An Overview Amy Pregulman Stanley British Primary School November 2014

 Phonological awareness  Ability to hear and appreciate the sounds of language  Phonemic awareness  Ability to connect sounds to letters  Fluency (in oral language as well)  Lexicon  Development of vocabulary (in oral language as well)  Comprehension  Using schema, sensory images, asking questions, inferring, determining importance, synthesizing

The Crucial Link Between Decoding and Comprehension Amy Pregulman Stanley British Primary School November 2014

 First we must decode words  Then, we must read individual words fluently  Next, we must link words together into meaningful chunks

 The harder a reader has to work to decode…  The harder the speller has to work to encode…  The more difficulty the learner has with fluency  The weaker the comprehension or the shorter less coherent the writing

Readers must practice to obtain a fluent voice, first out loud, then internally  Practice fluency using text the is about two- four levels easier than a student’s just right text.  Comprehension shouldn’t be an issue when practicing

 Everyone! Very young children with the development of oral language Early readers as they are building literacy skills Transitional readers as text gets more challenging Fluent readers in new genres

Nonfluent ReadersFluent Readers Fail to use punctuation cues with variation in the voice Reflect punctuation with pitch, pausing, stress and intonation in voice Pause randomlyPause appropriately Read in a choppy or word-by- word way Group words into 3-4 word phrases that make sense in the text Stress few words or place inappropriate stress Place stress on words that reflect meaning Fail to differentiate dialogueRead dialogue in a way that reflects aspects of characters Read slowly or stopsRead with good momentum although not so fast that phrasing is lost Fail to vary speedSpeed up or slows down for various purpose Read in a way that doesn’t reflect awareness of language Read in a way that reflects knowledge of language syntax

 Process visual information slowly  Read word by word  Have inefficient word solving strategies  Miss much of meaning and thus must slow down to understand  Ignore punctuation as a way to construct meaning

 Reading stories  Pair reading, taping voice wile reading, choral reading, small group instruction or one-on-one instruction  Reciting poems  Performing scripts  Reader’s Theatre  Giving speeches/oral reports  Memorizing/ reciting lines for plays

 Model good oral reading  Overtly teach readers what fluency is at all levels of literacy  Provide oral support for readers  Offer plenty of practice  Encourage fluency through phrasing

 As you read model specific fluency strategies…  Notice the way I am using dialogue today  How does my voice change with the punctuation I use?  Listen to my voice today. How do I alter my voice as the characters change?

 Students read aloud from their writing  Through the writing craft discuss author’s intent  Discuss sentence fluency as writers  As students develop an appreciation for language as writers, their ability to manipulate it will increase.

 Fluency happens in writing too!  Handwriting  Lots and lots of writing practice (not worksheets but actual writing!)

 Rapid recall of math facts!  These must become fluent and instant  Crucial in the development of mathematical ability.