Regional Trainings, Fall 2003 Implementing Scientifically Based Reading Research in the Early Childhood Classroom and during PACT Time To move through and read each slide, click on the screen and you will be taken immediately to the next slide. Regional Trainings, Fall 2003

Literacy Development!! Why is this important? Children’s early experiences with language and literacy form the basis for later reading success. The more children know about language and literacy before they arrive at school the better prepared they are to begin reading.

Why are language and literacy connected? Language is the basis for literacy development Literacy development begins in infancy Not all children learn to read and write at the same time - learning occurs along a continuum

What can affect the rate of children’s language development? Language development may slow down while a child is learning other skills The amount and kind of language a child hears How people respond to and talk with the child

Research reveals: “Children most at risk for reading difficulties in the primary grades are those who begin school with less verbal skill, less phonological awareness, less letter knowledge, and less familiarity with the basic purposes and mechanisms for reading” (Starting Out Right, 1999).

What does Scientifically Based Reading Research (SBRR) include? Experiments with random subjects Experimental designs with treatment and control groups Research presented in peer reviewed journal Program includes element for successful reading instruction as identified by the National Reading Panel (NRP) Report

How did the NRP determine these elements? NRP examined a volume of research studies that met the criteria for SBRR The research had to meet the following criteria: Address achievement in one or more skill areas of reading Generalizable to a larger population of students It needed to examine the effectiveness of an approach It needed to be regarded as high quality

How did the NRP determine these elements? (continued) NRP concluded a strong relationship exists between instructional practice and reading achievement NRP findings concluded there are five elements that are important for preschool children to learn to read

What are the five elements identified by the NRP that are important for reading instruction? Phonemic awareness Vocabulary Print Awareness (including phonics) Fluency Reading comprehension

Phonemic Awareness Defined: The ability to notice, think about, and work with individual sounds in spoken language, not written words What does this mean for literacy development? Children who are better at this skill are better at reading, writing, and comprehension.

Phonemic Awareness (continued) What does this mean for teachers? Children can be made aware of sounds. Teachers can design activities to include songs, rhyming games, and nursery rhymes. What does this mean for parents? Parents can sing songs, recite nursery rhymes, read poems, and talk to children

Vocabulary Defined: The words individuals need to know to be able to communicate. What does this mean for literacy development? A child with a larger vocabulary is more likely to be a successful reader.

Vocabulary (continued) What does this mean for teachers? Teachers should talk daily with children about their experiences and also talk about new words, characters in stories, and children’s ideas What does this mean for parents? Play labeling games (i.e., where is your nose), talk all the time (turn off TV or radio), talk about words in stories that you read together

Print Awareness Defined: Involves three principles: Alphabetic recognition - the ability to recognize lower and upper case letters of the alphabet Phonics - the relationship between letters (graphemes) of written language and individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language Functions of print - print is meaningful in their everyday lives What does this mean for literacy development? Knowledge of the alphabet is one of the best predictors of successfully learning to read. One method to assist in letter/word recognition is phonics instruction.

Print Awareness (continued) What does it mean for teachers? Alphabetics: Teachers can have available alphabet blocks, letter cards, ABC’s on wall charts at child’s height, board games. Phonics: Teachers can assist children in understanding the relationship between letters and sounds, blending sounds to make new words, and breaking words into new sounds. Functions of print: Teachers can also help children to understand the importance of print in our lives - print provides information.

Print Awareness (continued) What does it mean for parents? Parents can engage in activities that might include: Letter and word recognition Sing the alphabet song Help older children identify letters in their name Have puzzles of the alphabet available Functions of print Have a child write a grocery list when you do Read (and point out) signs as you drive Point out mail that comes to the house

Comprehension Defined: Understanding meaning from text What does this mean for literacy development? Children who have better comprehension can remember better what they read and can talk about it.

Comprehension (continued) What does this mean for teachers? Basic comprehension instructional strategies include asking questions about the story, describing words and sentences in the story, and predicting what might occur next. What does this mean for parents? Similar to what might occur with teachers, ask questions about the story or have the child draw a picture of their favorite part of the story

Fluency Defined: The ability to read text accurately and quickly, with expression What does this mean for literacy development? When children are able to read accurately and rapidly, they can attend to understanding the story.

Fluency (continued) What does this mean for teachers? Although this is more appropriate for children in the primary grades, teachers can model fluent reading or ask children to engage in repeated oral reading. What does this mean for parents? When reading with children, parents can model fluent reading or ask their child to read to them.

What do the SBRR elements mean for PACT Time? All of the SBRR elements can be applied to PACT Time activities Parents are integrated more fully into the PACT Time activity: Introduction to the activity - including literacy goals as they relate to SBRR, what to expect in their child’s behavior and development Conducting the activity with the parent and child mutually engaged Debriefing and discussing with parents about how they observed the activity to relate SBRR and literacy development

What do the SBRR elements mean for the early childhood classroom? As in PACT Time, all of the SBRR elements should be applied in the early childhood classroom. The elements can be integrated throughout the day in structured and unstructured activities. Practitioner knowledge of the elements of SBRR will assist programs in making a seamless integration into the structured and unstructured activities.

For more information: Beth Grinder, Ph.D. The Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy (717) 612-9383 elg6@psu.edu Peggy Grumm (814) 863-0954 mrg8@psu.edu

Return to the Family Literacy 101 Early Childhood Ed. Page Click here to return to the course: http://aded.tiu11.org/disted/OnlineFLit/html/lesson_3.html