Step-by-Step Routines
The total number of sequential steps in a standard UFLI Foundations full lesson.
Step 2 (Visual Drill) prompt: Teacher displays a letter and students say...
What is "name and sound?"
The term UFLI uses for high-frequency words containing tricky/unpredictable spellings.
What are Heart Words?
Recommended time duration for an entire full UFLI lesson.
What is 30 minutes?
The extra vowel sound added when a consonant is voiced improperly (e.g., saying "/buh/" instead of "/b/").
What is a schwa?
Step 1 of the UFLI lesson focuses strictly on this oral skill without print involved.
What is Phonemic Awareness?
The 3 steps teachers prompt during Step 3 (Auditory Drill): Teacher gives sound, students repeat, then students...
What is write/spell the sound?
In the word "said", the specific part of the word labeled as the "heart part".
What is 'ai' (making short /e/)?
The immediate procedure when a student makes an error during the Visual Drill.
What is model correct sound, have student repeat.
The physical test students can use to determine if a sound is voiced or unvoiced.
What is touching their throat / voice box for vibrations?
Step 4 on the lesson plan where students blend sounds to decode real and nonsense words.
What is the Blending Drill Board?
The decoding technique where students stretch sounds continuously without pausing between phonemes.
What is continuous blending?
Step 6 activity where students change one letter at a time (e.g., sip → tip → top) to form new words.
What is Word Work / Word Chaining?
The best strategy for a teacher whose UFLI lesson consistently runs over 45 minutes.
What is setting a timer?
The articulatory description of sounds made by stopping airflow completely then releasing it (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/).
What are stop sounds?
The final step (Step 8) of the UFLI routine where students apply skills in sentences and decodables.
What is Connected Text?
Process by which readers store words in memory for instant retrieval by anchoring sounds to spellings.
What is Orthographic Mapping?