LETRS Unit 7 – Sessions 1–6 & Final Assessment |
2026 Actual Questions & Verified Answers
Q001
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A 2nd-grade teacher notices that several students can read “ship” but misread
“wish” as “wiss.”
Question: What is the most likely reason for this decoding error?
Options:
A. Students lack phonemic-awareness of final consonants.
B. Students have not been taught the voiced /ʒ/ sound for “sh.”
C. Students over-generalize the “sh” digraph as always voiceless.
D. Students confuse the visual shape of “sh” and “ss.”
(Correct: C)
Rationale:
● Answer: C
● Why (LETRS 2026): After explicit instruction on the voiceless /ʃ/, children often
fail to notice that “sh” represents the voiced /ʒ/ in final position; this is a
decoding-stage over-generalization.
● Errors: A is unlikely because initial consonants are accurate; B is incorrect
because /ʒ/ is not explicitly taught in most 2nd-grade scope & sequences; D is a
visual error unsupported by data.
,Q002
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A teacher is designing a 1st-grade phonics lesson targeting short-vowel
discrimination.
Question: Which instructional sequence best follows a gradual-release model?
Options:
A. Word sort → Elkonin boxes → Decodable text → Dictation
B. Dictation → Word sort → Decodable text → Elkonin boxes
C. Decodable text → Dictation → Elkonin boxes → Word sort
D. Elkonin boxes → Word sort → Dictation → Decodable text
(Correct: D)
Rationale:
● Answer: D
● Why (LETRS 2026): Gradual release moves from teacher modeling (phoneme
segmentation with Elkonin boxes) to guided practice (sort) to controlled
application (dictation) to authentic text.
● Errors: Starting with text (C) or dictation (B) omits the critical phoneme-level
scaffold.
Q003
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: During a lesson on consonant blends, a student spells “frog” as “fog.”
,Question: What is the next micro-step the teacher should take?
Options:
A. Review short-vowel sounds.
B. Provide articulatory feedback on /r/ and /fr/.
C. Introduce r-controlled vowels.
D. Practice deleting initial phonemes.
(Correct: B)
Rationale:
● Answer: B
● Why (LETRS 2026): The omission of /r/ indicates the child has not felt the
continuant feature of /r/ within the blend; articulatory mirrors and explicit
mouth-cueing are evidence-based.
● Errors: A and C target vowels when the error is consonantal; D is a
phoneme-deletion task less efficient than articulatory feedback here.
Q004
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A 3rd-grade group reads “gnome” as “nohm.”
Question: Which word-study focus will best address this pattern?
Options:
A. Silent-letter morpheme families (gn, kn, wr).
B. Greek combining forms.
, C. Vowel-r syllables.
D. Hard vs. soft “g.”
(Correct: A)
Rationale:
● Answer: A
● Why (LETRS 2026): “gn” is an etymological marker taught explicitly in advanced
decoding lessons on silent consonant morphemes.
● Errors: B is too advanced; C misdiagnoses the error locus; D is irrelevant because
“g” is soft already.
Q005
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A teacher wants to reinforce the “dge” pattern after teaching “bridge.”
Question: Which list best exemplifies near transfer?
Options:
A. badge, edge, fridge, judge
B. bridle, budget, bandage, bundle
C. binge, barge, bilge, bulge
D. bud, beg, big, bog
(Correct: A)
Rationale:
2026 Actual Questions & Verified Answers
Q001
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A 2nd-grade teacher notices that several students can read “ship” but misread
“wish” as “wiss.”
Question: What is the most likely reason for this decoding error?
Options:
A. Students lack phonemic-awareness of final consonants.
B. Students have not been taught the voiced /ʒ/ sound for “sh.”
C. Students over-generalize the “sh” digraph as always voiceless.
D. Students confuse the visual shape of “sh” and “ss.”
(Correct: C)
Rationale:
● Answer: C
● Why (LETRS 2026): After explicit instruction on the voiceless /ʃ/, children often
fail to notice that “sh” represents the voiced /ʒ/ in final position; this is a
decoding-stage over-generalization.
● Errors: A is unlikely because initial consonants are accurate; B is incorrect
because /ʒ/ is not explicitly taught in most 2nd-grade scope & sequences; D is a
visual error unsupported by data.
,Q002
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A teacher is designing a 1st-grade phonics lesson targeting short-vowel
discrimination.
Question: Which instructional sequence best follows a gradual-release model?
Options:
A. Word sort → Elkonin boxes → Decodable text → Dictation
B. Dictation → Word sort → Decodable text → Elkonin boxes
C. Decodable text → Dictation → Elkonin boxes → Word sort
D. Elkonin boxes → Word sort → Dictation → Decodable text
(Correct: D)
Rationale:
● Answer: D
● Why (LETRS 2026): Gradual release moves from teacher modeling (phoneme
segmentation with Elkonin boxes) to guided practice (sort) to controlled
application (dictation) to authentic text.
● Errors: Starting with text (C) or dictation (B) omits the critical phoneme-level
scaffold.
Q003
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: During a lesson on consonant blends, a student spells “frog” as “fog.”
,Question: What is the next micro-step the teacher should take?
Options:
A. Review short-vowel sounds.
B. Provide articulatory feedback on /r/ and /fr/.
C. Introduce r-controlled vowels.
D. Practice deleting initial phonemes.
(Correct: B)
Rationale:
● Answer: B
● Why (LETRS 2026): The omission of /r/ indicates the child has not felt the
continuant feature of /r/ within the blend; articulatory mirrors and explicit
mouth-cueing are evidence-based.
● Errors: A and C target vowels when the error is consonantal; D is a
phoneme-deletion task less efficient than articulatory feedback here.
Q004
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A 3rd-grade group reads “gnome” as “nohm.”
Question: Which word-study focus will best address this pattern?
Options:
A. Silent-letter morpheme families (gn, kn, wr).
B. Greek combining forms.
, C. Vowel-r syllables.
D. Hard vs. soft “g.”
(Correct: A)
Rationale:
● Answer: A
● Why (LETRS 2026): “gn” is an etymological marker taught explicitly in advanced
decoding lessons on silent consonant morphemes.
● Errors: B is too advanced; C misdiagnoses the error locus; D is irrelevant because
“g” is soft already.
Q005
Session/Focus: Session 1: Teaching Phonics, Word Study, and Advanced Decoding
Scenario: A teacher wants to reinforce the “dge” pattern after teaching “bridge.”
Question: Which list best exemplifies near transfer?
Options:
A. badge, edge, fridge, judge
B. bridle, budget, bandage, bundle
C. binge, barge, bilge, bulge
D. bud, beg, big, bog
(Correct: A)
Rationale:
