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When You’re Stuck Trying To Find Appropriate Orton-Gillingham Reading Passages…

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I’m here to talk about finding reading passages for your Orton-Gillingham lessons or reading intervention groups. It’s one we all grapple with, am I right? We spend hours pouring through scads of Orton-Gillingham resources and books looking for decodable text, but sometimes fall short. Why does this happen?

  • Orton-Gillingham lesson plans follow a fairly strict progression of phonograms and skills. There is some variation among training programs, so the Orton-Gillingham reading passages progression may be different, depending on your own training.
  • If you are an OG teacher, it’s been drilled in your head to ONLY use Orton-Gillingham reading passages that match the lesson. There can be little to NO words within the passage you choose that haven’t been introduced to a student yet. For instance, I cannot use r-controlled vowel words with a child I am doing a lesson on VCe long a. Why? Because r-controlled vowels are introduced much later. Not to mention, they are two different syllable types. Read more about VCe here. Read more about r-controlled vowels here.
  • As an OG teacher or reading teacher, what is the ultimate goal for our kiddos? To be READERS, right? So it behooves it to find plenty of appropriate practice for these students to practice reading…a lot. And that takes time. Critical time. Every minutes counts.

Flashback to the days of my Orton-Gillingham training. I would spend hours writing lesson plans. Then I’d have to hunt down a reading passage to match my lesson for my students to practice reading. What a process that was. I would look EVERYwhere. And even though I may have found a close match, I was never satisfied. I’d write my own here and there, but I craved more reading materials that matched the order of lessons I followed in OG. Not only did I crave it, it became a necessity.

Years later, still doing the OG thing, I still found myself dissatisfied. So what do you do when you can’t find something you need?

  • You can whine and complain about it. (Other teachers love hanging out with you.)
  • You can spend a whole lot of money on various resources. (Ouch. That can get pricey.)
  • You can choose a passage that’s one of those kinda, sorta matches.  (Who wants to do that?)
  • OR… You create your own reading passages. DING! (That’s what I did.)

I did it! I wrote over 160 Orton-Gillingham reading passages and every one of them matches the progression I follow. I’m not going to lie. It took me months to write them, and I don’t really feel like writing anymore anytime soon. LOL. But what a relief it is knowing they are at my fingertips! Just look up the level, check the TOC, print and GO. It’s an OG or reading interventionists dream come true. And now you can have them too!

Orton-Gillingham reading passages

Organzing Orton-Gillingham Reading Passages

I print my stories as I need them. I much prefer that than keeping hard copies. My OG kiddos keep a binder with all their stories in them. I bust out my three hole punch and pop those babies in their binder. They end up with a HUGE collection of stories to practice over and over. Talk about the perfect fluency builder. Even if you aren’t an OG teacher, you’ll appreciate that some kids need that isolated, decoding practice with controlled text that isn’t too contrived. I really tried to write stories kids would enjoy and even mixed in some poetry and non-fiction. Check out the pics below.

organizing Orton-Gillingham reading passages
organizing Orton-Gillingham reading passages

Sooo… If you need passages for your OG lessons by level, I have five levels you can choose from, or you can grab the more cost efficient bundle. I am proud to call this resource one thing:

Free Sampler

Orton-Gillingham Lesson Plans

If you are looking for a extensive amount of resources for your lesson plans, this resource can also be in The Complete O.G. Part 1 Bundle. This is a LARGE collection of Orton-Gillingham resources to help you hit the ground running. I also offer a Complete O.G. Part 2 bundle. What’s the difference between the two? Check the chart below.

Orton-Gillingham reading passages and lesson plans
Orton-Gillingham reading passages and lesson plans
Orton-Gillingham reading passages and lesson plans

MAJOR TIME SAVER ALERT

And guess what? You can purchase a hardbound copy of these passages and have it shipped directly to you!

Order your bound copy of decodable text directly through my online store!

 

 

 

 
 
 
teachers pay teachers sale

Save up to 25% off in my TPT store on February 2-4, 2020! A couple of new resources are listed below for you to check out.

Note: One newer growing bundles is already deeply discounted, so I will not be including it in the sale.

decoding strategies
DECODING STRATEGIES: End the guessing game!
orton-gillingham bundle
ADVANCED ORTON-GILLINGHAM CONCEPTS BUNDLE
orton-gillingham poetry
DECODABLE POETRY GROWING BUNDLE

Enjoy the sale!

My store: www.shopliteracynest.com

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10 Comments

  1. Hi Emily, I've just stumbled onto your blog and am loving it. I'm currently doing my training through the Dyslexia Training Institute, and am working as a a remedial therapist at a school in South Africa. I look forward to downloading your decidable stories bundle!

  2. Love your stuff, Emily, and use it all the time. Wish I could highlight as you suggest but with an ink jet printer that just makes a mess – am reduced to having kids draw circles instead 🙂

  3. Thank you so much for the pictures, posts, and for writing such amazing passages. I have purchased them and they are an answer to my prayers and an end to the constant struggle of the match up saga you mention in this post. Your materials are awesome and I have enjoyed learning from you! I am in the process of another purchase order to get even more of your awesomeness at my fingertips!!

  4. I have my students use a yellow crayon or colored pencil. It doesn’t smear. I had to do this with a student who couldn’t figure out how to use the he highliter. It works well and doesn’t bleed through the paper.

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