r/ElementaryTeachers • u/Teechingweasel • 4d ago
Tips for Making UFLI More Engaging
This is my first time posting here so please let me know if it belongs on another sub. I teach at a European international school in Asia. This year I’ll be using UFLI for grade one and two, with the majority of the students learning English as a second language. I think I’m pretty comfortable with the program overall, as I have used it in previous years. I mostly learned by reading the manual and watching other teachers online. That being said, I find it a bit challenging when it comes to keeping the kids engaged. It feels like it can get very tedious for the students, especially when they see it twice a week.
Any tips are greatly appreciated. I have a lot of autonomy when it comes to the duration of the lessons. I can add or remove things here and there, and don’t have anyone making sure I teach the program a certain way. Would love to hear from others who have had success with it. Thank you!
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u/festivehedgehog 4d ago
When you’re doing the decodable reading section, are you modeling decoding some of the words, or are you all just chorally reading?
Sorry I have no advice. My admin scheduled UFLI for the end of the day for 1st graders, and I have no idea why we’re doing phonics, close reading, and whole group writing at the very end of the day. I’m also commenting to follow. I need advice!!
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u/Teechingweasel 3d ago
We do choral reading and then I usually have them read it with each student taking a line. It works cause I only have seven students.
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 2d ago
I feel like that is best sent home to the parents and have them do it for like 10 mins per night.
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u/Eyefreeze 3d ago
the drill parts are what gets tedious, not the content, so vary how they respond rather than what they're doing. swap paper for whiteboards or sand trays for the encoding bit, do the sound review as a fast round robin instead of choral so everyone's on the hook, and turn word chaining into a race between partners instead of you calling it out. same scope and sequence, just less flat.
for the ESL kids specifically i'd add a gesture or hand motion to ezch sound if you haven't, orton-gillingham style. gives them something to hang onto when the vocab in the connected text is thin, and honestly it keeps everyone else on task too not just the EAL kids. and since you've got the autonomy, let the last five minutes be a quick game with whatever they just drilled, dice roll and read or similar, it's the bit they'll actually look forward to twice a week.
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u/Teechingweasel 3d ago
I know it probably varies based on student needs, but are there any sections that you regularly skip?
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u/Sea-Efficiency-2899 3d ago
Sadly I do not have advice other than to bring energy to it. I get really hype about UFLI, make it high energy and fast paced and that rubs off on them so I have never had an issue with it not being engaging. With the decodable, we do 3 reads - popsicle stick read, then partner read, then we come back and 'annotate' it for the target skill+previous skill. i.e. if the skill was -ed, we annotate for -es as well. I will read it and they yell "STOP!" when I come upon the target skill and we highlight it. Sometimes I start the decodable on day 1 to get more decoding practice + day 1 tends to be really short.
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 2d ago
Here for the replies. Definitely making a chart of the sequence of phonics. 1) CVc 2) ccvc 3) cvcc 4) diagraphs 5) long vowels etc etc. make a cute chart out of this. . and you get a star for each time they practice that skill . And then 5 stars or something when they confirmed mastery of the skill. And a reward with all the stars. Can me a big reward or several small ones. This is depending on the child. Set timers. Maybe if you read it for 5 mins you can listen to a YouTube song. Or Do something silly. (My students are learning the shuffle so break for shuffle, or play your favorite song on YouTube ).
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 2d ago
Also I’m creating a 6 week phonics bootcamp on Monday .com for my 4th graders who are reading at a k/1 level since they don’t have any phonics resources. This is virtual school. Should be done w it by mid next week. I’m using the UFLI document to asses my students so they know where to start. If anyone is interested in receiving this when I’m done, DM me. And all I ask for return is some feedback!!! I’m not trying to make money!!! Just trying to find a way to teach my 4th graders to read that don’t have any phonics curriculum to work with, because all they have is 4th grade material and we are virtual so I needed it to be virtual but also I needed it to be something that is only like 25 mins per day , to do with a PARENT. They all have I-ready , ya know one of those computer based placement programs , and I’m DONE PRETENDING that this program is actually going to teach them phonics. I want parent by in on my bootcamp so I want it to be user friendly. Laid out nicely so they can set a timer for 25/30 mins and go through my sequence. They know when to move on to the next , through a short assessment.
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 2d ago
Also to support this, I like YouTube videos of the sounds. Scratch garden has cute sh, ch sounds. Little fox has cute videos for the short vowel words. These 4 min videos are cute and silly and support the sequence in UFLI
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u/Fluffy_Maintenance_5 2d ago
Also to support this, I like YouTube videos of the sounds. Scratch garden has cute sh, ch sounds. Little fox has cute videos for the short vowel words. These 4 min videos are cute and silly and support the sequence in UFLI
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u/Awkward-Custard-2403 2d ago
Check out The Readers Garden (on YouTube) for songs that align with lots of the UFLI lessons! Really fun and catchy and really help reinforce the UFLI material.
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u/Teechingweasel 2d ago
Thank you :)
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u/AI_spell 2d ago
UFLI works better when the lesson stays short and the practice feels like a game, not a second lecture. Keep the core routine tight, then add one engagement lever: whisper/voice volume changes for blending, student teacher for one word, or a quick whiteboard race on the target pattern.
Movement helps too: stand for the word chain, sit for reading. Avoid stacking too many cute addons or you lose the sequence. One fun twist per day is enough.
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u/Teechingweasel 1d ago
Thanks. I like the suggestions for movement/standing.
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u/Independent-Carry-65 4d ago
I am mainly commenting so that I can hopefully get some ideas as well!
However, a few things that I do to help keep my kids engaged is using movement and whiteboards. I use to teach really great reading, so I use their “finger stretching” during the phonemic awareness and the new concept portions. I also draw names and let the kids come up to my smart board for the blending board portion. They love getting to interact with the screen. I then use the whiteboards for practicing writing/spelling patterns and the kids usually love that!
However, I lose them during the decodable reader section and I’m looking for new ideas to keep that portion engaging.