Tips for Teaching Reading in Kindergarten Free Guide
- By Deedee Wills
- Updated on January 23
- 31 Comments
Table of Contents
Teaching Reading in Kindergarten – What Does a Lesson Plan Look Like?
Teaching reading in kindergarten can honestly feel like rocket science some days. Helping young children build those foundational reading skills is no small task. And if you’ve heard terms like Science of Reading or Orton-Gillingham tossed around, you might be wondering if this is just the latest trend making the rounds.
Here’s the thing. It’s not a trend at all. It may feel new, but these approaches have been around for decades. If you’ve been teaching for any length of time, you’ve probably felt that pendulum swing back and forth with instructional practices. One year this is “the way,” and the next year it’s something else. It’s a little like diet advice, isn’t it? Fat is bad. No wait, fat is good. Carbs are the enemy. Except when they’re not.
That’s the nature of science. It grows and changes as we learn more. And honestly, thank goodness for that. If science never evolved, we’d still be using some pretty questionable practices for everyday problems. Hard pass.
Today, tools like MRIs allow researchers to actually see what’s happening in the brains of skilled readers and just as importantly, what’s happening in the brains of readers who struggle. That information has been incredibly powerful in shaping how we think about reading instruction starting with kindergarten students and beyond..
So here’s what I want to do for you. I’m going to break down structured literacy through the lens of the Science of Reading, and I’ll walk you through what a Science of Reading aligned lesson plan can actually look like in a kindergarten classroom. Realistic, doable, and kindergarten teacher friendly.
Table of Contents
What Is the Science of Reading?
The Science of Reading provides a lesson structure grounded in best practices for teaching foundational skills. This includes comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, and the language structures students need in order to become fluent readers.
First, a quick disclaimer. I’m an early education practitioner, not a scientist. That said, I do spend a lot of time reading and learning from Science of Reading research. What I’m sharing here is what I currently understand, and I always encourage teachers to dig into the research for themselves too. Toward the end of this post, I’ve linked several books that have been especially helpful in my own Science of Reading journey. I’ve also completed extensive training in the Orton-Gillingham approach and LETRS training, which falls under the umbrella of structured literacy.
The Science of Reading is really a large body of scientific knowledge. Research and insights from developmental psychologists, educational psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscience experts have all come together to help us better understand how children learn to read. This research spans everything from early spoken language development to how students learn to decode new words successfully.
What is the Best Way to Teach Reading to Kindergarten Students?
A solid foundation in phonics is a crucial step in teaching reading. Literacy success is not possible with out early learners mastering letter knowledge! Early childhood classrooms should be building a strong foundation through a structured literacy approach. Ortpn-Gillingham and UFLI are examples of such approaches.
Originally, the Orton-Gillingham approach (which dates back to the early 20th century) was designed to support students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. But what we’ve learned over time is that the same structured, explicit teaching benefits far more than just a small group of students. It’s strong instruction for all kids.
Let’s look at a few numbers that are hard to ignore:
About 1 in 5 students (15 to 20%) has a language-based learning disability.
About 38% of fourth graders score “below basic” in reading.
Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
Kindergarten teachers, pause for a second and think about your intervention groups. Back when I taught using guided reading within a balanced literacy approach, I always had a small group of 4 or 5 students who really struggled. That was about 15 to 20% of my class, which matches that first statistic pretty closely.
But here’s what got my attention. That 15 to 20% doesn’t stay 15 to 20%. Over time, the gap widens. By fourth grade, we’re looking at 38% of students not reading at a basic level. Something isn’t adding up, and it points back to how we’ve historically taught reading.
The encouraging part is this: research shows that most reading difficulties can be prevented with strong, explicit instruction early on.
And if you were like me, someone who ate, drank, and slept guided reading, you might be feeling a whole mix of emotions right now. I get it. I spent 18 years learning it, teaching it, and training other teachers in it. Ouch.
So here’s the moment for a deep breath. Forgive yourself. Then decide to learn more, one step at a time.
How Do We Teach Reading Skills in Kindergarten?
First, it’s important to remember that direct, systematic instruction benefits all students, but it is absolutely essential for students who experience learning difficulties. These lessons can happen during whole group instruction or in small groups, depending on how your day is structured.
Students with language based learning differences often need more frequent practice to build the neural pathways required for reading. That’s why small group instruction can be so powerful. It gives students the repetition and feedback they need to truly master a skill.
Our daily instruction should be clear, explicit, and intentionally planned around these five essential components of reading:
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Research shows that the two strongest predictors of early reading success are alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness. Think of phonics as the race car and phonemic awareness as the fuel. Knowing letter names and sounds alone isn’t enough. Students also need to be able to put sounds together through blending and take them apart through segmenting in order to become proficient readers.
Phonemic Awareness Instruction
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds. Before kids can read words on a page, they have to hear and work with those sounds first.
As kindergarten and first grade teachers, it’s important that we have a systematic and explicit set of phonemic awareness lessons in place. This isn’t something we want to wing or squeeze in when we have time. It needs to be intentional and built into our daily routine.
If you’re looking for strong, teacher friendly resources, I highly recommend the phonemic awareness activities created by Deanna Jump. Her work is clear, well structured, and easy to implement in real classrooms.
You can find her complete program here:
Science of Reading Phonological & Phonemic Awareness Complete Program
Phonics Instruction
Phonics instruction focuses on direct and explicit teaching of the sound spelling relationships in English. Research consistently shows that students who receive explicit instruction far outperform those who are taught through implicit instruction alone. This is especially critical for students with learning differences, but honestly, it benefits everyone.
So what do we mean by explicit instruction? It means clearly telling students what they are going to learn and why it matters. It includes guided practice, followed by opportunities for students to practice on their own. Just as important, it also includes ongoing feedback and progress monitoring so we know who is getting it and who needs more support.
Implicit instruction, on the other hand, relies on exposure and exploration. That kind of learning is wonderful for areas like STEM activities or maker spaces. It just isn’t enough for phonics. You may also see implicit learning during centers, like sorting lowercase letters by their features. Those activities absolutely have a place. They just belong in center time, not during direct instruction. Hopefully that distinction makes sense.
Explicit phonics instruction also means taking a close look at high frequency words. Instead of asking students to simply memorize them, teachers and students examine the spelling patterns and talk about why words are spelled the way they are. We often annotate those so called “rule breakers” to help students make sense of them rather than guess.
You can find the phonics lessons I use and recommend below.
Fluency Practice
Students should be practicing fluency skills on a daily basis and in a spiral fashion. Meaning, they learn new skills and constantly review and practice previously learned skills:
- letter encoding – producing the sound when they see the letter EXAMPLE: Student sees the letter m and says, “m says /m/.”
- letter decoding – hearing a sound and identifying the letter(s) that comprise that sound. EXAMPLE: Student hears /m/ and says, “m says /m/.”
- word decoding – student sees the word and reads it. EXAMPLE: Sees the word here and says, “here” or “h-e-r-e spells here.”
- word encoding – student hears the word and writes it. EXAMPLE: Student hears the word “here, then writes the word “here”.
- blending and segmenting decodable words – students practice decoding and encoding words.
Vocabulary Instruction in Kindergarten
Vocabulary is something we teach on purpose. Students are explicitly taught the meaning of words, and that matters because not all children enter elementary school with the same level of language and literacy exposure. Ongoing vocabulary instruction helps level that playing field.
In kindergarten, a lot of our vocabulary work happens during interactive read alouds. This is also where rich conversation, questioning, and modeling really shine. We also build vocabulary during science and social studies, where students are exposed to new ideas and language in meaningful ways.
Decodable texts give us another great opportunity to teach vocabulary. Even though these texts are carefully controlled for phonics patterns, they often include words that students may not know yet. Simple words like tab (which has more than one meaning), lax, jest, quip, jot, swine, and glum are perfect for quick, intentional vocabulary conversations.
The ultimate goal of vocabulary instruction is to build background knowledge and help students understand words in context, not just memorize definitions.
You can see an example of a vocabulary lesson by clicking below.
Teaching Reading Comprehension Through Read Alouds
The Science of Reading supports teaching comprehension in the primary grades through interactive read alouds. In kindergarten and first grade, students’ listening comprehension is much stronger than their ability to decode text on their own. Because of that, it makes sense for the teacher to do the heavy lifting of reading a rich piece of literature, like Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, while students focus on the thinking work.
During an interactive read aloud, students are asked to think, talk, and respond to the text in meaningful ways. They are building comprehension skills without the added cognitive load of decoding, which allows them to fully engage with the story, the language, and the ideas.
Our interactive read aloud, sometimes called close reading, has also made planning time much easier. Each day includes detailed lesson plans with a clear teaching point. Students are carefully guided through complex texts that deepen language comprehension and strengthen oral language skills along the way.
You can grab a free, week long example of an interactive read aloud for the picture book Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by clicking below.
Assessments! Make Your Instruction is Data-Driven!
Continuous progress monitoring is essential! This informs your instruction. I like to track data in two different ways. I carry a clipboard when I am giving lessons. This valuable tool is where I keep anecdotal notes that provide quick visual and diagnostic assessments. I gather this data during instructional time and they tell me:
- Can they name the letter (ID)?
- Can they write the letter (letter formation)?
- Can they produce the sound when they see the letter? (decoding)
- Can they hear the sound and identify the letter?
(encoding)
In this way, I can see which specific skills I need to review again with the class or perhaps in my reading groups.
These two pages are included in the unit.
If there was a time machine and you were talking to me in 2012, my answers around student mastery would have been different. I would have said students should be able to decode sight words in kindergarten to show mastery. Today, based on what the science of reading tells us, students should be able to encode AND decode. With the right type of instruction, this is a realistic expectation.
6 Daily Science of Reading Lesson Plan Components
So when I went through my Orton-Gillingham training, to say I was overwhelmed would be a major understatement. To be clear IT! IS! A! LOT! My head was spinning. It felt like there were a million moving parts. One thing I like to do is to take complicated instructional practices and streamline and simplify them so they are still effective, but manageable for busy teachers. Here are the simple steps we follow in our practice guide:
Step 1 – Warm up (decoding)– spend 4-5 minutes reviewing previously taught skills:
- Sound slides: 15-20 slides Students make the path of motion with their arm as they say, “b says /b/”
- Blending slides: 15-20 slides of real and nonsense words Students tap the sounds and blend them together
- High-frequency word slides: students tap or cheer the words, then read, “said, s-a-i-d, said.”
Flashcards are great, but if you are all thumbs… it is rough! As I said before, I like to simplify things. I decided to make a PowerPoint file for each instructional day. Each PowerPoint has letters, blends, and high-frequency words. I wanted to be sure that I really made sure we reviewed the past learning as well as the most recent skills.
Step 2: Review Sounds (encoding) 2-minute oral review of previously taught sounds (this is all auditory):
- Teacher says /m/
- Students reply, “/m/ M says /m/ while kinesthetically writing the letter with the correct path of motion (air writing, backtracking, shaving cream…)
Step 3: Review High-Frequency Words (encoding) 2-minute review of previously taught high-frequency words:
- The teacher writes a high-frequency word on the board.
- The teacher asks the students to take a mental picture of the word. Then the teacher erases the word.
- Students kinesthetically write the word without a model
Step 4: Examine the Orthography of New High-Frequency Words: Time varies based on the number of words being taught (no more than 5 minutes)
- Each day the teacher selects 3-4 of the new high-frequency words to explicitly teach.
- Students learn how to spell these words via orthographic mapping vs. memorizing.
Step 5: Dictation (encoding) 10 minutes:
- The teacher will dictate sounds, decodable words, and simple sentences for students to write.
- Students write their best effort first, then they are shown a model to write it again.
Sentence dictation is a great way to practice phonics skills and sentence structure at the same time. It also helps you to see which new sounds students have mastered and which sounds students might need additional time with.
TIP: It is helpful to print these pages back to back then laminate them. Should you wish to use this as an assessment, you can print them out. These are included in the unit as well.
Step 6: Decodable Book Practice 5 minutes:
Complex skills are practiced each day in the decodable books. Here are a few ideas:
- Lots of practice is needed so students practice reading their weekly book each day with their reading coach (classroom partner.)
- Each day they practice for a different reason depending on the time of year or classroom need.
- everyday fluency practice
- look for letters/digraphs/blends
- look for high-frequency words
- mark the capital letters
- mark the punctuation
These decodable books can then go home with a student to practice.
Your daily time commitment is 30 minutes per day.
These weekly books are available in print or as a digital version.
They are part of the whole group lessons:
Kindergarten Reading Lessons Tips
When you first start teaching this way, do yourself a favor and don’t try to implement every single piece all at once. You will lose your mind, and your students will feel overwhelmed too. It’s okay to ease into it.
Expect each part of the lesson to take a little longer at first. Try not to let things drag on, but also give yourself some grace. Routines take time to build. And if your class is a full blown handwriting case study, you may need to slow down and spend extra time practicing letter formation and path of motion. Building muscle memory doesn’t happen overnight.
Having materials ready ahead of time will save you so much instructional time. Try to avoid passing out papers before every lesson if you can. That alone can eat up more time than you realize. I laminated the dictation page and reused it daily. I also made a few extras because, let’s be honest, they are five and six years old and things disappear.
Some students quickly learn that if they “can’t find” their paper, they get to sit out. Having extra materials removes that option and keeps everyone learning.
As I mentioned earlier, start slow. During the first week, focus only on Step 1 and Step 6. Once that feels comfortable, add one new step each week until the full lesson structure is in place.
Believe in your students, and believe in yourself too. I hear teachers say all the time that teaching reading this way feels overwhelming. That’s normal. Anything new feels overwhelming at first. For me, I would much rather push through that initial discomfort than watch students struggle, feel frustrated, or end up in tears. I would also rather work through the learning curve than deal with the behavior issues that often come from students who feel unsuccessful.
Also remember, kids are moving during these lessons. This is not a sit and get activity. Students are responding, saying sounds, writing, tapping, and actively participating the entire time. Learning to read should be active.
You may find it helpful to print the lessons and have them ready to go. Even then, expect to make small adjustments as you observe your students. Do they need more time with a particular sound or word? Then slow down and revisit it more often. Flexibility is key.
You can get the free lesson plan covers by clicking HERE.
Science of Reading Lesson Plans Done for You
Wouldn’t it be nice to spend your weekends doing something other than lesson planning? We have done the lesson plans for you!
Science of Reading Professional Development
Sometimes it may feel like you are drinking through a firehose when you try to wrap your head around this level of instruction. I would like to encourage you to dig deeper, but don’t wait. Sometimes when we wait for profection, we never get started. If you were my teaching BFF (and I hope that you are) I would tell you to get started (guilty and raising my hand.) Instead, start now and continue to learn about what is considered best practices and revise your teaching accordingly.
Here is a blog post on Guided Reading that might help you:
Here are few other blog posts I have written about the Science of Reading?
- How To Teach Blending Letter Sounds And Word-Building In Kindergarten
- Tips On How To Teach A Kindergarten Interactive Read-Aloud Lesson
- Phonics And Phonemic Awareness | Are They The Same?
- Science of Reading: What is Word Mapping and How Do I Teach It?
Here are some suggested books to get you rolling:
Here is an online resource to help you in your journey to learn about The Science of Reading”
Free Science of Reading Downloadable PDF
Sometimes I retain information a bit easier when I can print it out and mark it up (I know… I’m old.) I have created a resource that has the information above plus additional information and the research behind it. You can use this printable Science of Reading PDF to:
- Deepen your understanding of the Science of Reading
- Share it with your team members
- Share it with your curriculum leaders
- Share it with your administration
Please do not repost this PDF elsewhere on the internet or claim the words as your own.
Deedee Wills
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31 Responses
Thanks for the steps and the encouragement. I do some of the steps but it is I consistent and scattered. You blog post will help
I am so glad you found this blog post helpful! I TOTALLY identify with scattered! Hang in there and let me know if you need anything else. 🙂
Good day D , do you mind sharing one of your editable lesson plans ,like the colorful one above? that would really help me
Hi Mary!
The lesson plans are part of our Science of Reading Curriculum. I am sorry, I do not have a free editable lesson plan available.
I can’t get the website to accept my name and email address for the free 400+ page curriculum map.
This would be a huge helpful tool for me, thank you for sharing.
Oh no! I am sorry! I will email you the curriculum map.
where is the lesson plan?
The lesson plans are included in our Science of Reading curriculum. That program is linked within the blog post.
Now that I starting to implement your units for SOR, I am curious about how to tweak my (literally) thousands of centers in my possession into SOR appropriate centers. Feeling like high frequency words are the biggest confusion for me right now. Anyone else?
I know what you mean Lauren! This shift was hard for me! I think the place I would suggest starting is with your sight word list and how you group your instruction around it. I grouped sight words as closely as I could to phonics… naturally there are the outlaws. LOL. then I changed the sight word scope and sequence to match the phonics skills.
I will be discussing this on the 3rd webinar in the series I am doing. This will take place this Thursday, February 10th. There is a link in this blog post to sign up if you have not already.
I hope that helps.
I can’t get the website to accept my name and email address for the free 400+ page curriculum map.
Is there any way it can be sent to me?
Thank you!
Hi there!
I just sent it your way via email. 🙂
Can you send it to me too? beth.stewart@hcbe.net
Hi Beth,
Are you looking for the curriculum map? If so, there is a place on the homepage of my blog to enter your name and email to receive the file. Let me know if you are looking for something else 🙂
Good evening, can you share the happy planner binder rings and hole puncher used and did you use plastic covers?
Thank you!
Yes! Here you go:
Rings: https://amzn.to/3JwlQ9T
Hole Punch: https://amzn.to/3zzm0Zm
Thank you Mrs. Wills!
I can’t get the website to accept my name and email address for the free 400+ page curriculum map
Hi Kerry!
I will email you.
Do you have a science of reading lesson plan template that could be used with my reading series?
Hi Beth,
I have a blank lesson plan template. Can you email me? deedee@mrswillskindergarten.com
Hi!
The link to the suggested ‘year long phonics’ does not take me to that unit to purchase. It circles back to this blog post. I have searched the website and TPT with no luck. Is this phonics unit still able to be purchased?
Thank you!
Yes! Here is the link for the year-long phonics: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonics-Worksheets-Lessons-for-Kindergarten-1st-Grade-Science-of-Reading-5752676
i had left a prior qs but am not clear on your reply. Here’s a clearer qs – if I buy your year-long curriculum, is it self-contained? MUST I buy anything else in order to use it? (You recommended I read your article for my answer, but your article has tons of links to other materials as well, so I dont have the answer to my qs.)
Hi there!
The whole-group reading curriculum includes daily lesson plans to teach throughout the entire year. There are weekly decodable books (36 weeks), and daily teaching PowerPoints to teach letters, sounds, blending, and high-frequency words. There are also other supportive anchor charts and resources. If you are wanting additional decodable books, those are a separate resource. Additionally, if you are wanting additional phonics instruction, that is a separate unit.
I realize I have so many questions because I can not get the website to accept my name and email address for the free 400+ page curriculum map. Can you send me the link. Do you also have a science of reading lesson plan template that I could use? Thank you, I am finally understand more how to implement the program. Helen
Hi Helen!
I will send you an email with the curriculum guide and a lesson plan template.
Hi there! Will you also send me the curriculum map and lesson plan template? I signed up and received your email but cannot find those downloads. Thanks!
Hello! I just sent you an email.
Hello! This article has been extremely helpful for me in guiding my teaching this year, as my district is in limbo, searching for a new literacy curriculum. I am wondering if you teach all aspects of each day’s lesson in a whole group, particularly the dictation? And how do you differentiate with the decodable readers? I have such a wide range of learners this year, with some children just beginning to recognize letters in their name and others reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade level. I break them up into small groups after the main lesson, but find I’m not able to get to all of the components each day with everyone. Any tips? Thank you!
Hi Roxy!
I’m so glad this was helpful. Let’s see if I can clarify for you.
1.) Yes, all aspects of the routine are taught whole group. Everyone is moving quickly, so you will keep pace with about 60% of your classroom. Those students who need more support will be able to model after you have written the sound/word/sentence so everyone can see it.
2.) Differentiation: The whole group decodable text can be read as a shared reading. However, small group is really where to you do some real differentiation. During small group you will select a book that aligns with where that student or students are.
As far as your higher students, I have found that often they can decode (read it) but they can’t encode (write it). So the dictation is really helpful as they gain mastery in both skills.
Will you let me know that helps?
Deedee