Developed for general and special educators of students from prekindergarten to middle school and beyond, the new edition of this bestselling literacy textbook arms teachers with updated research and shows them how to apply their knowledge in the classroom to help all students become skillful readers. Focusing on two interlocking skills - decoding and spelling - this textbook gets teachers ready to promote students' print awareness and phonological awareness through letter naming, latter forming, and listening and speaking activities ; improve students' spelling skills by teaching the origins of English words, Anglo-Saxon base words, Latin affixes and roots, Greek combining forms, and multisyllabic words ; helps students understand and correctly use the components of the English language, including common consonant and vowel patterns, syllable patterns, prefixes and suffixes, and contractions ; deepen older students' proficiency with langauge by introducing less common Latin roots and Greek combining forms and new words entering the English language. -- from back cover.

[Pt.] I. Preparation -- Decoding and spelling : keys to unlocking literacy -- A brief history of written English -- Structure of the English language -- [pt.] II. Instruction -- Lesson fundamentals -- First steps : early instruction for effective decoding and spelling -- Beginning readers : time for the Anglo-Saxon layer of language -- Advancing readers : time for the Latin and Greek layers of language -- Competent readers : extending the Latin and Greek layers of language.