The Role of Lotto and Collaborative Reading An explanation for IGR Teachers

about Story-Specific Lotto Lotto is an ‘Advance Organiser’ “My favourite game is Lotto. It helps you get used to the book before you actually start reading it” (Tristan, Year 3) “ I like it that it’s fun and it helps us with our reading as well” (Henry, Year 3)

Lotto words are NOT for reading The words on the Lotto baseboards are the words in the new book that are JUST BEYOND the children’s current reading level (ie in their current Zone of Child-Text Proximal Development) IGR reading materials are written so that no more than 1 in 10 words per text are challenging, but the children get to meet these in a non-stressful, receptive way BEFORE they begin reading the book itself It is important to make a distinction between RECOGNITION and READING – children can recognise words they can’t yet read (ie Recognition precedes Reading)

Example of a Lotto game

Phonological – Visual Mapping: essential for IGR children it is known that difficulties with auditory processing commonly underlie literacy difficulties, irrespective of IQ (Usha Goswami - Phonology and Reading Difficulties) the task of Phonological – Visual Mapping (Recognition Lotto) gives children time to form phonological/visual representations before they actually have to read this is especially important for reading-delayed children

The Way Children Learn Language At 6 years, children typically have a spoken vocabulary of 6,000 words, and a comprehension vocabulary of 14,000 words Spoken vocabulary: Expressive language Comprehension vocabulary: Receptive language LOTTO allows children to prepare for reading in the way they prepare to become language-users: understanding and recognition precede speech

What happens after Lotto in IGR? Story-specific Lotto games precede and pave the way for Collaborative Reading Collaborative Reading using texts that provide plenty of opportunity for speech (expression), rhyme, repetition and song is fundamental for reading-delayed children

Collaborative and Choral Reading Brain imaging studies show that children with phonological difficulties rely more on articulatory networks when consolidating phonological representations (which ultimately determine how successful they will be as readers) – see Usha Goswami this is something we can help them develop

English has a bi-syllabic rhythmic template Reading-delayed children need plenty of opportunity to practice and develop their skill with this (ie the right approach and the right early reading materials are really important)

IGR Materials IGR materials help facilitate our work with reading-delayed children: Abracadabra Books – Simple Syllable and Rhyme Traditional Tales – Repetition and Refrain OMW Books – Speech Rhythms and Cadences Fables – speaking to the 7/8 year-old child for every book there is a LOTTO game