The following was submitted to us from Sabrina Breault, a first grade teacher in Downers Grove, Illinois.

At the beginning of the year, 53% of Mrs. Breault’s 1st grade students were reading below grade level expectations, and by the end of the year 89% were reading average to above average after a year of implementation of Slant System instruction.  

​I am a first grade teacher with 22 years of experience, and for the past three years, I have been using Slant System in my classroom—a program that has completely transformed the way I teach reading. Early in my career, I taught third grade, and when I transitioned to first grade, I did my best to teach students how to read. However, it wasn't until my Slant System training that I truly understood the systematic approach needed to effectively teach young children to read. Before Slant System, I lacked confidence in my ability to guide students through the intricacies of reading, but this training provided me with the essential knowledge and tools I needed.

Slant System’s comprehensive program has equipped me with everything necessary to support my students, from sound cards to decodable word lists, sentences, and stories. The explicit, direct instruction is manageable and immediately implementable, allowing me to walk into my classroom the very next day with all the materials required to start teaching. Now, my six- and seven-year-olds are passionate about learning to read. They don’t just guess at words; instead, they carefully examine letters, identify patterns, and apply the phonics rules they’ve learned to decode and read accurately.

This transformation has been incredibly rewarding. Parents are often amazed by the rapid progress their children have made in reading. What used to be a program designated for our tier 3 intervention students has now become an integral part of our RtI block for all first graders, ensuring that every child has access to these powerful reading strategies. As both a teacher and a parent, I’ve witnessed the profound impact of Slant System—not only in my classroom but also in helping my own child, who struggled with reading, to develop essential literacy skills. Slant System has given me the confidence, tools, and passion to provide effective reading instruction, and the results have been nothing short of remarkable.

Summer Training Successes
This summer was a busy and impactful season for the Slant System™ Structured Literacy training team. We hosted live online and in-person Foundations Courses, providing training to nearly 100 teachers from across the nation. These sessions focused on the Orton-Gillingham method, an evidence-based reading approach renowned for its effectiveness in dyslexia education. Participants in our courses were eager to deepen their understanding of the Science of Reading and structured literacy, with many planning to continue their journey through advanced literacy courses offered by the Slant System™.

Spotlight on Timothy L. Johnson Academy
A highlight of our summer was the continuation of Advanced Training and Practicum at Timothy L. Johnson Academy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where 83% of the scholars are economically disadvantaged and 54% are English Language Learners. After completing their Structured Literacy Foundations course last school year, the academy’s educators embraced a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction, with the understanding that everyone at the academy teaches reading and writing. Superintendent Dawn Starks and her administrative team proactively prepared their teachers with multimodal literacy instruction training, anticipating new mandates from the Indiana Board of Education. The Slant System™ is proud to be included on the state’s List of Approved Trainings, ensuring that our programs meet rigorous standards. By the end of this school year, over 65 teachers at the academy will exceed the state’s requirement of 80 hours of professional development in the science of reading, and will be earning their Structured Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist Certification through the Slant System™. Embracing this spirit and providing in-depth training in structured literacy equips teachers with the tools necessary to help their scholars succeed.

Looking Ahead: Expanding Our Impact
Looking ahead, we are eager to expand our partnerships with schools across the Midwest and nationwide, and to initiate Advanced Training classes and Practicum for over 150 dedicated educators. These committed professionals are working toward their Structured Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist Certification, enhancing their expertise in teaching reading and implementing intervention programs. Our unwavering commitment to providing high-quality literacy training for educators continues to drive our mission to improve literacy outcomes for students nationwide.

​

By Stacey Masliansky
​
Every August, my countdown begins: how many weeks until school starts? While summer is still in full swing, teachers everywhere start facing the reality that a new school year is just around the corner.

As a child, I looked forward to August, eager to shop for new shoes and a first-day-of-school outfit. I still remember the anticipation and wonder bubbling inside me the night before the first day of school: What would my new teacher be like? Would I have any friends in my class? What would the classroom look like? What would I learn that year?

As a teacher, August is no different. It's a busy month of balancing the "lasts" of summer with the "firsts" of the upcoming school year. For many teachers, it can be an overwhelming time of solidifying the instructional roadmap, ensuring all curricular materials and plans are in place before young, eager minds step foot into the classroom.

Since the final days before the start of the school year are packed with last-minute tasks, it's essential to have a plan in place. To help ease the transition and ensure you're ready for your students, here are some tips and materials for organizing a structured literacy classroom, suitable for any grade or content area. By incorporating these strategies, you can create an effective and engaging learning environment from day one.

1. Create a Literacy-Rich Environment with Plenty of Decodable Text that follows a dedicated Scope and Sequence. Don’t have one? Check out ours here.

A literacy-rich environment immerses students in text, promoting literacy development at every turn. Allowing students to access decodable texts with sound patterns that have been explicitly taught, you can create an atmosphere where students are constantly engaged with reading material that supports their learning. 

• Anchor Charts to Support Your Lessons: Display anchor charts that reinforce key literacy concepts. These visual tools can be downloaded and printed, providing ongoing support for your lessons. 
• Vocabulary Walls with Content-Rich Vocabulary: Dedicate a space for a vocabulary wall that showcases essential words. Leave room for it to grow as you introduce new vocabulary throughout the year.
• Sound Walls: Set up a sound wall that students can refer to during phonics lessons. Like the vocabulary wall, this should evolve over time, adding new sounds as they are introduced. Short on time? Check out these great sound wall resources from Hand2Mind.
  
  

2. Keep Instructional Materials Organized and Easy to Reach
An organized classroom allows for efficient teaching and learning. Having a clear system for storing and accessing materials saves time and reduces stress. 

• Label Everything: Clear a section on a bookshelf or counter for instructional materials and label each area. This not only helps you stay organized but also teaches students where to find and return materials. 
• Organizational System: Establish a home for all your teaching and resources. This will ensure you’re prepared when students arrive and make daily routines run smoothly. 

 
3. Create Engaging Learning Stations for Literacy Practice Learning stations offer valuable opportunities for differentiated instruction by allowing students to engage in literacy tasks that cater to their individual learning needs and abilities. Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, in their book Shifting the Balance,  highlight the importance of incorporating multisensory approaches in literacy instruction. They note that “literacy instruction benefits from engaging multiple senses,” and that the use of hands-on tools and manipulatives in literacy stations not only supports differentiated instruction but also deepens students’ understanding through active, multimodal engagement.

• Include Manipulatives for Multimodal Instruction: Equip each station with tools like chips, magnets, or tactile objects that support hands-on learning. These manipulatives help reinforce literacy concepts through multimodal engagement.
• Provide Essential Materials: Ensure every student has access to a dry erase board, markers, pens and an eraser. These are versatile tools for practicing writing, spelling, and error-correction in real-time.

 
4. Build a Classroom Library A well-curated classroom library encourages a love for reading by offering a wide range of books that meet the diverse needs and interests of your students. As Maryanne Wolf notes, “Books are the repository of our cultural, linguistic, and personal identities; they are the catalyst for the development of empathy, knowledge, and imagination.” By providing a diverse and well-curated collection of books, you nurture a lifelong love of reading in every child, ensuring that each student finds something that resonates with them and inspires their journey as a reader.

• Wide Variety of Genres and Topics: Stock your library with books from various genres and covering a broad range of topics. This diversity ensures that every student can find something that captures their interest. 
• Texts for Different Reading Abilities: Include books that cater to a variety of reading abilities, from beginners to more advanced readers, which ensures every student can feel successful in their reading journey.
• Decodable Texts to Support Phonics Instruction: Include decodable texts that align with your core phonics curriculum. These texts are essential for reinforcing the phonics skills students are learning. 

5. Establish Routines and Procedures Just as we emphasize explicit routines and procedures in our Slant System™ Lessons, establishing clear routines and procedures within the classroom is crucial for fostering a positive learning environment. These routines serve as the foundation of a well-managed classroom, providing the structure and consistency that students need to thrive. When students know what to expect and what is expected of them, they are more likely to feel secure, which in turn promotes focus and engagement. 

• Introduce Routines and Expectations Early: Starting on the first day of school, make sure students understand the routines and expectations for each component of your structured literacy lessons. Consistency in these routines helps students thrive and contributes to a productive classroom atmosphere.
• Incentives to Promote Positive Behaviors: Incentives like sticker charts, treasure chests, or class rewards can encourage focused and productive behaviors, contributing to a positive learning environment. By clearly defining and consistently reinforcing these routines from the start, you create a classroom atmosphere where students can concentrate on learning rather than uncertainty. Moreover, well-established procedures help streamline daily transitions and minimize disruptions, allowing more time for effective instruction. As Anita Archer wisely advises, “If you expect it, pre-correct it” – this means anticipating potential challenges and addressing them proactively, reinforcing the idea that clear expectations are key to classroom success. 

References:
Archer, A. (n.d.). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching.  
Ancora Publishing. Retrieved from Ancora Publishing​ (Ancora Publishing).

Burkins, J., & Yates, K. (2021). Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. Stenhouse Publishers.

The Access Center, (2007). Literacy-Rich Environments. Retrieved February 1, 2008, from The Access Center website: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/literacy-richenvironments.asp

Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Harper Perennial, 2008.

Decades of research have proven, time and again, that phonemic awareness is vital for students on their literacy journey.  Structured reading lessons must include phonemic awareness skills in each lesson and they must be explicit and systematic.

For struggling readers and those with dyslexia, phonemic awareness is a non-negotiable. The International Dyslexia Association definition of dyslexia states “...difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.” In simpler terms, dyslexia is a core deficit of the phonological processing system. 

In his book, Equipped for Reading Success, Dr. David Kilpatrick states “...phoneme awareness is not “optional” if one wants to be a good reader.”  When teaching students with dyslexia, phonological awareness must be addressed.  This blog only addresses basic phonemic awareness skills, but check back for additional blogs on “phoneme proficiency” and “advanced phonemic awareness.”

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Blending and segmenting are two essential phonemic awareness skills that are foundational for learning to read and spell. Blending is the ability to join individual sounds together to form a word. For example, blending the sounds /c/-/a/-/t/ would result in the word "cat." Segmenting is the ability to break words down into their individual sounds. Segmenting the word "cat" would result in the sounds /c/-/a/-/t/. Explicit teaching of blending and segmenting involves breaking down the skill into small, manageable steps and providing guided practice with feedback.  

In both cases, explicit teaching of blending and segmenting involves providing students with plenty of opportunities to practice the skills, along with feedback and support from the teacher. This might involve using games, activities, and manipulatives to make the learning engaging and interactive.  One way to do this is by using elkonin boxes with blocks or chips or anything your students enjoy. With consistent and explicit teaching, students can develop their phonemic awareness skills and build a strong foundation for reading and spelling success!

​​