Decoding to Discourse, K-5: An MTSS Guidebook for Foundational Reading and Structured Writing

The science of reading does not stop at grade three.

Districts across the country have rightly rebuilt early reading instruction around phonemic awareness and phonics. But in many schools, that work weakens after second grade, just as students engage with longer texts, richer vocabulary, and the first real demand to write about what they read. The fourth-grade slump was never a fourth-grade problem.

Decoding to Discourse, K–5 is an MTSS playbook for the full elementary continuum. Organized around the seven interconnected domains of foundational language systems, oral language and vocabulary, morphology, sentence and paragraph structure, comprehension and evidence use, writing process, and metacognition, the book offers 154 classroom-ready strategies for teachers, coaches, and interventionists.

Practitioner-scholar Dr. Anthony Fitzpatrick helps educators:

• Extend the science of reading beyond decoding into vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension
• Build writing from early talk and drawing to evidence-based paragraphs
• Move students from Surface to Deep to Transfer learning with tiered strategies
• Use Literacy Bridges to help students carry skills across domains and subjects
• Build a shared literacy vocabulary that follows students into middle school

A companion to the 6–12 volume that also stands on its own, Decoding to Discourse gives elementary educators the tools to help students read with understanding, write with purpose, and arrive at middle school ready for complex text.