1. Review questions for vocabulary study  What is the purpose of a big vocabulary? Can you have a vocabulary lesson in isolation?  What is best practice in teaching vocabulary?  Give two examples of strategies for teaching vocabulary.

2. Closing remarks  Vocabulary is very important in reading comprehension, yet primary schools often teach children words they already know, hence not pushing them far.  Teach both high & low frequency words (eg. Delicious, reluctant, etc).  Many children who are able to decode by third grade and are good readers fall behind from 3 rd grade. Why? Limited vocabulary.  So what is the solution to this problem?

3. English language learners & vocabulary  Average child enters 1 st grade with a vocabulary of 5000 words. For some ELLs this vocabulary is 0.  With a vocabulary of 2000 one can understand up to 90% of words in popular novels & 80% in newspapers.  Skills to focus on: direct instruction on high frequency word knowledge, use of dictionary, use lots of picture clues and other nonverbal strategies.

4. Sing in the tune of “Muffin Man” Do You Know? Do you know two rhyming words, Two rhyming words, Two rhyming words Do you know two rhyming words, The sound a lot alike King and ring are two rhyming words Two rhyming words King and ring are two rhyming words They sound a lot alike (Replace king and ring with other rhyming words. Take turns to suggest new words)

5. Terminologies  Sight words.  onset  rime  Decoding-  Cuing systems: Phonological (graphophonic), syntactic, semantic,  Miscue  Phonograms  Short “e” versus long “e”. Give examples.  Compound words.

6. The scope of phonics instruction and word study  Alphabet knowledge- putting letters together to form words (onset & rime), putting words together to form sentences, developing automaticity in putting this words together.  Word analysis:  Phonemic awareness- rhyming (matching sound with sight)  Word study: (requires both auditory and visual input)- Blending, segmenting, alphabetic knowledge.  Using decoding to read words familiar and non familiar.

7. Question: Is it necessary to use silly words in helping children develop phonemic awareness and rhyming?

8. Teaching the alphabet  What sequence do you fall in teaching the alphabet? Alphabetic, names of children, vowels vs consonants?

9. What steps do you follow when teaching the alphabet?  Start with letter names, use classic songs (be ware of “elemeno” problem)  (Many children can recite by age 4, but do not know the corresponding shapes)  Next shapes & sounds.  Teach children to see differences in letters, eg, m-w, d-b, i-l, g-p, b-q, but after they have mastered one of them.  Provide letter-writing opportunities- this is key, especially independent writing.  Include multisensory activities, several alphabet books, & key words and pictures to provide multiple clues.

10. Phonics?  The main argument:  It helps children decode words (provides more opportunities)  therefore better chances to recognize words  soon become fluent readers  this improves reading comprehension  since they are not struggling with decoding words they can devote their mental energies on making meaning from the text).

11. Curious research finding  Beyond a certain point there is a negative relationship between amount of time spent on phonics and reading achievement.  What could the reason be????

12. Phoncis (3 golden rules according to research supporting it:  Do it early  Keep it simple  Complete instruction by the end of second grade-3 rd grade (except for cases of diagnosed individual needs.

13. Phonics & word study approaches: struggling readers  About a 3 rd of kindergarten children come to school with no phonemic awareness.  These children are likely to struggle for a while and need more explicit approaches.  Grouping and individualized attention helps.  One must try to identify the actual challenge they are encountering (through testing, miscue analysis, vocabulary analysis (give assessment tool).  Remember word recognition is basic in reading and problems assessment has to start there.  Make it fun and contextualized.