Use Spark Reading to Support Evidence-Based Practices for Phonics Learning
Grade one teacher Andrea Van Hoof and her colleagues at Bertha Kennedy Catholic School in St. Albert have discovered a powerful way to incorporate evidence-based practices into their literacy lessons, specifically phonics instruction.
They use Spark Reading, a digital library with 720 English little books, 131 decodable books, real-voice audio recordings, interactive activities, and helpful teaching notes in conjunction with The Phonics Companion. Van Hoof uses Spark Reading books and features to differentiate, increase fluency, encourage at-home reading, and even save herself some time.
"Our school division has partnered with the University of Alberta, specifically Dr. Georgiou, who specializes in reading disabilities, learning disabilities, and ensuring that all children have a learning environment where we're following evidence-based practices," explains Van Hoof.
When they started using Dr. Georgiou's text, they found it recommended books from the Spark Reading digital library. This led the division to purchase Spark subscriptions for teachers two years ago.
Now, Van Hoof uses Spark Reading with her students daily to build phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and support struggling readers, and she sees plenty of positive impacts on students.
"I record videos of them reading decodable text," explains Van Hoof. "When I look at older videos of them in October, the majority of students were sounding out letter by letter. And now a majority of them are reading quite fluently. That's so great to see. I think having the majority of my class use Spark reading frequently plays a part in that success. It's an awesome tool!"
Time-Saving Tips and Impactful Usage Examples from Andrea
Here, Van Hoof shares examples and tips for using Spark Reading to support phonics instruction with students.
Reinforce Phonics Lessons
Van Hoof uses Spark Reading to support her phonics lessons. "After a phonics lesson, I bring the students to the carpet, pull up Spark Reading on my Smart Board, and we read a book together.
We practice fluency through choral reading, and I ask students to pat their heads when they hear or see specific sounds, like the letters O-R making the sound 'or.' This exercise helps build fluency and identify phoneme correspondences while allowing me to conduct quick, informal assessments.
Support Differentiation
Van Hoof says Spark also helps her tailor instruction to meet diverse student needs. "I feel like it's just a natural model for differentiation in the classroom," she explains.
"For students struggling with short vowels, for example, I assign additional books focusing on those sounds. For students who have mastered letter/sound correspondences, I assign more challenging books to enhance their vocabulary and comprehension.”
To support struggling readers, she also uses Spark as a quick way to look for books that will elicit their interest, like animal books. With Spark, she can also encourage those students to be independent readers because, even if they come across a word they don't know and can't decode independently, the read-aloud feature can identify that word for the student, too.
Save time with Teaching Notes
Van Hoof appreciates the comprehensive Teaching Notes provided with each book. "For instance, when teaching the 'sh' sound with a decodable book from Bug Club, the teaching notes guided us to clap out the sounds together, like 'sh-o-p.' It's fantastic that it's all prepared for you.
Spark Reading also highlights tier-two vocabulary words that might be unfamiliar to students but are important for their language development. For example, words like 'disturb' or 'turnip' are identified and integrated into the lesson."
She also appreciates that the Teaching Notes include ideas to extend learning, including questions, and suggestions for activating prior knowledge—all of which save time.
Encourage At-Home Reading
To promote at-home reading, Van Hoof assigns books and provides a relaxed monthly reading BINGO challenge. "The BINGO card includes various reading challenges, and students earn a prize for completing it.
I also assign books related to our current phonics focus, like long vowels, and books of interest, such as those about animals, to keep students engaged. The digital library ensures all students can access quality books, making it inclusive and accommodating to different backgrounds and needs."
Van Hoof's use of Spark Reading demonstrates how It can effectively support evidence-based literacy practices, significantly impacting students' reading abilities and fostering a love for learning.