Week 2:  My second week of classroom observations was cut short due to being sick on monday.  However, Wednesday was so much fun and I was so glad to be back.  The kids were directed in teacher led readings; they did silent reading, as well as reading in groups.  I am SO proud of my class because EVERYONE made their AR goal.  It is very interesting to see all of the different types of stories that they read.  Each child is so different from one another and they each enjoy different stories.  I know reading is very important, but I feel as if the only thing the students do is read.  I wish they were able to enjoy other subjects along with reading.  There are many ways to incorporate reading into other subjects.

Week 3:  I had a wonderful week at Alpine Glen this week!  This week the teachers are working on reviewing for EOG’s and this happened to be a math week.  I was able to work with a child during silent reading time.  The child I choose to work with is not a great reader and it is very obvious from his actions that he does not enjoy reading.  I sat with him and let him read a book to me for 30 minutes.  He was able to finish the book but he was very stressed out about it.  I can tell that he knows how to read, he just does not enjoy it.  I challenged him with the book he was reading because it was a more difficult level then what he is used to reading, but he did a great job with it.  When he reached words that he was having problems with, he did an excellent job of sounding out the syllables and attempting to figure out the words.  His fluency is getting better the more and more he reads, although I think that 20 minutes of silent reading is this child’s maximum without getting frustrated and fidgety.  It was nice being able to work with him one on one.  He took an AR test on the book and made 100%.  I was very proud of him.  He has surpassed his AR goal and is moving on to a higher goal.

Last Day:  Today was my last day in my classroom.  It was very sad…I sure am going to miss those kids!  I had a wonderful time in the classroom today…there was alot of silent reading, so I was able to work with students one on one today with reading.  Other than this, the students, again, were busy getting ready for EOG’s and preparing for the test in four weeks.  I hope that they are able to score well on their reading tests, they sure have been working hard.  Other than working with students reading one on one, the only other reading they did was reading math problems.

• Third Grade

What was the flash score for words at: first-grade level? second-grade level? third-grade level?

• First-Grade Level: 75%
• Second-Grade Level: 50%
• Third-Grade Level: 20%

What was the accuracy score at:

• 1-2 level: 97%
• 2-1 level: 90%
• 2-2 level: 84%

What was the rate score at:

• 1-2 level: 65wpm
• 2-1 level: 44wpm
• 2-2 level: 36 wpm

What was the percentage correct score for:

• First-grade words: 6 out of 10 correct (60%)
• Second-grade words: 0 out of 10 correct (0%)

Which grade-level flash score is the best choice for Instruction Level? (*Note: 92-94% accuracy is marginal; take a close look at Rate.)

• Grade level 2-2 because the score is 50.  This is RIGHT before the frustration level.  His words also declined 36 wmp. 

Which grade-level accuracy score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

• Grade level 1-2 (97 accuracy score)

What do Curt’s rate scores indicate about his grade-level reading? Where is he instructional according to rate?

• Curt appears to be in the grade level 1-2, indicating instructional level.  Curt is also on grade level because Curt’s 2-1 and 2-2 Scores show that his wmp are declining to less than the average first grader. 

What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instruction Level.

• First grade:  Curt has 60% of the words right.  He is on instructional level.
• Second grade:  He did not get any of the words right showing that he is below instruction level. 

Put all of these scores together, and what do they indicate Curt’s reading level to be?

• The scores on these tests show that Curt is a late-first to early-second grade reader.  He knows a lot of what he needs to know from the first grade, but there is question as to how “automatically” he could recall this knowledge.  “A lack of word recognition automaticity may, in fact, be contributing to this child’s slow, potentially debilitating, word-by-word reading style.” Pg. 173

• First Dimension: Accuracy in word decoding
  • “Readers must be able to sound out the words in a text with minimal errors.” Pg. 46  This refers to phonics for decoding words.
• Second Dimension: Automatic processing
  • “Readers need to expend as little mental effort as possible in the decoding aspect of reading so that they can use their finite cognitive resources for meaning making.” Pg. 46
• Third Dimension: Prosodic reading
  • “The reader must parse the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units.” Pg. 46  This is where the reader needs to emphasize certain words due to punctuation and put emphasis in their voice to create the story.

Rasinski refers to fluency as a “bridge” between decoding and comprehension. What does he mean by the “bridge” metaphor?

• This means that Rasinski is making sure that readers are becoming fluent with their reading.  A child does not only have to be able to decode and comprehend, but they need to be able to read stories with ease and make it sound fluent. 

What instructional methods does Rasinski suggest for students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading?

• Assisted readings and repeated readings should be used to help students with automatic d prosodic reading.  Students need to know what fluent reading sounds like as well as knowing how to interpret text with their voices.  This takes a lot of practice for students and this is where repeated readings really help a student out. 

Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS) is used to measure prosodic quality of oral reading. List components of the MFS and describe briefly what each refers to (p. 49).

• Expression and Volume
  • Covers what the student sounds like as far as volume and expression in his voice. This has four levels of determination.
• Phrasing
  • How the child phrases sentences and how he reads through punctuation.  This has four levels of determination.
• Smoothness
  • How smoothly the student is able to read, pause, and break.  This has four levels of determination.
• Pace
  • The pace at which the student reads.  Does the student know what speed is appropriate?  This has four levels of determination. 

• Students must be able to access accurate and relevant knowledge, manage mental processes during reading within the confines of a limited working memory, and construct a coherent mental representation in order to comprehend what they are reading.

2. Specify the effect that background knowledge may have on constructing mental representations from informational text. Why should teachers be concerned about activating prior knowledge?

• Background knowledge is so important with young children.  Children construct new ideas from previous knowledge.  Teachers need to make sure to prompt children to use the knowledge that they already know to build on and construct new ideas.  Teachers need to make sure that the children are constructing appropriate ideas, ensuring that the information that the student is using is accurate.

3. What are the three instructional approaches that can be used to help primary-grade students comprehend informational text? Describe their common (p. 365) and distinctive features (p. 363-5).

• Each of the instructional approaches engage students in social learning, activation of relevant prior knowledge, and making predictions within the text.
• The three instructional approaches are as follows:
  • Picture Walk
    • The book is previewed in its entirety and the teacher leads the child in discussions of pictures and vocabulary words.
  • KWL
    • This is very open ended.  This allows for the student to have input with what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned after the fact.  This has some downsides though; it has a higher chance of taking the focus away from the text due to inaccurate information that the student may have shared.
  • DRTA
    • This allows for the students to make personal connections to what is going on in the story.  The student is asked to stop every so often to share what is going on with the story or to share personal experiences.

4. What is the purpose of the experimental study reported?

• “The purpose of this study was to explore how the PW, KWL, and DRTA might influence developmental reading abilities and content acquisition when used with informational text in the primary reading group context.” Pg. 367

5. Who were the subjects?

• The students that were subjected to this study were those from the same school district, similar demographics, and there were 31 students involved.

6. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.

• Descriptive informational texts were used.  These subjects that were covered in the books had already been taught to the students.

7. How long did the experiment last?

• Data, for the experiment, was collected over a period of ten weeks.  There were two four-week periods of intervention.  There were twelve days of intervention per cycle.  These lasted for three days in a row for four weeks.

8. What were the experimental conditions?

• There were four treatment conditions used: PW, KWL, DRTA, and control.  Each group received treatments in a random order.  This increased the validity of the experiment.

9. Describe the procedures specific to the Picture Walk, KWL, DRTA, and the Control Group conditions.

• Picture Walk:
  • Both the student and the teacher went through the book before reading.  Together they talked about the pictures and some words on the pages.  Unknown vocabulary was introduced to the student by the teacher.  Prior knowledge from the student was used to make predictions as to what the story would be about.  After the PW was completed, the student would read the story alone and come up with a summary.  The student would then talk about his/her predictions and state whether he/she was correct.
• KWL:
  • This began with talking about what the topic was and discussing what the student already knew on the subject.  This information is placed under the “KNOW” column.  The second and third day of the KWL allowed for the students to complete this category alone and then share with the class.  “WANT TO LEARN” column allowed for the students to come up with things that they wanted to learn from the teacher.  This section is prompted by the teachers.  Usually this is completed with the table of contents.  The students are then encouraged to read the text and then discuss the “LEARNED” column.  They would then proceed to share with the class what they actually learned.
• DRTA:
  • Students, with this lesson, made predictions before they read.  They would use the title, headings, table of contents, and pictures to predict.  The student would predict a 2-3 page section of reading at a time and then stop for discussion after reading.  The discussion allowed for predictions, summarization of information, and allowed for predictions of what was to come.  This led to small discussions about the text, overall.
• Control:
  • This group was given an overview of the text, just as the other three groups were.  After reading, the students read the text to themselves and were then required to share a picture or write something to share that was based from the text.

10. What measures were used to determine the relative effectiveness of the treatments? Describe the measures briefly.

• • • The VRT is an experimenter constructed yes/no task that allows for the estimate of vocabulary recognition in a certain content area.  It also was able to confirm that the groups had similar prior knowledge levels of the topic at hand.  A list of 25 words (18 related to the story, 7 unrelated) is what the task was consisted of.  Students circled words that they were able to read and also that were related to the topic at hand.  After selecting words, they were then categorizing these words under headings that were provided on a concept web.  It was determined that the yes/no task is reliable and valid measure of vocabulary assessment.  IT has been determined that this is a better way of figuring out whether the students know the meanings of the words; compared to multiple choice.  This was especially easier for younger students.

11. Which treatment(s) were found to be more effective in increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge and maze performance (p. 381)?

• The PW and the DRTA seemed to have significant gains and were much more effective in increasing students’ vocabulary.  It seemed as if the page-by-page walk through of the text, (either before or during), seemed to make a difference in the way the student learned.  The PW and the DRTA conditions resulted in maze gains; but none of the conditions, were higher to another in the vocabulary knowledge that was preformed at the end of the study.

12. Students’ comprehension of the texts was greater under the DRTA condition than KWL and the control conditions. What do you think explains DRTA’s advantage over the KWL condition (p. 382)?

• I think that the DRTA advantage is due to the teacher interaction.  I believe that if a student is able to state (verbally) what he/she thinks is going to happen, and is then able to correct him/herself (verbally) this allows for a greater comprehension of learning.  The teacher-guided interaction also helps with the students’ gain of knowledge.

13. It was found that the treatments did not differ in the quality and quantity of students’ retellings (p. 384). In other words, students were not differentially affected by the treatments in the way they integrated textual information with prior knowledge. What does this finding mean in terms of the different emphases employed by experience-based (KWL) vs. text-based (DRTA) treatments?

• I believe that this implies that the DRTA and the KWL are both successful teaching techniques that encourage students to retell information in accurate, relevant ways.  Although the emphases may be different in each learning strategy, both allow for the student to learn and be able to share information with others.

14. In light of the findings from this study, what conclusions can you draw about the role of teacher support in children’s construction of mental representations from informational text?

• I believe that is VERY important to have teacher/student interaction when a student is reading.  Teacher lead conversations usually allow for the student to gain information that is much more in depth than what the student would/can gain on his/her own.  Prior knowledge is very important in a students learning.  “Touching base” so-to-speak with a child’s prior knowledge is vital in the students learning.  This allows for the teacher to correct mis-information, as well as leading the student in the right direction for more learning.

• Students write “with scribbles, letterlike forms, or random letters that have no phonetic relationship to the words that thy confidently believe they are writing.” Pg 16
• Students will “read” story books that are familiar to them, and books that have plenty of pictures to provide recognition to the story.  Children in this stage will “re-tell” the story as they remembered.

2. How does a Letter Name-Alphabetic speller read and write?

• “The early letter name-alphabetic speller is a beginning reader who has moved from pretend reading to real reading and begun to use systematic letter sound matches to identify and store words in memory.” Pg. 17
  • “These students resemble Ehri’s full alphabetic readers who begin to use the entire letter string to decode and store sight words.” Pg. 17
• Children who write in this stage are writing the beginning and end letter sounds.  For example: LT for Light.  These children have “grasped that there are systematic matches between sound and letters that must be made when writing.” Pg. 17

3. How does a Within Word Pattern speller read and write?

• This speller is using mostly single syllables, they are bale to correctly use short vowels, they are able to spell MOST beginning consonant digraphs and two letter-consonant blends, and they also are able to use silent and long vowel markers (of which they attempt to use).
• At the beginning of this stage readers in this stage use guided and supported reading. Children in this stage use letter patterns that occur frequently.  Vocabulary increases with sight words and as they read more often, they are able to gain speed.

4. How does a Syllable and Affixes speller read and write?

• “Single letter-sound units are consolidated into patterns or larger chucks and other spelling regularities are internalized.” Pg. 17
  • This second is where the student will being to focus on the vowel and what comes after it.
• Readers in this stage begin to read texts independently and they are able to pick up “techniques” that help them read in a more efficient manner.  Students begin to read silently for the first time in this stage and they no longer finger point read.

5. How does a Derivational Relations speller read and write?

• “Syllable and affix spellers read most texts with good accuracy and speed, both orally and silently.” Pg. 18
  • This is where readers may begin to become “obsessed” with certain genres and may want to read all of the books in a series (i.e. Harry Potter).
• “Fluent writers.  The content of their writing displays complex analysis and interpretation, and reflects a more sophisticated, content-oriented vocabulary.

6. What is the existing research evidence on the relationship between spelling and reading?  Briefly describe research findings discussed on page 20.

• Spelling has been found to be the most consistent predictor of reading achievement within a two year study.  There were also six studies that had a correlation between .68 to .86 between reading a spelling.  Other studies had a variance in oral reading measures as much as 40%-60%.

• The hypothesis tested by students was: “that students will learn the pronunciations and meanings of new words better when they see spellings of the words during study periods than when they do not.  Our explanation was that grapheme-phoneme connections should be activated by spelling and as a result should secure the pronunciations and meanings of words in memory earlier during learning” Pg. 396-397

2. Who were the subjects?

• They consisted of second and fifth graders.

3.  What were the experimental conditions?

• The words that were used in this experiment were low-frequency nouns that none of the students had prior knowledge of.  Each group was introduced to the words with pictures, definitions, and usage of the word in a sentence to introduce to students. 

4. What did the treatment involve?

• Students learned the spoken words and they also learned now to spell the words. (The control group had to learn the words without the spellings.)  The students were measured on how fast they could learn the words presented to them; later measured how well the words were memorized the next day.

5.  Which group (spelling-present vs. spelling-absent) gained more in vocabulary learning?  How were the groups’ recall of pronunciations affected by the treatment?

• There was a significant differenced between the experimental group and the control group.  The experimental group, the group exposed to the spellings of words, had a much higher vocabulary compared to control group, who were not exposed to the spellings.  Both groups had pronunciation problems, but there was a better pronunciation from those who had been exposed to the spelling compared to those who were not.

6.  Why do you think that fifth graders who were high on a word reading task benefited more from the spelling aids than their peers with less orthographic experience and knowledge, even though the two groups did not differ on receptive vocabulary knowledge?

• I believe that the fifth graders were benefited more because of the visual aide that they were able to see.  This could have aided in their background knowledge and definitely aided their orthographic experience.  I think that they continued to do well because they are older and they do have more experience than the younger students.

7. What general conclusions were derived from the study findings by the authors? What implications were offered for vocabulary learning and instruction?

• “Teachers need to become aware of the importance of spellings for vocabulary learning so that they do not slight them in their teaching.” Pg. 404
• “They need to recognize the contribution that exposure to spellings can make and to include this step as one of their recommendations.” Pg. 405
• “Guessing strategy does little for the vocabulary learning.” Pg. 405
  • This means that reading silently, any age after third grade, is not necessarily the BEST idea.  Students who are reading and do not know a word may skip over the word and put a new word in its place.
• “Spellings of words are especially valuable for students who are learning English as a second Language.”
  • Spelling can help with phonemes and other “rules” in the English language.
• “Our findings indicate that spellings enter memory as well in a form that better secures pronunciations and meanings and clarifies the constituents of pronunciations.” Pg. 406
• “Learning the spellings of words provides a big boost in learning their pronunciations and meanings.” Pg. 407

• I feel as if Curt is in the letter-name stage of word knowledge; but he is in the middle of the middle to late letter name stage.
  • CHARACTERISTICS:
    • This is where students are normally taught to read.  The name of the stage is reflective of the students approach to reading.  Students use the names of the letters to help them sound out what they actually want to represent.  Students will begin to segment and sound out phonemes within words and they also learn the correct letters for the series.  There are two stages to this stage:
    • EARLY letter name alphabetic spelling-
      • Students apply the alphabetic principle to consonants.  Middle elements are normally omitted.  This is normally referred to as “semiphonetic” because only some of the phonemes are represented.  (FT for float; YN for when)
    • MIDDLE to late letter name alphabetic spelling-
      • Students are able to show mastery of beginning and ending consonants.  High frequency words are spelled.  Students have difficult time with short vowels. (MISS is spelled as MES and MUCH is spelled as MICH)
      • By the end of this stage, students will be using silent-long vowel markers, but with the difficulty of mixing them up.  Such as RAIN being spelled as RANE because of the silent E marker. 
• I believe he is in this stage because:
  • “He also seems to know the beginning consonant blends and digraphs (e.g. smell, shot, priz, etc.)” pg. 171
  • “He failed to mark long vowels in several words (e.g., DRIV, CHAS, and FLOT).”
• I think much of his problem, as stated in the article, has to do with the fact that he has low word recognition.  I believe Curt’s small sight-word vocabulary is defining many of the problems that he has having within this stage.  But I do believe that the letter name stage is an appropriate stage for Curt. 

2. Describe partner reading.

• Partner reading is a type of guided reading between a tutor and a child.  To start partner reading out, the student and the tutor go through the first four to six pages looking at pictures and together they anticipate what the story is going to be about.  The tutor usually begins by reading the first page and the student reads the next, switching back and forth between the tutor and student.  Occasionally, the tutor will as “comprehension” questions guiding the student through the story.
  • ADVANTAGES:
    • “Partner reading is psychologically appealing to the child because he can perceive the tutor, from the start, as an equal partner who is willing to share the reading load.” Pg. 174
    • “…that the tutor’s oral reading of every other page provides a fluent model for the child to emulate.” Pg. 174
    • The student is able to read out loud, “thereby providing important opportunities for the tutor to diagnose his reading skill.” Pg. 174

3. Which is harder for a student, partner reading or DRTA?

• I believe that DRTA is more difficult for a student because of the critical thinking skills that are required.  If a student knows words, knows phonemes, he or she is able to sound out words and get through the story.  With DRTA the student is asked to predict, relate, and comprehend events of the story.

4. In planning a DRTA, what is important about selecting places to stop?

• With planning a DRTA lesson plan, it is important that the teacher reads through the story once.  After reading once, the teacher should go back through the story and ask a few questions about the stopping point:
  • “At what point in the story am I able to anticipate an important upcoming event or plot turn?” Pg. 183
  • “Why am I able to do so?” Pg. 183
  • “What information have I read that is triggering anticipation?” Pg. 183
• It is important that the questions be thought about for the stopping point and prepared for in advance.

5. In planning a DRTA, what is important about deciding questions to ask?  What kind of questions?  How many?

• It is very important that the questions asked do not take away from the content of the story.  If the questions begin to take away from the concentration of the student, then the questions are not worth asking.  It is important that the question are spaced out every two pages or so.  The questions should be quick and concise.

• There are two parts that are combined that end in the result of Reading Comprehension (RC): Decoding (D) and Language Comprehension (C).  The equation that follows is: RC=D*C
• Without being able to decode words on a page, a child is not able to comprehend what is going on, nor can he without having a basis of word vocabulary/knowledge.

What part of the Simple View of Reading does storybook reading most likely impact?

• Storybook reading could have an effect on “language comprehension, word recognition, or both.” (Pg. 165)

Q2. What are Ehri’s 4 stages of word recognition? Name each and give a short description.

• Visual Cue Reading: Visual system to identify words. Example: “Tail” in monkey, or the “two eyes” in look.
• Phonemic Cue Reading/ Partial Alphabetic Coding: Readers will begin to look at the beginning letters to identify the word.
• Full Alphabetic Coding: The child will begin to look at each letter in the word, rather than just the few beginning letters.
• Recognizing the words automatically: Readers are able to look at the letters grouped together to make out what the word is. 

Q3. On page 368, there is a good definition of Phonemic Awareness. What is it? (Remember it.)

• It is part of Phonological Awareness.  It is the part of phonological awareness that has to do with phonemes, not syllables or onsets and rimes.  The process is described as: initial phonemes, final phonemes, and ends with vowels.

Q4. On page 370, we learn that knowledge of the alphabet is necessary for beginning to learn to read and spell words. There is a developmental sequence to learning about the alphabet: What is it?

• Students recite the alphabet, name letters individually, print the letters, and are able to identify letter sounds. 

Q5. What is the value in “reading to” or having children “read” alphabet books?

• Alphabet books are great for children!  They allow for the students to see and recognize the relationship between the letter and the name of the letter.  Reading the books to children also helps them recognize the letters and they are able to respond more often when asked questions about the letters.  By reading to children we, as teachers, are improving children’s phonemic awareness and improving their knowledge of written words and letters. 

Q6. What is the value in children’s fingerpointing as they read?

• By fingerpoint reading, children are able to recognize words.  They are able to use cues from the letters to recognize the words and they begin to learn the full segmentation, analysis of words, and alphabet decoding. 

Q7. What is a predictable book and what is its value in helping children learn to read?

• They are patterned books that help children support what they are reading.  These books are books such as “Brown bear, brown bear, what you see?….”  These patterns are followed throughout the entire book until they are finally “broken” at the end of the story. 

Q8. So, in the end, what role does storybook reading play in helping children learn to read?

• Reading storybooks to children helps them to learn new vocabulary and it also helps them learn how words are created and constructed.  Learning this is very important for students so that they can better understand books that they will read in the future.  This process starts out fairly easy, and goes into much more depth in the end. 

Specifically, what role does storybook reading play in developing vocabulary and comprehension?

• Children will start out with fingerpoint and they will learn word recognition.  Later, the sounds will come in and they will begin to learn more words the more they read.  The books start out VERY easy and progressively get more difficult. 

What role does storybook reading play in developing children’s word recognition skills?

• The books allow for students to be introduced to more vocabulary, therefore allowing them to understand more difficult books.  

What other things can help with children’s development of word recognition skills?

• Vocabulary words on a weekly basis, challenging books, repetitive books, or repeatedly reading books, and making sure to make the vocabulary available in lectures with the students so they are able to hear the words in sentences, on paper, and in their homework. 

Is there a reading crisis in America?

There is not a reading crisis in America.  They say that reading skills could be better, or could improve, but reading scores have not dropped any.  During the 1980’s the difference, or the gap, between the two reading groups, Caucasians and African Americans, lessened. But overall, things have not declined, nor inclined, rather just stayed stable.

Are we doing as well as we should in elementary school?

There have been methods that have been created to prevent reading disabilities.  There are studies that have been done to help children learn to read, but at the same time it is not necessarily in practice in all of the schools.  Since the research has been developed over the past 10-15 years, it has allowed for some time to spread the methods and have new teachers learning how to teach children to read.  While we are not doing EVERYTHING we can to teach children in elementary schools how to read, I do think that we are doing a good job teaching them how to read.

How instruction can impact children:

Instruction can impact children in many ways; I believe it just depends on what type of reader the child is.  There are several different types: Natural readers, teachable readers, tutorable readers, true dyslexia, and ELL.

• Natural Readers: These children still need good teachers.  Although they appear as if they can read with little effort, they provide a “false sense of efficacy”.
• Teachable Readers: With good teaching, these students are able to learn.  If they did not have good teachers, their reading would be at risk.  These students need a step-by-step approach to instruction and teaching.
• Tutorable Readers: These students are at risk for not succeeding even though they have all of the appropriate materials provided for them.  These students need tutors that are specialized in the reading sequence, rules, and methods.
• True Dyslexia Readers: Within this group, very few children would learn to read even with one on one tutoring.  Students in this group would benefit from multisensory therapies.
• ELL: Students need to learn to read in their native language before moving onto reading in English.  Students who are in this group may fall into any of the previous groups listed.

Chapter Two

Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.

“To level the playing field” means that the teachers are providing kindergarteners crucial skills to learn to read.  These students should be receiving skills that will help them with sounding letters, identifying letters, and being able to read letters together.  By doing this in kindergarten, it is preparing the students for the first grade, where they will continue to face reading.

What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?

Reading Aloud to Children

Contextual Reading

Alphabet, Phoneme Awareness, and Letter-Sound Correspondences

Early Writing:

Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)

1. Helps children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surroundings.
2. Allows them to exploit the symbolic potential of language.  (Helps create a world beyond what is going on right now)
3. Prepares them for the literacy demands of first grade.
4. Helps students create a mental image and keep it over the span of several pages.
5. Helps students become familiar with rhythms and structures of written language.

Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?

We want students to enjoy reading and not to feel as if they are forced into reading, we don’t want them to quit reading a young age.  They need to have a concrete, supportive way to reading.

What is echo reading?

The teacher reads, and then the child repeats what the teacher just said. This allows for a concrete way to have students enter in to meaningful reading.

Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA)

This method takes children’s own experiences (in their native language) and teaches the children to read.  This has a three day reading process that goes along with what the students should be doing on each day.

Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)

Big book approach is a big book with enlarged pictures as well as words.  This allows for the students to read along with the teacher as she reads.  The words are very few per page so the students have a chance to focus on the words that are on the page and not be worried to move onto the next word so quickly.  This allows for the teacher to work with the book for a total of three days, each day allowing the students to read the story more on their own, the beginning of the three day approach the teacher is reading the story to the students.

Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?

• Both methods are modeled by the teach with finger pointing
• Both have repetitive methods and memory; it supports children’s reading attempts
• Both provide rich, multi layered language experience that each child has the ability to draw from at many different levels
• Both support group choral reading of students

Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?

This is a good way to assess if students are actually learning the techniques needed to master sight words.  This should be an informal assessment so the student doesn’t feel as if he/she cannot do the task.  Doing so will encourage the students to keep trying.  Words are the foundation for reading and the focus should be where the student needs help.  It should be a case by case basis.  Where the student is struggling is where the student should receive extra help.

Chapter Three

What does Fraatz (1987) mean by “paradox of collective instruction”?

He means that it is the teachers’ job to instruct all children how to read.  He/she must also take into account what/where each student is struggling individually and the teacher must also address those problems as they arise. 

What are the three critical components of learning to read?

• Students must learn to recognize individual sounds within words
• Decode printed words by matching letters to sounds
• Decoding or word-level processing so that the mind is able to concentrate on the meaning of what is being read.

List the four tasks that the first-grade teacher can use to assess individual children’s reading ability during the first week of school. Describe what each task is used to assess?

• Alphabet (knowing upper case and lower case letters in the alphabet)
• Concept of word in text (the ability to finger point, match spoken words to printed words when reading aloud)
• Spelling (the beginning and ending consonants as well as several vowels)
• Word recognition (there are small number of first grade words)

Top eight scorers have strong alphabet knowledge, show the ability to be able to finger point read, represent beginning and ending consonants, but not vowels in their spellings, and they show little word recognition ability (pg. 35)

How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?

Round robin reading is focused around oral reading and the teacher is able to assess each kid as they read aloud.  Supported Oral Reading is guiding story comprehension.  Here they are able to model fluent contextual reading, and each child is individually able to show the mastery of his/her skills. 

Why is appropriate leveling of books important and how has it been used in intervention and classroom settings?

This is very important because the level of the books is where the child is able to read comfortably, or with a little bit of a struggle.  This is encouraging for the child as well as helping them progress to the next level, “instructional level”. 

Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of?

Beginning consonants must be learned first, such as b, c, f, etc.   After learning the basics, students can move to word families.  This allows students to learn words that end in at, it, or ot.  Short vowels follow shortly after, and then they are followed by one- syllable vowel patterns.  This sequence is a good idea to follow to ensure the student is moving along and not getting frustrated.

How could you assess where a beginning reader’s is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?

A good way to start is to recognize the child’s way of spelling and how they perceive and invent the spelling in their mind.  Are they getting the beginning and ending consonant sounds correct?

Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.

Word sorting begins with placing cards in columns by the beginning consonant sound.  They then begin to match other pictures with the same beginning consonant sound.  They can move on to short-vowel word families.  They study the short vowels in a rhyme-word format.  Activities to use could be Bingo, Matching games, Memory games, etc. 

What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?

Word games and spell checks help students master the idea of high-frequency and short/long vowel patterns.  This helps them make sense of other spelling patterns. 

What is instructional pacing?

This refers to the teacher’s ability to guide his/her students through reading materials. 

In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?

• Recognizing words
• Sounds of letters
• Reading
• Phoneme and other letter paring awareness

What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.

Word Recognition Task:  This is where the child attempts to read 40 words.  This is graded from early first grade, to mid second grade.  The child has 3 seconds to read the word, and if it is not read, the examiner moves on.  The child is also asked to spell 15 different words.

• These children have not been around formal reading instruction and they typically are in a range of ages from 0-5 years.  This structure ranges from random marks to letters that are actually readable.  They have a relationship between the shape of the letter and the south of the letter.  The letters normally start out as scribbles and there is “no mean behind the madness”, so to speak.  Writing, at this stage normally appears linear, but not all of the time.  This when kids are learning letters (their own names, typically).  At the end of this stage, students are able to memorize sounds and write them to the word.  CAT, MOM, LOVE, DAD

Letter Name-Alphabetic (Letter Name)

• This is the stage where students are normally taught to read.  The name of this stage is reflective of the students approach to reading.  They normally used the names of the letters to help them sound what they actually want to represent on paper.  This stage is where students learn to segment sounds of phonemes within words and they learn the correct/appropriate letters for the series. 
  • EARLY letter name alphabetic spelling-
    • These students apply the alphabetic principle to consonants.  Middle elements of syllables are typically omitted.  This is referred to as semiphonetic because only some of the phonemes are represented.  (FT for float; YN for when)
  • Middle to late letter name alphabetic spelling-
    • The students are able to show mastery of most of the beginning and ending consonants.  This is where students are able to spell “high frequency words” such as (Will, love, have, you, etc.) These students have consistent use of vowels, but they are not using silent letters yet.  (TIM for TIME, HOP for HOPE)  Students have a difficult time with short vowels.  (MISS is spelled MES and MUCH is spelled MICH)
    • By the end of this stage, students will be using silent-long vowel markers, but with the difficulty of mixing them up.  Such as RAIN being spelled as RANE because of the silent E marker. 

Within Word Pattern (Within Word)

• Students in this stage are learning the spelling patterns within words.  This begins when students transition into reading solo.  This begins at the end of the first grade and follows on into the second grade.  This is an extensive stage because of all the “tricky” rules with vowel patterns.
• The stage begins when students are correctly able to spell one syllable words correctly, and have a good idea with blends, digraphs, and preconsonantal nasals.  Students begin to study words by sounds and patterns together.  They are looking at patterns, made by vowels.  First learners will study the common long-vowel patterns.  Students will also begin to study homophones in this stage: bare, bear; deer, dear; hire, higher; etc.

Syllables & Affixes (Syllable Juncture)

• This stage is normally conquered in the upper elementary stages and begingin middle schooling stages.  Students are able to spell one-syllable words correctly, but they are not able to spell two-syllable words correctly all of the time.  The trouble is where the syllables and affixes meet.  For example: STOPPED he spelled STOPED; HIKKING he spelled HIKEING
• At the end of the stage, students will have problems with affixes that change the meaning of the word.  They will misspell words such as DISLOYAL as DESLOYAL, or CAREFUL as CAREFULL

Derivational Relations (Derivational Constancies)

• Some students can move to this stage as early as 4^th or 5^th grade, but most of the spellers are in upper middle school or even high school.  This stage is an ongoing process and college level students are learning these also.  Words are learned and they learn that the stage builds on the knowledge of a wide vocabulary, often Greek and Latin origin.  Errors in this stage have to do with the reduced vowel or the schwa.  For example Competition as COMPOTITION or COMPITITION.  This is easily fixed by going back to the root word COMPETE.