The intent of this thesis is to seek understanding of how word work lessons with children can transfer to their authentic reading and writing practices. Research has shown that when word work is embedded into a balanced approach to teach literacy, it works well and quickly. However, other research shows that word work did not transfer into the students’ authentic writing because the connection between word work and writing was not made explicit to the students. The gap in the literature is that far less is known about how word work transfers to authentic reading and writing. In my study, I engaged in word work lessons, guided reading lessons, and reading response lessons with four second grade students over the course of three weeks. All lessons were video recorded and became data for this study. Data were analyzed deductively by locating critical teaching moments that were taken advantage of. Findings include three different types of prompts being used by the teacher to take advantage of critical teaching moments. Results from this study have implications for educators, namely how they can be more intentional with their phonics and guided reading instruction, so that word work instruction can transfer to authentic reading and writing practices.