1. I can read all of these words! Word Recognition I can read all of these words!

2. “The twenty-five most common words make up about one-half of our written materials.” Fry, Kress & Fountoukidis, 2000

3. “We have over a half-million words to communicate with, but half of everything we write and read depends on only 0.02 percent—on only those 100 most frequent words.” Frank B. May, Reading as Communication: To Help Children Read and Write 1998

4. It appears that instant recognition of words, especially high-frequency words, develops best when students read large amounts of text, particularly text that is relatively easy for the reader (Cunningham, 1995).

5. The student who can read on sight 8 out of the 10 words in the sentence before them can read that sentence and can usually decode the remaining words by using phonics, context or picture cues. Most importantly, they can understand the meaning of what they are reading.

6. Without adequate high frequency/sight word knowledge, a reader’s fluency, and therefore their comprehension, is impaired.

7. Common High Frequency Word Lists Dolch Edward Fry’s “Instant Word” Lists San Diego Quick California Reading and Literature Results Project Rebecca Sitton’s Core Words

8. Assessment High frequency/sight word knowledge needs to be assessed frequently and taught strategically. Students need to be able to read the word without sounding it out and with automaticity.

9. Word Identification in a Balanced Reading Program The focus on word identification is in line with a child’s individual needs and skills. Teaching letter/sound relationships helps children build fluency, automaticity and independence.

10. Word Identification in a Balanced Reading Program (cont.) Children are encouraged to use alphabetic, semantic and syntactic cues to identify unfamiliar words. Teacher modeling and multiple opportunities to interact with text leads to the development of word identification strategies.

11. Becoming Aware of Language When beginning readers and writers explore written language, they develop critical concepts about print. When children explore oral language, they develop phonemic awareness and the ability to manipulate and play with the sounds of language.

12. Becoming Aware of Language (cont.) Phonemic awareness is sequential. Children become aware of words, syllables, rhyme and eventually, to individual phonemes. A child who has phonemic awareness can identify the sounds he/she hears, segment words and blend sounds into words.

13. What Does Research Say? Substantial evidence suggests that word identification skills should be taught directly rather than waiting for children to discover them on their own and that such skills should be taught early. Effective readers are also strategic; that is, they learn how and when to use combinations of word identification skills (Adams, 1990; Anderson et al., 1985).

14. Who Is At-Risk? Children who overuse context clues and fail to attend to letter-sound associations may misidentify words, and that could cause them difficulty in constructing meaning for a passage (Simon & Leu, 1987).

15. Who is At-Risk? (cont.) Children who do not effectively use meaning clues often sound out nonsense words or are so slow and laborious in word identification that they cannot simultaneously draw meaning from the words that they are reading (Biemiller, 1970; Samuels, 1985).

16. Why Develop Automaticity? The first 300 words make up 65% of all written material. (Frye) Comprehension begins to break down when students are focused on trying to decode or sound out the words.

17. What Are High Frequency Words? High frequency words are phonetic and can be decoded, but occur with such frequency that they often need to be learned before their specific phonics pattern is taught. Examples of frequently occurring words: the, in, I, a, go, to, that, with, about, please

18. What Are Sight Words? Sight words are words, usually Anglo-Saxon in origin, that must be memorized because of their non-phonetic structure and high degree of usage. Examples of nonphonetic words: come, said, was, two and through

19. What Are High Interest Words? High interest words are words with special interest or emotional overtones and are frequently used and recognized by students in their personal reading and writing. Examples of high interest words: mom, dad, dinosaur

20. Importance of Recognizing Words for Independent Reading Enables use of context clues. Increases fluency and ease of reading Children can read greater amounts and for longer periods. Focus can be more on comprehension than on decoding.

21. California Language Arts Standards 1.0 Decoding and word recognition Kinder 1.15 Read simple one syllable and high frequency words (i.e.: sight words) 1 st 1.11 Read common, irregular sight words (e.g. the, have said, come give, of) 2 nd 1.6 Read aloud fluently and accurately with appropriate intonation and expression

22. Instructional Implications Rhyme awareness activities Sound awareness activities Teaching onset and rime/analogy strategy Letter-sound activities Multi-letter chunking Visual discrimination and configuration Building words

23. Instructional Implications (cont.) Word sorts Cross-checking and self-monitoring Context clues Cloze Activities Word Wall Activities Structural Analysis Phonetic cue strategies

24. Ways to Classify and Sort Words There are many ways to sort and classify words on a word wall, in a literacy center, or in a whole or small group lesson: Words that start the same (beginning blend, consonant cluster or onset) Words that end the same (rime) Words that rhyme Words that contain the same number of syllables

25. Ways to Classify and Sort Words (cont.) Long words, short words Words I know, words I think I know and words I don't know at all Words with long or short vowels Words with schwa sound Synonyms, antonyms Compound words

26. Word Walls Using word walls is an effective classroom strategy for learning and practicing HFW/sight words As new words are learned they are added to the wall in ABC order HFW words walls are added to and utilized all year If it is on the wall, they are responsible for knowing how to read and spell it correctly!

27. Activities for Word Wall Practice Speed reading all words under one letter Read using different voices/expressions Guess my word Rhyming words Read the entire wall forwards or backwards Preposition/pronoun/noun/verb etc. hunt

28. Whole Class HFW Practice Word wall games Slap I have_____, who has____? Wordo Word wall cards in ABC order Pass the cards

29. Small Group HFW Practice Slap ABC order Pass the card Guess my word(s) Concentration Wordo

30. Individual Student Support Word cards on rings Word lists on desk New words added to individual spelling dictionaries Word hunts while reading Practice, practice, practice!

31. Practice at Home Flash cards Concentration Word hunts for focus words Make words with magnetic letters on fridge Words posted around the house Read, read, read!

32. Beyond the Word Bank Match cards whose word begins with the same letter or syllable. Match cards whose word ends with the same letter or syllable. Match cards whose word is the same. Match cards whose words rhyme. Arrange cards according to alphabetical order.

33. Beyond the Word Bank, cont. Arrange cards according to the number of syllables in each word. Make up sentences using the words on the cards. Make up a story using all the words on the cards. Find synonyms, antonyms or homonyms. Find cards whose words have the same root or base word.

34. Beyond the Word Bank (cont.) Find cards whose words have prefixes or suffixes. Find cards with compound or derived words. Arrange cards by the stress on the words. Make up a story or poem using all or most of the words on the cards.

35. Designing Word Recognition Instruction Identify word recognition error types. Provide systematic word recognition instruction on specific skills. Pre-teach word types in the text prior to reading. Structure time for student to practice the text with a peer, adult, or tape.

36. High frequency/site words: is, be, to, us, am, in High frequency phrases: by the dog for the day on the bed over the top Source: Building Fluency: Do It Well and Do It Right! Molly McCabe

37. Recommended Reading Behr, Donald, et al, Words Their Way Fox, Barbara, Word Identification Strategies: Phonics from a New Perspective Frye, Edward, 1000 Instant Words, Laguna Beach Educational Books. Throop, Sara (1999) Success with Sight Words: Multisensory Ways to Teach High Frequency Words, Creative Teaching Press.

38. For more information or explanation of ideas outlined in this presentation, please contact Cherry Carl at carl1404@msn.com.