Accuracy in Word Decoding is one of the three dimensions of fluency. For this dimension readers must be able to sound out the text with minimal errors. This refers to phonics and decoding words. Another dimension of fluency is automatic processing. Students need to mostly use their finite cognitive resources for meaning making when decoding these words. Lastly the third dimension of fluency is prosodic reading. For this dimension the student must figure the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units. An important way for teachers to assess the dimensions of fluency is to calculate the percentage of words a reader can accurately decode on grade-level material. By looking at student’s reading rates the teacher can assess automaticity in decoding. By listening to a student read grade level passages and by judging the quality of their reading through a specific rubric teachers can best assess prosodic reading. Also by using assisted readings and repeated readings teachers can help improve fluency.
2.    Rasinski refers to fluency as a “bridge” between decoding and comprehension. What does he mean by the “bridge” metaphor?

The metaphor of “bridge” refers to the three dimensions that can assist students gradually in the proper steps and pace needed to get to the other end of understanding and being able to read fluently.
3.    What instructional methods does Rasinski suggest for students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading?

Rasinski mentions that students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading can first read grade level material that will be judged by then by a scale. This reading scale would calculate the number of words read correctly and students that fell in the lower scaled category would get further instructional assistance. For prosodic reading the teacher could listen to the student read material and then base their reading off a rubric that defines elements of expression, volume, phrasing, and smoothness. Again assisted and repeated readings are encouraged to be implemented by the teacher to serve as extra instruction. Students also need to hear what fluent reading sounds like in order to help with their own development of fluency. Lastly the teacher should model prosodic reading in the classroom for students.
4.    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-

                                    -little sense of trying to make text sound like natural language

                                    -focus remains largely on pronouncing words, yet still in a quiet voice

                                    -occasionally slips into expressionless reading but develops a natural                                               language throughout

                                    -reads with good expression and enthusiasm

• Phrasing

                                    -reads in monotone and frequently reads word by word

                                    -frequently reads in two and three word phrases often choppy or improper

                                    -reads with a mixture of run-ons with mid sentence pauses for breath

                                    -generally reads with good phrasing mostly in clause and sentence units

• Smoothness

                                    -makes frequent extended pauses, hesitations, and false starts

                                    -occasionally breaks smooth rhythm because of difficulties with specific                                         words or structures

• Pace

                                    -reads slowly and laboriously

                                    -reads moderately slowly

                                    -reads with uneven mixture of fast and slow paces and also reads at                                                conversational pace

He is in third grade.

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

            1^st- 75%

            2^nd-50%

            3^rd- 20%

1. What was the accuracy score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

            1-2: 97%

            2-1: 90%

            2-2: 84%

1. What was the rate score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

            1-2: 65 wpm

            2-1: 44 wpm

            2-2: 36 wpm

Look at the spelling scores in Table 5.2 on page 172.

1. What was the percentage correct score for: first-grade words? second-grade words?

            1^st: 60%

            2^nd: 0%

Consider the following expected scores, then compare those expectations to the scores Curt produced. With the Word Recognition Test, flash scores are generally interpreted as follows: 90-100% indicates Independent Level; 60-85% indicates Instruction Level; Below 50% indicates Frustration Level.

With oral reading accuracy, scores are generally interpreted as follows: 98-100% indicates Independent Level; 95-97% indicates Instruction Level; Below 92%   indicates Frustration Level.

With oral reading rate, expected grade-level ranges are as follows:

Grade–Words per minute

1^st–45-85

2^nd–80-120

3^rd–95-135

With spelling scores, around 50% correct indicates Instruction Level.

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

            -preprimer flash score

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

            -first grade accuracy score

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

            -Curt’s rate scores indicate that he is at the first grade reading level and also according to his rate he is instructionally at the first grade level.

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

            -Based on his spelling scores he is at the first grade instructional level.

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

            -Overall based on the scores Curt seems to be at the first grade level.

At first, emergent spellers might “pretend” at first when trying to read or write. Their writing usually will resemble scribbles, letter like forms, or random letters that have no phonemic relationship to the words they think they are writing. Also emergent spellers may read familiar books yet only from memorization by using pictures as cues. Finally during this stage students may lack an understanding of the alphabetic principle and often only see selective letters within text.

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

During this stage, letter name-alphabetic spellers go from pretend reading to actual real reading. Also these students have begun using systematic letter sound matches to identify and store words in the memory. Usually these students also have limited knowledge of letter sounds as they identify words by phonemic cues. Once gaining more knowledge students will probably get vowel sounds mixed up when reading or writing.

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

Students move into this stage when single letter sound units are consolidated into patterns or larger chunks and other spelling regularities are internalized. When spelling and reading in this stage, students learn rimes and consonant blends. Finally they can often confuse the long vowel patterns.

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

These speller and readers have relatively automatic word recognition and their minds think relatively rapidly. As students at this stage read they learn from the text and their vocabulary grows. They are also fluent writers and their writing displays complex analysis and interpretation. Syllable and affix readers read and write with great speed  and accuracy.

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

Derivational relations spellers have a broader experience base that allows them to choose amongst a variety of reading styles to suit the text and their purposes for reading. They read according to their own interests and needs. Through practice these students advance their writing styles.

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

Research shows that there are correlations between spelling and word recognition and decoding.  Studies found that students that receive additional spelling instruction perform better on reading tasks.  Also studies found that student’s spelling attempts provided a powerful medium for predicting reading achievement. Student’s attempts at spelling were more sufficient than the standardized end of grade tests for reading.

Comprehending informal texts requires assessing accurate, relevant knowledge, managing mental processes during reading within the confines of a limited working memory, and constructing a mental representation through organizational processes. Teachers should then use these processes to help guide students in the right direction.

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?

Students often rely on background information for their interactions with text. Teachers should be able to depict whether this background information is accurate or inaccurate based on children’s dialect. Students use both background knowledge of content and genre to make specific connections to the text. In the end discussion is significant for constructing the scaffolding of the meaning construction process of novice readers.

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.)

One of the approaches is picture walking. The picture walk is the pre-reading conversation that serves as an introduction for young readers. This approach is used with leveled texts. The picture walk occurs as the teacher and student preview the pictures before reading the text. The student tries to predict what is going to happen in the story based off of the pictures. Picture walking is used to fluency and comprehension as well. The second approach is the know-want to learn-learn approach also known as the KWL. This approach is to enable teachers to access the prior knowledge of students and to help students develop their own purposes for reading expository text. The third approach is the direct reading-thinking activity also known as DRTA. DRTA is a instructional framework that views reading as a problem solving process that is best accomplished in a social context. For this the teacher is to select an instructional level text, divide the two into meaningful sections and facilitate discussion of each section of the text. Finally, students are responsible for establishing their own purposes for reading, generating predictions, justifying predictions, independently reading the text and revising predictions based on evaluations of information in the text. All three methods emphasize on reader engagement and social mediation and also activate relevant prior knowledge. Lastly these methods anticipate what information might be included in the text.

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

The purpose of this study was to explore how PW, KWL, and DRTA might influence developmental reading abilities and content acquisition when used with informational text in the primary reading group context. The experiment focused on the ways the differences in instructional approaches influenced the construction of meaning by novice readers.

5. Who were the subjects?

The participates were 31 second grade students in two similar schools of the same school district, in a Midwest city.

6. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.

Texts selected were informational on topics that were likely to be familiar to second grade students. The texts addressed science topics that had been taught to students in the first or second grade. All texts came from the descriptive subgenre as well. These descriptive texts are organized around a series of main ideas that are followed by an explanation of each main idea or examples of the main ideas.

7. How long did the experiment last?

Data was collected for 10 weeks conducting two four week interventions.

8. What were the experimental conditions?

Each day the same new book was presented. Assessments were only conducted on day three.

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

For the picture walk the teacher presented a brief overview of the text and then held an interactive discussion about the book as both teacher and student worked through the book page by page. During this time the student would use background knowledge and would discuss pictures and what they thought was going to happen later in the book. New vocabulary was introduced and near the end the students would then read the text independently and decide whether the predictions made were accurate.

For KWL on the first day of the procedure students would make a group chart as a class. After the students recorded their input to the chart they categorized the information. Next the students formed questions and then read the text. After reading the text the students discussed what they learned.

For DRTA, the students first predicted what they thought would happen in the text based on pictures, the title, and prior knowledge. Then the students read the text and had discussions after every several pages.

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

To figure the vocabulary learned the VRT task was applied. VRT also was applied to confirm whether groups had similar levels of prior knowledge of the topic. This task consisted of a list of 25 words with 18 related to the context and the rest unrelated. This “yes/no” task lead students to circle the words that they did recognize and that related to the text.

The maze task was a multiple choice timed group administered task. For this, the text was reprinted after eliminating 10 content words. Before the words were eliminated the passage was clear, concise, and coherent.

Free Recall  involved students recalling what they remembered from the previously read text. Students also would describe anything that the text made them think of. The retellings were lastly analyzed for determining comprehension.

Cued Recall takes place after free recall and would have students answer three explicit and three implicit questions about the text.

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

Both the PW and the DRTA yielded statistically significant effects on the maze. Both of the procedures were more effective than the KWL chart.

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)?

Due to the scaffolding effects during reading through DRTA helped readers successfully respond to questions concerning the text later on.

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?

It was expected that KWL would yield retellings that included more content or broader content that a text-based intervention such as the DRTA or PW. Analyses did not reveal any significant differences by intervention for the number of total ideas recalled or differences in importation of outside information.

Answer the following question AFTER you read the article.

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 learned that teacher support is very important. Teachers need to pay specific attention to the student’s reading abilities and prior knowledge. If students are applying incorrect or insufficient prior knowledge or techniques then the teacher needs to direct the student in the right direction. This is very important because proper knowledge needs to be applied for the students to comprehend the material.

The hypothesis was that students would learn the meaning and pronunciation of words better when they would see spellings of the words rather than when they do not see the spellings.

2. Who were the subjects?

The subjects were twenty second graders around the age of seven. These students were enrolled in an urban school with a large minority population. Also the student’s vocabulary level was well below average.

3. What were the experimental conditions?

Each student was taught the pronunciations and meanings of two sets of six concrete nouns. Spellings were shown as each student learned his or her set. Spellings were not however shown as students learned the other set. The order that the students completed the conditions was counterbalanced across conditions.

4. What did the treatment involve?

An initial study trial occurred first. The six words, their spellings, and their meanings were introduced. Next a card for each word was presented with a picture of an object named by the noun and then the spelling underneath. The experimenter pronounced the word and its definition as the student repeated. The remaining time tested student’s recall of the words’ pronunciations and meanings. Students were given a minimum of six and a maximum of nine trials.

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

Spelling-present helps gain more in vocabulary learning. When the students could see the words they were able to store them in memory therefore remembering later. From memory students spelled more accurately and pronounced words more accurately.

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?

The higher readers had better knowledge of grapho-phonemic units and larger syllabic spelling units. With these advantages, higher readers were able to form connections to store multisyllabic words in memory.

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

The authors concluded that when students are exposed to the spellings of new vocabulary words, grapho-phonemic connections are activated. This better secures pronunciations of words in memory. They concluded that grapho-phonemic mapping relations were activated automatically to secure new words in memory. When implementing vocabulary learning in the classroom, teachers should encounter, pronounce, and explain new vocabulary words to their students. They should also take time to display the spellings of words such as when they are reading a story to the class. Independent reading is also a very good way to implement vocabulary learning.

Based on Curt’s spelling errors he shows signs that he is in the stages of letter name and word within a word. In his spelling Curt represented short vowels conventionally and showed good knowledge of consonant clusters. These two factors resemble the word within a word stage. By failing to mark long vowels in several of the sample words, Curt showed that he was resorting to the letter name stage. Due to his grasp of word recognition it is visible that he understands one syllable word patterns.

2. Describe partner reading.

            Partner reading is one form of guided reading. At the beginning the child and their partner or guide will walk through the pictures of the first several pages. While doing this the child and partner should speculate what might happen based on just the pictures. Next the child and partner will return to the beginning and start to read while alternating between pages. With this step usually the partner guide or tutor will begin the reading. This was a much easier method for Curt since it involves a lot of word by word reading.

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

            DRTA is harder for a student, yet more beneficial. During DRTA, the tutor and child carry on interacting and giving and taking different ideas. The process can be difficult yet with a patient tutor who is willing to listen the ending results can be successful.

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

            It is important when selecting places to stop to have good questions planned to ask the reader.

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

It is important when planning a DRTA to not pre-plan too much. Direct questions are great to ask during DRTA. These types of questions help check on the child’s on-going comprehension of important story information. The prediction questions open up the comprehension lesson. These questions facilitate discussion between child and tutor. Great questions initiate trust between the reader and guide or partner which will also motivate the reader.

              Emergent spellers are children that are not quite to the stage of reading yet. At this stage children usually are 0-5 years old. This type of spelling can be displayed as random marks to clearer forms of legitimate letters.  These representations are derived and related to the sound of the word. In the earlier emergent stage the student’s work will most likely look like scribbles. This stage resembles work with no letter form and mostly circular motions and pictures that tell a story. Throughout the emergent stage students might try and add script to the pictures telling what they are about. This script though has no relation to the sound of words and resembles no letter recognition. Eventually children in this stage will start to learn letters usually learning his or her name first. Near the end of the emergent stage children will start to learn prominent sounds in words. They will gradually advance to the next stage while mastering the concept of alphabetic principle.

1. Letter Name-Alphabetic (Letter Name)

            The Letter Name Alphabetic  stage occurs usually during kindergarten and first grade often extending into the middle of second grade. Also students at this stage are usually  5-8 years old. During this stage children use the names of the letters as cues to the sound they want to represent. Throughout the process students learn eventually to divide the sounds or phonemes within the words. By doing this students become capable of matching the correct letters with sounds. At the earlier stages of letter name alphabetic spelling, students often only write the beginning letter and end leaving out all vowels. Only some of the phonemes are represented making this process semiphonemic. In the middle stage next, students get most beginning and ending consonants correct and know most high frequency words. Still spelling errors may arise. Students grasp the concept of consonant blends and how to represent them correctly. The last stage involves students being able to represent most short vowel sounds, diagraphs, and consonant blends. This recognition means that they have an understanding of phonemic segmentation and are attempting to understand the concept of preconsonantal nasals.

1. Within Word Pattern (Within Word)

             Most children are around the age of 7-10 years old when entering the Within Word Pattern stage of spelling. These students can now read and spell most words correctly. This is due especially to their automatic knowledge of letter sounds and short vowel patterns. Once students begin independent reading, typically near the end of first grade they will enter this stage of spelling. This stage can continue through second, third, and even fourth grade.  Moving away from the sound by sound approach previously used in the letter name alphabetic stage, students now use chunks or patterns when writing. Now students can think about words in more than one dimension. Also students are now transitional thinkers going from alphabetic to meaning within words. Often children in this stage will select the wrong pattern for words while still on the right track. Most misspellings are due to ambiguous vowels that have a neither long nor short vowel sound.

1. Syllables & Affixes (Syllable Juncture)

            The syllables and affixes stage is usually achieved in upper elementary and middle school grades and ages 9-14 years old. Now students are spelling words of several syllables. Many students make mistakes when syllables and affixes meet within two syllable words. Also during this stage students will come across syllable juncture patterns. With syllable juncture patterns, they might have spelling errors due to the open first syllable of a word and the closed last syllable of a word. Many affixes change the meaning of a word as well. Lastly children may want to study base words and affixes as meaning units to prepare for the next stage where spelling and meaning of words collide.

1. Derivational Relations (Derivational Constancies)

            The last stage occurs during middle school, high school, and college. During this stage students start to notice how words share common derivations and related base words and word roots. They also make a connection between meaning and spelling of words. Most spelling mistakes are due to reduced vowels in derivational pairs.  Also students sometimes make spelling errors with consonant doubling in absorbed prefixes. Students overall need to make the realization that words that are often related in meaning are also related in spelling.

With the Robbins and Ehri article that we read, we learned that there is strong research evidence that reading aloud to children has the potential to increase their vocabulary development. In this chapter by Stahl he looks at the potential impact of storybook reading on children’s development of print processing skills—namely, the recognition of words. (See the last sentence on page 363.)

Evidence exists for the positive impact of storybook reading on comprehension and vocabulary development, but the evidence for the positive impact on reading words is minimal.

Q1. What is the Simple View of Reading? Explain how it works.

            The Simple View of Reading explains how reading comprehension can be explained through two factors. These two factors are decoding and language comprehension. Basically if a person becomes unable to decode words then they also cannot comprehend what they are reading. Reading Comprehension also drops when a student’s language comprehension drops. Through storybook reading both of these levels can improve.

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

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

            During stage one students recognize words through certain visual features. This stage is called “visual cue reading”. During the second phase students have mastered rudimentary phonemic awareness and are using salient letters to identify words. Usually this involves them using initial letters of words to identify with yet also other letters can serve as cues. Next the third phase involves full alphabetic coding. This involves the child examining each letter of the word. This type of decoding eventually leads to word recognition and chunking. The final stage is phonemic awareness which is a part of phonological awareness. This involves the skills needed to figure out the phonological aspects of the spoken language.

A question for you to think about is how these four stages compare to Morris’ four stages (as seen in Flanigan article—this would make a good exam question).

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

Phonemic Awareness is a part of phonological awareness which refers to a “broad class of skills which involve attending to, thinking about, and intentionally manipulating the phonological aspects of the spoken language. It is also that part of phonological awareness that deals with phonemes rather than syllables or onsets and rimes.

The development of spelling: This is a nice short section on how spelling develops. We will explore this in more depth in class, but this might be a good reading to come back to for a summary of developmental spelling.

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?

            Letters of the alphabet contain the phoneme they represent and majority contain it in the initial position. It has been proven that children learn letter sound information more easily if the represented consonant is found in the initial position of the letter name. With that being said it is suggested that letter name knowledge leads to letter sound knowledge.

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

            Children that are read alphabet books may develop the insight that one can think about words as containing sounds. Children can make an association between letter and picture. Also in alphabet books print related responses can lead to greater awareness of print, word recognition, and spelling awareness.

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

            Finger pointing brings together storybook reading and word recognition. Through finger pointing children can efficiently master “print to speech matching”. Through this skill students can pick up initial letters at the beginning of words and figure out the words thereon. Several factors also contribute to finger pointing. These factors include letter identification and the use of final consonants in spelling. Training in letter sound knowledge is also a contributing factor.

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

            A predictable book is also known as a patterned book and contains a repeated linguistic pattern that children can use to support their reading. These books usually carry the pattern throughout until finally broken at the end. With these types of books children can concentrate on the words using their text as support. Also these are best read in shared reading situations.

On page 377, we learn that most likely children become aware of vowel phonemes in words through reading words. So, reading helps drive full phonemic awareness.

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

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

Storybooks help recognize word recognition leading to language development and syntax recognition. Repetition in patterns helps distinctly with word recognition and with memorization. Through storybooks children’s vocabulary will expand with the constant exposure to the text. Also the pictures and text again contribute to language development. Also through the note card technique students can build their word recognition from symbols and pictures used.

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

            Fraatz refers to the “paradox of collective instruction” when discussing the importance of reading in the first grade. He says it basically means teachers must provide reading instruction for everyone, while also addressing individual differences amongst their students

2. What are the three critical components of learning to read?

The three critical components of learning to read say that beginning reader must first attend to individual sounds within words while secondly decode printed words by matching letters to sound. Lastly the child must be able to automatize decoding or word level processing so that the mind can concentrate on the meaning of what is being read.

3. 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?

First the teacher can test a student’s alphabet knowledge. Secondly the teacher can test the student’s concept of word in text by looking for finger-pointing and reading with accuracy. Thirdly the teacher can test on spelling and phoneme awareness looking to see if the student can detect beginning and ending consonants as well as vowels. Lastly the teacher can test word recognition seeing if the student recognizes certain first grade words even if at minimal.

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

SOR is a small group teaching routine and is a combination of oral recitation and story introduction. With SOR unlike with Round Robin, the teacher helps the students set up the story and figure out expectations before reading. Also echo reading takes place which is much more efficient when compared to Round Robin which was a faulty procedure for those less advanced in reading. With Round Robin the teacher had to correct students constantly helping as they struggled reading with no prior guidance. SOR  also involves partner reading and expert reading which is similar more ways with Round Robin yet still more efficient for the teacher and student.

5. Why is appropriate leveling of books important?

6. Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of? Why is it recommended that teachers follow such a sequence of instruction?

Effective word study instruction must take into account what the student knows about words. Aiming too low wastes time and aiming too high could produce frustration. First teachers should place students in small groups according to each student’s developmental level. At the beginning the students should learn to descriminate beginning consonant sounds in words. The groups would then proceed to short vowel word families which is a longer process of studying the five short vowels. Soon vowel patterns are introduced. Later vowel pattern sorts are introduced studying short vowels and long. When paced appropriately for the students, word study will be able to help first grade readers master the high frequency short and long vowel patterns and then they can make sense of spelling patterns in their contextual reading. All of this can eventually be planted into his or her memory leading to fluency within reading.

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

By looking at the reader’s spelling you can tell if they are grasping the concept of word recognition and understanding what sounds phonemes make and how certain factors affect how a word looks or sounds.

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

For teaching beginning sound consonants, teachers can have students practice sorting picture cards into columns by beginning consonant sound and then going to sound letter pairings. For short vowel word families teachers could have the group sort twelve short a words into three rhyming patterns. The teacher then models how to sort one or two short a words under the correct header leaving the children to take turns sorting the rest of the cards.

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

Word sorting helps students become able to take a new unknown word and simply change the initial consonant and then combining with the rhyming vowel consonant ending.

10. What is instructional pacing?

Instructional pacing is the teacher’s skill in guiding the students through a set of graded reading materials to measure progress for each student. This is great for determining which students were  the stronger readers and which students need more assistance to get back on track and ready to progress to the next grade’s reading expectations.

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

Writing is important because it can help children develop phoneme awareness. Through this they can see that words are composed of a sequence of individual sounds that match to the letters. Later on through writing students will discover how to assume the  role of the author and experiment with letter sounds, spelling patterns and sight words.

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

The three tasks include word recognition, passage reading, and spelling. For word recognition the child attempts to read a list of forty words, graded in difficulty from early first grade to mid-second grade. If the child is unable to read the first word then the teacher has them move on. The testing goes on until seven words are missed. For the passage reading task, the child reads aloud up to six passages that progress in difficulty from early first grade to late second grade. The student begins reading at the level one and as reading aloud the teacher keeps a record of errors made and the time taken. For the last task, the spelling task, the child attempts to spell a list of fifteen words as each word is scored according to a rubric which assigns 0-5 points per word. Both phonemic and orthographic properties are taken into consideration.

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

Morris explains in the reading that to “level the playing field” means to prepare children, especially those in dire need or with little prior literacy experience from home life, for the reading challenges ahead in the first grade. Teachers must be able to give the extra assistance to the children that don’t get the advantage of extra help with reading at home. By giving this extra help these students can get the same opportunity and experiences as other students that received prior assistance by their parents. By helping the students at risk and getting the other students with more experience still involved as well, the “playing field” of reading will have everyone more on the same level and pace, with everyone as well prepared to move on to the first grade.

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

In a kindergarten reading program several core activities should be implemented. These activities include reading aloud to children, guided contextual reading, letter-sound study, and writing. For this stage of reading the children should be exposed to meaningful, experience-based curriculum of science, art, math, and social studies.

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

First by reading aloud to children they can grasp his or her own mental picture of what the story is describing and put meaning towards that picture as well. By creating their own mental imagery they are branching beyond their immediate surroundings into a different introduction to the written language. Secondly they are also being exposed to a much broader vocabulary in which he or she can build upon. Thirdly students become able to draw a distinction between the written language and spoken language. Spoken language, most importantly, has external content such as shared context, gestures, and intonation that helps determine meaning. Fourthly, reading aloud allows children to discover the symbolic potential of language and its ability to create. Lastly, it prepares students for the literacy demands that exist in later grades such as second and third grade texts that are more complex in terms of vocabulary and syntax.

4. Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?

Guided contextual reading is important in kindergarten because it helps pave the way by starting children with learning individual letter sounds and how to blend them into words. Through echo reading students can grasp the concept of memorizing certain words and how they sound and look.

5. Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA).

Dictated experience stories have been a part of this method that has been taught for hundreds of years. This method involves recording children’s own experiences, in their own language for them to read. The process begins with the students sharing an experience out loud and then the teacher writing it down for everyone to read from.

6. Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)

This approach is much more recent than the LEA method and includes convenient characteristics such as large pictures and print and language patterns that are natural and rhythmic often repeating.

7. Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?

Both methods are important because of the aimed goals each carry for the students involved. Both books have natural language patterns and in both reading processes the reading is modeled by the teacher through finger pointing. Both methods also emphasize group choral reading and rely on memory and repetition that support the children’s initial attempt when reading. Through these methods children can work on memorizing the text and then go even further to correlating what they are remembering and hearing to what is written within the text on the pages.

8. Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?

I do believe there is a significant role for independent reading for kindergarteners. They need to practice by finger pointing and by doing this on their own will help them develop a sense for reading. Also they will be able to pick up on patterns present in the readings and catch on and notice different things which will make a bigger impact since they did it on their own time. Through independent reading hopefully children will also develop a sense of likeability for reading.