SWOOP + UFLI
TVSC's SWOOP Program will feature a revamped curriculum that incorporates the Indiana Department of Education's definition of Science of Reading guidelines.
What is the Science of Reading?
Science of reading describes research about “reading, reading development, and best practices for reading instruction” (Petscher et al., 2020). Researchers, particularly scientists who study the brain, have determined that carefully-ordered instruction in the essential components of reading: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension works best in reading instruction. The focus of Indiana’s Priorities for Early Literacy is to help educators better understand science of reading to identify and implement effective instructional practices that can prevent reading difficulties and support literacy progress.
TVSC will be using curriculum from University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) for reading and spelling during small group instruction time (SWOOP) for all grades K-2 and those who need additional phonics support in grade 3rd.
What specific skills are targeted in the UFLI program?
UFLI Foundations targets the following foundational reading skills:
- Phoneme blending and segmentation practice
- Accuracy and automaticity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences
- Decoding automaticity of words with previously learned concepts
- Explicit introduction of new concepts
- Decoding and encoding practice
- Reading and spelling irregular words
- Reading and spelling connected text
UFLI teaches new concepts (sounds and letter patterns) to build on students' skills in reading and spelling words. The UFLI Foundations program includes Home Practice sheets to help families support their child’s learning at home. This is a guide for how to use these UFLI Foundations Home Practice sheets.