Baring the Big 5

Summing Up Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness Children recognize individual sounds in a word. Teacher: What is the sound in van? Children: The first sound is /v/. Children recognize the same sounds in different words. Teacher: What sound is the same in fix, fall, and fun? Children: The first sound, /f/, is the same. Children recognize the word in a set of three or four words that has the “odd” sound. Teacher: Which word doesn’t belong? bus, bun, rug Children: Rug does not belong. It doesn’t begin with /b/. Children listen to a sequence of separately spoken phonemes, and then combine the phoneme, to form a word. Then they write and read the word. Teacher: What word is /b/ /i/ /g/? Children: /b/ /i/ /g/ is big Children break a word into its separate sounds, saying each sound as they tap out or count it. Teacher: How many sounds are in grab? Children: /g/ /r/ /a/ /b/. Four sounds Children recognize the word that remains when a phoneme is removed from another word. Teacher: What is smile without the /s/? Children: Smile without the /s/ is mile. Children make a new word by adding a phoneme to an existing word. Teacher: What word do you have if you add /s/ to the beginning of park? Children: spark Children substitute one phoneme for another to make a new word. Teacher: The word is bus. Change /s/ to /n/. Children: bun

Summing Up Phonics * Alphabetic principle is the systematic and predictable relationships between letters and spoken sounds.

Phonics Children convert letters or letter combinations into sounds, and then blend the sounds together to form recognizable words. Children analyze letter-sound relationships in previously learned words. They do not pronounce sounds in isolation. Children use parts of word families they know to identify words they don’t know that have similar parts. Children segment words into phonemes to make words by writing letters for phonemes. Children learn letter-sound relationships during the reading of connected text. Children identify the sound of the letter or letters before the first vowel in a one-syllable word and the sound of the remaining parts of the word (the rime).

Summing Up Fluency

Fluency Children focus their attention on making connections among the ideas in a text and between these ideas and their background knowledge. Therefore, they are able to focus on comprehension. Less fluent readers read: Brown/ Bear brown/ Bear what/ Do/ You see. Fluent readers read: Brown bear/ What do you see?/

Fluency / Reading Rates Rasinski, 2004 Grade Fall Winter Spring 2 60 80 100 3 90 110 4 120 140 5 150 6 160 7 170 8 180 Beers, 2003 Grade Oral Rate Silent Rate 3 70-120 90-120 4 90-140 110-140 5 100-150 140-170 6 110-150 160-190

Fluency / Reading Rates Harris & Sipay, 1990 Grade Words per Minute 1 60-90 2 85-120 3 115-140 4 140-170 5 170-195 6 195-220 7 215-245 8 235-270 9 250-270 10 11 12 250-300

Summing Up Vocabulary

Vocabulary Students do not know or not know words. They know words to varying degrees. Unknown: They may never have seen or heard a word before. Acquainted: They may have heard or seen it, but have only a vague idea of what it means. Established: They may be very familiar with the meaning of a word and be able to use it accurately in their own speech and writing.

Effective Vocabulary Strategies When to use each strategy Before During After 1. Visualization  2. Word Histories 3. Pre-reading Predictions 4. Semantic Feature Analysis 5. Semantic Mapping 6. Content Walls 7. Vicarious Experiences 8. Collaborative Reading 9. Vocabograms 10. Frayer Method 11. Word Maps Visualization – have students form mental images of words, relating to descriptors with the new word. Word Histories – take time to tell students about the history of words such as, “Did you know that melba toast was named after a singer who was given overly cooked toast and liked it?” Pre-reading Predictions – have students thumb through the book and make predictions by viewing the pictures and/or the cover. While reading, or after reading, ask if their predictions were correct. Have them tell you where in the story they found that answer. Semantic Feature Analysis – use a grid to enrich and clarify students’ knowledge by having them compare/contrast features of words. For example, compare the features of different forms of transportation. Semantic Mapping – select a central or important word. Write the word on the board or on paper and have students think of and write words that relate to the central word, then to related words. Content Walls – select words around a given theme, define them, and post them on a wall for use during the thematic unit. Vicarious Experiences – provide students with indirect experiences by showing films and videos, and by looking at pictures, books, and magazines for meaning. Collaborative Reading – allow students to read together so that they may share their interpretations of challenging words. Vocabograms – have students rearrange the letters of a given word to make a new word that matches a given definition. Frayer Method – define the new concept, giving its specific attributes. Distinguish between the new concept and similar but different concepts that might be confused. Give examples of the concept and explain why they are good examples. Give non-examples. Have students distinguish between examples and non-examples. Have students present their own examples and non-examples. Word Maps – create graphic displays that show common elements of a dictionary definition including: the category to which the word belongs, some characteristics of the word, and some examples and non-examples.

Summing Up Comprehension

Comprehension Students are aware of what they do understand. Students identify what they do not understand. Students use appropriate “fix up” strategies to resolve problems with comprehension.

Effective Comprehension Strategies When to use each strategy Before During After 1. Prediction Maps  2. Reciprocal Teaching 3. Retelling 4. Self-Directed Questioning 5. K-W-L Chart 6. Summarizing 7. Graphic Organizers 8. Semantic Organizers 9. Mental Imagery 10. SQ3R 11. Story Drama Prediction Maps – students use a conceptual flowchart to visually map the comprehension process of prediction and revision. Reciprocal Teaching – teacher and students take turns leading a discussion about sections of the text. Retelling – students make a mental representation of the story and use it to orally retell the story. Self-Directed Questioning – students follow a sequence of self-directed questions to monitor understanding while reading. K-W-L – before reading, students write what they already know and what they want to know about a given subject. After reading, students write what they learned. Summarizing – students determine what is important in what they are reading, condense the information, and put it in their own words. Graphic Organizers – students illustrate concepts and interrelationships among concepts in a text, using diagrams or other pictorial devices. Semantic Organizers – students use lines to connect central concepts to a variety of related ideas and events on a graphic organizer. Mental Imagery – students form mental pictures, or images, as they read. SQ3R – students survey, question, read, recite, and review. Story Drama – students think about how a story will end by role-playing scenes from a story they have read up to a certain point.

References Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by the National Reading Panal (US Department of Education) www.nationalreadingpanel.org