Recommendation 3 - Teach Students to Decode, Analyze Word Parts, and Write and Recognize Words

Oct 15, 2026

Recommendation 3 provides a practical summary for kindergarten teachers on how to support families in building foundational reading skills, especially word decoding and word recognition. It explains how students develop understanding of morphology and how families can reinforce letter-sound blending, common sound-spelling patterns, and recognition of word parts. Guidance covers using decodable words in isolation and in text, teaching high-frequency words for automaticity, and addressing common family barriers. Supporting teacher scaffolds and printable resources are referenced throughout.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

How to carry out the recommendation

Potential roadblocks

Teacher scaffolds and steps

Step 1: Blend letter sounds and sound-spelling patterns

Step 2: Teach common sound-spelling patterns

Step 3: Teach students to recognize common word parts

Step 4: Read decodable words in isolation and in text

Step 5: Teach regular and irregular high-frequency words

This document provides a summary of Recommendation 3 from the REL Southeast guide A Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide to Supporting Family Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills, a companion to the WWC practice guide Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. Full reference at the bottom of this page. Teach students to decode words, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words For students to be able to read with greater fluency and comprehension, they must first develop their understanding of morphology, the knowledge of meaningful word parts in the language. To develop this understanding, students must learn the following: letter patterns and word parts, the relation of sounds to letters, and high-frequency word recognition. The companion guide on which this summary document is based assists teachers in informing and supporting families to help children develop their ability to decode, analyze, write, and recognize words. |
How to carry out the
recommendation

Potential roadblocks | | | --- | --- | | 1. Teach students to blend letter sounds and sound-spelling patterns from left to right within a word to produce a recognizable pronunciation.
2. Instruct students in common sound-spelling patterns.
3. Teach students to recognize common word parts.
4. Have students read decodable words in isolation and in text.
5. Teach regular and irregular high-frequency words so that students can recognize them efficiently.
6. Introduce non-decodable words that are essential to the meaning of the text as whole words. | 1. Families don’t attend family literacy nights or parent–teacher conferences.
2. Families might not feel comfortable attending a school function.
3. Families lack time to engage in the activities with their children.
4. Families may not have internet access or may have a hard time accessing the internet. | Reference: Kosanovich, M., Lee, L. & Foorman, B. (2020). A kindergarten teacher’s guide to supporting family involvement in foundational reading skills (REL 2020-016). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=5674](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=5674) 1 Teacher Scaffolds for steps in How to carry out the recommendation 1. Teach students to blend letter sounds and sound–spelling patterns from left to right within a word to produce a recognizable pronunciation. Teachers can explain how families can support children in blending sounds when reading to compose the correct word. Start with a simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word, like pat, and demonstrate how, in order to read this word, children need to blend together /p/, /ă/, and /t/ to make the whole word. Videos to support Step 1 | Video Title | Link | | --- | --- | | 3.1 Letter Puzzles | [https://youtu.be/AOzTD_z-6yM](https://youtu.be/AOzTD_z-6yM) | Note: Adapted frompage K|3|5 of the guide referenced on the first page of this document. Printable family resources to accompany Step 1 are available on pages K|3|6–K|3|20 of the guide referenced on the first page of this document. 2. Instruct students in common sound–spelling patterns. 3. Teach students to recognize common word parts. To support children in recognizing common sound–spelling patters and word parts, teachers can help families become more comfortable with word families. Point out the common part across words in a word family (for example, -in or-ap) . Encourage parents and caregivers to have children underline the common part when they see words in the same family. Video to support Steps 2 and 3 | Video Title | Link | | --- | --- | | 3.2 Word Family Fun | [https://youtu.be/5K6WicXvYG](https://youtu.be/5K6WicXvYG)s | Note: Adapted frompage K|3|22 of the guide ref

FAQs

What should teachers help families do to support word decoding in kindergarten?

Teachers should show families how to blend letter sounds and sound-spelling patterns left to right to produce recognizable pronunciations, using examples such as simple CVC words.

How can families help students recognize word parts and word families?

Teachers can encourage caregivers to notice the common part across words in a word family and have children underline that shared portion when they see related words.

Why are high-frequency words important, and how should families support them?

High-frequency words appear often in books and are frequently not fully decodable by sounding out. Families should help children learn to recognize and read them automatically, using the shared video and printable resources.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Alex Sinclair