Students who will benefit from Phonics Blitz lessons are identified by giving a one-minute oral reading passage and Really Great Reading's short informal Decoding Surveys. The oral reading and decoding surveys are administered individually and take only two to seven minutes per student to administer and score. Students who meet a benchmark score on the oral reading and have an accuracy rate of 97% or higher demonstrate grade-level reading skills and do not need the Decoding Surveys. The school enters the oral reading and decoding survey scores into Really Great Reading’s Grouping Matix and the school receives recommended groups.
Many of our materials are designed for older students – particularly older struggling readers. For instance, Phonics Blitz is a set of lessons designed for students in grades 4 and up. Its format, pace, and content are deliberately planned not to be “babyish.” However, the skills we teach to these struggling adolescent readers are the same skills you might teach to young beginning readers. Many of our other tools are designed specifically for young or beginning readers. We have tools for students who are building the basic pre-reading skills of phonological awareness and letter identification.
Phonics Suite instruction can be used with students as young as 2nd grade, although most schools use it in 4th grade and beyond. The assessment tools offered in Phonics Suite can even be used with younger students (starting in the middle of first grade). The phonics skills taught in Phonics Suite lessons are covered in many core K-2 reading programs. However, those who qualify for Blitz and Boost didn’t master those skills when they were originally taught.
