Five Components of a Comprehensive Reading Program

Phonemic Awareness “Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds, phonemes, in spoken words. Phonemes are the smallest units comprising spoken language.” -- Iowa Department of Education. (2003). “Phonemic Awareness” in Every child reads: Excellence in teaching and learning. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Unit 5, p. 3.

“Phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words.” -- Armbruster, B. B.; Lehr, F.; & Osborn, J. (2001). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. Jessup, MD: National Institute for Literacy, p. 3.

Implications for Librarians Provide quality books of . . . • Nursery rhymes • Stories in rhyme • Word play

Phonics “Phonics is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spelling that represent those sounds in written language).” -- Iowa Department of Education. (2003). “Phonics” in Every child reads: Excellence in teaching and learning. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Unit 6, p. 3.

Implications for Librarians • Quality books that contain a large number of words that children can decode by using the letter-sound relationships they have learned and are learning • Opportunity for children to listen to stories and informational text read aloud to them

Fluency “Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. During silent reading, fluent readers recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking.” -- In Iowa Department of Education. (2003). “Fluency” in Every child reads: Excellence in teaching and learning. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Unit 7, p. 3.

Implications for Librarians Quality books of . . . • Reader’s theatre scripts • Poetry / choral reading • LOTS of books at the independent reading level of students (or below) • Books or CDs on tape (read-alongs)

Vocabulary “Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively. In general, vocabulary can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary. Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening. Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print.” -- In Iowa Department of Education. (2003). “Vocabulary” in Every child reads: Excellence in teaching and learning. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Unit 7, p. 8.

Implications for Librarians This is an important reason to continue story times. Reading aloud to children increases their exposure to words which, in turn, helps develop their vocabulary. As you then talk about the story or passage with the children, you help develop their oral language.

Comprehension “’Comprehension is a process in which the reader constructs meaning by interacting with text’ (Harris and Hodges, 1995). Text comprehension is purposeful, active, and can be developed by teaching comprehension strategies [which] are plans or procedures that readers use and apply when they hear text read aloud, when they read text with a teacher, and when they read independently.” -- In Iowa Department of Education. (2003). “Vocabulary” in Every child reads: Excellence in teaching and learning. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education, Unit 9, p28.

Implications for Librarians Quality books of various genres of fiction and nonfiction that give children exposure and experience with different text structures. See bibliographies in the books by Bamford & Kristo, Harvey, and Moss. Use the standard library selection tools.