A little over 4 minutes...that's right, its another video. I learn a lot through watching them and I can get a better idea of how a lesson/activity will look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUmQCh7ZqOI

A mother of a son with cerebral palsy adds new verses to Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee song in order for her son to have fun with articulation. Such a smart idea because although he doesn't sing much of the song, you can see his enjoyment of it and there are even glimpses of him articulating small important parts of the song.

So, it isn't about the fact that the boy has cerebral palsy. It's that there are fun ways to encourage children to articulate sounds by just taking out a few minutes each day to sing a song.

A lot of kids will sing in the classroom, but for those who may feel a bit insecure, usually they are the ones who are singing at home while they're playing.

Thoughts on this?

here is a video on phonemic awareness in a bilingual pre-k classroom. It's a little over 6 minutes. I got through almost one minute and made my opinion as to whether or not I thought this was developmentally appropriate or not. I watched the amount of attention the teacher was giving to her group of students...how engaged the group was...if there was enough time for the students to think about the correct answers...how much value this lesson was giving to the group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cAcWkaDYVA

the following video (1min 46sec) is from Starfall and demonstrates three phonemic awareness tasks...substitution, deletion and blending of CVC words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3uQSIrbDp0

Video: Word Family Blending (a little over 4 min)

WOW! Watch how this teacher encourages learning phonograms (onsets and rimes). She has obviously been working on these strategies with her students for a while. All the students that can be seen in the video are engaged. The teacher's major focus in on onsets and rimes, but she also takes just enough time to review important skills like the differences in forming a "b" and "d". She gives positive feedback and calls on different students. The students can be seen following along with the gestures and they seem eager to answer her questions. She also has other videos (The Listening Game and The Syllable Game) that would be worth watching for inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rE75jBp6IY

Phonological and phonemic awareness lessons should be fun and informative

For kindergarten and first grade, they shouldn't take more than 10 minutes

Levels of Phonological Awareness

1. Phonemes are the sounds in syllables - phonemic awareness
2. Syllables rhyme
3. Syllables are “beats” in words
4. Words make up sentences
5. Sentences are complex thoughts
6. Speech conveys meaning

Does not necessarily need to be taught in this order

Are the following words r-controlled? vowel digraph? or both?

hair bear their heart clear deer learn

Oh great...the "al" in "walk" is a less common vowel digraph

How is"snow" a considered a long vowel digraph?

Got it...page 157 in Tompkins... "w and y are vowels when used in the middle and at the end of syllables and words"

• Closed (vc) vowel is in beginning or middle of syllable/consonant is at the end
• Open (cv) vowel is at the end of a syllable/consonant is directly before it
• R-Controlled "bossy R" (vr)
• Silent-E (vcE) vowel followed by a consonant and the letter "e", making the vowel make a long vowel sound
• Digraph (vv) two adjacent vowels creating one sound
• Dipthong (vv) syllables containing /oi/ or /ow/. They seem to make two different long vowel sounds together
• Consonant (cLE) syllables containing only one consonant followed by LE

Which words match with which type?

1. crown
2. thimble 3.plug 4.star
3. treat

Word walls - Differentiated instruction for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, and for younger learners Word walls are a great support for ELLs, and may be organized around a number of concepts, including the alphabet and phonetic sounds, new vocabulary words, sight words, grammar rules, conversational phrases, and writing structures. Words can also be organized by category (for example, academic words, words used often in your classroom, new words students have come across and love).

Copying words from word walls may be difficult for some students. For these students, supply them with the words written on piece of paper. Tape the word wall paper to their desk or writing folder for easy reference.

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) has created a “Beginning Writer’s Continuum” that is useful for evaluating even Kindergarteners’ and first-graders’ writing.18 This rubric, which helps you rate your students’ writing according to its ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions, allows you to see that a level one writer (classified as “experimenting”) uses scribbles to represent ideas and dictates a story to the teacher, while a level four writer (deemed “capable”) is able to tell a story that makes a point and includes ideas that are generally on topic.

• ideas - is the message clear?
• organization - techniques, such as graphic organizers and outlining techniques, help students focus on how they will organize the form and structure of their text
• voice - personal tone of the writing
• word choice - are they functional, age appropriate, engaging?
• sentence fluency - rhythm and flow of language; rhythmic or rambling?
• conventions - mechanics...grammar, indentation of paragraphs, capitalization and punctuation
• presentation - the whole package

it is important to have an understanding of the most common diagnostic tools available

1. Phonological awareness tests - should be given to all kindergartners and first graders and to second graders who are having reading difficulties
2. Phonics surveys - measures students abilities to decode words
3. Qualitative spelling inventory - measure spelling skills and developmental levels of phonics knowledge. Can be given in kindergarten through fifth grade
4. Word lists - students read short list of progressively challenging words. Teacher records if a student skips a word or pronounces it incorrectly
5. Comprehension retell assessment - the teacher records what aspects of a story that a student is able to recall and establishes a picture of the student's literacy skills
6. Reading habits checklist - simple assessment. A "checklist" of characteristics of strong readers (staying focused, note taking skills, skimming skills, etc.) Running record through informal observations
7. Timed reading exercise - measures a student's fluency
8. text is chosen of at least 100 wds
9. teacher gives quick overview
10. teacher decides how many minutes the student will read, then number of words are tallied
11. student's overall fluency can be rated from levels 1 through 3

Fourth and Fifth Grade The primary goals in the upper elementary grades are (1) increased reading accuracy and fluency along with (2) more complex and independent use of both reading comprehension and writing skills and strategies.

• Students should have been exposed to a variety of genres of literature
• Students should be able to comprehend what they are reading
• Students should have established comprehension strategies
• Students at this grade level begin to develop a strong sense of the process of writing
• Students are able to independently edit their writing for grammar and format
• The exposure to a variety of genres and with their background knowledge, students are able to write in a range of formats

Unfortunately, disparate quality of past literacy instruction begins to evidence itself quite dramatically in second and third grade. That is, second and third grade teachers are likely to have some students who read independently and others who are still mastering basic phonemic awareness and understanding of the alphabetic principle.

• interesting as they would have been preparing for CMT's around this time and reading skills would be imperative
• teachers need to be able to quickly identify students skill level

By the end of the year, Kindergarteners 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.

• These are basic skills that should be implemented consistently
• Teachers should be attentive to not overlooking the simple, basic qualities of reading

Explicit instruction about both the meanings of words and their use in the stories the children are reading

• Instructional method for reading comprehension strategies
• Can be demonstrated in read alouds and shared reading

 Model fluent reading during the Read Aloud and provide voice support for readers by using choral reading or echo reading

• Teachers should be conscious of what their goals are as they are reading, so they can give attention to concepts regarding the lesson as they read. Ex. If they come across what may be an unfamiliar word or a difficult word to say, they should give that word some attention so when the students come across that word or other words, they will stop and give consideration to difficult/unfamiliar words as they read, so that they will become more fluent in reading in the future

Word families that help students apply their understanding of meaningful parts to many words (cycle, motorcycle, unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, cyclist)

• Instructional method for word and structural analysis
• Also incl breaking down words into parts and teaching about word parts to improve vocabulary and comprehension

Key to Kindergarten and first grade teachers’ success in teaching the alphabetic principle (the idea that written spellings represent spoken words) is this notion of a long-term plan for an “explicit and systematic” approach.

• late preschool - kindergarten...inventive spelling

Alphabetic knowledge activities in which children learn the names and sounds of letters and learn to identify them rapidly and accurately, not only by name but by sound as well

• Instructional method in phonics and alphabetic principles
• children as young as preschool aged can begin doing this (starting with their names because they are still all about themselves)

In Kindergarten, singing common songs, such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” that encourage students to attend to sounds in words

• Instructional method for phonemic and phonological awareness
• rhyming, syllable and word counting
• identifying, blending, segmented, deleting and substituting phonemes

 “Shared writing” activities in which the teacher writes what students are suggesting

• Instructional method for book and print awareness
• This can begin as a teacher directed activity and becomes teacher facilitated, while it gives students the sense that their thoughts have value
• This activity shows the teacher modeling the writing of printed words

literacy is a complex web of skills and knowledge related to engaging and expressing ideas

• decoding - translating indiv. letters or comb. of letters into speech sounds in order to identify and read words
• fluency - to decode with automaticity (no mental energy needed)
• comprehension - reading and understanding language

English Language Learners (ELL's) -need more explicit instruction and guidance in hearing and articulating slight distinctions

For teaching instruction for ELL's http://readingforells.blogspot.com/

many of the activities/lessons can be also used for children who are having difficulty with producing speech sounds

Ch 3 The Building Blocks of Literacy: Understanding the Vowels

-vowels are harder to learn than consonants -vowels are grouped into 3 categories in speech production -smile -open -rounds

Vowel Circle http://ems-cocoa.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/VowelCircle.jpg

Ch 3 The Building Blocks of Literacy: Understanding the Consonants

help students "feel" how sounds feel sounds can be felt as they vibrate on lips, throat or nose!

http://www.monkeymouths.com/sites/default/files/erinsoundcard.jpg

Ch. 3 The Building Blocks of Literacy: Understanding the Consonants

-pairs -stop pair - sound completely stops airflow through mouth /p/, /b/, /k/, /g/, /t/, /d/ -fricative pairs - airflow is substantially, but not totally constricted /f/, /v/, /th/,/s/, /z/, /sh/, /zh/ -affricative pair - when a stop is followed by a fricative sound /ch/, /j/ -groups -nasal phoneme - consonant phonemes produced by exhaling through nose /m/, /n/, /ng/ -glide phoneme - do not really obstruct airflow /w/, /h/, /wh/, /y/ -liquid phoneme - most problematic; later developing /l/, /r/

It is important for students to be able to create these sounds for speech and future reading.

r-controlled vowels

also known as "bossy r's" the r controls the vowel that it comes after ex. shark, germ, girl, fork, surf

What is a dipthong?

A dipthong is when sounds are produced when the mouth moves from one formation to another within a single syllable

like the /ow/ in clown and the /oi/ in noise

English Learners, one major challenge is that some English sounds do not appear in their first language.

/sh/ is not a sound in the Spanish language, therefore it would be difficult for a child fluent in Spanish to produce this sound

consonant blends and consonant clusters

blends - 2 phonemes (ex drive) clusters - 3 phonemes (length)

English has 25 consonants that are separated into two broad types according to how the speech organs are used in their production;

1. pairs - two consonants are produced the same way, except one can be heard and the other cannot
2. stop pairs - sound production stops air flow (/p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, /k/ and /g/)
3. fricative pairs - air flow is constricted, not completely blocked like stop pairs (/f// and /v/, /th/, /s/ and /z/, /sh/ and /zh/)

4. affricative pairs - when a stop is followed by a fricative sound (/ch/ and /j/)

5. groups - not easily distinguishable

6. nasals - consonant sounds that are produced by exhaling all air through nose (/m/, /n/, /ng/)
7. glides - do not obstruct air flow; have vowel-like qualities (/w/, /h/, /wh/, /y/
8. liquids - most difficult to produce; develops later; smooth and flows easily (/l/, /r/ some students produce as /w/)

a characteristic of both beginning and struggling readers is that they often fail to hear and pronounce specific phonemes correctly

It is important for a teacher to understand how sound production works and how to help students be aware of how they are articulating speech

Consonant Borrowers are dependent upon their postion in a word.

• like Qu and X and Y moreso for X and Y ex. "example", x makes a /ks/ sound, but in "xylophone", it makes a /z/ sound

and for Y, it makes a different sound in "yogurt", "cry", "syntax" and "apology"

To teach the vowel sounds start with the 5 earliest developing vowels uh, ah, ee, oo and oh. Modeling these vowels with hand cues is a great way to provide more visual feedback and help teach the vowels - See more at: http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=2495#sthash.fBMsNkn7.dpuf

the following video is a little above the preschool level even though it is animated and has a catchy family tune. I think kindergartners and 1st graders would be able to follow the concept more easily and is at their age level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIGDpEVPzCw

Ch 1 Reflection

Focusing on behaviorism and constructivism from this chapter, as a preschool teacher I embrace the concept of "learning through play". It should be interesting, fun and "hands on" as often as possible.

Therefore, I lean towards the ideas of the constructivist theory. It is about engaging learners through experiences. Making the topics relatable so that students can accommodate and assimilate new concepts to create their own knowledge will encourage students' success.

A behaviorist's point of view can facilitate the ideas of the constructivist in small ways, but I do not believe that students' learning should rely on rewards and punishments that are created by the teacher.

When it comes to reading, it may seem difficult to make it tangible for students, but teachers find ways to make the stories "come alive". For instance, at the preschool level, children can be read "The Little Red Hen" and the class can focus on words like "cooperation", "independence", "community", "selfish", etc. Children can act out the characters in the book. Each student can bring in an ingredient to make cookies and each student will have a job to help make them. The teacher could ask the children what if someone didn't want to do their job. What would happen? This could review back to key concepts like, "selfish" and "community"

This activity creates an authentic learning activity. Students can be given more of a voice in the previous activity...choosing their characters, discussing what types of foods that would encourage cooperation. The teacher can follow up with the story, "Stone Soup", which has a similar theme of helping. The reading activities also encourage social interaction and collaboration.

As words are read from the story, "The Little Red Hen", a word wall can be displayed with simple, familiar words, such as, "red", "hen", "cat", "dog". These words are easier to sound out, therefore preschoolers can be successful in matching letters (graphemes) with their sounds (phonemes) and sound out words.

For older grade levels, the syntactic system helps expand a student's knowledge of grammar as suffixes like "ed" and "ing" are added to words. For example, "mix" becomes "mixing". Also, at this stage, students are recognizing more rules such as capitalization and punctuation. Story structure begins to make sense.

Although children may possess a schema for words, they need to be aware that words have meanings. In the semantic system, students acknowledge that words have meanings and they can have more than one meaning. Synonyms, antonyms and homonyms become a part of their grammar repertoire.

Lastly, the pragmatic system can be defined as language in the classroom vs language on the playground. How students conduct their conversations with a teacher vs a friend is part of our social and cultural context. Teachers should be aware of when we make remarks that involve pragmatics, like using cliche's because students may not understand their meanings.