1. Five Essential Elements of Reading Instruction
Bear Creek Community Charter School
Parent Workshop
May 16, 2016

2. Why are we concerned?
93 million adults in the U.S. read at or below the basic level needed to contribute successfully to society.
The first three years of schooling are a critical time to learn the basic skills needed to tackle more advanced curriculum yet many who enter 4th grade are struggling readers.
There are significant gaps in reading achievement by race and income.
Summer is a critical time when students either leap ahead or fall behind. More than 80 percent of children from economically disadvantaged communities lose reading skills over the summer because they lack access to books, learning resources, and enrichment opportunities.

3. The National Reading Panel has identified the following successful elements of reading instruction:

4. Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become more aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds.
Phonemic Awareness is not phonics.
Phonemic awareness is auditory and does not involve words in print. It can be done in the dark or in the car!
A student's skill in phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

5. Examples of Phonemic Awareness Skills
Sound and word discrimination – What word doesn’t belong with the others;
“cat”, “mat”, “bat”, “ran”? “ran”
Rhyming: What word rhymes with “cat”? bat
Syllable Splitting: The onset of ‘bat” is /b/, the rime is /at/
Blending: What word is made up of the sound /b/a/t/-- ”bat”
Phonemic Segmentation: What are the sounds in “bat”? /b/a/t/
Phoneme Deletion: What is “bat” without the /b/ “at”
Phoneme Manipulation: What word would you have you if you
changed the /t/ in bat to an /n/? “ban”

6. Phonics
Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds in language.
Phonics instruction usually starts in kindergarten, with kids learning CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words by the end of the year. Words such as hat, cat, and pot are all CVC words.
The bulk of phonics instruction is done in first grade. Students usually learn consonant blends (gl, tr, cr), consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th), short vowels, final e, long vowels, r-controlled vowels (ir, ur, er), and diphthongs (oi, oy).
From second grade on up, phonics continues to build fluency and teach multisyllabic words.

7. Fluency
Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.
Oral reading should be effortless and expressive.
Children who do not read with fluency sound choppy and awkward. Those students may have difficulty with decoding skills or they may just need more practice with speed and smoothness in reading.
Fluency develops gradually over time and
through practice.

8. Vocabulary
Children’s early vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds. (By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families.)
Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the reading process, and contributes greatly to a reader's comprehension.
A reader cannot understand a text without knowing what most of the words mean.
Students learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language. Other words are learned through carefully designed instruction.

9. Comprehension
Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read.
Reading comprehension is perhaps one of the most critical skills a student can master. Without a firm grasp on the comprehension process, learners will struggle in every subject they encounter, whether it’s science, math, or social studies.

10. Helpful websites for resources
Pinterest (
Teachers Pay Teachers (
Pearson Success Net (
Bcccsreading11 ~ Bearcreek11
Scholastic (
Reading Rockets (
Lexile (Book Finder by interest) (
Reading Is Fundamental