accuracy and fluenc

Before reading, you should develop your students’ prior knowledge by allowing them to share their knowledge of the subject and giving the class important information they will require to make sense of the text.

develop strategies for utilizing the steps of the writing process so that their final product displays their ideas in the best manner possible

develop strategies for utilizing the steps of the writing process so that their final product displays their ideas in the best manner possible

the teacher can plan backwards

It is your responsibility to catch your students up to state and district standards,

Kindergarten ers should come to under stand that print carries meaning and that they are rapidly becoming ca pable of determining what that meaning is.

key task of the kindergarten teacher is to build students’ motivation to read books

For many children, first grade is the time when they move from “pretend reading” to conventional reading.

First graders should write complete sentences that employ basic punctuation and capitalization.

he mid-elementary teacher’s challenge therefore is to quickly identify those students who need remediation

have access to standardized test data

Phonological Awareness Tests

Phonics Surveys.

such as: reading from left to right, using context clues to learn new vocabulary, or writing a topic sentence

Assess and Track Students’ Fluency Over Time

Poetry Readings

Special education teachers who pull students out of their general education classes for small group instruction might consider cooperating with the classr oom teacher to make reader’s theater work

Reader’s Theater

Tape-Recorded Reading

Buddy Reading

Echo Reading

Choral Reading

Offer Many Opportunities for Students to Read Orally with Guidance and Support

Teach Students Phrasing to Develop Fluency

Model Good Oral Reading

1. Model good oral reading. 2. Teach students phrasing to develop fluency. 3. Offer many opportunities for students to practice with guidance and support. 4. Track students’ fluency over time.

What Is Reading Fluency?

The umbrella skill of fluency can be broken down into automaticity (rapid and automatic word recognition) and prosody (reading with phrasing and re cognition of punctuation).

Guiding Principles

Correcting Student Errors

Teaching Word and Structural Analysis

Teaching Complex Spelling Patterns and Conventions Effectively

Using the Word Wall to Teach High Frequency Word

Blending is possibly the most important activity done in any first grade class.

Let’s look into Ms. Bains’ classroom to see how she introduces a new sound to her students:

Instruction in Sound-Symbol Correspondences

Teaching Students to Identify and Name Letters

Teaching Phonics and the Alphabetic Principle

For all studen ts with weak phonemic awareness skills, the two most critical tasks are segmenting and blending , as segmenting is requir ed to identify separate phonemes for spelling and blending is required to sound out words.

most important phonemic awareness tasks

In the area of phonemic awareness, there are several tasks you can ask students can do to improve their ability to hear and work with individual sounds.

Planning and Implementing Instruction in Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Teaching Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Building Students’ Book and Print Awareness

Build students’ book and print awareness (2) Teach phonological and phonemic awareness (3) Provide explicit instruction in phonics and the alphabetic principle, including how to:  Teach students to identify and name letters  Introduce sound-symbol correspondences  Practice and review phonics skills through reading and spelling  Ensure that students can read high frequency words automatically (4) Teach more advanced word and structural analysis (5) Correct student errors in effective ways

“Explicit” refers to the direct instruction teachers provide in the patterns of our language and how to use knowledge of those patterns to read. So, teachers teach that s represents /s/, i represents / ĭ /, and t represents /t/, and then teach students to blend those sounds together to read sit . Because explicit phonics instruction teaches students how to match letters to sounds and bl end sounds to read words, children can eventually relegate this process to lower-level mental functions and free up energy for comprehension.  “Systematic” refers to the scope (the range of skills to be taught) and sequence (the order in which they wi ll be taught) of skills. You will progress through instructio n in sounds and letters in a predictable, systematic way that accounts for how difficult it is to pronounce or spell each sound. For example, you will teach / ĕ / (as in bed ) before you teach / ē / (as in beet ) because the former sound has two predictable spellings while the latter has eight

(7) Morphological Structure.

(6) Language of Origin.

5) Common English Conventions.

Location of the Sound within a Syllable

What Surrounds the Sound.

2) Position of the Sound in a Word.

/p/ spelled with the letter p , as in purple, spot, and trip ,  /b/ spelled with the letter b , as in beautiful, brick, and tub

(1) Predictable and invariant sound-spelling relationships (2) The position (beginning, middle, or end) of a sound in a word (3) What surrounds the sound (4) Location of a sound within a syllable (5) Common English conventions (6) Language of origin (7) Morphological structure

English has 25 consonant sounds and 18 vowel sounds, if you count all of the r-controlled vowels and diphthongs separately, for a total of 43 phonemes.

English phonetics is complex, but no more comp lex than the phonetics of other languages. Unfortunately, the alphabetic principle (the connecti on between alphabet letters and Sounds) in English is more complex than the phonics systems of many other languages.

Word Length: The length of a word and the number of syllables makes it easier or more difficult to pronounce.

In Spanish, for example, there are only five vowel sounds as compared with more than fifteen in English, making the articulation of some English vowels very challenging for these students.

For beginning readers and those students who do have difficulty articu lating their vowels, several tips are helpful

Long and Short Vowels :

It is likely that you will spend more time correcting studen ts’ errors with vowels than with consonants.

The er , ir , and ur spellings of /er/ are essentially arbitrary since there is really only one sound. English has two other r-controlled vowels, /or/ (as in more ) and /ar/ (as in far ). Because /r/ has “taken over” the vowel, these are referred to as r-controlled vowels .

Diphthongs are sounds produced when the mouth moves from one formation to another within a single syllable.

The vowels are also grouped into three broad categories according to the shape of the lips in their production.

vowels in four groups: the smiles (the / ē  / in speak ), open sounds (the /aw/ in saw ), rounds (the / ō  / in rope ), and schwa (the /uh/ in a ttend ).

The vowels are harder to learn than most of the consonants because they are harder to define in terms of the movement of the tongue, lips, and teeth

Blend Syllables : Ms. Finney’s Kindergarteners have alre ady learned to clap syllables. They can do this well with words up to three syllab les. She is now interested in helping them blend syllables. Since this can be challenging, she decides to use visual cues to help. She selects some pictures of animal s from a picture dictionary, ex pands them on the copier, and brings them to class. She says: “This aftern oon, girls and boys, we are going to practice putting syllables together. I am going to show yo u a part of a picture, and I will tell you what it says. Then, you can repeat it.” She hides the pictures from the students. The first word is tiger . She cuts the copied picture into two pieces. She holds up the first one and says, “/t  ī /.” She points under it, and says, “When I point to the piece, you can say it. This is /t ī  /.” She points and her students respond, “/t  ī /.”

consonant blends (two phonemes) or consonant clusters (three phonemes). The word drive has the consonant blend /dr/ at its beginning, while lengths ends with the consonant cluster /ngths/.

vowels are open sounds, mean ing that the airflow is never completely obstructed by the tongue when pronouncing these sounds

If a student consistently pronounces some consonants in a way that differs somewhat from your own pronunciation, you need to judge whether or not the child is following a dialectical pattern or has a speech difficulty.

For English Learners, one major chal lenge is that some English sound s do not appear in their first language. For example, for students whose first lang uage is Spanish, the differences between /sh/ and /ch/ present difficulty because /sh/ is not a Spanish phoneme.

As a teacher of beginning and/or struggling readers, you must help students learn and remember sounds by describing and drawing attention to what is happening in their mouths when they produce phonemes

Not all consonants will blend together when they ar e adjacent because the rules of English phonology prevent this from happening.

Junie B. Jones, the beloved character from Barbara Park’s series for beginning readers, calls Valentine’s Day, “Valenti m es Day” throughout her Kindergarten year. Perhaps Junie B.’s teacher should ask her to place her tongue behind her teeth to pronounce this holiday correctly.

The liquids are “the most problematic speech sounds for Engl ish articulation, reading, and spelling.

The glides differ from all the above consonant s in that they do not really obstruct the airflow in their production

The Groups of phonemes cannot be as easily distinguished as the pairs, but there is a clear logic to their grouping

The Pairs of consonants are two consonants th at are produced the same way, except that one is voiced and the other is not

English has 25 consonants that are separated into tw o broad types according to how the speech organs are used in their production; these categories are the pairs and the groups . 2

Specifically, consonants are defined as those sounds where the ai r is blocked or constricted in some way, while vowels are those phonemes where the air is much less constricted.

Classroom Connection Understanding how our mouths work as we pronounce sounds helps us to listen and watch our students more critically. In a room of children reading chorally, it’s easy to spot those who cannot decode or articulate by the formation of their mouths

When the air leaves the trachea, it passes through the vocal chords , two muscle strips in a sort of an oval. The round space between them is known as the glottis. When we constrict the vocal chords and pass air over them, we create voiced sounds. Not all sounds in English are voiced, so the vocal chords are not always used.

Effectively, speech production is about exhaling air. We inhale by lowering the diaphragm, a muscle group under the stomach. To speak, we raise the diaphragm and exhale slowly

However, a charact eristic of both beginning and struggling readers is that they often fail to hear and pronounce specific phonemes correctly. As a beginning or remedial reading teacher, you will need to help individual students ov ercome their difficulties in hearing the phonemes or help correct their pronunciation.

phonetics, the study of how speech sounds are produced.

To the contrary, our lang uage has many regular patterns that students can learn to help them be effective and efficient reader s and spellers. If both phonological (sound) and morphological (meaning ) spelling patterns are accounted for, less than four percent of English words are “oddities

These building blocks include: 1. Book and print awareness 2. Phonological and phonemic awareness 3. Phonics and the alphabetic principle 4. Word and structural analysis

First, we aimed to provide you with a weal th of background information about the structure of the written and spoken English language that will pr epare you to teach your Kindergarten through fifth grade students to read.

Appropriate feedback is important in all parts of the balanced literacy block

introducing the sound-spelling correspondence or pattern (in the way explained above), blending sounds to form words (as described), and providing opportunities for constructive practice

introducing the sound-spelling correspondence or pattern (in the way explained above), blending sounds to form words (as described), and providing opportunities for constructive practice

word wall

 As you write each letter (or letters in the case of digraphs such as sh or vowel teams like ea ), say “sound” to prompt students to pronounce the corresponding sound.  When you want them to blend th e letter-sounds, say “blend.”  When you want them to pronounce the word naturally, ask, “What’s the word?”  Hand signals might include pointing at the letters for students to say the sounds; sweeping the finger in an arc under the word to blend; and sweepi ng the finger straight across to say it naturally.

 As you write each letter (or letters in the case of digraphs such as sh or vowel teams like ea ), say “sound” to prompt students to pronounce the corresponding sound.  When you want them to blend th e letter-sounds, say “blend.”  When you want them to pronounce the word naturally, ask, “What’s the word?”  Hand signals might include pointing at the letters for students to say the sounds; sweeping the finger in an arc under the word to blend; and sweepi ng the finger straight across to say it naturally.

the two most critical tasks are segmenting and blending ,

The following activities

diagram

Use the Big Book to model appropriate reading behaviors for student

Explicit and systematic phonics instruction is the most efficient and effective way to teach students to decode, and thus to read independently.

 Children who receive explicit, systematic phonics instruction are more likely to become excellent readers than those who do not.  The above is especially true for “slower or economically disadvantaged students.” 5

Syllables are easily defined: they have one, and only one, vowel sound. Syllables are useful to readers and spelle rs because they help us to separate long, complex words into comprehensible parts.

The sounds that surround a particular sound can influence its spelling.

The position of the sound in a word can determine its spelling.

Many sounds can be spelled in multiple ways, and some graphemes (letters or letter combinat ions) can represent more than one sound

Invasions of England had a profound effect on the development of the English language

The length of a word and the number of syllables makes it easier or more difficult to pronounce.

Identifying and Correcting Articulation of the Vowels :

Diphthongs are sounds produced when the mouth moves from one formation to another within a single syllable.

vowel circle

As a teacher of beginning and/or struggling readers, you must help students learn and remember sounds by describing and drawing attention to what is happening in their mouths when they produce phonemes.

Not all consonants will blend together when they ar e adjacent because the rules of English phonology prevent this from happening

 In the production of stop pairs (/b/ and /p/), the flow of air through the mouth stops.  In the production of fricative pairs (/f/ and /v/) the airflow is constricted but continuous.  The affricative pair (/ch/ and /j/) combines a stop with a fricative sound.

The liquids are “the most problematic speech sounds for Engl ish articulation, reading, and spelling...These are among the later developing sounds in the speech production of many children and the most difficult to teach in speech therapy because they ‘float’ in the mout h. The liquids have no clear beginning or end point in articulation.” 28

The nasals include consonant phonemes that are produced by exhaling all of the air through your nose.

To understand phonetics, it is necessary to learn a little about anatom

 As a speaker of English, there is little need to know specific details of how to articulate various sounds.  As a writer of English, you may occasionally refer to spelling conventions (such as “ i before e , except after c ”) but probably generally rely upon me mory and constant repetition to cue spelling patterns.  However, as teachers of spoken and written English, our general knowledge of English will not suffice. To be precise in our assistance of students, we must have real knowledge of the construction of English speech and print.

For example, the word squished is composed of the phonem es /s/, /k/, /w/, /i/, /sh/, and /t/.

Typically, Kindergarteners learn the alphabet letters and shapes (both capital and lowercase) in their alphabet order

In English, we rarely pause between our spoken words, except for emphasis. Cons equently, it is necessary for children to learn consciously that common phrases like “thank you very much” are composed of four individual words

“Should I start at the top of the board or the bottom?”

our abil ity to read fluently—with speed, accuracy, and expression—is dependent on our ability to read non-decodable words on “sight,” to decode

By the end of the year, Kindergartener s should have a solid foundation in book/print awareness .  By the end of the year, Kindergarteners should be comfortable with and have a positive association with the fundamental concept that we learn from print.

15 As a means of review, please consider the following examples of each component of literacy:

Running records are one way to determine whether your students are reading materials that are in an appropriate range of difficulty for them

A running record is a record of errors, or miscues, that readers make as they are reading a text.

By recording what aspects of the story the child recognizes and retells, the teacher establishes a picture of the student’s literacy skills.

The teacher is able to use the results of this diagnostic to determine the phonics needs of individual students, and to tailor his or her instruction accordingly.

Having this di agnostic information will also serve as a valuable baseline to which you can compare your students’ progress later in the year.

Further, second graders should begin to make inferences as they read and should be able to recall many facts and details of both fiction and nonfiction texts. In their writing, second graders pr oduce a variety of composit ions (including stories, reports, and correspondence) and are able to sp ell compound words, words with endings like – ed and - ing , vowel team words, and words containing variant pa tterns with increasing accuracy.

That is, second and third gr ade teachers are likely to have some students who read independently and others who are still master ing basic phonemic awareness and understanding of the alphabetic principle

no classroom is filled with st udents who are at the same level.

While you will adjust some activities to match the needs of your English language learners , success with bilingual and ESL students requires a foundation in these basic components of literacy.

Finally, research has shown that st udents benefit tremendously from explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies (such as predicting, making connections, and asking questions).

In addition to directly teaching key words found in a text, students must also learn strategies for independently conquering new vocabulary, including the use of context clues, word analysis, dictionaries, and other people.

Vocabulary, background knowledge, and the use of comprehension strategies all impact ho w well we understand what we read.

Research asserts that most childr en benefit from direct instruction in decoding, complemented by practice with simply written deco dable stories. Stories should “match” the child’s reading level

Reading accuracy refers to the ability to read words in a given passage correctly, without mispronunciations. Fluency combines accuracy with speed and expression.

Explicit instruction in breaking words into parts to improve decoding speed and accuracy

Every day my 1 st and 2 nd graders would learn a new phonics skill during our 15- minute mini-lesson. Once they figured out what letter or letter combinations made that particular sound, we decoded practice words with our cool new symbols.

Phonemic awareness is the recognition of distinct phonemes, or speech sounds, in words

Phonemic awareness is a component of broader phonological awareness. In English, we rarely pause between our spoken words, except for emphasis.

Reading fluency is the bridge from decoding to comprehension, hence its placement in the graphic

Most teachers develop students’ Book and Print Awar eness through constant, explicit modeling. When they hold up a Big Book that the class is reading, th ey “think aloud” about how to hold the book, where to start reading, and in what direction. While a teacher is writing the morning news on the board for his first graders, he might ask the students, “Should I start at the top of the board or the bottom?”

Our ability to comprehend—to actively read and understand language—is based on our background knowledge, vocabulary, and ability to use comprehension strategies

decode—to translate individual letters or various comb inations thereof into speech sounds to identify and read words—is built upon our book and print awareness, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics and the alphabetic principle, and word and structur al analysis skills.

literacy is a complex web of skills and knowledge related to engaging and expressing ideas—a web that, as me ntioned in the introduction, serves as a foundation for all learning.

a. Level 1: student reads a word at a time in a halting manner, often has to sound out words, and reads without expression or attention to punctuation. b. Level 2: reads with some expression and attention to punctuation, may stop to sound out some words or repeat words. c. Level 3: reads smoothly with good expression, phrasing, and attention to punctuation; any repetition of words is to self-correct mistakes (which are generally rare). 17

Writing instruction shifts from mechanics to style.

Further, second graders should begin to make inferences as they read and should be able to recall many facts and details of both fiction and nonfiction texts.

In first grade, all of the pieces of literacy that have been practiced in Kindergarten be gin to come together. Children become, in a real sense, independent readers.

Thus, the literacy advancements ma de by students in first grade ar e vast.

Additionally, the Kindergarten teacher has the responsi bility of introducing students to the concept that books and other print materials are sources of information.

within your cl assroom you will have students who range in ability dramatically, across several grade levels of standards.

We have to isolate and teach concepts that we may not re member learning ourselves

Vocabulary development plays a central role in reading comprehension

Book and Print Awar eness th

Literacy as a Big Goal: Standards and Diagnostics

Chapter One