Good Readers Always — Closing the Word Gap: Heart Word Lessons Aligned to DIBELS® Word Reading Fluency Paperback – March 10, 2026

Good Readers Always — Closing the Word Gap: Heart Word Lessons Aligned to DIBELS® Word Reading Fluency is a full-year Kindergarten instructional supplement built for classroom teachers, reading teachers, paraprofessionals, and anyone who sits with a struggling reader and needs to know exactly what to do.The book is organized around a single insight: of the 85 words on the end-of-Kindergarten DIBELS® Word Reading Fluency assessment, a disproportionate number are high-frequency words that phonics rules cannot fully explain — what reading scientists call heart words. Students who cannot read them automatically score below benchmark not because they can't decode, but because the words they encounter most often are the ones that break the rules they've just learned.The book addresses this directly with 30 fully scripted heart word lessons — every word you need to say is written out, every instructional move is explained step by step. Lessons are organized across three instructional windows (BOY, MOY, EOY) and distinguish between fully irregular heart words, where the whole word must be learned by heart, and partially irregular heart words, where students decode the regular letters first and then isolate the one part that breaks the rule. Each lesson includes a Phonics Connection tying the heart word to the phonics skill developing alongside it.Beyond the 30 lessons, the book includes a full supplement system — five pages per word across all 30 words: an assessment checkpoint, a reteach variant, a phonics bridge using a contrast approach, a cumulative spiral review, and a near-independent quick drill. A diagnostic troubleshooting guide covers reading errors, spelling errors, word-specific sticking points, group-level problems, and clear criteria for when to refer. The book closes with a quick-reference card designed to stay open on the table during instruction.No background in reading science is required. The research base is explained in plain language, every phonics term is defined where it appears, and the implementation guide walks through grouping, frequency, duration, and how the book fits into an existing school day. Read more