5 Steps for Building Automatic Reading

Have you ever had a student sound out a word correctly, only to get stuck on the exact same word later?

Let’s use map. The student looks at the word, gives you /m/ /?/ /p/, blends it together, and says map.

Yay! They read it. Then map shows up again later… and they’re back to /m/ /?/ /p/.

We don’t want a student to memorize map as a picture. We want them to connect the sounds they hear in map with the letters they see on the page. We want those connections to become stronger so they don’t have to work so hard every time they see the word.

Eventually, they see map and just read map. (The fancy name for this process is orthographic mapping.)

So, what do you actually do?

Keep it simple. Hear it ? Build it ? Read it ? Spell it ? Use it

This isn’t necessarily five separate activities. You can do all of this with a few word cards, letter tiles, a pencil and paper, and something short to read.

Let’s stay with map.

Hear it.

Say map without showing the word. Ask the student to tell you the sounds: /m/ /?/ /p/. They can tap them, move counters, or just say them. We’re making sure they can hear the sounds in the word before we ask them to work with the letters.

Build it.

Now give them letters or tiles and have them build map. Ask them to say each sound as they choose the letter that goes with it.

Then change something.

“Can you turn map into mop?”
“What did you change?”
“Now change mop to top.”

You don’t need 20 words. A few good changes help the student pay attention to which sound changed and which letter needs to change with it.

Read it.

Mix those words back in and have the student read them. If they need to sound one out again, that’s okay. That’s the practice.

Spell it.

Take the word away. Say map and have the student spell it. Now they have to go the other direction: hear the sounds and decide which letters represent them.

Use it.

Put map into a phrase or sentence the student can actually read:

the red map
I had a map.
The map is on the desk.

And later in the lesson, bring map back. Can they read it a little more easily this time? That’s what we’re working toward.

Next, bring map back at the next lesson. Do they read it more easily this time, or are they still sounding it out?

If they’re still sounding it out, keep practicing. Some words take longer than others. The goal isn’t to rush the student into automatic reading. It’s to give them enough practice that they eventually get there.

But what if blending just isn’t clicking? Let’s explore that here.

What does this look like with a student?

Knowing the lesson plan and actually working with a student can be intimidating. Let’s go through what it looks like with a student.

Let’s use map again.

Before you begin, put out a small group of letter tiles. For a beginning reader, 6–8 tiles is plenty. Include the letters they’ll need for the words you’re going to practice, along with a few other letters they already know.

For map ? mop ? top, you might put out: m, t, a, o, p, s, n

Then start:

You: “I’m going to say a word. Listen to the sounds in map. What sounds do you hear?”

Student: “/m/ /?/ /p/.”

You: “Good. Now let’s use the tiles to build map.” The student chooses m, a, and p.

You: “Touch each letter and tell me the sound.”

Student: “/m/ /?/ /p/.”

You: “Now read the whole word.”

Student: “Map.”

You: “Good. Now change map to mop. What sound changed?”

Student: “/?/ changed to /?/.”

You: “Right. What letter do you need to change?” The student changes a to o.

You: “Read your new word.”

Student: “Mop.”

You: “Now change mop to top. What changed this time?” Continue with a few word changes. You don’t need a long chain.

Next, take the tiles away.

You: “Now I’m going to say one of our words. Spell map for me.” The student writes map.

You: “Now read this.” the red map

Later in the lesson, bring map back without announcing that it’s the practiced word.

You: “What’s this word?”

Give the student a moment. If they read map automatically, great. If they need to sound it out again, that’s okay too. They’re still building the connection.

What if they get stuck?

Try not to immediately give them the word. Instead, give them the smallest prompt they need.

If they can’t read map (they can tap out sounds or do other memory tricks, like say the keyword they learned with drill cards):

“What’s the first sound?”
“What’s the next sound?”
“Now put the sounds together.”

If they choose the wrong vowel:

“Listen again. Map. What’s the sound in the middle?”

If they can’t spell the word:

“Say map slowly. What’s the first sound?”
“What letter spells /m/?”
“What’s the next sound?”

Then let the student take over again.

A quick note about the tiles

With map, the student needs three individual letter tiles: m, a, p.

As you move into more advanced words, remember that the number of sounds and the number of letters won’t always match. For example, ship has three sounds, /sh/ /?/ /p/, but sh is spelled with two letters.

If you’re using individual letter tiles, the student will use s-h-i-p. If your tile set has phonograms such as sh printed together on one tile, they’ll use the sh tile instead.

The important part is that the student is connecting the sounds in the word with the letters that represent them.