FREY1
Teaching Phonics and Fluency Assignment
Alina Frey
Liberty University
EDUC302
Professor: Melanie Kesler
September 22, 2025
The Hebrew word yôm, which meaning "day" in the Bible, refers to a 24-hour period of time. Although
many academics and scientists think that the translation of this phrase retains the connotation of an arbitrary
period of time, the fact is the word, when taken literally, most closely resembles the truth found in Scripture; in
fact, it is the only accurate interpretation. According to Christian creationist Ken Ham, "Anywhere in the Old
Testament, the word yom is used with a number or with the phrase 'evening and morning,' it always means an
ordinary day." Genesis 1 uses the Hebrew word yom together with a number and the phrase "evening and
morning" for each of the six days of creation. Without a doubt, the author is emphasizing that these are typical
days. Moreover, the idea of a day also took on its form when compared to light and dark or day and night, in
addition to the usage of a number or a phrase like "evening and morning." Exodus 20:11, which reads, "The Lord
created the heavens, earth, sea, and everything in them in six days," is a crucial verse in the Bible that appears to
clear up the confusion around the day fiasco. This verse acknowledges that there were, in fact, six days of creation,
and more significantly, that they were yômdays, which also refers to a literal day in other places in the Bible.
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Although there is much debate over whether the word "day" in Genesis should be interpreted literally or
figuratively, the fact remains that biblical interpretation and scientific empiricism will always clash; "however, if
biblical truth must be sacrificed at the altar of scientific acceptability, we are left with no hope whatsoever and are
reduced to a world and life view of empty materialism." This raises the question of whether one's beliefs about the
Bible are affected in any way by a literal day-two interpretation. In actuality, a thorough examination will reveal
that it is entirely dependent on how you understand the gospel. For example, a belief in the metaphorical day
interpretation raises the possibility that death and suffering existed before to the Fall. Because destruction before
the first act of sin that sent creation into a state of brokenness, the gospel thus offers no salvation. It must make
sense that there was a certain period of time (literal days) when the world was ideal if, as stated in Romans 8, all
creation will return to what it was in the days preceding the Fall. Any other conclusion either seriously undermines
the gospel or watered it down.
In selecting the activities shown below, I was intentional about choosing strategies that
support the foundation of structured literacy while also building the automaticity and
comprehension skills emphasized in the science of reading. Both activities are highly adoptable
across grade levels and provide opportunities for differentiation to meet students’ unique
learning needs.
Phonics Activity: For this assignment I picked the “Letter Cards”. This activity is effective
because it gives students a tactile and visual way to manipulate sounds and letters. By physically
arranging cards to form words, students can practice phoneme grapheme correspondences,
blending, and segmenting skills. These are essential components of phonics instruction because
they reinforce the alphabetic principle and support orthographic mapping. According to the
principles of structured literacy, systematic and explicit teaching of these connections is critical
to prevent reading difficulties and to ensure that all students develop strong decoding abilities.
Fluency Activity: For this assignment I selected the “Partner Reading” activity. This
strategy promotes repeated oral reading while allowing students to practice fluency in a
collaborating and encouraging setting. Students take turns reading passages aloud, providing
peer feedback, and modeling fluent expression. This practice improves reading rate, accuracy
and prosody. Additionally, the collaborative nature of partner reading promotes engagement,
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accountability and motivation. The science of reading underscores the importance of fluency as
a bridge between decoding and comprehension. By practicing in pairs, students gain confidence
and independence, while also receiving immediate corrective feedback from their peers and
teachers.
Overall, these two activities work together to strengthen core reading skills. Letter Cards
develop the building blocks of word recognition, while Partner Reading fosters fluency that
leads to deeper comprehension. Together they reflect structured literacy principles and align
with research based best practices for effective reading instruction.
Letter Cards
https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/
k1_phonics/ k1_letter_recognition/k1_p002_letter_cards.pdf
Partner Reading
https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/
k1_fluency/ k1_fluency_connected_text/k1_f016_partner_reading.pdf
References:
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of
the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction
(NIH Publication No. 00-4769). National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development.
Spear-Swerling, L. (2019). Structured literacy and typical literacy practices: Understanding
differences to create instructional opportunities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 51(3),
201-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040059918796247
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