This videos gives a quick overview of some strategies for informally assessing letter-sound knowledge in reading.

Here are some ideas:

1. Lay out cards with the alphabet letters and ask students if they know the sounds for any of them. If they know the sound on the first try and without assistance, take it and put it in a "they know it" pile. Otherwise keep it in a different pile for letter-sounds you will need to teach.

2. Make sure to assess students' knowledge of short vowels. Ask students about the vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u). If they say the long vowel sound, ask them if they know another sound. Most young students or students having difficulty will struggle with short vowels and may not know some or all of them. Also, some students may confuse them. Remember, if they are not quick and accurate, don't put it with the sounds they know.

3. If a student has recognized many consonants and maybe a few vowels, try the consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th). Say something like "Sometimes we put 2 letters together to make one sound. Do you know what sound these 2 letters make together?" If they are able to get 2-3 of the consonant digraphs, you can try other digraphs (long vowels, r-controlled vowels, and special vowels).

4. If students are able to recognize some letter-sounds in isolation, you can have them try to decode some words. Remember that being able to read a book in a story is NOT the same as being able to sound it out. Students can make guesses about the word from the sentence structure, the picture, or their own knowledge. Or, they might just have memorized the word as a whole. To test students' actual ability to decode words using their letter-sound knowledge, try uncommon CVC words, or follow up a word they can read with a similar word that has certain letter-sounds changed (e.g. best and nest, or fort and sport, or spin and spill). REMEMBER-- ALWAYS MAKE THE TASK TOO EASY TO START. If it's getting to hard or the student is feeling discouraged, STOP. You are also free to provide them help-- just make sure you are aware they needed it!

Other Notes:

-I didn't address this in the video, but some students will be able to RECOGNIZE sounds even if they can't RECALL or SAY them to you. You can also assess students' recognition, particularly if they are really struggling or you think they might have memory difficulties. For example, you can say "Can you find me the letter that makes the sssssss sound?"

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