In the latest episode of Literacy Talks, our hosts Stacy Hurst, Donell Pons, and Lindsay Kemeny return with the third installment of a fan-favorite tradition: sharing their biggest science of reading pet peeves. This candid and often humorous episode surfaces deep concerns about what’s still holding educators back from achieving literacy success for all students.

From outdated beliefs to systemic issues, this conversation pulls no punches—and listener submissions prove that these frustrations are widely shared across classrooms and communities.

What’s Inside Episode 9 of Literacy Talks?

Each round of pet peeves brings new angles, but the core frustrations remain deeply relevant. Here’s a quick snapshot of what you’ll hear in Episode 9:

1. “Reading Will Be Obsolete”? Not So Fast.

Stacy kicks off with a jaw-dropping moment: a fellow professor suggesting reading will soon be unnecessary. The team unpacks the dangers of minimizing literacy in a tech-forward world.

2. Why Are We Still Here?

Donell shares her perennial peeve: Why are we still having basic conversations about dyslexia and evidence-based reading practices decades into the science of reading movement?

3. Stop Blaming Teachers

Lindsay dives into how the burden of literacy reform is unfairly placed on classroom teachers—often without the necessary training, tools, or support.

4. Intervention Needs an Overhaul

Stacy and Donell discuss the gap between general education and special education, and how interventionists are often underprepared to support struggling readers effectively.

5. Cut the Fluff (Phonics Crafts, Anyone?)

Phonics activities that prioritize glue over graphemes? The hosts argue for maximizing instructional time with meaningful practice.

6. Let Kids Choose What to Read

Listeners shared frustration over limiting student book choices based on arbitrary levels. The team advocates for preserving the joy of reading.

7. Assessments Are Only as Good as Their Follow-Through

Data without action is a wasted opportunity. The team stresses the importance of using screeners, like Acadience, meaningfully.

8. Can We Check Our Egos?

Professional growth only happens when we admit we don’t know it all. Donell and Lindsay emphasize the importance of humility in the literacy space.

9. Can Research Meet Real Life?

Educators want answers they can actually apply. The hosts highlight the need for better bridges between research and classroom practice.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode

• A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
• Rock Your Literacy Block by Lindsay Kemeny
• Scarborough’s Reading Rope
• Acadience Learning

Related Episodes

• Pet Peeves, Part 1 (Season 1, Episode 3)
• Pet Peeves, Part 2 (Season 6, Episode 15)

Join the Conversation What are your literacy-related pet peeves? Share them with us in the Science of Reading Collective and they just might make it into our next episode.

The post Pet Peeves, Round 3: What Still Bothers Literacy Experts (and Why It Matters) appeared first on Reading Horizons.

Jenny Kier, Reading Horizons Education Consultant

Whether solo or with others, on a table, screen, or field, almost everyone enjoys games. The idea of gameplay evolved naturally thousands of years ago because games fulfill our desire for the following:

• Social connection
• Cognitive and physical development
• Entertainment
• Strategy and competition 
• Survival
• Expression of culture and identity

When it comes to reading games, students often forget they’re learning or reinforcing literacy skills because games are fun! Games can reinforce several literacy skills, including phonemic awareness, letter/sound correspondence, individual and combination letter identification and sound, and high-frequency words.

Games keep students motivated. Some games start fairly simple, making them easy for students to grasp and succeed at. This success breeds motivation. Students who are successful at gameplay will continue building on their knowledge and growing their skills.

Games don’t have to require pieces, parts, boards, lamination, scissors, and glue! How often have you played the ABC game, where everyone takes turns naming objects as you go through the alphabet? No materials required! And little to no materials means you can play these games anywhere.

Of course, you can’t have students play games all day long, but here are some great times to break into your toolbox:

• In the morning, before the bell rings
• During activity clean up
• When lining up for lunch
• As a review to gauge previous literacy skills before launching into a new one
• On the way to and from the playground
• During restroom breaks, as students are coming and going from the classroom
• During long stretches of exams to avoid cognitive fatigue
• Waiting for the bell to ring at the end of the day
• When students are in the car rider or bus line (with the group of students who are walkers)
• Indoor or outdoor recess

Let’s look at a few super easy games for students to play!

Games to Boost Phonemic Awareness and Letter/Sound Correspondence

1, 2, 3!

Objective: Phoneme isolation.

Materials: None

How to Play:

Say a three-letter word aloud (e.g., sun).

Ask students to listen carefully and think about the three sounds in the word.

Hold up one, two, or three fingers to indicate which sound they should identify:

One finger: Students say the first sound.

Two fingers: Students say the second sound (vowel sound).

Three fingers: Students say the third sound.

Only use three-letter words for this activity.

Example:

Say the word sun.

Hold up one finger: students should say the first sound, /s/.

Hold up three fingers: students should say the third sound, /n/.

Hold up two fingers: students should say the second sound (vowel), /u/.

Variation: Reverse the process. Tell students the word, give one of the three sounds, and then have students hold up their fingers to show if it is the first, second, or third sound.

G—My Name is Gary

Objective: Promote awareness of initial phonemes.

Materials: Alphabet Cards

How to Play: Give each student a letter from the Alphabet Cards. The first student states their letter name and then must follow the pattern from the example, thinking of names, places, and things that begin with that letter. 

Example: _ B__—My name is __Byron___, and my friend’s name is __Betty___. We come from  Brazil, and we like __balloons___.

Variation: This variation will lessen the cognitive load for kindergarten and special populations: M–My name is Matthew, and my friend is Martin.

Games that Promote Individual and Combination Letter Identification and Sound

Detective

Objective: Identify orthographic patterns.

Materials: Student library books, books from the classroom, decodable books, newspapers, magazines, small magnifying glasses (optional)

How to Play:

Hand out the text you have brought, or ask students to take out their library books. Have students “play detective” with their magnifying glasses. See who can spy a particular blend or digraph and be the first to stand up, ready to prove their detective work. For example, if students are looking for L-Blends, the first to find it would stand and say, “I found the pl blend in the word plug. It is at the beginning of the word.” 

Variations: 

• Students can look for letters when they first learn letter/sound correspondences, R-controlled vowels, syllable types, and more! 

• This is a great station, too. Have students use their library book or a pre-printed page of text to identify and write “ten words with the short a vowel sound.”

Games to Practice High-Frequency Words

Swap and Switch

Objective: Practice and master high-frequency words.

Materials: Cards with high-frequency words printed on each one (enough for each student to have one), high-frequency words you’ve been learning about lately

How to Play:

Give every student a card with one high-frequency word. Students stand up, put a hand up (showing they need a partner), and partner up by giving their partner a high five. 

Students take turns asking each other how to read the word on the card. If either gets the answer wrong, the person asking the question coaches before explaining the correct answer. Congratulations are given for successfully reading the word.

Once they can read both high frequency words, they trade cards and thank one another with a handshake or a fist bump.

Next, they raise their hands to find a new partner and begin the “Swap and Switch” process again. 

Set a timer for 5–10 minutes to play this game.

Variations: Have the students use the Most Common Word in a sentence or have them try to spell the word!

You have the power to make learning fun! Games are a fantastic way to put instruction into practice and allow students to test their new skills. But just like anything else in life, moderation is key. Stop a game while students are still engaged; this leaves them wanting more! Games will lose their excitement and appeal if students play them too long.

If you sense frustration or fatigue during instruction, take a break. It might be time to play a game!

Find more games and a wealth of other resources in The Science of Reading Collective!

The post Step Up Your Game: Four Foundational Literacy Games for Your Elementary Classroom  appeared first on Reading Horizons.

An Interview with Dr. Stefanie Steffan, Coordinator of Elementary Literacy and Title Programs, Rockwood School District (MO)

In early September, Reading Horizons sat down with Stefanie Steffan, a 30-plus-year veteran of English Language Arts instruction and administration in the Greater St. Louis area. Stefanie shared her experiences, including her perspective on evolving literacy research and how administrators can choose the right reading curriculum for their districts. We edited the transcript to keep it clear and concise for readers.

Reading Horizons (RH)

Thanks for being with us today, Stefanie. I know you just went back to school in your district! I love this time of year. It makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood.

Stefanie Steffan (SS)

Yes! I visited some schools this morning. It was nice to be amongst the teachers and the kids. We heard about all the things that are working—and a few that aren’t! It’s nice to see the school year is moving forward. The kids and teachers are happy, so it’s all good.  

RH

You’ve seen several changes in reading instruction over the last 30 years. Could you tell us your path to an English Language Arts administration leadership position?

SS

I started my career as a first-grade teacher in Rockwood School District, and in my first year of teaching, I realized halfway through the year that some of my kids were not making the progress I was hoping for. At the time, the big push was whole language instruction. The message was: get kids to love reading, read to them, share books with them, and they will love to read, want to read—and it would all work magically. But that just doesn’t work for all kids.

I was struggling with what to do with my kiddos who were not reading. So, I started working on my Master’s degree and Missouri Special Reading Certificate at night school—while I taught first grade during the day. It made a difference in my ability to help kids learn to read, which became my passion. From there, I became a reading specialist. I worked with kids in kindergarten through fifth grade and loved that.

And then I had twins and took a year off from teaching! While I was off, I was offered a job at one of our local universities teaching teachers—who were working on their reading certifications—how to be reading specialists. It was eye-opening to hear the struggles of some of their students. My one year off turned into seven!

RH

So, you went from teaching kids to teaching educators?

SS.

Exactly. I became passionate about teaching adults because my reach was greater if I could teach a room full of adults how to teach their own rooms full of kids. I did that for several years before returning to Rockwood as the Coordinator of Elementary Literacy in 2011. I’ve been in that position ever since—I love what I do! I went on to get my Education Specialist degree and my doctorate in Educational Leadership. I can make a more significant difference by impacting teachers and supporting them as they strive to help their students.

RH

That’s amazing, Stefanie. So, what does your day-to-day look like now?

SS

We have nineteen elementary schools in Rockwood, about 500 classroom teachers, and 41 certified reading specialists. I work with teachers to write curriculum, write assessments, and purchase everything they need to teach reading, writing, handwriting, grammar, spelling—all the things. And I also oversee our reading intervention program, which I am very proud of. The teachers and reading specialists do fantastic work. It’s exciting to see the difference they make.

RH

With all of your experience in reading instruction, how has the literacy landscape changed over the years, from when you started teaching to your current role?

SS

Great question! I’ve seen the pendulum swing back and forth. When I was working on my undergrad, like I said earlier, the emphasis was on whole language: talking about books, reading books, exposing kids to books. Then, it shifted to phonics, which is excellent, but if you take away that love of reading, you won’t be successful either. There should be a balance between helping kids develop a love of reading and an understanding of how to read. The ultimate goal is comprehension. Kids can’t comprehend text if they can’t access it. As our elementary students grow, they need to go from learning to read to reading to learn.

There’s so much involved in brain research and how kids learn to read. They need language development, comprehension, and the ability to decode words—but they also need to love doing it! You can teach them reading skills, but if they don’t enjoy it, they won’t practice it. When readers feel successful, they start to love it, want to practice it, and get even better. 

RH

Let’s dig in briefly about how you built a successful elementary literacy program in Rockwood. Can you tell me about the process and how you came to the point where you decided to revamp your curriculum?

SS

Of course. It started with our Rockwood Literacy Leaders committee. Each of our nineteen schools has a representative for the primary grades and a representative for the intermediate grades, so 38 leaders come together ad hoc. We evaluated our current resources and reviewed the science of reading and current reading research. We worked with some outside experts from Mizzou and St. Louis University. We looked at what we have, what has changed, and what we need. 

I came up with the idea of belief statements to ground us. There are so many messages out there, but we needed to stay focused on what we believe all kids deserve and use that as the foundation to make decisions moving forward. The belief statements shed a positive light on things rather than focusing on what we don’t have. 

We came up with things like we believe kids deserve resources that will teach them to decode words and comprehend text. We believe kids deserve teachers who believe in them. We believe all kids can learn to read and write. Coming up with those took a long time; it was a process, but it was what we needed to help guide our decisions. Months later, when we were vetting solutions, we could ask, “Does this align with our beliefs?” And if it didn’t, we’d return to the drawing board.

RH

You also came up with belief statements for the teachers, right?

SS

That’s true. Those were things like, “We believe teachers deserve high-quality instructional materials and professional development. We believe teachers deserve administrators who believe in them and want them to grow.“

RH

I love that. How did you decide what curriculums to evaluate? And how did you use the belief statements to make a decision?

SS

We revamp our curriculum in eight-year cycles—English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, etc.—so making the right decision is critical. In the middle of the process, one of the selection committee members had a baby named Luke. When she returned from maternity leave, I said, “Whatever we choose now is how Luke will learn to read because he will be in third grade by the time we adopt new materials.” It’s that important. The decisions we make will last into the future. It’s an added stress of this job.

I have a giant spreadsheet of just about every product and program that exists. I asked teachers, “Have you heard of anything in other districts you want us to consider?” I’m also in a cohort of other language arts coordinators in the St. Louis area. We meet once a month and email each other a lot. One of the things we look at is what other people in our area are using—and what they think of it. 

The last time we evaluated our ELA curriculum in 2015, the teachers wanted a program that had everything in it. They wanted one product with reading, writing, spelling, word study—all the things in one program. So we did that. We adopted a program that had all the things. Once they got into it, they liked certain parts but didn’t like others. So, they started looking for other resources to supplement the parts that they didn’t like. It turned into teachers using a hodgepodge of different materials. Education in Rockwood differed from one school to the next or from one classroom to another. 

So this time, the teachers said, “We want the best thing to teach reading comprehension, we want the best thing to teach writing, we want the best thing to teach phonics.” It was a shift. We searched for what we thought was the best for each skill area. And in conjunction with that, we are required to teach the Missouri Learning Standards, so we had to make sure whatever we got aligned with those.

I had so many samples and sales rep meetings and whittled down resources that deserved a deeper look. And then, we had the committee look at the options and had several field tests. We had our eggs in one vendor’s basket for K-2, but when we did a field test for the program, the teachers didn’t like it! Then we were like, “Well, shoot, now what are we going to do?!”

We didn’t come across Reading Horizons until the final hour. Our Reading Horizons rep reached out and said they have this whole new digital platform, and she thought we really would like it. And I told her, “You squeezed in just in time.” We flew to Alabama to observe teachers use the program in their classrooms. We received samples for our teachers, and they loved it!

RH

It sounds like you almost went in a different direction! That’s wild. So, after implementing Reading Horizons, what did the early results look like?

SS

It’s exciting to see our assessment data. We’re seeing significant growth, especially from first to second grade. It’s impressive. The kids that had Reading Horizons last year in first grade made great gains. It’s very encouraging. 

RH

I know there had to be some challenges along the way. Could you touch on any and how you overcame them?

SS

The biggest hurdle is that with so many teachers, there are differing views. There’s a group that has done a lot of research on the science of reading and current reading trends. They were all on board with Structured Literacy and phonics. Then, some teachers don’t think structured phonics is fun or engaging for the students. With them, we have to get over the hurdle. And they are getting on board as they see their students’ reading and writing growth. There are ways to make phonics fun, and that’s where we are now. The teachers have learned how to do it. They’re good at implementing it. They know how to do the lessons.

Getting everyone on board with the same product, program, or philosophy—or anything new—is always challenging when leading an entire district through a change.

RH

Is there anything specific about Reading Horizons that made the anticipated challenges easier to overcome?

SS

It’s just such a new way of delivering a lesson. I love that it’s on the teacher’s iPad so she can walk around. It frees the teacher from being in front of the class to wherever she needs to be. If she needs to stand with a kiddo that doesn’t get it, she can. It takes teachers away from having to be at the Smartboard or whiteboard in front of the class. They can move around.

Having everything right there to click through the lesson helps ensure that teachers teach the lessons with fidelity. There’s no, “We’re going to skip over this,” because to get through to the next part, we have to go through it all. So we know for sure that all of our kids are getting all of the lessons. 

I like the assessment piece. The data is right there, telling us who got it, who doesn’t, who needs reteaching. It’s engaging for the kids. They love using the software and doing Skill Checks. They like finishing the activities there. It’s a really neat program. I know it’s different than anything else we looked at. It gets kids decoding and encoding methodically and efficiently.

RH

I always like to end by asking, “What’s next?” or, “Where do you go from here?”

SS

Even though Math is our next curriculum to review, Language Arts is never done. I still meet with my Literacy Leaders. We still gather feedback from teachers. We still look at what they need and make revisions as we go. One of the things that I’ve gotten the most positive feedback on is the Reading Horizons coaching days. We had a coach come and work with each team of teachers at each school for a few days, and they really benefited from that. We also did days in the spring when teachers came during their planning time and met with a coach from Reading Horizons. They talked through what was going well, what they were struggling with, and what they needed help with. Plus, our new teachers have a mentor in their school, and they learn from the training videos that Reading Horizons provides. I’m impressed with how well our teachers have done. 

RH

Amazing. Any last words of wisdom before we say goodbye?

SS

I have to share this story a parent told me. They had taken their kids on vacation and were in a hotel room. The younger kiddo pulled out the Bible from the drawer and said, “What’s a Holly Bibble?” And the older brother, a first grader in our district, said, “That doesn’t say Holly Bibble. It says Holy Bible! We know it’s a long ‘o’ because…” and he just went through and explained why the “o” and the “i” were long and how to break the words apart into two syllables. The mom told me she couldn’t believe he was explaining it in first grade. It was kind of cute. But it also shows that what we’re doing is working!

RH

That’s a touching story. Thank you for sharing. And thank you for sharing all of your knowledge today.

SS

You’re welcome!

[END]

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The post What Administrators Should Look for in a Reading Curriculum: Insights from a Literacy Coordinator appeared first on Reading Horizons.