reading comprehension for kindergarten 2

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Free K-2 Reading Comprehension Worksheets

posted on July 25, 2023

By Aimee Sawyer, Product Marketing Manager at Khan Academy Kids and former teacher

Click here to download the free reading comprehension worksheets.

Kids read stories all the time! But are they really understanding what they read or what’s being read to them? Comprehension is an essential skill—not just for reading, but for all other subjects as well ( National Reading Panel ). Khan Academy Kids is here to help make story time more enriching by teaching reading comprehension one skill at a time. Read below to find free lessons and reading comprehension worksheets that teach skills like recognizing key details, making predictions, learning about characters, and more.

Each reading comprehension worksheet pairs with a book in the free Khan Academy Kids app. Click here to see how to access books in the app, and click here to learn more about the books we offer and how they can be used in the classroom.

“Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand or connect to what they are reading, they are not really reading. Good readers are both purposeful and active and have the skills to absorb what they read, analyze it, make sense of it, and make it their own.”

– Reading Rockets

Finding key details

Key details are the important pieces of information in a story. Key details answer questions like who, what, when, where, why, and how. When a reader knows the answers to basic questions about the story, they have the foundation to build a deeper understanding of the text.

Kids can practice answering questions about key details in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Key Ideas and Details.”

Pair this writing page with the book The Best Way to Catch a Bug from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt focuses on the key detail question: what. Click here to see how to access The Best Way to Catch a Bug and other books.

Learning about characters

Before diving into characterization, kids need to first be able to identify the characters in a story. Then readers can turn their attention to the characters’ attributes. What do the characters like? What kinds of thoughts or feelings do they experience in the story? What do they decide to do when they run into a tricky situation? The answers to these questions help us get to know the characters.

Kids practice learning about characters by noticing their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Download the free Khan Academy Kids app for more practice questions like these. You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Key Ideas and Details.”

Pair this writing page with the book Star of the Show from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt asks about the main character, Kalani. Click here to see how to access The Star of the Show and other books.

Finding setting

The setting of a story provides important context for all of the events that happen in a story. Readers can find the setting by looking for clues in the text and the pictures.

Kids can practice identifying the setting of a story in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Key Ideas and Details.”

Pair this writing page with the book Trading Lunches from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt asks kids to recall the setting of the story. Click here to see how to access Trading Lunches and other books.

Beginning, Middle, and End

All stories have a beginning, middle, and end. It’s important that kids can put the events of a story in order and eventually learn the purpose of each part of the story. The beginning of the story introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The middle of the story usually introduces the problem of the story. The end is usually when the problem gets resolved!

Kids can practice answering questions about beginning, middle, and end in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Words and Structure.”

Pair this writing page with the book Friendship Takes Time from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt asks kids to draw or write what happens at the end of the story. Click here to see how to access Friendship Takes Time and other books.

Retelling stories

Retelling a story seems simple at first—all you have to do is say what happened in the story you just read! However, retelling will eventually lead to the more sophisticated skill of summarization . We want to make sure kids understand all the elements involved: identifying the most important details, putting events in order, and condensing it all into a sentence or two.

Kids can practice putting the events of a story in order in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Key Ideas and Details.”

Pair this writing page with the book The New Class from the free Khan Academy Kids app. Kids can practice retelling by drawing a picture that shows what happened in the story. Click here to see how to access The New Class and other books.

Finding the lesson of a story

Most stories have a main character who encounters a problem and then learns an important lesson in the process of solving it. As readers, we get to join fictional characters on their journey and learn a lesson alongside them!

Kids can practice finding the lesson of the story in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Key Ideas and Details.”

Pair this writing page with the book Calming Down from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt asks kids what lesson the main character learned in the story. Click here to see how to access Calming Down and other books.

Making predictions

When we’re reading stories, there’s a natural impulse to wonder, “What happens next?” It’s almost second nature to imagine the possibilities. We can prompt kids’ imagination by asking them specific prediction questions such as “What do you think the main character will do when they go to school the next day?” When kids engage with questions like this, it requires them to think about two things: 1) what they know about the story, and 2) patterns they’ve seen in the real world or in other stories.

Kids can practice making predictions while reading stories in the free Khan Academy Kids app . You can find this lesson in the Reading tab under “Integrating Text & Illustrations.”

Pair this writing page with the book Dinosaur Day from the free Khan Academy Kids app. The prompt asks kids to guess why Sandy doesn’t show up to school on Dinosaur Day. Click here to see how to access The Best Way to Catch a Bug and other books.

We hope these lessons and reading comprehension worksheets are helpful as kids grow in their reading comprehension skills. Download the free Khan Academy Kids app to access the lessons mentioned above and a whole lot more!

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Basics: Reading comprehension. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/reading-comprehension 

National Reading Panel, 2000, Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature of Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction , https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

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Kindergarten Reading Worksheets

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164 Kindergarten Reading Worksheets

"Reading" pictures #1

Draw a circle around each word you see! In this early reading worksheet, your child draws circles around the word under each picture and then guesses what the word might mean based on the picture.

"Reading" pictures #2

Where's the word? In this early reading worksheet, your child draws circles around the word under each picture and then guesses what the word might mean based on the picture.

A fantasy story: Baby Bear's Space Journey

Can Baby Bear go to the moon? In this early reading worksheet, your child listens as you read the story aloud, then answers reading comprehension questions. Encourage your child to try reading along to the story with you, too.

A fantasy story: spooky!

Read this story in a spooky voice! In this reading worksheet, your child will listen to and read a short story, then draw what comes next and create a title for the story.

A practice sentence

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Your child gets practice writing this sentence and coloring in the picture.

Above, on, below

Draw it! In this coloring math worksheet, your child will draw pictures on, above, and below other objects.

Above, on, below, part 2

Find it! In this coloring math worksheet, your child will identify whether objects are above, below, or on the ground.

This early writing worksheet gives your child practice writing the entire alphabet in lowercase letters.

It's the opposite! In this language arts worksheet, your child gets practice identifying antonyms such as on/off, light/dark, and night/day.

Beginning and ending sounds

In this early reading worksheet, your child gets practice identifying, writing, and sounding out vowels, first letters, and last letters in common one-syllable words.

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The 5+ Best Reading Comprehension Strategies to Build Strong Readers in K-2

Need to learn how to teach reading comprehension, but don’t know where to start? Here are the 5+ best reading comprehension strategies to build strong readers in K-2.

The Basics of Teaching Reading Comprehension

As educators of small children, we have so much to think about when it comes to teaching reading. Essential components, such as phonics skills, sight words, word families, and fluency, all need to be addressed. But don’t forget about the skill of reading comprehension.

Have you ever had a student who could decode any word you threw at them, but when it came to understanding the text, you got blank stares?

What about that child who seems to “get” the gist of the story, but can’t express themselves or describe the parts to give you confidence that they truly get it?

Although we may assume that the ability to understand and glean meaning from text comes naturally, that is not necessarily true for children. Kids learn differently and need to be taught in a variety of ways. Incorporating a mixture of approaches and practices to check for understanding is key.

Why Reading Comprehension is So Important

By challenging students to look deeper into the text, we teach valuable skills that they will use to increase their reading comprehension. Developing decoding skills and fluency are vital skills. But we must not forget to make sure our students are grasping what they are reading.

Children can benefit from being explicitly taught the key skills needed for good comprehension of text. It is true that some kids naturally grasp these strategies with little to no outside help. But a much greater number of early readers need these concepts to be modeled and directly taught to them.

Reading Comprehension Strategies by Grade

Using reading comprehension strategies doesn’t just start when a student can fluently read a passage. Skills should be emphasized from the beginning, even before children can accurately decode text.

Below are helpful strategies you can use during the first few years of literacy instruction. Find a few that will work for your students and incorporate them into your lessons today!

Reading Comprehension Strategies for Kindergarten

Kindergarten kids are just beginning to become “readers.” They are still learning letter sounds, simple sight words, and basic sentence structure. But we can develop comprehension skills even now.

For now, many of these activities will revolve around text that you, the teacher, read aloud to them. As they begin reading independently, they will be able to apply the concepts.

• Vocabulary – Building a child’s vocabulary is necessary for boosting comprehension. As they learn new words, have them draw pictures to represent the words or have them match pictures and words. This helps you check for understanding.
• Take a picture walk – Before reading a book together, have children look at the book’s pictures. Don’t read the words yet. Just discuss what is happening in the pictures. This encourages them to begin thinking about what the story will be about before they are asked to decode words.
• Wordless Books – This is another way to let pictures create a story for kids. Have students narrate what is happening by looking at the pictures. Here are some wordless books that would be helpful for this.
• Questioning – You can build so many skills while reading aloud with students simply by asking questions. See what children already know about the topic in a book. Then, have them predict what will happen. Alternatively, ask what they would like to learn (for nonfiction books). By stopping and discussing the book, you are modeling higher-order thinking skills to early readers. You are also getting a good check of their understanding.
• Retell the story – After reading a story aloud, ask students to recap what the story was about. This will reveal who understands what is being read and who is struggling with an aspect of comprehension.
• Sequencing – Help students grasp a story’s flow by asking them to record or draw what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Reading Comprehension Strategies for 1st Grade

At this point, students are developing greater fluency in their reading. They may be reading independently. Therefore, we can delve deeper into details about the stories that they are reading.

• Characters – As you read together, discuss the characters in the book. Ask questions such as: Who was the main character? What were they like? Have students draw a picture of their favorite characters and list two or three words about them.
• Learn Elements of a Story – Kids should begin to identify the parts of a story: characters, setting, plot, and solution. A story map is useful for looking at these elements. For this age, create an anchor chart and work together on it as a class. Another idea is to divide kids up into small groups and let them work together.
• 5-Finger Retell – Read the story together. Afterward, have children tell you 5 things from the story, using their fingers to remind them of each item: characters, setting, events, end, favorite character or part of the story.
• What did you learn? – Use K-W-L charts (What you K-“KNOW,” What you W-“WANT” to know, and What did you L-“LEARN” after reading) to record what students know, want to know, and learned from books.
• Book Trailer – Record a student giving a summary and recommendation of a book. This is like a mini-book review. For example, they tell about the book and what they liked about the story. Then, let them watch themselves!

Reading Comprehension Strategies for 2nd Grade

As students are now developing into stronger readers, they may be reading books that do not have as many pictures. Perhaps they are reading simple chapter books. This can present a comprehension challenge because now, kids cannot rely on the pictures, but must gather information directly from the text. With that in mind, there are some things we can do to strengthen these skills.

• Visualization – This is a strategy that encourages kids to make the stories come alive in their heads. Without looking at pictures in a book, a student is asked to “picture” what is happening in the text and then draw it. This is a great tool for getting kids thinking about the meaning behind the text.
• Illustrated timelines – Using post-it notes, have students develop a timeline of events from the story. Then on each post-it, they illustrate or write about each event. Line these up on the wall, a board, or the floor and have the child retell the story.
• Character analysis – Talk with students about the characters in the story. For example, ask them: What were they like? Why did they act that way? How could they have reacted differently?
• Comprehension mats – These are daily activities that include a reading passage and comprehension questions. In a handy printable “mat” format, these reading comprehension mats are easy and simple to use and fun for the kids. Learn more and grab a free sample below!

• Online games and activities – Many online games can boost elementary kids’ reading comprehension levels. These can also serve as assessment tools.

The strategies above are simple and can be easily incorporated into your homeschool or classroom reading program. Seek to build comprehension and teach the mechanics of reading to create a balanced literacy program.

Reading Comprehension Mats

To get started today implementing reading comprehension practice in your classroom, check out Proud to be Primary’s reading comprehension passages !

These one-page printables provide valuable practice of the strategies listed in this post. Plus, high-interest reading passages that kids love to read!

They are printable and digital to meet your teaching needs.

If you need a quick reading activity to make the most of your small group time , or provide extra practice at home , Comprehension Mats are for you!

Want to give them a try? Click the image below to download a free sample !

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reading comprehension for kindergarten 2

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Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Passages - Set 2 | DIGITAL DISTANCE LEARNING

Reading Comprehension Kindergarten (Quarter 2 )

Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Passages {Volume 2 }

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Main Idea and Supporting Details Reading Comprehension Unit | Kindergarten Set 2

Kindergarten Journeys Unit 2 Reading Comprehension Story Strips

Reading /Writing Comprehension 2 - Levels D to G - Kindergarten & First Grade

First Grade Reading Comprehension Stories SET 2 | Kindergarten EOY Reading

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Home > English Language Arts Worksheets > Reading Comprehension Worksheets > Kindergarten

These are worksheets that were created for Kindergarten students that are just getting started with reading. This is the level where pre-readers and sentence-level readers collide a bit. Many Kindergarten teachers are usually the first wave of the assault on getting kids to love to read. It is a seemingly impossible task that many veteran teachers handle like a BOSS. This is a critical skill that follows people all the way through life. Parents need to realize the importance of this year and do everything in their power to support the teachers' effort in the classroom. Reading is a lifelong skill that is often overlooked in a society that is dominated by 140 character thoughts from random people with some level of fame. If you scroll down you will see many Kindergarten level reading sheets that you can print.

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Printable kindergarten reading comprehension worksheets, click the buttons to print each worksheet and answer key..

Ken goes on a ski trip. Ken loves to ski. He skis down a hill. Ken thinks that the best thing is that he goes very fast.

At the Shelter

Lynn and her mother go to the animal shelter. They want to adopt a pet. They see cats and kittens. They see big dogs. They see little dogs. They see rabbits.

If I had a wagon I’d pack up all my stuff I’d bring a bag of cookies and a chocolate cream puff

Hank was home sick from school. Sam called him after school.

Spooky Golf

There was a new indoor golf course in town. Don went with his father. It was dark in the golf course. Many things glowed in the dark.

Big Gorilla

Katy is planning a birthday party. She wants a big gorilla to play the guitar at her party!

Dressing Up

Joe and Marty are dressing up like cowboys. Joe puts on a cowboy hat. Marty puts on a cowboy hat. Joe puts on boots. Marty puts on boots.

Mary and her mother go to the zoo. They see monkeys. They see bears. They see lions.

Don has a fish tank. Inside the tank there are many fish. There are big fish. There are small fish. There are red fish. There are blue fish. But one fish has many colors.

The Turkey Sub

If Joe could only eat one thing For the whole rest of his days He would choose a turkey sub With a whole lot of mayonnaise.

Frank woke up. It is Mom's birthday! Frank wants to give Mom a gift. I will pick Mom some flowers, Frank says.

It is summer. It is time for the county fair! Penny wants to go to the fair. She wants to see the pigs. She wants to see the cows.

A baby frog is called a tadpole. Tadpoles have gills and live in water. When tadpoles grow into frogs, they have lungs. Frogs live around water.

In spring, there is a lot of rain. The weather gets warmer. Flowers bloom. Trees get leaves. Grass grows. Many animals, like birds and rabbits, have babies in the spring.

The Dirty Duck

The duck ran into the mud. He got dirty. The duck did not want to be dirty.

Dirty Duck Question #4

The last question to previous reading worksheet.

What Reading Skills Do Kindergarteners Need?

When a student is prepared for kindergarten there are several skills that are often present as far as reading goes. They should be able to recognize and even read their name. Hopefully, they know their alphabet and can recite it from memory. They may know some sound that letters make, but not all. They can easily hear a rhythm whether it be in a song or a voiced sentence. Students that are ready understand that they should read a cover of a book from right to left. They also inheritably understand that everything should be observed from the top to the bottom. Ready kindergarteners can almost always retell their favorite story that they heard or saw. Many times, a student is lacking in a few of these qualities and that is not an alarm, but a subtle caution that they may need more time to develop their skills.

Helping Kindergarteners Become Better Readers

Reading is like taking an inexpensive yet fulfilling vacation. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by problems piling up in your life, you can become someone else, be a part of someone else’s story and escape the real world, if only for a little while, simply by picking up a book.

Reading is an excellent pastime; not only does it enable you to shake off stress, but it also benefits you cognitively by increasing your knowledge, attention span and memory. You get to learn from characters in stories as they witness life situations that are quite relatable at times. The best part is that hardcovers and eBooks allow you to read in both online and offline settings. It’s no surprise that some of the most successful innovators in the world today are readers. However, it’s easier to make reading a habit when it is done from a young age.

While it can be challenging to make kindergartners better readers, it isn’t impossible. The primary motivation behind helping kindergarteners become better readers is that once they start to enjoy reading, the chances are that they will continue this habit for the rest of their lives. Keep reading to discover how you can help kindergarteners become better readers at school or at home.

Let Your Kindergartener Choose the Book They Want to Read

As an adult, you may feel responsible for guiding children, but sometimes you need to let children make their own choices in order for them to learn. It doesn’t have to be a big decision that may impact their health, like deciding to have candy for breakfast, but something small like choosing the book they want to read is harmless. When a child picks a book from the options that are set out for them, you need to let them read what they want. A kindergartener will enjoy reading a story they picked instead of one picked for them by someone else because the reason why they picked the book in the first place is that they felt interested in it. You have to fuel that very interest by granting them the independence to choose the story they’d like to read. Brownie points for adding picture books or comics to their options, stories they’d actually enjoy to encourage repetition.

Keep them in Close Proximity

Children feel more comfortable when someone they recognize is in close proximity to them, which is why placing your child in your lap, sitting next to them or on opposite sides is a good option. Your kindergartener will feel less nervous about reading if you’re near them physically and they enjoy your presence. If you remain in close proximity to your child, you can help them pronounce difficult words and use hand gestures to guide them if they get stuck on a particular sentence. Whether you’re helping a kindergartener learn to read or pick up another habit, proximity helps by making children feel more connected to you.

Read Aloud Together

You can start the book by reading the title with your kindergartener and asking them to repeat it for you. When you read aloud the first time, your kindergartener will repeat certain words; then they will repeat entire sentences and eventually, they will lead you through the book. It is your responsibility to make the activity feel fun and exciting, so take your time between reading different passages to let them soak in the new knowledge. Reading aloud may make your kindergartener nervous at first, but it helps diminish social anxiety in the long run. Plus, when you read aloud together, you take the immediate attention off the child and share the spotlight with them, enabling the child to become comfortable while reading.

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension

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Learning to read is an exciting milestone for kindergarteners. Early reading skills include letter recognition, phonemic awareness, decoding, blending, and sight word recognition. Go beyond worksheets to improve kindergarten reading comprehension and skill through hands-on learning activities, games, and targeted techniques.

Key Takeaways: Building Comprehension

• Build a foundation for comprehension by providing explicit phonics instruction and reinforcing new knowledge through interactive games.
• Select books with repetitive text that focus on topics your child enjoys, and read each one multiple times. Repetition encourages comprehension.
• While you read, help your child make connections by asking questions about the story and encouraging them to visualize it.
• Use anchor charts for reading comprehension . These can include reminders about decoding techniques, making connections, or visualizing the story.

Start with a Strong Foundation

Overall reading success, including strong comprehension skills, begins with phonemic awareness. More than merely reciting the alphabet, kindergartners need to learn the sounds that each letter makes. Phonemic awareness also includes:

• Blending individual sounds
• Isolating beginning and ending sounds and recognizing words that start or end with the same sounds
• Segmenting words into individual sounds

Children need explicit phonics instruction. This instruction builds on phonemic awareness to teach the relationship between letters or groups of letters and sounds. The most effective phonics instruction follows a specific sequence beginning with vowel and consonant sounds and building to two- and three-letter blends, double consonant ends, plural words, and diagraphs (letter blends such as ch , sh , bl , and th ).

Kindergarten students should work on recognizing high-frequency words commonly known as sight words. Fry words and Dolch sight words are two such word lists. 

Play Kindergarten Reading Games

Get young children involved in hands-on activities that improve their phonemic awareness and reading comprehension skills.

Roll Word Families

Start with two blank dice. On one, write word-beginning consonant sounds, such as b , s , t , m , p , and r . On the second, write word-ending vowel-consonant sounds, such as at , op , an , in , ap and et ). Ensure that the child will be able to combine the beginning and ending sounds to create consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.

To play, invite your child to roll the dice and read the resulting word. Some of the combinations will be nonsense words, but that’s OK. Nonsense words still provide practice blending sounds. If desired, ask students to identify which words are real and which are nonsense.

Send children on a CVC or sight word scavenger hunt through classroom books with a simple I Spy game. Ask them to search the books for CVC or sight words, then report back on the words they find.

Act Out Passages

Encourage students to act out a scene from a book they are reading. This fun, simple activity adds meaning to the words on the page and helps children focus on and visualize those meanings.

Use a preprinted sight word bingo card or fill a blank template with sight words or CVC words. Create a few different card options and give one to each student, along with marker chips. Call out the words one at a time. As students locate each word on their card, they will cover it with a marker until they have five in a row.

Reading Recommendations for Kindergarten

When looking for books that kindergarten students can read independently (or with a little help), it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Use the five-finger rule. If a student makes five errors reading a page from a book, it’s too hard. One error is too easy. Four errors might mean the book is acceptable for the student to try with some help. The sweet spot for a "just right" book is only two or three errors per page.
• It's OK for children to read the same book multiple times. It may seem as if this isn’t helpful for reading comprehension because they are memorizing the text. Becoming comfortable and familiar with text improves reading fluency, vocabulary, and word recognition. 
• Reading books with repetitive text, such as "The Foot Book" or "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss , improves reading comprehension. Include books with familiar sight words such as "Big Brown Bear" or "Big Pig, Little Pig," both by David McPhail. 

Help students select children's books on topics that interest them. Keep in mind that some children prefer fiction books while others thrive on nonfiction. Try nonfiction books written for early readers such as "Baby Pandas" by Bethany Olson, "Big Shark, Little Shark" by Anna Membrino, or "On a Farm" by Alexa Andrews.

Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Assessment

One of the easiest ways to assess reading comprehension in kindergarten students is the Informal Reading Inventory, also known as a Qualitative Reading Inventory. The IRI allows instructors to individually assess a student’s fluency, word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension, and oral reading accuracy.

Kindergarten students should be assessed in the middle and at the end of the school year. Children are usually asked to read a passage aloud. Reading fluency rate is determined by how many correct words a student reads in one minute. Oral reading accuracy can help an instructor determine a student’s reading level and ability to decode words.

Comprehension can be checked by asking questions about the passage or asking the student to summarize what he read. Vocabulary is assessed through open-ended questions about words in the passage.

Model Good Reading Habits

It is important for children to see that their parents and teachers value reading. Teachers can help by setting aside 15 to 20 minutes for silent reading each day. During this time, students and their teacher choose books to read silently. Parents can help by ensuring that children see them reading at home.

Teachers and parents should read aloud to students regularly so that children can hear the role that reading rate and voice inflection play in fluency. Choose books that are above the level that children could read on their own to expose them to new vocabulary. Parents should make bedtime stories part of their nightly routine.

Ask Questions

Improve kindergarten students’ reading comprehension by asking questions. Before reading, look at the book’s title and illustrations and ask students to make predictions about what will happen.

During the story, ask questions about what is going on, what students think will happen next, or what they would do if they were the main character. After the story, ask questions about what happened, how the story made the children feel, or why they think the book ended the way it did.

Help Kindergartners Make Connections

Helping students make connections is another effective technique for improving comprehension. Give students a foundation for what they’re reading. Talk or watch a video about unfamiliar experiences before reading about them.

Help children connect stories to their own experiences. When reading a book about a boy getting a new puppy, for example, talk to students about who has a pet. Ask where they got their pet and how they chose it.

Teach Comprehension Strategies

Teach children what to do when they don’t understand what they’re reading. Instruct students to:

• Reread the passage
• Look at the pictures for clues
• Think about what happened before or read what happens next

If those tips don’t help, students may be reading a book that is too difficult. Don’t forget the five-finger rule.

Build Vocabulary

Increasing a student’s vocabulary in an excellent way to improve their reading comprehension. Give students confidence in their budding reading skills by defining unfamiliar words ahead of time so that they don’t lose the meaning of the story.

Teach them to infer the meaning of a new word from the context of the story. For example, if a student reads, “The tiny ant goes in the little hole,” he may be unfamiliar with the word tiny but recognize little from his sight word list.

Teach kids to ask themselves questions such as, “What could go through a little hole? Would it be something small or something big?” By reading the word in context, kids can learn to infer that tiny must mean small or little.

Encourage Visualization

Teach children to create mental images, often called brain movies or mind movies, when they are reading. Ask them to draw a picture of what is going on or what the character is thinking or feeling. Instruct them to use their five senses to picture the action of the story in their mind.

Envisioning the action of a story is a fun way to improve students’ reading comprehension.

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• 10 Strategies to Increase Student Reading Comprehension
• How to Teach Reading Comprehension to Dyslexic Students
• Review of Reading Eggs for Children Ages 4 to 8
• Homeschool Curriculum Guide - Phonics Programs
• Prior Knowledge Improves Reading Comprehension
• Predictions to Support Reading Comprehension
• Letter Blends - A Lesson Plan for Students With Dyslexia
• 5 Tips to Improve Reading Comprehension
• How to Improve Your French Reading Comprehension
• Dolch Sight Words for Word Walls
• Sight Vocabulary for Word Recognition
• Reading Comprehension Practice Questions
• Interactive Reading and Phonics Websites
• STAR Early Literacy Review
• Teaching Reading Comprehension

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Reading Worksheets, Spelling, Grammar, Comprehension, Lesson Plans

2nd Grade Reading Comprehension Worksheets

The 2nd grade reading comprehension activities below are coordinated with the 2nd grade spelling words curriculum on a week-to-week basis, so both can be used together as part of a comprehensive program, or each part can be used separately. The printable worksheets include second grade appropriate reading passages and related questions. Each worksheet (as well as the spelling words) also includes a cross-curricular focus on earth science, reasoning, study skills, visual art, physical science, history, social sciences, mathematics and life sciences. This allows students to build their reading comprehension skills and reinforce knowledge in other subject areas. There are 36 weeks of second grade worksheets, following most standard school year calendars.

Be sure to check out all of our reading comprehension worksheets .

3-D: It’s not Just For Movies

Week 26 Reading Comprehension (B-26). A passage about dimensional objects like cubes and pyramids. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Cause & Effect

Week 8 Reading Comprehension (B-8). Reading comprehension passage about cause and effect. Cross-Curricular Focus: Reasoning Skills.

Color Shows Mood

Week 12 Reading Comprehension (B-12). A short passage and questions about how different colors affect us and mix together. Cross-Curricular Focus: Visual Arts.

Congruent Geometric Shapes

Week 27 Reading Comprehension (B-27). A short passage and related questions about shapes that are congruent. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Extending Patterns

Week 30 Reading Comprehension (B-30). Reading segment and questions about different types and uses of patterns. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Food is Our Fuel

Week 13 Reading Comprehension (B-13). Reading comprehension passage about the energy food provides. Cross-Curricular Focus: Life Science.

Fractions as Parts of a Whole

Week 21 Reading Comprehension (B-21). A passage and questions about fractions. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Have You Got the Time?

Week 24 Reading Comprehension (B-24). A brief passage and questions about the different divisions of time. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

How Things Move

Week 3 Reading Comprehension (B-3). A comprehension passage about motion and measuring changes in position. Cross-Curricular Focus: Physical Science.

Identifying Geometric Solids

Week 28 Reading Comprehension (B-28). Reading comprehension passage about three-dimensional figures like cubes and cones. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Justify Your Answer

Week 31 Reading Comprehension (B-31). A passage about making sure your answers are reasonable. Cross-Curricular Focus: Reasoning Skills

Limited Resources

Week 6 Reading Comprehension (B-6). A passage about earth’s limited natural resources. Cross-Curricular Focus: History / Social Sciences.

Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing

Week 34 Reading Comprehension (B-34). A brief passage about the elements of becoming good at language. Cross-Curricular Focus: Thinking Skills.

Making Connections to Text

Week 33 Reading Comprehension (B-33). Reading comprehension passage about connecting to text in different ways. Cross-Curricular Focus: Thinking Skills.

Many Ways to Measure

Week 10 Reading Comprehension (B-10). Reading segment and questions about measuring height, weight, and temperature. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Microscopes Magnify Things

Week 16 Reading Comprehension (B-16). A passage and questions about the origin and use of microscopes. Cross-Curricular Focus: Science Investigations.

Money, Money, Everywhere!

Week 20 Reading Comprehension (B-20). Reading segment and questions about the use of money. Cross-Curricular Focus: Mathematics.

Narrative or Expository?

Week 35 Reading Comprehension (B-35). Reading segment about the difference between narrative and expository text. Cross-Curricular Focus: Study Skills.

Plant Life Cycles

Week 4 Reading Comprehension (B-4). A passage and related questions about plant life cycles. Cross-Curricular Focus: Life Science.

Poetry Uses Rhyme

Week 22 Reading Comprehension (B-22). A short passage and related questions about the use of rhyming in poetry. Cross-Curricular Focus: ELA Genre Structure.

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What Is Reading Comprehension? Plus How To Teach It

It’s why we read.

The process of understanding what we are reading, also known as comprehension, is complex and nuanced. When we read, we seek to understand. Making meaning from text is the overlying purpose of reading, whether we are reading to learn or reading a story. That’s all well and good, but the important question is how ? It’s not easy to just instantly understand something, even for seasoned readers. And what about those who are just learning to read or those who are beginning to read more difficult text?

Here we break down the science of what really matters so you can encourage learners to develop this important skill. It truly is integral to every aspect of their learning, even across subject areas. Phew! That’s a lot of pressure. But stay tuned as we dig deeper into what reading comprehension is and offer some helpful tips to get students thinking deeply and critically.

What does “reading comprehension” mean?

Comprehension is one of the five main components of reading , but it’s also the reason we read. All the bits and pieces we teach, the nitty gritty of literacy like sounds and syllables, ultimately helps us become more automatic in decoding. And when this happens, we free up our attention to comprehend, or make meaning. We read stories and text for a purpose and it’s our goal as readers to make sense of what we read. If that’s feeling like a lot, that’s because it is! It’s very meta and therefore super complex. But this chart helps us think about the ways comprehension surrounds each of the other four aspects of literacy. It truly is the overarching goal.

How do we comprehend?

Scarborough’s reading rope is a helpful tool for conceptualizing how skilled reading occurs and all the elements that must come together to make it work. While it all looks quite intricate, the simple view of reading can be boiled down to the equation at the bottom. Language comprehension x decoding = reading comprehension. Both of these elements have to coexist for understanding to occur.

Why is teaching comprehension so complex?

The science of reading has helped us better understand how to teach literacy because we’ve discovered how the brain acquires decoding skills. Comprehension, on the other hand, is harder to research and study, since so many of the pieces are happening all at once. There are also many contributing factors that are different for each of us, which makes it harder to conceptualize and break down into its essential parts.

There’s a recent debate in the research about whether background knowledge or the use of decoding skills and comprehension strategies contribute more to understanding. While we don’t know for sure, we believe it’s important to incorporate and emphasize both in your classroom. This way, you can’t go wrong.

It’s important to remember that comprehension is an outcome, not a skill. While we can’t “teach” comprehension itself, we do know what tools and strategies can help move students toward greater understanding. Let’s explore what that looks like.

This is a big one.

Decoding is undoubtedly an integral part of comprehension because, of course, we cannot understand what we are reading without deciphering the actual words. The recent shift to a more science-of-reading-based approach to teaching reading honors our understanding of the importance of mastering phonics skills.

As readers become more proficient decoders, their speed and accuracy increases, which in turn supports their fluency. We can imagine that fluency is the bridge that connects decoding and comprehension. As you can see, all aspects of reading come together to affect comprehension, which is why literacy is such a heavy focus in the early grades.

Background knowledge

As students become more proficient in decoding, interestingly the next step to supporting comprehension is increasing background knowledge. Newer research suggests just how important background knowledge is for understanding. Without bringing a base level of knowledge to a text, we will have a hard time making sense of it. This same research is revealing that comprehension strategies themselves don’t necessarily increase comprehension, instead knowledge is the driving force .

Background knowledge is not something we do intentionally. Researcher and popular blogger Tim Shanahan says that our brains are designed to make these types of connections . It turns out that applying our underlying knowledge to what we are reading automatically helps us comprehend, even if we aren’t aware we are doing it. Even so, we can also make our background knowledge work for us as a strategy to further understand. Things like previewing material or brainstorming what we know about a topic can help us access our background knowledge more effectively.

It’s also important to be aware of the role of privilege and background knowledge : “with access to greater resources, a child from a middle- or upper-class family is more likely to be taken on trips, attend events, or be exposed to experiences that deepen their cultural and social knowledge base.” As we teach comprehension strategies, we have to be mindful of helping to address these types of discrepancies.

“Some students have background knowledge that is more valued by schools and thus more likely to be leveraged in their learning,” says Adeyemi Stembridge, an education researcher who specializes in closing achievement gaps .

But what about when students don’t have sufficient background knowledge about a topic? That’s where strategies become helpful.

Not surprisingly, increased vocabulary knowledge correlates with greater understanding. The more words we know, the easier it is to comprehend a text. There are many ways we can help students develop a stronger vocabulary. For example, read-alouds are a phenomenal way to authentically support this skill.

Check out more helpful suggestions about how to enhance vocabulary specifically for comprehension . We love the idea of using a story map for a graphic organizer to keep track of our thinking! Plus, this organizer is a helpful tool for older students and can be used before, during, or after reading to keep track of new vocabulary learning.

What other strategies support effective reading comprehension?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching comprehension. As we’ve mentioned, it’s a complex process and requires many simultaneous systems to work cohesively. Here are some things you can do to make sure students not only understand the text you are reading with them but can also apply these skills to their own independent reading, now and in the future. Ultimately, we want them to become self-sufficient readers who can make meaning on their own.

Develop oral language comprehension early

Don’t wait to encourage comprehension until after students can already read. Preschoolers can actively engage in discussions about books that activate their knowledge and set them up for later success. Learn more about how building literacy with content levels the playing field .

Inferring is making a guess about what you are reading based on what you already know, when it’s not explicitly stated in the text. According to Brent Conway, a guest on the Measured Mom podcast, “inferencing … really isn’t a reading strategy, it’s a cognitive skill. We make inferences at birth … so it’s not like we have to really teach people how to make inferences.” But we can encourage students to be more aware and conscious of when they are making connections so they can access the skill more purposely as a way to comprehend.

Susan Jones offers some tips for teaching inferring in her helpful video below. We love the idea of having students act like detectives as they figure out what the author is trying to say in a text.

Understanding “cohesion”

Cohesion is a fancy word that describes how easily texts can be understood based on sentence complexity and how the text flows and is connected in a meaningful way. When texts are not cohesive, they are harder to understand. But as researcher and blogger Shanahan suggests, lower cohesive texts offer a greater opportunity for readers to think critically and boost their engagement with the text and make more inferences.

Use writing as a tool

Natalie Wexler, an education writer and journalist, suggests that the most effective comprehension instruction includes teaching multiple strategies at once . A great way to incorporate multiple strategies at once is to use writing as an instructional tool. Explicit writing instruction is one of the most effective teaching strategies. Students learn the most when they practice doing in their writing what we ask them to uncover in their reading. For example, to promote the understanding of the main idea, encourage them to write a strong topic sentence.

Paying attention to sentence structure and syntax

It’s helpful for students to understand how words and syntax work together to create the structure of a text. Comprehension improves as students become more proficient with these foundational elements of stories and text.

Summarizing

Some strategies have been proven more effective than others, including summarizing the text . This is important because it requires readers to determine what’s important and the author’s purpose.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the breadth of comprehension, try this strategy first. Marnie Ginsberg, the creator of the literacy curriculum Reading Simplified, explains that learning how to summarize what we’re reading is one of the most, if not the most, important comprehension skills that will set up learners for more advanced understanding. Start with these three questions to get your students thinking about the main idea and how to succinctly summarize stories:

• Who are the main characters?
• What is the main characters’ problem?
• What’s the solution to the problem?

Also, check out the video below for a helpful analogy you can use with your students about summarizing and uncovering the main idea of a text. You can think of it like squeezing out a sponge and getting rid of the extra water (which represents the details) so you’re just left with the main ideas.

Self-monitor and ask questions

Good readers can ask themselves questions as they read and acknowledge when something is standing in the way of their understanding. Like we mentioned before, our hope is for students to become independent readers and thinkers, and encouraging these skills helps them get closer to this overarching goal. Four effective ways to monitor understanding include visualizing, asking yourself questions, drawing conclusions, and rereading to clarify.

Metacognition

If we want students to be active participants in their reading, it’s important to encourage them to talk to themselves and develop a voice inside their head to ask questions or make connections without our prompting. This is known as metacognition and is similar to self-monitoring.

Thinking about what you are thinking about when you read is an invisible but vital part of reading, says This Reading Mama. “Our young readers need to see, hear, and be a part of this process. We need to let them in on the secret of metacognition; that, yes, hearing voices inside your head as a reader is normal.”

Books and Resources

Just like the science of reading is changing how we approach our phonics instruction, we’re learning more about how to best support students’ comprehension. Check out these resources for more information on the whys and hows of reading comprehension.

The Knowledge Gap

Check out The Knowledge Gap to learn more about our current education structure and uncover ways we can help all children access curriculum and content equitably.

Buy it: The Knowledge Gap at Amazon

Wit and Wisdom

Using rich and diverse texts, this K-8 curriculum can help you break down what reading comprehension is so you can most effectively teach the important elements, including building knowledge and understanding of all types of content.

Learn more: Wit and Wisdom

The Reading Comprehension Blueprint

Filled with practical lesson plans and ideas, this wonderful resource helps demystify the complexities of reading comprehension and will set you up for success in your classroom.

Buy it: The Reading Comprehension Blueprint at Amazon

For more ideas and inspiration on reading comprehension, check out Fun Second Grade Reading Comprehension Activities and Engaging First Grade Reading Comprehension Activities .

For more articles like this, be sure to  subscribe to our newsletters ..

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Key Stage 2 Christmas Worksheets for Reading - KS2 Reading Comprehension

Subject: Religious education

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

6 November 2023

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Are you looking for Christmas worksheets for reading for your class? This set of Christmas reading comprehension questions focuses on the Christmas story, with a Christmas reading passage and 12 task cards, plus KS2 reading challenge cards. The story, Starbright’s Important Mission, tells the Christmas story through the eyes of the star. There are then 12 task cards requiring the children to reflect on their understanding of the story.

The task cards focus on skills such as:

• Be an emotion detective: describe the emotion of the characters at specific points of the story
• Draw ‘mood journeys’ for three of the main characters
• Find the evidence to support key information
• Longer answers, requiring students to quote accurately from the text

There are answers provided for each of the reading comprehension task cards. The answers are detailed and thorough, with sample answers where necessary.

After the main task cards, there is also an example card, so that the children know what the ‘mood journeys’ should look like. There are also three challenge cards, to extend pupils’ learning if needed.

The passages and activities could be printed out and given to students as a pack. This would make it perfect for a Christmas supply teacher lesson.

There’s not much to prepare… All you need to do is print the sheets out and hand to your class.

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Phonics and Decoding

A New Model for Teaching High-Frequency Words

Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. To do this, high-frequency words need to be categorized according to whether they are spelled entirely regularly or not. This article describes how to “rethink” teaching of high-frequency words.

On this page:

Current practices, overview of suggested restructuring, teach 10–15 “sight words” before phonics instruction begins, flash words and heart words defined, flash words, flash words with advanced vowels to teach with early phonics instruction, flash words with two and three syllables, heart words, teaching heart words, implementing the new model, about the authors.

We have visited many schools to observe intervention lessons and core reading instruction. For years we have been struck that even schools embracing research-­based reading instruction teach high-frequency words through rote memorization. It is as if the high-frequency words are a special set of words that need to be memorized and can’t be learned using sound–symbol relationships.

A number of years ago, a teacher we respect enormously asked for help because many of her Tier 2 students and all of her Tier 3 students in first and second grades were failing to learn high-frequency words, even though they were progressing in their phonics lessons. We observed her teaching the digraph th to a group of four Tier 3 first grade students. This lesson was in April. Her students had learned to read CVC words and this was their first lesson with digraphs . The high-frequency words the students were responsible for knowing in this lesson were the color words: blue , red , yellow , orange , purple , and green . None of the four students could spell more than two of the words accurately. All four students had difficulty reading those words when they were mixed into lists with other high-frequency words. (Indeed, they were having difficulty reading all the high-frequency words in the lists.)

These students could read words that followed spelling patterns they had learned and practiced, but they struggled learning words that made no sense to them from a sound–spelling viewpoint. We suggested that the students learn high-frequency words according to spelling patterns, and not according to frequency number or theme.

Together with the teacher, we organized the high-frequency words to fit into the phonics lessons so that the words were tied to spelling patterns students were learning. First, we focused on identifying decodable high-frequency words such as but, him, and yes and integrating them into phonics lessons instead of teaching them as words that had to be memorized. Next, we identified irregularly spelled high-frequency words such as said, you, and from . These words have two or three letter sounds students knew and only one or two letters that had to be memorized. We integrated 2 or 3 of these words into a phonics lessons, and students learned to identify the letters spelled as expected and to learn “by heart” the letters not spelled as expected.

With this approach, students had an easier time learning to read the word said because they knew that only the letters ai are an unexpected spelling. Students also soon stopped confusing was and saw because they learned to think about the first sound before reading or spelling those words. The teacher told us that she, her students, and their parents were thrilled that they were no longer “banging their heads against the wall” going over and over the words as students tried to memorize how to read or spell high-frequency words with little success.

High-frequency words are often referred to as “ sight words ”, a term that usually reflects the practice of learning the words through memorization. These words might be on the Dolch List, Fry Instant Words, or selected from stories in the reading program. Common practice often includes sending these “sight words” home for students to study and memorize, or drilling with flash cards in school. Students may  start with word #1 and progress through the words in the order of frequency. Some teachers, like our friend above, group the words in categories, such as numbers or colors, whenever possible. In essence, high-frequency word instruction is often fully divorced from phonics instruction. While this method works for many students, it is an abysmal failure with others.

Integrating high-frequency words into phonics lessons allows students to make sense of spelling patterns for these words. To do this, high-frequency words need to be categorized according to whether they are spelled entirely regularly or not. Restructuring the way high-frequency words are taught makes reading and spelling the words more accessible to all students. The rest of this article describes how to “rethink” teaching of high-frequency words and fit them into phonics lessons.

Many kindergarten students are expected to learn 20 to 50, or even more, high-frequency words during the year. The words are introduced and practiced in class and students are asked to study them at home. Learning these “ sight words ” often starts before formal phonics instruction begins.

Children do need to know about 10–15 very-high-frequency words when they start phonics instruction. However, these words can be carefully selected so that they are the “essential words” that are not decodable when the short vowel patterns VC and CVC are taught. Words such as at , can , and had are easier for students to learn using phonics than by simply memorizing them.

We recommend teaching 10–15 pre‐reading high-frequency words only after students know all the letter names, but before they start phonics instruction. (Students who have not learned their letter names inevitable struggle to learn words that have letters they cannot identify.) Teaching students to read the ten words in Table 1 as “sight words” even before they begin phonics instruction is unlikely to overburden even “at risk” students. These ten words can be used to write decodable sentences when phonics instruction begins. The words in Table 1 are suggestions only, and teachers may revise or add words based on their reading materials and their students. For example, the words are and said are often added.

To teach these ten pre-reading sight words, we recommend introducing one word at a time. Teaching these words in the order listed can minimize confusion for students. For example, the and a are unlikely to be confused, as are I and to . However, to and of are widely separated on the table because both are two-letter words with the letter o , and t and f have similar formations.

As we recommended above, the words in Table 1 should not be taught or practiced until a student knows all the letter names. 

Students can demonstrate they know these words in a number of ways, including (1) finding the word in a list or row of other words, (2) finding the word in a text, (3) reading the word from a card, and (4) spelling the word.

If students know letter sounds and can identify the first sound in a word, the following words can be tied to beginning letter sounds because the initial sound is spelled as expected: to , and , was , you , for , is . The word I is easily recognized by students who know their letter names. On the other hand, the words the , a , and of cannot be tied to known letter sounds.

Teaching a “ditty” to help students learn the, a, and of works for many students. Teachers have had success teaching students to sing the ditties below. It is important that students have the word in front of them when they say the ditty. They should point to the word when they say it in the ditty, and point to the letters when they say them in the ditty.

• The : I can say ‘thee’ or I can say ‘thuh’, but I always spell it ‘t’ ‘h’ ‘e’
• A: I can say ‘ā’ or I can say ‘uh’, but I always spell it with the letter ‘a’
• Of is hard to spell, but not for me. I love to spell of. ‘o’ ‘f’ of, ‘o’ ‘f’ of, ‘o’ ‘f’ of

Table 1: 10 Sight Words for Pre-­Readers to Learn

Dolch words are from: Dolch, E. W. (1936). A basic sight vocabulary . The Elementary School Journal , 36(6), 456-­460.

Dolch Rankings were found on lists at K12 Reader (opens in a new window) and Mrs. Perkins Dolch Words (opens in a new window) . 

Fry words and rankings are from: Fry, E., & Kress, J.K. (2006). The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists . Jossey-­Bass: San Francisco.

For instructional purposes, high-frequency words can be divided into two categories: those that are phonetically decodable and those with irregular spellings. We call high-frequency words that are regularly spelled and thus decodable “Flash Words”.

Although their spelling patterns are easily decoded, Flash Words are used so frequently in reading and writing that students need to be able to read and spell them “in a flash”. Examples of Flash Words at the CVC level are can , not , and did . Irregularly spelled words are called “ Heart Words ” because some part of the word will have to be “learned by heart.” Heart Words are also used so frequently that they need to be read and spelled automatically. Examples of Heart Words are: said , are , and where .

Words on any high-frequency word list can easily be categorized into Flash Words and Heart Words. However, be cautioned that a word may change categories. For example, early in a phonics scope and sequence , see may be a Heart Word because the long e spelling patterns haven’t been taught. When students learn that ee spells long /e/, see becomes a Flash Word. Further, many of the Heart Words can be categorized into words with similar spellings. This article categorizes words on the Dolch List of 220 High-Frequency Words (Dolch 220 List) 1 . The method we use to categorize words on the Dolch 220 List works with any high-frequency word list.

One hundred and thirty-eight words (63%) on the Dolch 220 List are decodable when all regular spelling patterns are considered. Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C show the 138 decodable words categorized by spelling patterns. These tables can help teachers determine when to introduce the words during phonics lessons. Table 2A may be most useful for teachers of beginning reading because it lists the 60 one- syllable decodable words with the short vowel spelling pattern.

Table 2A: Flash Words (Decodable Words)

60 One-­Syllable Words with Short Vowel Spelling Patterns

(Numbers in parentheses are the Dolch frequency ranking)

*Students easily understand that two consonants at the end of a word spell one sound.

1 The source for words on the Dolch 220 List is: Dolch, E. W. (1936). A basic sight vocabulary . The Elementary School Journal , 36(6), 456-460. Tables in this article show frequency rankings for words on the Dolch 220 list. Rankings for words on the Dolch 220 List can be found in many places, but we did not find a primary source that can be attributable to Dr. Dolch.

Rankings were retrieved on March 15, 2013, from K12 Reader (opens in a new window)  and  Mrs. Perkins Dolch Words (opens in a new window) . 

Flash Words that can be taught with spellings students know will vary at any given time, depending on which phonics patterns students have been taught. For example, the words had, am, and can will be decodable when students have learned short /a/ and VC and CVC spelling patterns. That, when, pick, and much will be decodable after students learn digraphs and can read words with digraphs. The words just, went, black, and ask will be decodable when students learn to read words with blends.

Flash Words should be introduced when they fit into the phonics pattern being taught, which is different from teaching them based on their frequency of use. Flash Words are different from other decodable words only because of their frequency. They are called Flash Words because students will need lots of practice to read and spell these words “in a Flash”. These are called “Flash Words” instead of “ sight words ” because students do not have to memorize any part of Flash Words. They can use their knowledge of phonics patterns to read and spell the words.

Table 2B shows 60 one-­ syllable words with more advanced vowel spelling patterns . A few of these are so frequent that they will need to be taught when students are still learning the short vowel spelling  patterns (VC and CVC) during phonics lessons.

Table 2B: Flash Words ( Decodable Words )

60 One-­Syllable Words With R‐Controlled, Long, and Other Vowel Spellings

(Numbers in parentheses are the Dolch Frequency Ranking)

* Many programs teach these words as Heart Words when students are still learning to read words with short vowels.

Traditionally, many words in Table 2B would be taught as “ sight words ” and not included as part of phonics lessons. These words might be introduced as they are encountered in a story, or they might be taught in order. For example, he would be taught as high-frequency word #4, then she taught as high-frequency word #12, with we (#26), be (#33), and me (#58), following later.

Under the new model, words with asterisks in Table 2B are still introduced when short vowels are being taught. The difference in the new model is that these words are grouped together by vowel spelling pattern to make it easier for students to remember the words. Instead of teaching he in isolation as a word to be memorized, we teach he, be, we, me, and she together (as shown in the CV column in Table 2b) and point out that the letter e spells the long e sound. Go, no, and so can be taught together, as can my, by, and why .

Students will learn words more easily when grouped together by similar spelling than by memorizing words one at a time as whole units. If the curriculum requires a Flash Word to be taught before the vowel pattern has been introduced, teachers can refer to Table 2B to find words that can be grouped together.

Table 2C shows 16 Flash Words with two syllables and one Flash Word with three syllables. We recommend teaching these words after students have learned to read two‐ syllable words in phonics instruction. If these words must be introduced earlier, students will learn them more easily if the teacher breaks the words into syllables and shows any known letter sounds in each syllable. This way students learn to read each syllable and blend the syllables into a word, instead of having to memorize the whole word.

Table 2C: Flash Words ( Decodable Words )

17 Two-­Syllable Words and 1 Three-­Syllable Word

* These words have a schwa sound in the first or second syllable.

** This word is often pronounced with two syllables, especially in conversation.

The Dolch 220 List has 82 Heart Words (37%) that are shown on Tables 3A and 3B. Heart Words have Heart Letters, which are the irregularly spelled part of the word. For example, o is the Heart Letter in the words to and do.

Some of the Dolch Heart Words with similar spelling patterns can be grouped together, even though the spelling patterns are not regular. Table 3A (on the next page) shows 45 Heart Words grouped according to similar spelling patterns. The table also lists twelve words not on the Dolch List. These twelve words have similar spelling patterns to the Dolch words listed, and the words are likely to be words already in young students’ vocabularies. For example, could and would are Dolch words. We recommend adding should when could and would are taught, even though it is not on the Dolch 220 List.

The groups of words in Table 3A can be added to any phonics or spelling lesson, with the Heart Letters pointed out. For example, the words his, is, as, and has can all be taught as VC and CVC words in which the letter s is the Heart Letter because it spells the sound /z/.

Table 3A: Heart Words

59 Words Grouped by Similar Spelling Patterns 45 Words from the Dolch List and 14 Not on the Dolch List

(Numbers in Parentheses Are the Dolch Frequency Ranking) (Diamond [♦] indicates word is not on the Dolch List, but it fits the spelling pattern)

Table 3B shows 37 Heart Words not easily grouped by spelling patterns . Most of the words are more difficult for spelling than for reading.

As with all Heart Words, these words can also be incorporated into phonics instruction when students learn to read the regularly spelled letters a word. For example, when students know the digraph th , they and their can be introduced. The digraph th in both these Heart Words is a regular spelling for the sound /th/. The Heart Letters are ey in they and eir in their . Similarly, the Heart Letter in the word what is a , and the Heart Letter in the word from is o .

Table 3B: Heart Words

37 Words that Do Not Fit into Spelling Patterns

Students enjoy drawing a heart above Heart Letters, and the hearts help them remember the irregular spellings.

For example, in the word said , the hearts would go above ai because those letters are an unexpected spelling for short e (/ĕ/). A student’s practice card for the word said is shown at the right.

In order to implement the new phonics -­based model for teaching high-frequency words , teachers will need to fit high-frequency words into phonics instruction. To do this, generally a committee of three or four kindergarten and first grade teachers organizes their lists of high-frequency words according to Heart Words and Flash Words by spelling patterns . Next they determine when and how high-frequency words fit into the phonics scope and sequence . These same teachers provide professional development to show other teachers how to implement the new model.

Sometimes a coordinated effort to change the way high-frequency words are taught is not an option, and teachers are able to only partially implement the suggestions in this article. These teachers continue to introduce the words as determined by their curriculum. However, they tell students whether the “sight word” is a Flash Word or a Heart Word, and they introduce the words by teaching letter–sound relationships as outlined in this article. Further, teachers introduce words with similar spelling patterns whenever possible. For example, if only the word would is scheduled to be introduced, they also teach could and should , which fit the spelling pattern. Finally, these teachers do not hold students accountable for high-frequency words that are beyond the spelling patterns that have been taught in phonics lessons.

The new model allows a different approach for working with students who have difficulty learning high-frequency words. For example, students working on short vowel patterns may confuse her and here, which are often introduced early as part of the “sight word” list. A teacher who recognizes the source of this confusion would not expect students to continue trying to memorize the two words. Instead, the teacher would include her as part of instruction on r-­controlled vowels and include here when silent e is taught. Students will be less likely to misread or misspell these words when they understand the relation of the spelling er to the sound /er/ and the spelling ere to the sound /ēr/.

Traditionally, students would have continued struggling with and failing to memorize these easily confused words. With the new model, those students are not held accountable for accurately reading and spelling the words until they can understand and use the sound–spelling correspondences. All teachers using this approach say that students learn to spell and read the words much more easily than with the traditional approach.

Linda Farrell and Michael Hunter are founding partners of Readsters, LLC (opens in a new window) . They provide professional development and write curriculum to support excellent reading instruction to students of all ages. Their favorite work is in the classroom where they can model effective reading instruction and coach teachers. Their most unusual work so far has been helping develop early reading instruction for children in Africa who are learning to read in 12 different mother tongue languages that Linda and Michael don’t even speak.

Tina Osenga was a founding partner at Readsters, and she is now retired.

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