Top Tips for Using UFLI with Students Who Struggle with Reading, Have a Learning Disorder, or Speak English as a Second Language
- Puddle Jumpers
- Oct 11, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 16 hours ago
Supporting students with reading challenges or ESL backgrounds requires thoughtful scaffolding and sensory-rich routines. With playful persistence, we can make a significant impact! UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) offers a powerful framework—but how we deliver it makes all the difference. Here are my top tips for making UFLI work wonders in your classroom:
1️⃣ Minimize Distractions to Maximize Learning
Cognitive overload can sneak in through cluttered visuals, background noise, or redundant teaching materials. These distractions can interfere with cognitive load. Keep your learning space clean and calm! Strip away anything that doesn’t serve the core learning goal—especially when introducing new phonics concepts. A tidy environment helps students focus better.
2️⃣ Start with a Snappy Warm-Up
Kick off each session with a brief, high-impact warm-up. Try using Heggerty or flashcards! PhOrMeS offers free phoneme-to-grapheme flashcards that are perfect for quick reviews of sounds and spelling rules. This sets a positive tone for the lesson and engages students right from the start.
3️⃣ Build Strong Sound-Letter Connections
Before moving on, ensure students can confidently retrieve phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences from memory. Daily exposure is key! Start with a phonics chant like this one or use the Better Alphabet Song. Reinforce learning with letter-to-sound worksheets that blend tracing, handwriting, and sound recognition.
4️⃣ Integrate Handwriting with Phonics
Before diving into a new UFLI lesson, review the previous day’s content through handwriting and simple CVC practice. These morning worksheets follow UFLI’s scope and sequence. They emphasize stroke order and direction—perfect for reinforcing muscle memory and phonics simultaneously!
5️⃣ Routine with a Twist
Consistency is essential, but don’t let routines become robotic. Mix up your delivery! Allow time for student responses and offer corrective feedback. For students with learning disorders, I often reteach the same lesson using a different modality. Boom Learning decks aligned with UFLI’s sequence are a great way to reinforce concepts in a fresh format. You can even generate a quick link for your tier 2 intervention teachers to use in their lessons.
6️⃣ Review, Repeat, Reinforce
Repetition is your best friend! Encourage reading and spelling practice constantly—yes, even through homework! I’ve created scaffolded homework bundles that cover everything from letter sounds to word work, spelling, and games! Sit with students to model how to use the sheets, then gradually build confidence to pair them with a stronger reader. Use these for tier 2 support or intervention. Remember to check in regularly for understanding and accuracy!
7️⃣ Scaffold Spelling Rules
Before introducing a new spelling rule, hand out phonics bookmarks to support students throughout the lesson. For deeper engagement, use this interactive spelling workbook where students can record and review their own spelling rules.
8️⃣ Connect Decoding to Meaning—Strategically
Vocabulary growth thrives when decoding is paired with meaning. But here’s the golden rule: don’t show the picture until after the student has attempted to sound out the word. When the picture and the word are shown together, students can often guess the word from the picture alone. That’s not phonics practice.
If your goal is vocabulary (not decoding), research is clear: explicit instruction must be followed by meaningful practice, not just flashing cards and definitions.
Look instead for resources that:
Help students map features of words (e.g., morphology, semantic features)
Require them to use the words in sentences and contexts
🎲 Bonus Tip: Make It Fun
Early wins build confidence! Use games that encourage repetitive reading in joyful ways. Try Honeycomb Race, Lucky Squares, or Dots and Boxes. When students laugh and learn together, magic happens! These activities are perfect for shared reading, allowing students to help and correct each other in a fun and supportive way.
Let UFLI be your foundation—but let your creativity, responsiveness, and playfulness be the spark! Your students will thank you with their progress and pride.
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