and high-utility words
o Select words students are able to identify accurately
o Separate highly similar examples
 very/every
 there/where/here
2. Make page with 5 X 5 matrix:
Example matrix:
every
here
there
very
where
very
where
every
here
there
there
very
here
every
where
where
every
there
very
here
here
every
where
very
there
3. Do a 1-minute small-group practice. Position paper so all can see.
Name the words
This word is “every”. What word? (pause, tap) ____Yes, “every”.
This word is “here”. What word? (pause, tap) Yes, “here”
Repeat for each word in the row.
Activity Directions
I am going to time us for one-minute. If we make a mistake, we will have
to go back to the beginning of the row. Answer together when I tap the
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Reading—Phonics
word. If we don’t answer together, we will go back to the beginning of
the row.
Let’s see how far we can get!
Activity
Start timer. What word? pause, tap What word? pause, tap
etc…eventually, you can omit “what word” and simply tap. Stop at 1
minute.
Correction procedure:
“That word is ____. What word? ____yes, ____. Let’s go back.”
Other Information:
 Students can race against the clock to see who can beat the timer.
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Reading—Phonics
Word Building
Grade Levels: K-1st
Specific Skills Assessed: segmenting, blending phonemes, decoding/encoding onesyllable words, rhyming
Individual or group administration: Group, but can also be done individually
Approximate Time: 20-25 minutes
Description: Word Building is similar to Making Words. Students manipulate letters to
make words having high-frequency word patterns. The students later sort for words
that have common patterns and use these patterns to read and write more words.
Word Building is designed for students for whom Making Words may be too
challenging. In Word Building, only one phoneme is changed from word to word. The
teacher may choose to incorporate some nonsense words also. As well, there is no
“target word” that uses all of the letters.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. The teacher asks students to place all letter tiles face-up on a flat surface, such
as a desk or workboard. The students should only have letter tiles that would
make the words the teacher will call out.
2. The teacher reviews the name of each letter and the sound with the students.
3. The teacher then calls the first word on the list and uses it in a sentence. The
students repeat the word and then the teacher helps the students to segment
the word into phonemes.
4. When the teacher has determined the students have segmented successfully, he
or she allows the students to manipulate the letter tiles in front of them to form
the word.
5. When most of the students have made the word, the teacher makes the word
with her letter tiles, and the students check their work. (As an option, the
teacher may have the students check their work by pushing each tile up as they
say the sound for that letter, then running their finger along the bottom of the
tiles to blend the word.)
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Reading—Phonics
6. The teacher then tells the student they will change one sound and reads the
next word. The students should follow the same procedure as above, repeating
the word and then segmenting it before trying to construct the word with their
letter tiles.
7. After the students are finished sorting the 8-10 words made from the teacher’s
list, the teacher assists the students in sorting the words they made into
common word patterns (example. fan and can).
8. The teacher then asks students to read and spell new words based on the
common word patterns they sorted for. (Example. The teacher holds up a word
card with the word, “man” on it. Ask students how to read this word if they
know f-a-n is fan and c-a-n is can.)
Other Information: Ready-made lessons can be found in the resource listed above.
Students can transfer their learning to a common nursery rhyme or poetry.
The teacher should not have the student write the words they made with the tiles, as
first graders often take a long time writing words that will not allow time for the sorting
and transfer to new words. However, the teacher may choose to have the students
practice writing the “transfer” words before checking when the students are more
familiar. The teacher may also opt to tell the students which letters to push down and
have them “decode” the new word, rather than have the teacher give it to them and
they “encode,” or spell, the word.
Other Resources: Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families by Judy Lynch (Scholastic)
http://www.education.pitt.edu/EducationalResources/Teachers/LEADERS/Teachin
gStrategies/WordBuilding.aspx
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Reading—Phonics
Making Words
Grade Levels: Late 1st grade and above
Specific Skills Assessed: Phonics, Vocabulary, Phonemic Awareness
Individual or group administration: Group Administration but could be done
individually at a lower/higher level than the class
Approximate Time: 15-20 minutes
Description: Making Words is an active, hands-on, manipulative activity in which
children learn how to look for patterns in words and how changing just one letter
changes the whole word. The children are given letters which will form a final "secret"
word. The lesson begins with small words, builds to longer words, and finally ends with
the "secret" word that can be made with all the letters. Then, students sort the words
according to a variety of patterns, such as beginning sounds, endings, and rhymes.
They transfer the patterns by using the words sorted to read and spell words with
similar patterns.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Decide upon a secret word which can be made with all the letters. In choosing, you
may choose children’s interests or content-area curriculum.
2. Make a list of other words that can be made from those same letters.
3. From all the words that can be made, select approximately 10-12 words, ranging
from smaller to larger words and containing rimes you want to emphasize.
4. Write the words on index cards and sort from shortest to longest.
5. Arrange so that the fewest number of phonemes changes from one word to the next.
6. Choose the patterns some words to share with which the students will sort.
7. Choose other words that can be made from the sorting patterns.
8. Store in a manila envelope.
1. Children make the words with their letter tiles as the
teacher calls them out from shortest to longest.
2. After the word has been made by the majority of
students, the teacher or a student places the word in a
pocket chart so everyone can check.
3. Students continue to form words as the teacher calls
them, checking with the pocket chart.
4. When all words have been made, the teacher tells the
students to make the secret word that uses all the letters.
5. If no student makes the secret word, the teacher may give
hints until someone makes the word.
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Reading—Phonics
6. Once the secret word has been made, the teacher has the
students sort words in the pocket chart according to
patterns they see, usually rimes.
7. After the words have been sorted, the teacher shows a
few words printed on index cards to students that can be
read using the patterns they sorted for, but couldn’t be
made, because they didn’t have the letters. (For example,
the students have an –ake word list, so the teacher shows
the word “snake.”)
8. The teacher also will say 2-3 sentences containing words
the students could write, or spell, using the sorted word
patterns, but couldn’t be made, because students didn’t
have the letters. (For example, the students have an –ake
word list, so the teacher asks which pattern will help them
spell “partake.”)
Other Information:
 Do not wait for all students to make the word before checking with the pocket
chart and moving on.
 The Sort and Transfer steps are the keys to this strategy; do not skip! If
necessary, do the Sort and Transfer the next day.
 If students take too long to make 10-12 words, shorten the lesson to only
include 8-10, keeping in mind the common patterns you want students to sort
for and not eliminating those words.
 If students struggle with this strategy, consider the Word Building strategy from
elsewhere in this manual.
Other Resources: Systematic Sequential Phonics by Patricia Cunningham (1st-2nd);
Prefixes and Suffixes They Use (3rd-4th); Making Words for ____ Grade for Home and
School by Patricia Cunningham; Big Words for Big Kids by Patricia Cunningham (5th-6th)
Grade Levels: 1st-6th grade; Making Words and Making Big Words books published by
Good Apple.
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nxljktf-Hw
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Reading—Phonics
Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping
Grade Levels: K-2
Specific Skills Assessed: Phoneme segmentation and blending, letter-sound
correspondence
Individual or group administration: Can be individual or as a group
Approximate Time: A class period, depending on amount of words to complete
Description: Elkonin boxes can be used to teach phonemic awareness by having
students listen for individual sounds and marking where they hear them in the boxes.
Each box in an Elkonin box card represents one phoneme, or sound. In PhonemeGrapheme Mapping, students use the Elkonin boxes to spell words.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
Spelling by explicit phoneme-grapheme mapping requires the learner to match the
letters/letter combinations in a word to the speech sounds they represent. One
approach is to use a simple grid; each box of the grid represents a phoneme. As these
examples show, the teacher selects a word and gives children an empty grid with a box
for each phoneme. The teacher says the word, the students repeat it, segment the
sounds, and write a grapheme in each box.
Straight: In this example, the long a (/a¯/) is spelled with the four-letter grapheme, aigh.
S
T
R
AIGH
T
Crash: In this example, the cr combination stands for two phonemes; the sh is a digraph
(meaning it represents one phoneme).
C
R
A
SH
Because it helps fix phoneme-grapheme correspondences in children's minds, this
technique supports children's spelling, reading, and writing development. It should be
taught in first grade, but it is also especially helpful with second-and third-grade
students who missed the fundamentals in the earlier grades.
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Reading—Phonics
Other Information:
 Have children write letters in the boxes as you dictate words. For example, say,
“Spell the word big. The big dog barked at the squirrel.”
Other Resources: http://bogglesworldesl.com/elkonin_boxes.htm,
http://www.u-46.org/dbs/roadmap/files/Appendix/5Elkonin-soundbox.pdf
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8289362/Elkonin-Boxes-Cards
Video Demonstrations:
http://www.readingrockets.org/podcasts/classroom/
select phoneme segmentation video
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Reading—Phonics
Sylla-Search
Grade Levels: 2-8
Specific Skills Assessed: Multi-syllable decoding
Individual or group administration: Can be individual or both, depends on if student
works on it alone or as a game with other students
Approximate Time: 20-25 minutes
Description: This intervention is a strategy for helping students learn to decode
multisyllabic words. Beck created this strategy to help students break down large
words which in turn helps them read long words.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
Sylla-search consists of three parts:
Meet the Words- this is when the teacher reads the words aloud and the students read
with the teacher.
Find the Syllables-students are asked to find syllables within words.
Collect the Words-the syllables found in part 2 are then used to make other words.
Other Information:
http://books.google.com/books?id=uyCgqaxmpYcC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=syllasearch&source=bl&ots=nqQbdTU_Cc&sig=Q-gWDFFN4QRx3RDsI89RQn_bwI&hl=en&ei=KDYKStjpAZbEMp_zxNkL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&r
esnum=1#PPA74,M1
This site provides other ways of practicing using Sylla-search.
Other Resources: Making Sense of Phonics by Isabel Beck
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnc5WEXN9H8
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Fluency
FLUENCY INTERVENTIONS
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Fluency
Error Word Drill:
Grade Levels: ALL
Specific Skills Assessed: Fluency, reading rate
Individual or group administration: Individual
Approximate Time: 20-30 minutes (total lesson including reading passage)
Description: The Error Word Drill is an effective way to build reading vocabulary. The
procedure consists of 4 steps. When the student misreads a word during a reading
session, write down the error word and date in a separate "Error Word Log".
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. At the end of the reading session, write out all error words from the reading
session onto index cards. (If the student has misread more than 20 different
words during the session, use just the first 20 words from your error-word list. If
the student has misread fewer than 20 words, consult your "Error Word Log"
and select enough additional error words from past sessions to build the review
list to 20 words.)
2. Review the index cards with the student. Whenever the student pronounces a
word correctly, remove that card from the deck and set it aside. (A word is
considered correct if it is read correctly within 5 seconds. Self-corrected words
are counted as correct if they are made within the 5-second period. Words read
correctly after the 5-second period expires are counted as incorrect.)
3. When the student misses a word, pronounce the word for the student and
have the student repeat the word. Then say, "What word?" and direct the
student to repeat the word once more. Place the card with the missed word at
the bottom of the deck.
4. Error words in deck are presented until all have been read correctly. All word
cards are then gathered together, reshuffled, and presented again to the
student. The drill continues until either time runs out or the student has
progressed through the deck without an error on two consecutive cards.
Students who are just learning to read or have delayed reading skills often benefit from
having a more accomplished reader listen to their reading and correct any reading
mistakes immediately.
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Fluency
Other Resources:
Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research
in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing.
Jenkins, J. & Larsen, D. (1979). Evaluation of error-correction procedures for oral
reading. Journal of Special Education, 13, 145-156.
Singh, N.N. (1990). Effects of two error-correction procedures on oral reading errors:
Word supply versus sentence repeat. Behavior Modification, 14, 188-199.
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Fluency
Folding In
Grade Levels: K-2
Specific Skills Assessed: decoding, fluency w/decoding words
Individual or group administration: Both
Approximate Time: 10-15 minutes
Description: Incremental rehearsal builds student fluency by pairing unknown items
with a steadily increasing collection of known items. This intervention makes use of
concentrated practice to promote fluency and guarantees that the student will
experience a high rate of success.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
2. On individual index cards, the teacher writes down each letter that a student is
expected to master. The teacher/tutor reviews the collection of index cards with
the student.
a) Any of the letters or letter sounds (depending on the intervention) that the
student can orally answer correctly within two seconds are considered to be
known and are separated into one pile.
b) Letters or letter sounds that the student cannot yet identify within two
seconds are considered 'unknown' and collected in a second pile -- the 'unknown
letters/letter sounds' deck.
2. The teacher/tutor next randomly selects 9 cards from the pile of known
letters/letter sounds and sets this subset of cards aside as the 'known' deck. The
rest of the pile of cards containing known letters/letter sounds is put away
('discard deck'), not to be used further in this intervention.
Each day of the intervention the tutor follows an incremental-rehearsal sequence:
 First, the tutor takes a single card from the 'unknown letters/letter sounds'
deck, reads the letter/letter sound on the card aloud and then prompts the
student to read the letter/letter sound.
 Next, the tutor takes a card from the 'known letters/letter sounds’ deck and
pairs it with the unknown letter/letter sound. When shown the two cards in
sequence, the student is asked to read the letter/letter sound of each.
 The student is judged to be successful if he or she orally provides the correct
answer to that card within 2 seconds. If the student commits an error on any
card or hesitates for longer than two seconds, the tutor reads the letter/letter
sound on the card aloud, then prompts the student to read the same unknown
letter/letter sound.
 This review sequence continues until the student answers both cards within two
seconds without errors.
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Fluency
• The tutor repeats the sequence--taking yet another card from the 'unknown
letters/letter sounds' deck to add to the expanding collection of letters/letter sounds
being reviewed ('review deck'). Each time, the tutor prompts the student to read the
whole series of letters/letter sounds in the review deck, beginning with the unknown
and then moving through the growing series of known letters/letter sounds that follow
it.
• When the review deck has expanded to include one 'unknown' letter/letter sound
followed by nine 'known' letters/letter sounds (a ratio of 90 percent 'known' material to
10 percent 'unknown' material), one of the original 'known' letter/letter sounds is
discarded (put away with the 'discard deck').
• The student is then presented with a letter/letter sound taken from the ‘unknown'
deck. With each new 'unknown', the review sequence is again repeated as described
above until all letters/letter sounds are known.
Other Information:
Other Resources:
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMvBodxoJWk
10-04-12
Fluency
Repeated Partner Reading
Grade Levels: ALL
Specific Skills Assessed: Fluency, reading rate
Individual or group administration: Students are paired together to practice reading fluency.
Approximate Time: Several minutes per reading. Teacher determines length of time
Description:
1. Partner Reading involves pairing students to practice rereading text.
2. Partner Reading increases the amount of time students are reading and enhances
fluency.
3. Pair high-performing readers with lower-performing readers for fluency practice.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
Students take turns reading.
a. Partner A reads the passage or text aloud for 1 minute. Partner A models fluent
reading.
b. Partner B follows along in the text.
c. After 1 minute, Partner A stops reading.
d. Partner B reads aloud the SAME passage or text for 1 minute.
When using this procedure, the whole class can participate while you time the readings.
Other Information:
 Students alternate reading pages, rather than reading for a specific time.
 Many students enjoy graphing their correct words per minute and seeing if they can
beat their previous amount.
 After both students have read, they can take turns checking their comprehension. Cue
cards can be developed for students to use.
What will happen next?
Did your predictions come true?
Tell what happened first.
Tell what happened next.
Tell how the story ended.
Tell the most important thing about the main character in ten words or less (count
words on fingers).
Other Resources: University of Texas at Austin. Searchlight Website. Utexas.org
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrrLJR7Zbq0
10-04-12
Fluency
Neurological Impress Method (NIM)
Grade Levels: All
Specific Skills Assessed: fluency
Individual or group administration: Individual
Approximate Time: 10-20 minutes
Description: Neurological Impress Method requires the teacher to speak into the
student’s ear while the text is read in unison. This is done to impress the words on the
learner’s brain. The teacher is required to vary the pace and the softness or loudness of
her voice during readings.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1) Select a book that is both interesting to the student and slightly challenging.
This could be a book a student would like to read, but could not do on their own.
Two copies of the book should be used – one for the teacher and one for the
student.
2) Teacher and student sit beside each other with their own copy of the text.
3) Begin by reading in unison for at least five minutes at a normal pace. Do NOT
slow down your pace reading pace to match that of the student. However, you
do want to model pausing for punctuation, expression, chunking words into
meaningful phrases, and reading fluency and expression.
Other Information: (tips, modifications, etc.)
Simple step by step instructions are found on the University of Texas website and
modifications to NIM are found on the SIL International website.
Other Resources:
Kuhn, M. R. (2009). The Hows and Whys of Fluency Instruction. (pp. 88 – 90). Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
Neurological Impress Method (NIM) Retrieved May 6, 2009 from:
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/readstrong/nim.html
What is the Neurological Impress Method? Retrieved May 6, 2009 from:
http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/referencematerials/glossaryofliteracyterms/Wha
tIsTheNeurologicalImpressMe.htm
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhOGj6i8f8s
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
VOCABULARY/COMPREHENSION INTERVENTIONS
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
Click or Clunk
Grade Levels: 1-12
Specific Skills Assessed: Explicit and Implicit comprehension
Individual or group administration: individual or small group setting
Approximate Time: varies
Description: In the Click and Clunk strategy, the words that students instantaneously
understand are called clicks. The words that make no sense to them and so interfere with
comprehension are known as clunks. Clunks are analogous to potholes in a road that impede
the process of smooth driving. To decipher the meanings of these clunks, students can use a
cluster of word-identification strategies (i.e., fix-up strategies).
The purpose of this strategy is for students to: Monitor their understanding of word meanings
as they read and identify unfamiliar vocabulary and use fix-up strategies to understand the text
The teacher demonstrates the difference between a click and a clunk. The teacher reinforces
this distinction by reading or asking the student to read a short section of text and then having
the student report any clunks they may have encountered.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
Instruct students that, during any reading assignment, when they come to:
1. The end of each sentence, they should ask the question, “Did I understand this
sentence?” If students understand the sentence, they say “Click!” and continue
reading. If they do not understand, they say “Clunk!” and refer to the strategy
sheet “My Reading Check Sheet” to correct the problem.
2. The end of each paragraph, they should ask the question, “What did the paragraph
say?” If they do not know the main idea(s) of the paragraph, students refer to the
strategy sheet “My Reading Check Sheet” to correct the problem.
3. The end of each page, they should ask the question, “What do I remember?” If
they do not remember sufficient information, students refer to the strategy sheet “My
Reading Check Sheet” to correct the problem.
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Vocabulary/Comprehension
Students who encounter a clunk must apply one or more of four fix-up strategies:
1. Reread the sentence as though the clunk was a blank space and try to guess another
word that might be appropriate in place of the clunk. There is a good chance that the
clunk is a synonym.
2. Reread the sentence with the clunk and the sentences before or after the clunk to look
for clues (i.e., other words or phrases that may partially indicate the meaning of a
clunk).
3. Look for a prefix or suffix in the clunk that may help to define its meaning.
4. If possible, break the clunk into smaller, more familiar words that may indicate the
clunk's meaning.
Other Information:
 Teachers should decide how much text students should read before they stop to Click
and Clunk. For example, the text might consist of:



A paragraph
A multiple-paragraph section
One page
Each of these has its pros and cons: Generally, reading shorter passages leads to increased
comprehension but may take up more class time, whereas longer passages shorten the overall
activity time but may not foster as deep an understanding of the text.
 Create Silent “Click/Clunk” Signals. Although it may seem rather silly to have students
call out “Click” and “Clunk” as an aid to monitor their own reading, the technique is
actually quite valuable. When students must make regular summary judgments about
how well they comprehend at the sentence level, they are more likely to recognize—
and to resolve—comprehension errors as these mistakes arise. You might find,
however, that students start to distract each other as they call out these
comprehension signals. Once you see that students consistently use the technique, you
can train them to softly whisper the signal. Or confer with your students to come up
with an unobtrusive non-verbal signal (e.g., lightly tapping the desk once for “Click” and
twice for “Clunk”) that is obvious enough to allow you to monitor readers’ use of the
technique without distracting other students.
Other Resources:
The Savvy Teacher’s Guide: Reading Interventions That Work Jim Wright
(www.interventioncentral.org
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Grade Levels: K - 12
Specific Skills Assessed: Explicit and Implicit comprehension
Individual or group administration: Group administration from 5 to 12 students with same
fundamental reading abilities
(http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gipej/drtahand.htm#the%20drta%20cycle)
Approximate Time: varies
Description: DRTA was developed in order to have students process shorter amounts of text
at a time than when reading entire passages or selections. Also, DRTA illustrates for students
how to set a purpose when reading.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Students read selection title (and perhaps a bit of the selection) and make predictions
about content.
2. Students read to the first predetermined stop. They confirm, refine or reject their initial
hypotheses and justify their ideas with reference to the text. Students then make new
hypotheses.
3. Students read the next section and follow procedures in step two. This cycle continues
until text is read.
4. Follow-up activities may be completed after the text is read.
(http://www.deafed.net/PublishedDocs/sub/961007k.htm)
Other Resources: http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/drta.htm
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zK-uJkK7SA
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
Question Answer Relationships (QAR)
Grade Levels: 2-12
Specific Skills Assessed: Implicit and Explicit Comprehension
Individual or group administration: Either
Approximate Time: class period or less
Description: Question-Answer Relationship Strategy (QAR) is a way for teachers to assess
students’ understanding of the reading. There are four different types of questions in the QAR
strategy all of which delve into the reading at different depths depending on the particular
understanding desired of the students. The first type of question is the “Right There” question.
These questions refer to questions which are found directly in passages from the reading. The
second type of questions is “Think and Search” questions. These typically require the student
to think a little bit about what the question is asking and group together passages from the
reading to form one concept or idea. “Author and You” questions are the third type of
question. These questions require the student to think about the author’s intent. These
questions will refer to the implications made by the author for the reader. The final type of
question in the QAR strategy is the “On Your Own” question. This type of question requires
the reader to use their background knowledge of the information presented in the text to
answer an opinion question. This type of question is to help the student better understand
what they are reading by connecting the material to their own lives.
Other Resources: http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading%20strategies/QAR.htm
Check out website above for differentiations and this website for more in-depth strategies.
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsud7AQWva8
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
Questioning the Author (QtA)
Grade Levels: 3- 12
Specific Skills Assessed: critical thinking
Individual or group administration: Whole class or small group
Approximate Time: class period
Description: This strategy is designed to encourage students to go beyond the text and think
about what the author is trying to communicate to the reader. Students who struggle with the
text may be able to clarify the reading after questioning what the author wrote.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Teacher researches questions that can have the students thinking about the text they
are reading. Some examples include:
 What is the author trying to tell you?
 Why is the author telling you that?
 Does the author say it clearly?
 How could the author have said things more clearly?
 What would you say instead?
2. The class/ small groups have discussions about what the author is saying in the text,
how and why the author wrote it.
3. The teacher uses different questions to help the discussion along and to help all the
students understand the meaning of the text that they have read.
Other Information: (tips, modifications, etc.)
The teacher has an active role in the discussion and has to know what questions to ask the class
about the text.
Other Resources:
http://www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports/PDF/QuestioningAuthorFinal.pdf
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/qta.html
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
Reciprocal Teaching
Grade Levels: 3-12
Specific Skills Assessed: clarifying difficult text, summarizing, questioning the text, making
predictions
Individual or group administration: group
Approximate Time: varies depending on text used
Description: Students read the beginning of the text silently, then teacher models the
following for the students:
1. explains parts that were difficult to understand
2. summarizes the information
3. develops important questions about text
4. makes a prediction about the rest of the text
Students then take turns conducting these four steps on subsequent sections of text.
Steps in Intervention Delivery:
1. Put students in groups of four.
2. Distribute one notecard to each member of the group identifying each person's unique
role.
a. summarizer
b. questioner
c. clarifier
d. predictor
3. Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to
use note-taking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them
better prepare for their role in the discussion.
4. At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point
in the reading.
5. The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:
o unclear parts
o puzzling information
o connections to other concepts already learned
o motivations of the agents or actors or characters
o etc.
6. The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that
were just posed.
7. The Predictor can offer guesses about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a
literary selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be.
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
8. The roles in the group then switch one person to the right, and the next selection is
read. Students repeat the process using their new roles. This continues until the entire
selection is read.
Other Information:
 Most often used with expository text
 Teacher and students provide feedback to each other
 Students are encouraged to use these four steps when reading other text
Other Resources: Instructing Students Who Have Literacy Problems by Sandra McCormick, 4th
edition, Pages 393-394
Video Demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm4mSVXDCjE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnwBVrJVdY
10-04-12
Vocabulary/Comprehension
10-04-12