Early Reading Concepts, Skills, and Strategies Harry Olenick & Mary Thomas

Teacher Knowledge Three Essentials: Phonological & Phonemic Awareness Letter Name Knowledge Print Concepts We will get into what these entail in the assessment and evidence-based practice pillars of this chapter.

Brief History of Reading Instruction 1920’s/1930’s = Reading Readiness (certain age when children are best taught to read) 1970’s = Emergent Literacy (becoming literate beginning at birth) 1980’s/ 1990’s = Whole language philosophy (just immerse children in print)

NRP Five Essentials of Reading Instruction Phonemic Awareness Alphabetics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension *While some children appear to emerge into reading and writing effortlessly, this emergence rarely occurs naturally. Intentional, explicit, and systematic instruction is necessary. Phonemic Awareness: recognition of individual words and syllables within words; awareness that words are made up of phonemes 2. Alphabetics: Letter knowledge and phonics instruction 3. Fluency: Rate of reading, sight word recognition 4. Vocabulary: word knowledge in context 5. Comprehension: making sense of what is read

Early Reading Classroom Assessment Oral Language Vocabulary and Development Print Concepts Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Letter Name Knowledge Sight Word Recognition Phonics Knowledge Listening Comprehension In this chapter, we will be focusing on assessing print concepts, phonological and phonemic awareness, and letter name knowledge. There are many ways to assess early reading, which are covered in more detail in your textbook in other chapters.

Assessing Concepts about Print Why? Unequal Access Assess to Know Students’ Current Abilities Knowledge of Academic/Instructional Vocabulary (such as ‘sentence,’ ‘alphabet’) Reading Concepts and Content Two Types of Assessments Concepts About Print test (CAP) Metalinguistic Interview Not all children have equal access to reading and writing. Teachers need to assess students so know where they’re at and provide necessary instruction and scaffolding 2. Cap test has specially designed books; have some upside down words, some words or letters reversed, line order reversals, etc

First. . . BRAIN BREAK!!!! Move your right foot in a clockwise direction, then try to draw the number 6 in the air with your right index finger Now stand up and hold up the thumb of your right hand and your index finger of your left hand. Try then to switch to the thumb of your left hand and the index finger of your right hand Great, now pick a partner on the other side of the room for our practice Metalinguistic Interview (pg. 96, Figure 3.2)

Evidence-Based Early Reading Instruction Practices Letter Name Knowledge Not enough to have alphabet frieze above chalkboard, rather children need to search for letters in a variety of environments, including in books. Children also need to write letters. Using children’s names to begin alphabet letter instruction can be a powerful source of motivation (Justice, 2006) Practice tasks should place letters out of alphabetic order to ensure children really know each individual letter Phonics: involves seeing written symbols, hearing spoken sounds (phonemes), and making connections between the two. Also, understanding the letters and letter combinations are used in print to represent phonemes in spoken language and can be blended together to create spoken words from printed language. Letter name knowledge and letter sound knowledge are the single best predictor of later reading success in the primary grades (NRP, 2008). Can play “Go Fish!” but with decks containing the letters of the alphabet. Fun game to practice random order of letters. More ideas for ways to teach letter name knowledge can be found in our resource packet.

Evidence-Based Early Reading Instruction Practices Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Instruction First, what is Phonological Awareness? Begins with the perception of individual words in spoken language, followed by the discernment of syllables within words. Next, children become aware that syllables are made of: onsets (all the sounds in the syllable before the vowel) and rimes (the vowel sound in a syllable and everything following it) For Example: In the word ship, the onset is sh and the rime is ip Third, children recognize individual phonemes Do the Phonological Activity lead by Mary: Turn to your partner, 1st Activity- Partner 1: read a sentence out loud to your partner. Partner 2: repeat the sentence back while clapping out the syllables. Take a different sentence and do the same thing, but switch roles. 2nd Activity- Each person use the transparency to identify the onset and rime of each word for one sentence in your children’s book. (refer to pg. 108)

Evidence-Based Early Reading Instruction Practices Phonemic Awareness: pertains specifically to the ability to hear and manipulate individual or single phonemes (sounds) in spoken words and syllables For Example: in the word ship, the phonemes are ‘sh’ - ‘i’ - ‘p’ Two important terms: Oral Blending: the ability to put spoken sounds together to say a word (s-t-e-m, is stem) Oral Segmenting: stretching out a spoken word and being able to say each sound heard (jump, is j-u-m-p) pg. 108 Phoneme Identity Activity, led by Harry. Use transparency to circle all the “?” that you hear.

Differentiating and Adapting (RTI) Struggling Readers Provide more instruction in pairs, small groups, and one- to-one interactions Benefit from structure and routine; reduce transition time ELLs 2 Types of Language Proficiency: BICS- basic interpersonal communication skills CALP- cognitive academic language proficiency Need help especially in learning and hearing differences between phonemes in their primary language and those in English EX: r and l sounds don’t exist in Japanese

Motivation and Engagement Read Aloud to students 20-30 minutes every day from both a variety of genres Let students exercise CHOICE in selecting the books they read (that’s what you got to do today!) Read alouds can help children develop a love for books; what can be learned and experienced through books.

Technology and New Literacies Many PBS television programs expose children to oral language, rhymes, read alouds, printed letters and words, etc Many audio recordings of books are now available

Family and Community Support Parent involvement makes a big difference in the student’s success in reading Project EASE provides instruction for parents in what types of support and activities they can offer their children Topics covered include : storybook reading, working with words, letter recognition, re- telling family narratives, and talking about the world (informational books)

THE END