📚 Back to Basics with Literacy and Writing: What Do Students Really Need?

Time with our students is precious. Every instructional minute counts. That’s why it’s essential we explicitly teach the building blocks of literacy and writing—not just expose them passively. Clear, intentional instruction in decoding, language comprehension, and sentence construction ensures our learners aren’t just writing… they’re understanding, expressing, and growing.

Strong literacy instruction hinges on two essential components: Language Comprehension and Decoding. Without both, students struggle to understand what they read.

This is beautifully captured in the Simple View of Reading:

Decoding (D) × Language Comprehension (LC) = Reading Comprehension (RC)

✅ Reading comprehension is the outcome!

✅ Both decoding and language comprehension must be explicitly taught.

🔤 What Do We Need for Effective Literacy Instruction?

✍️ Literacy / Word Recognition Skills:

• Phonological Awareness

• Decoding

• Sight Recognition

  
  

To support decoding and word recognition, you need a robust systematic synthetic phonics program. Some popular options include:

• UFLI Foundations

• Sounds-Write

• Jolly Phonics

• Multilit

• Letters and Sounds UK

For guidance on high-quality phonics programs, check out SPELD SA.

I personally deliver a 30-minute daily literacy block using UFLI Foundations, following the manual and resources with fidelity. I also supplement with games, homework activities, heart word practice, and interactive extensions.

🧠 How Do We Teach Language Comprehension?

Language comprehension is the ability to understand spoken and written meaning. It may include:

1. Vocabulary Knowledge – understanding and using words precisely;

2. Background Knowledge – experiences, prior learning, and content familiarity;

3. Text and Sentence Structures – grammar, syntax, and how ideas are organized.

   
   

Although we want writing instruction woven into core curriculum content, students still need targeted, systematic teaching of sentence structure.

I spend about 15 minutes a day teaching this explicitly, using an “I do, we do, you do” approach with materials I’ve created. These align with the strategies from The Writing Revolution™ and loosely follow the UFLI scope and sequence, ensuring that reading and writing instruction stay connected.

📝 Embedding Writing into the Curriculum

To strengthen comprehension and expression, students should write about topics they’re actively learning. This builds:

• Background knowledge;

• Vocabulary;

• Conceptual understanding;

• Verbal reasoning;

  
  

Structure this with:

• Sentence stems with conjunctions (because, but, so);

• Question prompts (who, what, where, when, why, how);

• Sentence writing with scaffolds (sentence stems, fragments, run-ons, scrambled structures);

  
  

One project I love using: Natural Disasters, sourced from a TPT seller aligned with the Australian Curriculum, it allows students to:

• Research and take notes;

• Increase background knowledge;

• Build vocabulary knowledge;

• Practice sentence writing with scaffolds (sentence stems, fragments, run-ons, scrambled structures);

• Editing sentences;

• Practice single paragraph outline;

• and most importantly be creative!

  
  

Another project I like to use is a crafty windsock project for younger students. It allows students to:

• Ask questions (I love using AI for this, Co-pilot using the microphone is great to engage young learners);

• Increase background knowledge;

• Build vocabulary knowledge;

• Practice sentence writing with scaffolds (sentence stems, fragments, run-ons, scrambled structures);

• Editing sentences;

• and most importantly be creative!

✍️Take a pause during lessons. Ask learners to:

• Draft a question about what they’ve just explored;

• Write a sentence summing up their new knowledge;

• Write a question about what they want to ask next.

  
  

🌟 Final Thought

When writing becomes a tool for exploring curriculum content, literacy moves beyond the worksheet—it becomes a mode of thinking. Whether you’re working on sentence expansion, logic revision, or crafting thematic challenges, it all begins with strong foundations in decoding and comprehension.