Ep. 190: How to Teach Heart Words with Jessica Farmer (Quick Tips from our Teacher Friends)

In this episode, Jessica Farmer shares tips for teaching heart words. She explains the importance of blending and introduces the concept of continuous blending. Jessica defines heart words as high-frequency words with irregular or temporarily irregular spellings. She emphasizes the need to follow a scope and sequence and provides a routine for introducing new heart words. Jessica also discusses the process of orthographic mapping and suggests engaging activities for teaching heart words. She concludes by recommending additional resources for teaching heart words.

Takeaways

• Blending is the process of putting sounds together to form words, and continuous blending is a method that connects phonemes without breaking between the sounds.
• Segmenting is important for spelling, while continuous blending is effective for decoding words.
• Heart words are high-frequency words with irregular or temporarily irregular spellings, often involving vowel sounds.
• Teaching heart words should be done in a systematic and routine-based manner, following a scope and sequence.
• Engaging activities for teaching heart words include coloring by sounds and unscrambling the spelling.

Resources 

• Find Jessica at Farmer Loves Phonics on social! 
• Connected Phonation Research 
• A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words
• Blending Pyramids
• Heart Word Cards
• 30 Early High Frequency Words for Beginning Readers 

We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.

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