Readability- The relative accessibility or difficulty of a text. Sentence length and word difficulty are among the lemons used in formulas that assign grade-level readability scores for text materials.

Text master roles- Roles similar to those used in literature circles, but are used here for reading textbook materials.

 Idea sketches- Graphic organizers that students complete in small groups as they read textbook material.

Trade books-Literature and informational books widely available in book stores; used by teachers to supplement or replace sole dependence on textbooks in reading or content area instruction.

Literature across the curriculum-Weaving an array of literature into meaningful and relevant instructional activities within the context of content area study.

Schema- An organized pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them

Literature web- Any graphic device that illustrates the relationships among the major components in a unit of study.

Narrative informational texts- Books in which the author typically tells a story that conveys factual information.

Expository informational books- Books that contain information that typically follows specific text structures such as description, sequence, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, and problem solving.

 Mixed-text informational books-Sometimes referred to as combined-text trade books; stories are narrated and factual information surrounds the story.

Previewing-Establishing purposes and priorities before reading to help students become aware of the goals of a reading assignment.

Skimming- looking over the text for key points

Organizer- Provides a frame of reference for comprehending text conceptually for ideas to be encountered in reading

Graphic organizer-Any diagram of key concepts or main ideas that shows their relationships to each other.

Anticipation guides- A series of written or oral statements for individual students to respond to before reading text assignments.

Point-of-view guides- An instructional activity for supporting comprehension in which readers approach a text selection from various perspectives or points of view.

Idea circles- A literature circle in which readers engage in discussions of concepts they have been exploring in trade books and other types of texts.

Curriculum-based reader’s theater- A strategy in which students work in small groups to create sections of content text in the form of an entertaining play.

I-charts, A chart that helps students research, organize, and integrate information from multiple text sources.

Internet inquiry- An instructional strategy designed to help students engage in research on the Internet based on the questions they raise or their interests in various topics of study.

WebQuest- An electronic model in which Internet inquiry is organized to support student learning through synthesis, evaluation, and analysis.

Classroom application: I plan to use many of the strategies to help my students become better readers. The hands on activities like idea sketches that will help the students to focus on the main ideas. The other suggestions for hands on activities will be useful as well like the “wave” and the activities by Maniton and Smead (2003) prior to reading about the jazz era in Dave at Night. I also plan to use graphic organizers to engage students in various units. I like the I-Charts to encourage critical thinking to build on students prior knowledge.

Components of a basal the program has been specifically designed to teach skills that have been proven to be helpful in learning to

Emergent literacy-Programs are often organized thematically, include a variety of support materials, and capitalize on children’s curiosity about print to get the excited about reading

Beginning reading-New basic sight words, high frequency sight words. Feature explicit, systematic, and intensive phonics with repeated patterns

Strategy lessons-Teaches sight vocabulary words, phonics, structural analysis, and use of context, and the newest basals have strategies not only in the teacher’s edition but student editions as well.

Comprehension strand- Stressed strongly with pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading strategies and lessons

Language arts-learning centers, workshops, group discussions, cooperative learning projects, library corners, technology, and art and music centers may be set up.

Management-Provides teachers with teaching plans and assessment tools

Assessment-Teachers are given many types of formal and informal assessment options.

Differentiation-Differentiating instruction in the classroom and then intervening for students who need further support are the newest common features of core reading programs.

Lesson framework Basal programs incorporate lessons and activities designed to promote strategic reading and to teach strategies for making informed decisions. The new basal reading program series have lesson planning guides with a sequence laid out.

Motivation and background building-

Getting ready to read-Teacher attempts to build interest in reading, set purposes, and introduce new concepts and vocabulary.

• Focuses on comprehension development through questioning
  • Strategic reading is explained in the teacher’s guide along with prompts such as teachable moments
• Skill development and practice
  • These activities center on direct instruction of reading skills, arranges according to scope and sequence and taught systematically
• Follow up and enrichment
  • Writing activities,drama activities, minilessons, whole class, family, or community activity, response through personal reflection of literacy circles

Modifying lessons personalizes reading instruction for teachers and students. The most important reason to modify a lesson plan is the need to adapt in order to meet the special needs of students. The nature of students as readers, and as individuals within a social situation in which language plays a large role, causes teachers to modify instruction

• Lessons may need to be rearranged, parts may need to be omitted or added, or material may be too difficult so it would need to be simplified.
• Using the directed reading-thinking activity in conjunction with suspenseful stories facilitates prediction making and provides an alternative lesson structure

Evaluating reading materials- There is a lot of material to choose from and not a lot of guidance on how to go about it.  There is a few variables that could account for a teacher’s decision to favor one type of reading material over another for instruction. Some of these are grade level, school district policy, and influence of colleagues, curriculum objectives, and available resources.

Classroom application: Reading about the basal system was interesting. I plan to use the components to better help my students to read. I liked the different resources that are available on the web to use. I plan to use the checklist to help determine the right materials to use.

Literature-based Reading Program

• Instructional practices and student activities such as independent reading, sustained reading and writing, social interactions, and read-aloud using literature, books, novels, short stories, magazines, plays, poems, and electronic books

Community of readers

• Characterizes how students in alliance with their friends and teacher work together in classrooms in which reading becomes like adult reading, where adults are motivated to read
• Students informally and spontaneously talk over their experiences with books and recommend books to each other

How to hook students on books

• Immerse students in literature
  • Create a classroom climate in which literature is an integral component
  • Use many genres of children’s books with multicultural perspectives, including folktales, poetry, realistic fiction, historical fiction
  • Select and organize a classroom collection of books
  • Read and tell stories
  • Integrate talking books
• Use instructional time to show the value of reading
  • Find classroom time for student to read books of their choice
  • Model reading behavior and become a reader of children’s books
  • Encourage children to respond to the aesthetic dimensions of literature
• Help students find and share books they want to read
  • Help student find book of interest
  • Tell or read the beginning of interesting stories
  • Develop annotated lists of books worth reading

Selecting a classroom collection of books

• Books chosen for a classroom collection should not be chosen for quantity, but quality
• May come from the teacher’s personal collection, the school and public library, and paperback book clubs

Choosing classroom literature

• Read and enjoy children’s books yourself
• Reading children’s books with a sense of involvement
• Read a variety of book types
• Read books for a wide variety of ability levels
• Share how your students respond to particular books
• Start by reading several books of good quality

Determining good literature

• The collection needs to contain modern, realistic literature as well as more traditional literature
• The collection needs to contain books that realistically present different ethnic and minority groups and nontraditional families as well as mainstream Americans
• The collection needs to contain books with different types of themes and books of varying difficulty
• The collection needs to include nonfiction

Multicultural literature

• Books about people of color or distinct cultural differences help us understand and appreciate differences among people
• Five reasons for multicultural literature in the classroom
  • All children need to experience multicultural books
  • Children perceive that members of their cultural group make contributions to the world
  • Children derive pleasure and pride from hearing and reading stories about children like themselves and seeing illustrations of characters who look as if they stepped out of their homes or communities
  • Multicultural literature offers hope and encouragement to children who face the types of dilemmas and experiences depicted in some of the books they read
  • Children who read culturally diverse books encounter authors who use language in inventive and memorable ways, who create multidimensional characters, and who engender aesthetic and literary experiences that can though the heart, mind, and soul

Designing a classroom library

• Students will read 50% more books in classrooms with libraries than those who don’t have the same access
• Include books on topics that will be studied in all subject areas
• Make materials on specific topics available in a wide range of reading levels because of the different reading abilities of your students in the same grade level
• Classroom library should be highly visible with comfortable seating
• Open shelves should house a variety of genres and reading levels
• Organized and labeled by genre, theme, topic, author, reading level, content level

Listening to literature

• Through hearing stories and poems, students develop a positive disposition toward books
• Experiences with hearing stories and poems are likely to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary development
• Being read aloud to helps students develop literacy and language skills and interest in reading
• Teachers should include some times for reading aloud in their schedules

Helping children choose the right books

• Children should have an easy book on hand to encourage fluent reading and the “I can read” feeling
• Children need a book they’re working on in which they can make daily accomplishments by working on the hard spots
• Children need a challenge book which they can go back to repeatedly over a period of time and helps them gain a sense of growth over time
• Each reader needs to decide if a book is too hard, too easy, or interesting enough to read cover to cover
• The teacher is critical in motivating the students to read

Core books

• Taught within the framework of whole class study
• Teachers assign various activities and use a variety of instructional strategies to support students’ interactions with the texts
• Used as springboards for independent reading in which children choose books with related themes and situations or decide to read other works by an author they have studied
• Should not be treated like basal textbooks

Literature circles

• Teachers who implement literature circles rely on cooperative learning strategies that show students how to work together and discuss books on the basis of their personal responses to what they have read
• The size of the literature circle is determined by the number of students who freely choose a particular book

Reading workshop

• A way to integrate the language arts around literature
• Provide an organizational framework that allows readers to demonstrate their use of reading strategies by responding to books and sharing meaning with others
• Key features include:
  • Sparking interest
  • Mini-lessons
  • Status-of-the-class report
  • Sustained silent reading
  • Individual reading conferences
  • Group sharing time

Roles in literature circles

• Discussion director-Has the official responsibility to think up song good discussion questions, convene the meeting, and solicit contributions from other members
• Literary Luminary-Takes the readers back to memorable, important sections of the text and reads them aloud
• Connector-Takes everyone from the text world out into the real world, where the reader’s experiences connect with literature
• Illustrator-Provides a graphic, nonlinguistic response to the text
• Summarizer-Gives a quick statement of the key points and highlights of the day’s reading when the group convenes
• Vocabulary Enricher-Marks down puzzling, interesting, or unfamiliar words encountered while reading, looks them up i a glossary or dictionary if need be, and points them out during literature circle
• Travel Tracer-Tracks where the action takes place in the book
• Investigator-Digs up background information on any topic related to the book

Responses to literature

• Book talks-Evokes children’s responses to literature through discussion
• Free response-Encourages active involvement in reading and an integration of students’ background knowledge with the selection’s meaning
• Literature journals-Provide readers with the freedom to express their feelings and perceptions about literary texts

Reader-response theory

• States that the reader is crucial to the construction of the literary experience

Videos

These videos were very informative and they explained how to set up a classroom library and conduct a reading workshop. I think the classroom set up in the first video is a general set up. I like how everything had a meaning to the way it was set up. I have become a big fan of the word wall and I like that it is setup so that the students can see the wall from any area in the room. I think it is important to accommodate the size of the reading are to the number of students and this library did that.

The video on the reading workshop was also very informative. Mr. Klein really explained what is involved in the workshop. I love the idea of dedicating time to individual students and guiding them in the characterization and that when he spoke to the students he got down to their level to do so. The idea of having a mini-lesson with each student during silent reading time is something that I plan to use in my classroom.

Classroom Application

I like the many different strategies to reading instruction that have been discussed in this chapter. Literature circles and reading workshops are strategies that I will definitely include in my future classrooms. I love the hands on learning and believe that these will keep students engaged. I will also use the information from the video of Mr. Klein. I love the way he interacted with his students and he reminds me of my field experience teacher.

Relationships between reading and writing:

• Reading and writing processes are correlated
• Good readers are generally good writers and vice verse
• Students who write well tend to read more than those who are less capable writers
• Wide reading may be as effective in improving writing as actual practice in writing
• Good readers and writers are likely to engage in reading and writing independently because they have healthy concepts of themselves as readers and writers

Suggestions to encourage classroom writing:

• Use students’ experiences, encourage them to write about things that are relevant to their interests and needs
• Develop sensitivity to good writing by reading poetry and literature to students
• Invent ways to value what students have written
• Praise and feedback
• Guide the writing personally
• Write stories and poetry of your own and share them with students
• Tie in writing with the entire curriculum
• Start a writing center in your classroom
• Create a relaxed atmosphere

What can students write about

• Things that are important to them and that they have strong feelings about
• Thoughts and feelings
• Doodles, comments, poems, letters, and written conversations

Writing activities

• Journals, dialogue journals, buddy journals, double entry journals, reading journals, response journals, etc.

Dialogue Journal: A journal written as a conversation between child and teacher that emphasizes meaning while providing natural, functional experiences in both writing and reading.

Buddy Journal: Written conversations between children in a journal format; promotes student interaction, cooperation, and collaboration.

Key Pal Correspondence: The electronic equivalent of pen pals.

Double-Entry Journal: A two-column journal format that gives students an opportunity to identify passages from texts and explore in writing why those passages are interesting or meaningful.

Reading Journal: A journal used in conjunction with literary texts. After a period of sustained reading, teachers use prompts to guide students’ written responses to the text.

Response Journal: A journal entry without a teacher prompt.

Writing Notebooks: Places where students can gather observations, thoughts, reactions, ideas, unusual words, pictures, and interesting facts for future writing.

Multigenre Project: A paper that is a collection of genres that reflect multiple responses to a book, theme, or topic. Examples of genres are postcards, letters, posters, and comic strips.

Plot Scaffold: An open-ended script in which students use their imaginations to create characters, a setting, a problem, and a solution.

Writing Process: The stages of writing, including rehearsing, drafting, revising and editing, and publishing.

Traditional writing processes

• Brainstorm writing ideas
• Draft thoughts
• Revise thoughts after input from the teacher or peers
• Edit writing for errors
• Publish writing

Writing process according to authors

• Discovery-Finding a topic and writing preliminary ideas
• Drafting-Getting ideas down on paper
• Revising-Making it right
• These steps capture a synthesis of the traditional stages of the writing process

Brainstorming: Pre-reading activity that identifies a broad concept reflecting the main topic to be studied in an assigned reading and organizes students in small groups to generate a list of words related to the topic.

Writing Workshop: Classroom writing time, during which students are given the structure and direction they need to understand, develop, or use specific writing strategies in planning and revising drafts.

Mini-lesson: A brief, direct instructional exchange between teacher and students to address specific, observed learning needs of students.

Group Share Session: Discussion period intended to help students reflect on the day’s work. As part of a writing workshop plan, the session focuses on specific writing concerns.

Guided Writing: An instructional framework in which teachers guide students as they write.

Desktop Publishing: Using software programs that combine word processing with layout and other graphic design features that allow children and teachers to integrate print and graphics on a page.

Electronic Texts: Texts state are created and read on a computer screen.

Multimedia Authoring: Using software programs that allow students to produce text, color pictures, sound, and video in combination.

Word Processing: The stages of writing, including rehearsing, drafting, revising and editing, and publishing.

This chapter includes a lot of great information and ideas about how to get students thinking and writing. I have always encouraged student to write about what interests them. Reading and writing needs to be a fun process, and this is just one way to make it fun.

 I like to keep writing journals and found the information about the different types of journals interesting. I am going to try theses with the students I am working with now. I like the fact that keeping a journal is a fun assessment tool that allows me to keep track of what is going on in my students lives both academic and non-academic.

Scaffolding instruction- Instruction in which teachers model strategies stop by step and provide guided practice, followed by independent practice and application.

Literal questions- Questions that are based on explicitly stated information in the text.

inferential questions- Questions in which the reader uses background knowledge and information from the text.

Evaluative questions- Questions that focus on making a judgment about what is read.

Active comprehension- Using prior knowledge, schemata, and metacognition to construct textual meaning; fostered by using questioning during reading.

ReQuest- Reciprocal questioning that encourages students to ask their own questions about material they have read.

QAR’s- Question-Answer Relationships, A comprehension strategy that enhances children’s ability to answer comprehension questions by teaching them how to find the information they need to respond.

QtA- Questioning the Author A comprehension-centered instructional strategy designed to show the readers how to questions the author’s intent while reading.

Reciprocal teaching- An instructional strategy that builds readers’ awareness of and expertise in the use of various comprehension skills and strategies.

Think-alouds-A comprehension strategy in which students talk about theirthoughts as they read aloud

Story map- An analysis of a story’s organizational elements; used to strengthen instructional decisions.

General and specific comprehension questions,

Schema- The underlying structure and relationships in a story that act as catalysts for constructing meaning and distinguishing important ideas and events.

Activities to build schema for stories,

Macrocloze stories- Stories given to students with passages deleted from the text; students read the stories and discuss the missing text either orally or in writing.

Scrambled stories- Stories separated into parts and jumbled; students read the stories and put them back in order.

Story frames- Skeletal paragraphs represented by a sequence of spaces tied together with transitions words and connectors signaling lines of through; frames can emphasize plot summary, setting, character analysis, character comparison, and problem.

Circular story map- A visual representation using pictures to depict the sequence of events leading to the problem in a story.

DR-TA- Directed Reading-Thinking Activity: An activity that builds critical awareness of the reader’s role and responsibility in interacting with the text through the process of predicting, verifying, judging, and extending thinking about text material.

KWL- What do you know? What do you want to find out? What did you learn? Three-step teaching model designed to guide and motivate children as they read to acquire information from expository texts.

Discussion webs- A strategy used in cooperative learning that requires students to explore both sides of issues during post reading discussions before drawing conclusions.

Story impressions-: Pre-reading strategy that helps students anticipate what stories could be about, using content fragments to make predictions.

Text connections: : A comprehension strategy in which students are encouraged to share how texts relate to themselves, to other texts, or to the world.

• text to self-Text connection that asks the students to share what a piece of fiction or nonfiction reminds them of personally
• text to text-Text connection that asks the students to recall another text that reminds them of the one they are reading

• text to world-Connection that is more inferential in nature because it asks the students to make connections beyond the story
• Should be reserved for older students who are capable of making higher level inferences and connections

Classroom Application

In order to help students with their comprehension I plan to use the strategies in this chapter. The interactive actives like story mapping and scrambled stories sound interesting and will help to keep students engaged and these will help aid them in comprehension. Asking questions is an important part of fully understanding the story so helping students to develop their own questions like QAR and QTA will help them to look deeper into the story.

 Aptitude hypothesis– The belief that vocabulary and comprehension reflect general intellectual ability.

 Knowledge hypothesis- The importance of reading aloud to children and immersing them in written language.

Instrumental hypothesis-: Belief in a causal chain between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension; that is, if comprehension depends in part on the knowledge of word meanings, vocabulary instruction should influence comprehension.

Vocabulary- The panoply of words we use, recognize, and respond to in meaningful acts of communication.

Components of vocabulary- Listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Principles to Guide Vocabulary Instruction

Principle 1: Select words that children will encounter while reading literature and content material.

• Key words
• Useful words
• Interesting words
• Vocabulary-building words

Principle 2: Teach words in relation to other words.
Principle 3: Teach students to relate words to their background knowledge.
Principle 4: Teach words in preceding activities to activate knowledge and use them in post reading discussion, response, and retelling.
Principle 5: Teach words systematically and in depth.
Principle 6: Awaken interest in and enthusiasm for words.

Strategies for Vocabulary and Concept Development,

Synonyms- Words similar in meaning to other words.

Antonyms- Words opposite in meaning to other words.

Think sheets- List of questions used to elicit responses about texts for discussion purposes.

Categorization- Critical manipulation of words in relation to other words through the labeling of ideas, events, or objects.

Multiple-meaning words- Words for which readers must rely on context in order to determine meaning.

Word sorts- Vocabulary development through categorization activities with groups of words.

Concept circles- A vocabulary activity in which students identify conceptual relationships among words and phrases that are partitioned within a circle.

Semantic mapping- A strategy that shows readers and writers how to organize important information

Analogy- A comparison of two similar relationships.

Paired-word sentence generation- Teaching strategy that asks students to take two related words and create one sentence that correctly demonstrates an understanding of the words and their relationship to one another.

Predictogram- A strategy that develops students’ meaning vocabulary through the use of story elements.

Self-selection strategy- A strategy that helps students monitor their own vocabulary growth by selecting unknown vocabulary words.

Word knowledge rating- A strategy that helps students develop an awareness of how well they know vocabulary words by rating themselves on their knowledge of words based on a continuum.

Classroom application

Vocabulary words help students with comprehension, interpretation, and critical thinking as it pertains to the text. I plan to use the strategies in this chapter to help my students in these areas. Like word sorts, concept circles and pre-dictogram I can help my students learn their vocabulary words in an easy and effective way.

Fluency- reading easily and well.

Effective fluency instruction– the ability to read expressively and meaningfully , as well as accurately and with appropriate speed. Three parts…. instruction, practice, and assessment. Instruction should include basic skills such as phonemic awareness and phonics. Practice includes use of decodable text and other independent-level texts to strengthen sounds and spelling that are taught in the classroom. Assessing can be done relatively easy and requires little time.

Mediated word identification– involves both phonics and structural analysis. The reader needs more time to retrieve words from long-term memory.

Automaticity– Being able to do something automatically without having to think about it.

Prosody-close relationship with comprehension since it incoopertates the characteristics of oral reading that allow it to sound expressive. Children rely on prosodic features in oral language. 

Predictable text- have a context or setting that is familiar or predictable to most children. With supportive pictures.

Types of predictable texts– Chain and circular stories, cumulative stories, pattern story, question and answer, repetition of phrase, rhyme, songbooks.

Strategies to assist with fluency: choral reading- timing, parallel inflections, and consistent voice quality are of prime importance otherwise you get a singsong effect. Teachers model how to read a selection with expression and discuss how to use stress, pitch, intonation, and loudness when reading in unison.

Echo reading– a method of modeling oral reading in which the teacher reads a line of a story and then the students echo reading the same line back, imitating the teacher’s intonation and phrasing. Should select a text that is approximately 200 words that is above the students’ reading level.

Fluency-orientated reading instruction (FORI)- was developed for whole group instruction with grade-level basal reader although many teachers use this strategy with grade-level trade books. It incorporates the research-based practices of repeated, assisted reading with independent silent reading within a three-part classroom program. Teacher-led repeated oral reading and partner reading, a free-reading period at school and at home.

Readers’ theater-An oral reading presentation of drama, prose, or poetry by two or more students reading.

Repeated readings-increase reading fluency. provide additional sensory reinforcement for the reader allowing him or her to focus on the prosodic elements of reading that are essential to phrasing. Ensure that student is actually reading , not skimming or scanning the text. Students read silently several times. Teacher can involve them into a discussion. Then orally read the passage. They continue to practice.

Paired readings-students select their own passage from the material with which they are currently working. The passage should be 50 words. Students, grouped in pairs, should each select different passages, which makes listening more interesting and discourages direct comparison of reading proficiency. Together they read their own passage silently then decide who will be the first reader. They read aloud to their partner three different times, The other listens and instructs them how to improve.

Fluency development lesson (FDL)-10-15 minutes to complete. Read the text to the class while students follow along silently with tithe own copies. Discuss content of the txt as well as the expression the teacher used while reading tot he class. Together, read the text chorally several times. The students could read in groups of to or more or echo read. Have the class practice reading the text in pairs. Each student takes turn reading the text to a partner three times. Partner provides help and feedback. Working with the entire class, have them perform the text as individuals, pairs or groups of four.

Automated reading-listening while reading a text.

Oral recitation lesson (ORL)– provides useful structure for working on fluency in reading instruction. Two components: direct instruction and student practice. Direct instruction incorporates comprehension, practice and performance. The second phase involves practicing until mastery is achieved.

Support reading strategy-emphasis specific aspects of fluency training and integrate the teaching of fluency with other important aspects of reading, such as comprehension and word recognition.

Cross-age reading-emphasis specific aspects of fluency training and integrate the teaching of fluency with other important aspects of reading, such as comprehension and word recognition.

What parents can do at home to help their student become a fluent reader- develop reading programs that motivate parents to get involved in their children reading on a regular basis. Conduct evening workshops that include echo reading, choral reading, and reader theater. Provide predictable books that allow students to read more.

Assessing fluency-help teachers determine if their instructional approaches are working, and if more instruction is needed for some students. It will help determine the effectiveness of your instruction as well as helping you set instructional goals.

Reading rate-the number of correct words per minute assessed both accuracy and automaticity

WPM or WCPM-words correct per minute that is assessed individually and aloud reading for 1 minute.

Classroom application

I plan to use the different instructional strategies to develop fluency while reading.  Utilizing the more engaging strategies like Reader’s Theater and Echo Reading this can be fun and enjoyable. As fluency develops it gives readers self-confidence, thus providing support for students’ growth in reading in order to tackle harder words.

 Word attack– Phonics provides readers with a tool to attack the pronunciation of words that are not recognized immediately

Word analysis-The act of translating print into speech through analysis of letter-sound relationships

Word recognition– A form of word identification that describes rapid recognition of words

Decoding- The conscious or automatic processing and translating of printed words into speech

Phonics– The understanding that sounds and printed letters are connected

Prealphabetic phase– Also known as the logographic of visual cue phase

• Occurs before the development of alphabetic knowledge
• Children are able to recognize some words at sight because of distinctive visual and contextual cues around the recognized words
• Environmental print, such as stop signs and cereal boxes

Partial alphabetic phase– Children begin to develop some knowledge about letters and detect letter-sound relationships

• Emerges during kindergarten and first grade
• Children remember how to read specific words by detecting how a few letters correspond to sounds in the word’s pronunciation

Full alphabetic phase– Emerges when readers identify words by matching all of the letters and sounds

• Developed enough knowledge about letter-sound relationships to unlock the pronunciations of unknown words
• Sounding out letters, blending sounds

Consolidated alphabetic phase– Children use their knowledge of familiar and predictable letter patterns to speed up the reading process

• Recognition of predictable letter patterns, recognizing words with similar spelling patterns

Emerges in first grade

Onsets– The initial consonants and consonant patterns that come at the beginning of syllable.

 Rimes– The vowel and consonants that follow them at the end of syllables

Analytic phonics– A whole to part approach to word study in which the student is first taught a number of sight words and then relevant phonic generalizations, which are subsequently applied to other words

Synthetic phonics– Part to whole phonics approach to reading instruction in which the student learns the sounds represented by letters and letter  combinations, blend these sounds together to pronounce new words, and finally identifies which phonics generalizations apply

Linguistic instruction– A beginning reading approach based on highly regular sound-symbol patterns, temporarily substituted for the term ‘phonic’ early in the 1960’s

Decodable text– Purpose is to assist beginning readers in applying phonics instruction during text reading

• Text that is written with a large number of words that have phonetic similarities and there is a match between the text and the phonic elements that the teacher has taught

Digraphs– Two vowels that are adjacent to one another

• First vowel is usually long and the second is silent

Consonant blends– Two or three consonants grouped together, but each consonant retains its original sound

Diphthongs– Sounds that consist of a blend of two separate vowel sounds

Syllables- A vowel or cluster of letters containing a vowel and pronounced as a unit

Analogy-based instruction- Children are taught to use their knowledge of letters representing onsets and rimes in words they already know how to pronounce, rather than their knowledge of letter-phoneme correspondences to pronounce unfamiliar words

• Favored by teachers who believe that children need to actively engage in word study to make words, learn spelling patterns, and draw analogies between known and unknown word parts

Developmental stages of word learning and spelling

Emergent

• Age 1-7, preK-mid 1
  • Pretend reading
  • Memory reading
  • Identifying words through shapes and environmental print

Letter-name alphabetic

• Ages 4-9, K-early 3
  • Learn most beginning and ending consonants
  • Understand directionality
  • Begin to know digraphs, blends, and word families

Within word

• Ages 6-12, grades 1-mid 4
  • Can read most one-syllable words
  • Can use some vowel patterns including long vowels
  • Learn r-controlled vowels
  • Continue to develop sight vocabulary

Syllables and affixes

• Ages 8-18, grades 3-8
  • Learn structural analysis such as prefixes, suffixes, and root words
  • Learn vowel patterns in multisyllabic words
  • Learn inflected endings

Derivational

• Ages 10+, grades 5-12
  • Understand alternative consonant and vowel sounds
  • Learn and understand Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots
  • Learn advanced word study

Embedded phonics instruction- Associated with holistic, meaning-centered teaching. Children learn phonics skills in the context of stories that make sense in literature-based instruction

Phonograms- Letter patterns that help form word families or rhyming words also called rimes

Making words- Decide on the rime that you want students to practice, and develop a rime card for each of the students

• Develop a set of consonant letter cards for each student that can be used to make words with the rime that has been targeted for practice
• Direct students to use the letter cards to make the word ball
• Invite students to now change the word to make call
• Repeat this process until all of the words have been made

Word walls- A way to study words and word patterns

• Can be adapted for a variety of word study purposes at different grade levels, such as words with the same spelling of sounds or words starting with the same letter

High-frequency words- Word that occur repeatedly in text

Cloze sentences- Contain as little as 1 deletion in a passage or up to 20 deletions in a passage

• Different deletion systems
  • Selected word deletion
  • Systematic word deletion
  • Partial word deletion

Cross-checking- Using letter-sound information and meaning to identify words

 Self-monitoring– Awareness of miscues, the pronunciation of unknown words, and comprehension processes during reading to develop the ability to correct yourself

Structural analysis- Word recognition skill that involves identifying words in meaningful units such as prefixes, suffixes, and root words

• Being about to identify inflected endings, compound words, and contractions

Morpheme- The smallest unit of a word

Inflected endings- Suffixes that change the tense or degree of a word

Classroom Application

I plan to use the word identification strategies and skills in order to help my students to be good readers. By providing these strategies I will be giving students the tools they need for word identification. It is important to understand that identifying words is just as crucial to reading as sounding out the words they do not know. There are various different identification strategies, such as identifying words by sight, using structural analysis of onsets and rimes, and using contextual clues from the text.

High-stakes testing- The practice of using a single test score for making education-related or personnel decisions.

Authentic assessment- Asking students to perform tasks that demonstrate sufficient knowledge and understanding of a subject.

Retelling- An assessment in which students identify and discuss integral parts of a story.

Formative assessment- An assessment that is used to gather information for teachers to adapt instruction to meet students’ needs.

Self-assessment- An assessment in which students identify their strengths and weaknesses to help provide a plan for intervention.

Formal assessments-can be norm-referenced or criterion-referenced results of students’ performance.

standardized tests- A formal test of reading ability administered according to specific, unvarying directions; usually norm-referenced and machine-scored.

Norms- (Average scores) a sampling of students selected for testing according to factors as a basis for comparing the performance of individuals or groups.

Reliability- Consistency of test results over time and administrations.

Validity- The accuracy with which a test measures what it is designed to measure – the most important characteristic of a test.

 Types of test scores- Raw score may be converted to a grade equivalency score. Percentile score terms of the percentage of a group the student has scored above. Stanine- standard nine-point scale score.

 Diagnostic test- Formal assessment intended to provide detailed information abut individual students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Criterion-references tests- Formal assessment designed to measure individual student achievement according to a specific criterion for performance (e.g., eight words out of ten spelled correctly).

 Informal assessments- Informal measures of reading that yield useful information about student performance without comparisons to the performance of a normative population.

Informal reading inventory- An individually administered informal test, usually consisting of graded word lists, graded reading passages, and comprehension questions that assess how students orally and silently interact with print.

Independent reading level- The level at which the student reads fluently with excellent comprehension

Instructional reading level- The level at which the student can make progress in reading with instructional guidance.

Frustrational reading level- The level at which the student is unable to pronounce many of the words or is unable to comprehend the material satisfactorily.  

Miscues- Errors in students’ reading

Miscue analysis-: Informal assessment of oral reading errors to determine the extent to which readers use and coordinate graphic-sound, syntactic, and semantic information.

Running record- Method for marking miscues of beginning readers while they read.

Analyzing running record-Calculate words read correctly, analyze student’s errors, identify patterns of errors.

Words per minute- An assessment in which readers read aloud for one minute from materials used in their reading lessons. The teacher notes words read incorrectly. The assessment tracks changes in reading rates and accuracy over time and assesses the appropriateness of the text’s difficulty.

DIBELS- Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment that includes a series of oral reading skill assessments. Short measures are used to monitor early literacy skills and provide feedback to inform instruction.

Portfolios- A compilation of an individual student’s work in reading and writing, devised to reveal literacy progress as well as strengths and weaknesses.

Anecdotal notes- Brief, written observations of revealing behavior that a teacher considers significant to understanding a child’s literacy learning.

Checklist- A list of categories presented for specific diagnostic purposes.

Interviewing- communication with individual students in order get a better understanding of reading interests, attitudes, self-perceptions, and understanding of the language-learning process.

Classroom application: Finding a students reading level in order to help them become better readers. Conducting running records and informal reading inventories to match students to the appropriate materials along with oral miscue analysis. By observing students as they read I will have a better understanding of what my students are doing and why.

Literacy instruction for beginning readers and writers.

Emergent literacy Children’s literacy learning conceptualized as developmental, with no clear beginning or end, rather than as proceeding in distinct sequence. Thus children begin to develop literacy through everyday experiences with print long before they enter school.

Scaffolding instruction- Instruction in which teachers model strategies step by step and provide guided practice, followed by independent practice and application.

Storybook experiences- Read alouds, read-alongs, interactive reading, interactive writing, rereading of favorite texts, and independent reading and writing.

 Interactive writing- Shared writing activity in which children are invited to volunteer to write parts of a story.

Linguistic awareness- Understanding the technical terms and labels needed to talk and think about reading.

Print awareness-  a child’s understanding of the nature and uses of print.

Concept of print An understanding of the layout of books, the relative roles of print and pictures, reading left to right, spaces between words, punctuation –

phonemes- The smallest part of spoken language that makes a difference in spoken words.  English has about 44 sounds or phonemes represented by consonant and vowel sounds.

alphabetic principle- Principle suggesting that letters in the alphabet map to phonemes, the minimal sound units represented in written language.

Phonics- Matching sound to letters and text, making the connection between sounds and spoken language and how you represent those sounds.

phonemic awareness- An understanding that speech is composed of a series of written sounds; a powerful predictor of children’s later reading achievement.

phonological awareness- The ability to hear, recognize, and play with the sounds in our language. It involves hearing the sounds of language apart from meaning.

Alliteration- Producing groups of words that begin with the same initial sound like two tall trees.

 Rimes- The part of the letter pattern in a word that includes the vowel and any consonants that follow; also called a phonogram or word family.

Phonological awareness continuum-refers to the general advancement of instruction and learning in the sounds of language, moving from alliteration and rhyming through segmenting sentences, syllables, onset and rime

Orthographic system- Knowledge of common letter patterns that skilled readers use rapidly and accurately to associate with sounds.

Phoneme isolation- Children recognize individual sounds in a word. For example, the first sound in dog is /d/. This is a simple task of phonemic awareness.

Phoneme identity- This is the recognition of the same sounds in different words, such as six, sun, and sat. The first sound /s/ is the same.

Phoneme categorization- This task requires children to recognize a word in a set that doesn’t fit or has an odd sound. A teacher might ask, “What word doesn’t sound like the others – dot, big, doll?”

Blending- A more difficult task involving phonemic awareness requires children to blend a series of orally presented sounds to form a word

Segmenting beginning and ending sounds- Children who have developed the capacity to hear sounds in words are able to perform phonemic awareness tasks that require them to isolate and identify the sound at the beginning or end of a word. A teacher might ask, “What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word pig?”

Phoneme deletion addition and substitution- These phoneme manipulation tasks require children to take away or add something to make new words.

Elkonin boxes- Students push a marker into one box to segment each sound in the word.

Phonemic segmentation- This is the most difficult of the phonemic awareness tasks. Children who can segment separate sounds in a word are considered to be phonemically aware.

Schema- An active process of constructing meaning by connecting old knowledge with new information encountered in text.

Classroom Application: I plan to use the different platforms to help teach my students to get a better understanding of reading and the concept of print. I plan to assess students understanding through informal observations while we read though various books.