Write to Read: How To Strengthen Literacy Skills Through the Reading-Writing Connection
Research consistently shows that spelling, reading, and writing are deeply interconnected.
And – when we improve one – the others often grow too.
Here’s the exciting part:
A single, science-based strategy can boost all three.
The Reading Simplified system incorporates a simple strategy that not only builds on the activities you the teacher have already mastered, but also broadens its use across other areas of literacy instruction.
The result—an easy strategy for the entire day that actually works!
This page is your extended guide to understanding and leveraging the reading-writing connection. Whether you’re refining your methods or seeking new tools for literacy development, this resource provides the insights and strategies you need to elevate your teaching practice.
Our #1 Writing Strategy: Write & Say
Like our #1 Decoding Strategy, Blend As You Read, our #1 Writing Strategy works alongside most of our core activities to ensure phonics sticks.
This Write & Say strategy delivers results for reading first and then evolves over time to power up writing and spelling success.
It makes daily instruction easier and your teaching more effective.
Write & Say helps students strengthen their foundational sound-symbol processing by combining writing with verbal articulation.
As they write each letter-sound, they say its sound aloud, helping to create a powerful connection between writing and speaking.
This approach not only reinforces decoding but also lays the foundation for accurate spelling and thoughtful writing. The double win!
Using This Guide to Understand the Reading-Writing Connection
Our carefully curated guide is your pathway to merging writing with reading to improve student literacy outcomes.
Here's what it includes:
- Scientific Insights: Understand the research backing the effective integration of reading and writing.
- Practical Strategies: Discover ways to incorporate writing into your literacy instruction immediately.
- Literacy Development: Deepen your understanding of how developing literacy skills through writing impacts students.
You’ll have access to instructional videos, firsthand testimonials from educators using these strategies, and additional resources to support the implementation of Write & Say in various settings.
Whether you want to refine your instructional methods, or learn more about literacy development – this guide serves as a foundational resource.
Explore Our Video Library: The Science Made Practical
Dive into our exclusive video collection hosted by Dr. Marnie Ginsberg.
Each video focuses on the dynamic relationship between reading and writing—and provides practical applications for your teaching:
The Concept of Write & Say
The Write & Say strategy revolves around a simple but highly effective idea: when students write words, they should simultaneously say each sound (phoneme) or say each chunk (i.e., syllable) as they write.
This strategy is rooted in neuroscience and aligns with what research shows about the connection between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters).
By saying each sound aloud, students are doing three things:
- Strengthening sound-symbol connections (which is key for both decoding and encoding).
- Engaging in retrieval practice (which reinforces memory and makes it easier to recall these sounds and letters later).
- Improving phonemic segmentation (the ability to break down words into their component sounds).
The Write & Say strategy is essential because it builds stronger neural pathways in the brain, in the video below. Watch me and one of our Reading Simplified teachers work with a beginning reader, a 1st grader, and even an adult using the Write & Say strategy.
In the video below, I want you to notice how the students write each letter-sound as they say the sound out loud. They’re linking sounds, meanings, and letters in real time.
This approach isn't just about memorizing words—it’s about making sure they understand and retain what they're learning.
The Science Behind Write & Say
Let’s dive into the why behind Write & Say—because when we understand the science, it’s easier to see its impact.
You’ve probably noticed how students can sometimes know a word when they hear it, but struggle when it comes time to write or read it.
That’s because their brains are working to connect three things:
the sounds of the word (phonology),
what the word means (semantics),
and how it’s spelled (orthography).
Marnie explains the significance of the triangle model in the video below….
How to Use Write & Say with Read It
Watch expert Reading Simplified teacher Jennifer Glueck demonstrate how to teach the word “sweet” to her entire kindergarten class during a Read It activity (during the pandemic!).
Pay close attention as she models the second step of Read It, where she aligns the timing of writing each sound with saying it aloud.
See Jennifer in action below.
How to Use Write & Say with Sort It
We don't just apply the Write & Say strategy, however, in the context of Read It. We continue to thread this practice through our higher level activities, such as Sort It.
Peek at Marnie as she introduces the Sort It activity to a 1st Grader. She’ll start to introduce him to the practice of saying sounds as he writes.
When he writes letter-sounds that are 2 or more letters, he still says the sound for the entire time he's writing the given sound. That is, as he writes the spelling “sh,” he elongates the sound /sh/.
How to Use Write & Say with Team Sort It
Whether you're working with children 1-on-1, small group, or whole group, this same Write & Say strategy serves you and your students well.
Join this small group in Jennifer Glueck's classroom below as they dive into a Team Sort It activity! Notice how students are consistently encouraged to apply the Write & Say strategy throughout the lesson.
A Deep Dive Into the Science of the Writing-Reading Connection
By synchronizing speech, handwriting, and letter-sound connections, Write & Say supports the development of phonemic awareness, decoding, and spelling simultaneously.
Research highlights the value of such integrated approaches, which build strong neural connections between phonology, orthography, and meaning, setting the foundation for both reading and spelling success.
Want to know more about the science and how it affects instruction? Please see the video on this post – Speech to Print: Is There a Third Way. (I do a deep dive around the 43:00 minute mark.)
Boosting Reading Skills with Write It - A Quick, Easy Dictation Activity
By now, I hope you’ve got the Write & Say strategy down and that you’re integrating it with your reading and writing activities all day long.
When these activities are used together, they help students not only become better readers, but also improve their spelling and writing fluency.
Throughout all Reading Simplified activities, students are analyzing, or paying close attention to the features of words, according to grapheme-phoneme connections and connecting those words to meaning.
All of these skills are required for strong connections, but also for orthographic mapping to take place.
This is the process where features of words get stored in long term memory for fluent reading and writing.
4 Year-Old Learns Early Reading Skills with Write It
Write It is a simple dictation activity that utilizes Write & Say. Watch this video where a 4 year-old writes “mop.”
Struggling Reader Learns the "Sh" Digraph
Here’s another example of Write It at the single word, Basic Phonics level. In this video you’ll see dictation and error correction for a series of consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant (CVCC) words with the digraph “sh.”
Notice how the Erase & Say strategy is another reinforcement of the phonics knowledge the student is learning.
Teaching the Long Vowel Via Write It
Here’s another quick video showing how to implement Write It with the /i_e/ sound at the sentence level.
You and your students always have a choice of whether to use the decodable texts from inside the Reading Simplified Academy materials, or just work on a dry erase board!
You’ll get a peek at a 1st Grade /i_e/ sound packet, and the student writing the key sentence for the /i_e/ sound. Notice how much diagnostic information I get from this activity!
Teaching Multisyllable Reading with Write It
So far, our Write It videos have mainly focused on single-syllable words. In this video, a more advanced reader experiences Write It with mulisyllable words.
Video 9
In this example, Deb Plotczik, a tutor and Lead Coach in the Reading Simplified Teacher’s Lounge, demonstrates how to pull a longer sentence from the Student Materials for Write It. Notice as Deb provides clear, simple feedback on errors with the /oe/ spellings. Notice how she uses self-evaluation as part of error correction.
Video 10
If you’ve gotten to the multisyllable level with your students, here’s a simple trick to support the counting of syllables by chunk.
Video 11
Keeping students engaged and focused during writing and group activities can be challenging, but a few simple adjustments can make all the difference.
These strategies boost engagement and accelerate learning by leveraging key principles of the science of learning.
They incorporate teacher observations, align with instructional goals and expectations, and harness the power of massed and spaced practice, recall, and novelty to enhance progress.
