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How do we know which materials to trust when it comes to the Science of Reading? By now, I don’t know how to trust the big publishing companies, much less someone I don’t know on the internet. Teachers Pay Teachers is a marketplace where teachers can find affordable, easy-to-use materials for their classroom. Unfortunately, there’s no system in place to monitor the quality of the resources. For teachers who want to incorporate Science of Reading based materials into their instruction, this can lead you to distrust purchases from these teacher-sellers.
I make and sell products on TPT that are aligned to the Science of Reading, but I also purchase from other like-minded individuals. Today, I want to share with you 10 resources (paid and free!) that I have made or discovered on Teachers Pay Teachers. I want you to feel confident that there ARE quality, affordable resources you can trust.
1. Orton-Gillingham Phonics Bundle by Campbell Creates Readers. I know the title says Orton-Gillingham, but this bundle is for anyone looking to teach phonics explicitly and systematically to their students. It includes notepages, decodable word lists and sentences, phonics posters, and exit tickets. I made it for my own use, and I love getting to see it out in the world. I take pride in this bundle, because I use it every day in my own instruction and know the impact it can have on student performance.
2. FREEBIE! Decodable Passages for Prefixes and Suffixes by Emily Gibbons at The Literacy Nest. I used these passages this year with my intervention groups. I loved the words in isolation at the top of the passage, and then the paragraph at the bottom. I also like the half-page aspect because they can be easily glued into our phonics notebooks!
3. Phonics Board Game Bundle by Campbell Creates Readers. I love games. I try to play them each week in my intervention groups. I created these phonics board games for authentic practice with the phonemes and graphemes we’ve learned. It includes skills like short vowels, digraphs, blends, magic e, and so much more! It takes 2 minutes to show students how to play the games, and then they are set for independent practice with a buddy or group. The bundle is not yet complete, so grab it now before the price goes up!
4. First Grade Phonemic Awareness Daily Warm Ups Bundle by Sweet for Kindergarten. This $22 phonemic awareness bundle is comparable to Heggerty in quality at less than 1/3 of the price. It includes 44 weeks of warm-ups and flashcards. Skills include segmenting and blending phonemes, phoneme isolation, rhyming, and more. I really, really, really love this bundle! It was great to use this year with my intervention groups. There’s a kindergarten version as well. You can check out a free week to see if it is for you!
5. FREEBIE! Phonics Sequence by Campbell Creates Readers. Let me be clear—there is no single right sequence for teaching phonics. I created this sequence because it is what has worked for my children over the past 2 years. We start with closed syllables, move through digraphs, blends, r-controlled vowels, vowel teams, and so much more. This sequence is free, so take it and alter it however you need!
6. Anything by Emily Gibbons at The Literacy Nest. Whenever I am asked about my favorite decodable texts, I always point people to Emily Gibbons. Her texts are SO AFFORDABLE. I love to print them out and put into a folder for my students. We then highlight the target grapheme and read those words before reading the passage. Decodable texts are truly decodable if they follow your scope and sequence. I do not follow Emily’s scope and sequence (I follow my own), but there have been few instances where the text differed a great deal.
7. FREEBIE! Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Homework by Campbell Creates Readers. This is a huge freebie, but I want as many children as possible to have access to it. It includes monthly calendars for phonemic and phonological awareness. It is currently updated through August 2021, but the ENTIRE 2021 school year will be loaded in August.
8. Heart Words-Teaching High Frequency (sight words) by Mrs. Winter’s Bliss. This is the only resource you will ever need for teaching heart words. Seriously, this is it friends! Christina Winter is so knowledgeable in the Science of Reading community. I love the progression she uses in the worksheets to identify the number of sounds, then the sounds that are phonetically regular or irregular. It’s truly an incredible product!
9. Silent e (Vce) Orton Gillingham Word & Sentences to Read & Spell Game by Orton Gillingham Mama. This game board does have a bit of prep involved, but I love it! I really appreciate that there is spelling and reading, as well as practice at the word and sentence level. This store is a must-follow!
10. Sound Wall by Creativity to the Core. The Tools 4 Reading sound wall is amazing, but it is not always an option for teachers who are often coming out of pocket for materials. Meredith’s sound wall is an affordable option you can trust. She includes all 44 phonemes and the graphemes that represent those phonemes. I love that the pictures are REAL pictures and not just clipart!
I know that Teachers Pay Teachers can often have a bad reputation, but the teacher-sellers on this blog post (myself included!) are working hard to change that stigma! I hope that you feel like you have several stores in your arsenal to turn to. Every teacher-seller I mentioned on this blog post is one I trust. Follow their stores and follow them on social media. The Science of Reading has a long way to go before it is commonplace, and I’m proud to be a part of this movement and this amazing community.
Savannah Campbell is a K-5 reading specialist. She has taught her entire 12-year teaching career at the school she went to as a child. She holds two master’s degrees in education from the College of William and Mary. Savannah is both Orton-Gillingham and LETRS trained. Her greatest hope in life is to allow all children to live the life they want by helping them to become literate individuals.
Savannah Campbell is a K-5 reading specialist. She has taught her entire 12-year teaching career at the school she went to as a child. She holds two master’s degrees in education from the College of William and Mary. Savannah is both Orton-Gillingham and LETRS trained. Her greatest hope in life is to allow all children to live the life they want by helping them to become literate individuals.
Feeling overwhelmed with all the terminology out there? Want to know the key terms all teachers need to teach phonics? In this FREE Rules of English cheat sheet, you get a 5 page pdf that takes you through the most important terms for understanding English—you’ll learn about digraphs, blends, syllable types, syllable divisions, and move. Grab today and take the stress out of your phonics prep!
