The Magic of Morphemes: Building Stronger Readers and Spellers | Sarah Paul & Michelle Sullivan — The Reading Symphony

In this episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast...

Katie talks with Sarah Paul and Michelle Sullivan, literacy educators and co-founders of Logos Literacy Academy, about how morphology helps children become stronger readers and spellers - and why understanding the meaningful parts of words is essential for effective literacy instruction.

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👤 About Sarah Paul & Michelle Sullivan

Sarah Paul and Michelle Sullivan are literacy educators, authors, speakers, and co-founders of Logos Literacy Academy. Together, they bring more than 40 years of experience in education and nearly 30 years supporting struggling readers.

Both are Orton-Gillingham trained and have completed LETRS and additional structured literacy training. Through Logos Literacy Academy, they help K–5 educators integrate morphology, phonics, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension into effective reading instruction.

They are also co-authors of an upcoming book on morphology, expected in spring 2027.

Michelle founded The COLORFUL Classroom and hosts the Literacy in Color podcast, while Sarah created Sarah's Teaching Snippets.

🔗 Sarah & Michelle's Links

Chapters

00:00 - Why Children Already Understand Word Structure

01:14 - Meet Sarah Paul and Michelle Sullivan

02:40 - Discovering the Magic of Morphemes

04:45 - Michelle's Journey Into Morphology

09:00 - How Sarah and Michelle Connected

11:38 - What Is Morphology?

12:25 - What Are Morphemes?

13:24 - Why Words Are More Than Sounds

14:08 - Understanding Base Words, Prefixes, and Suffixes

18:00 - How Morphology Helps Struggling Readers

20:05 - Is Morphology Being Taught in Schools?

21:00 - Why Morphology Instruction Should Start Early

24:00 - What Parents Should Ask About Literacy Instruction

27:00 - How Word Meaning Explains Spelling

30:00 - Using Morphology to Improve Spelling

33:00 - Common Misunderstandings About Morphology

36:00 - Why English Spelling Isn't Random

39:00 - Morphology Resources for Teachers

42:00 - Exploring Word Structure at Home

45:00 - Supporting Struggling Readers and Spellers

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#Morphology #ScienceOfReading #StructuredLiteracy #ReadingInstruction #SpellingInstruction #LiteracyEducation #TheReadingSymphony