1. Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
Grades K – 3
Module #1

2. Goals for Module 1 Teachers will:
Understand the intent and organization of the Common Core State Standards.
Understand that reading comprehension is dependent upon two major skill domains.
Increase familiarity with the Standards for specific grades (Bridge to Practice #1).
Understand that many subskills contribute to proficient reading within each domain.
2 min
Directions: Read through the goals. Stop after each goal and give a brief overview.
Talking Points:
Why do we have the Common Core State Standards? How are they organized? We will briefly explore the answers to these questions in this unit.
The reason we teach reading is so that students will be able to access print and comprehend. In this module, we will explore a basic organizer that highlights the two broad contributing skills to comprehension.
The Standards are not easily interpreted. They are deceptively deep and require study to place them in perspective of our work as reading teachers.
Many skills are integrated during the process of reading. Therefore, we need to know what these skills are and how to teach them so that our students can meet the Standards.
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3. Instructional Shifts for English Language Arts/Literacy
Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction.
Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational.
Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.
2 min
Talking Points:
Building knowledge through content-rich informational text is the keystone of the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards. We need to expose our students to complex informational text that builds knowledge about history, social studies, science, and the arts.
The ELA Common Core State Standards place an emphasis on teachers asking queries that require students to support their answers with evidence from the text. Students will not be able to answer these queries solely using their background knowledge. Students must pay close attention to the text.
Students experience a growing complexity of texts as they move through the grades.
These shifts are critical to the implementation of the ELA Common Core State Standards.
For students to independently read, comprehend, and follow-through with the tasks they are given, they must have the basic reading, spelling, and writing skills that will give them access to the texts we ask them to read.
This training addresses the Foundational Skills Standards to ensure that K–3 students are learning the necessary skills needed to meet the reading and writing Standards.
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4. Why the Common Core State Standards Were Developed
Too many of our students are leaving high school without the college and career skills needed to succeed.
Too many need college remedial reading courses.
States needed a consistent set of expectations (46 percent of all American families move).
The United States must compete more successfully in a global marketplace.
Educators needed more guidance on what to teach, when.
ALL students should be accountable for the same Standards.
2 min
Talking Points:
The consistent decrease in high school student performance and the increase in students needing college remedial reading courses were large influences on why the Common Core State Standards were created.
In their creation, they brought a unified set of expectations to all states. With highly mobile families (46 percent), common Standards will make transitions for students and teachers much easier.
They will help the United States compete more successfully in a global market that is increasingly more competitive. By achieving the Standards, students will have skills that have a wide applicability outside the classroom or workplace (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).
They give us an end goal so we can focus on what to teach to reach that goal.
Nearly all states and higher education can now hold all students accountable for the same Standards.
References
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington, DC: Author.
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5. Common Core State Standards Are NOT a Roadmap or Curriculum
The instructional roadmap on how to master each Standard is NOT included.
The Common Core State Standards Are NOT a curriculum.
1 min
Key Ideas: The “how to” part is not written into the Standards.
**This slide is animated.
Talking Points:
The Common Core State Standards give us the end goal but they do not tell us how to get to that end goal.
In other words, the instructional roadmap is NOT included.
The necessary instructional steps for mastery of the Standards has to be understood and carried out by the teacher. This is the knowledge offered in this professional development, the “how to map” for instruction of the ELA Standards in Reading Foundations, Reading, and Speaking and Listening.
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6. Common Core State Standards = The Tip of the Iceberg
The Common Core State Standards give us the end goals, which are only the tip of the iceberg.
1 min
Talking Points:
The Common Core State Standards focus is on results rather than the means by which we reach those results.
The Common Core State Standards have left room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states to determine how the end goals will be achieved and what additional topics and information will be needed to reach them (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).
References
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington, DC: Author.
© 2013 Sopris Learning. All Rights Reserved.

7. F = Foundational Skills
Coding System
RF.K.2
R = Reading
2 = Standard
2 min
Key Ideas: The Common Core State Standards use a coding system in order to help us locate and identify what the Standard is.
Talking Points:
RF.K.2 tells us this is the second Reading Foundational Skills Standard for kindergarten.
F = Foundational Skills
K = Kindergarten
RF.K.2 tells us this is the second Reading Foundational Skills Standard for kindergarten.
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8. Coding Practice
In your manual, write out the description of the following codes. Here’s an example:
RF.K.2 is the second Reading Foundational Skills Standard for kindergarten.
RI.3.4
RL.2.10
SL.1.1c
2 min
Directions: Have the participants quickly write the three examples in their notes. If they are not sure about the abbreviations, refer them to the Common Core State Standards that will be used in the Bridge to Practice #1.
Answers:
RI.3.4 is the fourth Reading Standard for Informational Text for Grade 3.
RL.2.10 is the tenth Reading Standard for Literature for Grade 2.
SL.1.1c is part c of the first Speaking and Listening Standard for Grade 1.
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9. Understanding Expectations of Adjacent Grade Levels
RL.K.1 - RL RL.2.1 – RL.3.1
“Key Ideas and Details”
Kindergarten
1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
Grade 1
(Focus year)
1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
Grade 2
1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Grade 3
1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
2 min
Key Ideas: The Standards change across the years.
**This slide is animated to highlight the key phrases in each grade to show how the standard builds through grades K-3.
Talking Points:
Understanding how the Standards change will help in understanding necessary prerequisite skills and how the expectations have changed and will change.
* The yellow, orange, and pink text boxes signify changes from year to year
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10. Exploring the Roots of Reading
The roots create the foundation upon which comprehension and interpretation of complex text can be built. What are “the roots”?
1 min
Key Ideas: When we understand the roots of reading, we are stronger teachers.
Talking Points:
The roots create the foundations upon which comprehension can GROW!
Let’s look at what is needed to get to the level at which a student can benefit from being given more complex text.
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11. Phonological & Phonemic Awareness 5 instructional components
Simple View of Reading
Proficient reading requires accurate word reading, fluency, and comprehension. But, the relative influence of the components changes over time.
2 domains
Decoding
(Word recognition)
Language
Comprehension
Reading
Comp x =
Phonics
Print concepts / letter name knowledge
Vocabulary
7 min
Key Ideas: There are two domains that provide structure for us to understand the skills necessary for reading comprehension.
Directions: Have participants draw a diagram of the Simple View of Reading in their notes as you talk through it.
**This slide is animated.
Talking Points:
Simple View—Reading with comprehension is the product of decoding and language comprehension.
This means that a student who's missing either component will not be a good reader.
These domains encompass the “five essential components” named by the National Reading Panel (2000); the contribution of each component is well researched.
Reading is more than the sum of its parts; a weakness in any essential component can undermine the whole complex activity.
Students must decipher the alphabetic code in order to read words accurately.
Students must read words accurately and fluently to comprehend, and they must understand language in order to comprehend what they decode.
The end goal of reading is to gain meaning. If we skillfully teach all essential components, students will be well prepared to read and comprehend what they read.
Fluency is tied to both Language Comprehension and Decoding because students must have automaticity of decoding skills in addition to fluency with language to comprehend what is being read.
Good reading instruction combines these components in an integrated fashion, not in isolation.
References
National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Text Comprehension
Fluency
Phonological & Phonemic Awareness
5 instructional components
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12. Four Possible Reader Combinations
Poor Comprehension,
Good Decoding
(about 10 percent of poor readers)
Good Comprehension,
(majority of good readers)
Poor Decoding
(majority of poor readers)
(about 20 percent of poor readers)
5 min
Key Ideas: Decoding is critical to reading!
Directions: Once done discussing the slide, have teachers turn and talk to a partner about what these statements mean to them now that they have studied the Simple View of Reading. Give them a minute for discussion.
**This slide is animated.
Talking Points:
The differently sized circles provide a visual to help us sense the proportion of poor readers within each subgroup.
The chart is the result of Haskins Laboratory and Yale University research (Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007) with a sample of several hundred children who were followed from kindergarten through college.
Most good readers are good in both decoding and comprehension.
Most poor readers are poor in both decoding and comprehension. This is the majority of poor readers! They cannot get the words off the page to make sense of what they are reading! They cannot access the words.
About 20 percent of poor readers have good comprehension and poor decoding. These students have strong language skills. Many of these students are dyslexic.
About 10 percent of poor readers have poor comprehension and good decoding skills. These students usually have poor language skills.
All of these combinations overlap. In reality, there is no clear, clean division.
References
Fletcher, J. M., Lyon, G. R., Fuchs, L. S., & Barnes, M. A. (2007). Learning disabilities: From identification to intervention. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
These problems exist on a continuum of severity and in combination.
(Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007)
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13. Looking Inside the Simple View
Decoding means the skills we need to recognize words.
Phonemic awareness.
Phonics (sound-symbol correspondences).
Morphology and syllabication.
Automatic recognition of words by sight.
1 min
Key Ideas: Decoding encompasses many skills!
Directions: Talk through each of the skills.
Talking Points:
It is important that we view decoding as the skills we need to recognize words!
We recognize words through decoding. Context is the backup system to help us determine if we decoded the word correctly!
Phonemic awareness: Students need to be aware of the separate sounds in the words they speak.
Phonics: Students need to know and instantly recognize the graphemes and make a connection to the phonemes they represent.
Morphology and syllabication: Students eventually use chunking of larger units of print to decode words through meaning and syllable recognition.
Automatic recognition is the ultimate goal of our decoding instruction because this skill frees our students’ memory processes for comprehension.
This includes sight word recognition too!
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14. Decoding Skills and Automaticity
When phonemic awareness, phonic decoding, and sight word recognition are automatic, students are much more likely to read fluently.
They will then have more attention available for thinking about the text (comprehension).
2 min
Key Ideas: Automaticity is a goal for all skills in the decoding domain. The goal is to have word recognition become automatic so the working memory is freed to pay attention to meaning.
Talking Points:
The subskills of word recognition of letters, speech sounds, letter-sound correspondences, rime chunks, syllable patterns, morphemes, and whole words are gradually automatized as fluent reading is learned.
The more quickly a student associates a meaning to a printed word, the more rapidly the student recognizes the word.
This provides the bridge to vocabulary and language comprehension. If students hesitate about which sound a grapheme represents, they will be slowed down and may not be able to hold onto the meaning of the whole sentence or passage.
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15. Common Core State Standards and the Simple View of Reading: Decoding/Word Recognition
Print Concepts
Fluency
Decoding and Word Recognition
Phonological – Phoneme Awareness
5 min
Key Ideas: This graphic organizer shows the relationship of the Foundational Skills for Grade 1 Common Core State Standards and the decoding domain of the Simple View of Reading. The CCSS are organized into these sections-each applies to decoding.
**This slide is animated.
Talking Points:
Middle Box: Decoding and word recognition: This is one of the Simple View’s domains and is necessary for reading.
Top Box: Decoding has its roots in print concepts—knowing books. What does print concepts mean?
Right Box: Phonological awareness is understanding that the words children know as meaningful units have an underlying structure that is comprised of syllables, onsets and rimes, rhyming, and phonemes.
Bottom Box: Phonics and word recognition: Students need instruction in the code of graphemes (letters and letter combinations that represent phonemes) to assist with developing word recognition.
Left Box: Fluency is automatic recognition of words and comprehension of what we read!
Phonics and Word Recognition
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16. Looking Inside the Simple View
Language comprehension depends on a variety of foundational language skills that impact a student’s ability to understand text.
Background knowledge.
Vocabulary.
Understanding of language structures (especially sentence structure).
Verbal reasoning ability.
Text structure knowledge.
1 min
Key Ideas: Language comprehension depends on a variety of foundational language skills.
Talking Points:
Background knowledge refers to facts and information, both personal and academic.
Vocabulary refers to the words a student can understand and use. It refers to words that are understood while listening and reading and words that are used when speaking and writing.
Language structures refers to sentence structure and grammar that will help students understand when reading and express themselves when writing.
Verbal reasoning ability refers to a student’s ability to understand more challenging language structures such as inference and figurative language.
Text structure knowledge refers to knowledge of print concepts, genre, etc.
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17. Common Core State Standards and the Simple View of Reading: Language Comprehension
Participation and Collaboration in Diverse Groups
Vocabulary Development
Language Comprehension
Presentation of Knowledge
5 min
Key Ideas: This graphic organizer shows how the key terms in the Speaking and Listening and Language Standards relate to language comprehension.
Talking Points:
When we read the Standards, we need to interpret these terms as relating to the Language Comprehension domain of the Simple View of Reading.
Middle Box: Language Comprehension is one of the Simple View’s domains and is necessary for reading.
Top Box: Participation and collaboration in diverse groups: This Standard terminology provides an avenue through which we can set up discourse in our classrooms. Get kids talking!
Right Box: Presentation of knowledge refers to speaking, accessing knowledge, and expressing what we know to others.
Bottom Box: Use language to clarify and show comprehension of information. Using language is what Unit 2 will be all about!
Left Box: Vocabulary development: The words we know reflect our lives and our experiences with others, books, and the world. Vocabulary is the key to meaning. The words we know allow us to express ourselves and communicate with others.
Use Language to Clarify and Show Comprehension of Information
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18. What We Teach Is Important
The oral language underpinnings for literacy.
The five components of reading instruction.
The skills needed to achieve the outcomes for Common Core State Standards.
1 min
Key Ideas: Teaching content that will build the foundation and advanced skills needed to achieve the Common Core State Standards outcomes is critical to success.
Talking Points:
We must not leave what we teach to chance.
We cannot base our instruction on “what we think is important.”
Instruction should be based on what we know from research will give us the outcomes our students need in order to be ready to read, write, and speak at the high levels necessary for success on the Common Core State Standards and in the world.
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19. How We Teach Is Important
Explicit and systematic instruction includes:
A clearly stated purpose.
An example instructional sequence.
Instructional routines.
Regular and cumulative review.
Engaging techniques, high student response.
Practice with corrective feedback.
Intensity to match student needs.
2 min
Key Ideas: Instructional approaches make a big difference in terms of the effectiveness for learning. Explicit and systematic are proven approaches!
Talking Points:
Instructional best practices include:
Lessons that include direct and explicit instruction.
Instruction that is based on an example instructional sequence.
Instruction that is systematic and includes regular routines.
Regular and cumulative review.
Students who understand the purpose of the learning.
Engaging instruction, high student response.
Opportunities for meaningful practice.
An intensity that matches the needs of the students.
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20. Summary
Reading is not simply about what is on the page. It depends on decoding skills and oral language foundations.
Turn and Talk: WHAT skills do we need to teach, HOW, and WHEN do we teach them in order for our students to become proficient readers?
5 min
Key Ideas: Summarize and review the information covered in this module.
Directions: Ask the group for possible answers. Give the group a few minutes.
Talking Points:
Both language comprehension and word recognition (decoding) are critical to reading comprehension.
WHAT skills do we need to teach, HOW, and WHEN do we teach them in order for our students to become proficient readers?
Discuss answers to the questions.
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