Book excerpt: There is no question that strong foundational skills are essential to successful, joyful reading. In this book, Julia Lindsey focuses on strategies for decoding and chunking words--and ways to teach them efficiently to help children read more deeply during whole-class, small-group and one-on-one instruction. You'll find: 1) need-to-know essentials of how reading works and develops; 2) principles of high-quality foundational skills instruction--including connections to content learning, culturally responsive practices, and engaged reading; and 3) clear-cut, teacher-approved, research-based "instructional swaps" to improve your early reading instruction.