Reading
Students in K-2 are learning to read.
Students in Grades 3-5 are reading to learn.
Reading every day is the single most important thing that you can do to set a firm foundation for future academic success.
What is Literacy?
Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen to allow for effective communication and make sense of the world.
Foundational Literacy Skills
1. Alphabetic Principle
• Ability to recognize and write letters
• Students must be able to:
-identify letters automatically
-name letters when they are presented in random order
-identify both uppercase and lowercase letters
2. Phonemics
Understanding the ways in which letters and sounds work together to form syllables and words.
3. Word Recognition
Blending letter sounds to pronounce words
4. Comprehension
Being able to comprehend what one is reading allows for understanding and learning from the material. Good readers predict and judge material as they read.
The 6 Stages of Literacy Development & Strategies to Help
1. Oral Language
Ability to fully express and understand ideas – includes answering and asking questions
Strategies
a) Read aloud to student
b) Reading wordless books – students dictate a sentence for each picture
2. Concepts about Print
Understanding how print works – print on a page is read in a certain order and it contains individual words.
Strategies
a) Echo reading – student echoes and rereads sentence read aloud to them
b) Counting words – student listens to a sentence, and uses an object (blocks, popsicle sticks) to count out each word in the sentence.
3. Alphabet Knowledge
Ability to recognize and write letters
Strategies
a) Memory Game – half cards contain pictures of objects and other half contains the letters representing the initial consonant sounds of those objects.
b) Alphabet books – provide words starting with a letter sound (such as dog for d); helps students expand word knowledge and appreciation of books. Make sure books show both upper- and lower-case letters
4. Phonemic Awareness
Ability to hear letter sounds in spoken language and manipulate them
5. Letter-Sound Correspondence
Ability to identify letters and their sounds, and manipulate those sounds
6. Beginning Reading Vocabulary
Learning to read words from their environment such as recognizing logos (McDonalds, Cheerios) and their names. First sight words play critical role in forming the foundation for word analysis strategies and enables students to use known words as a basis for learning about new words.
What is Content Area Literacy?
• Integrating reading and writing teaching practices into content areas so that students can gain more knowledge. Students can practice their literacy skills and understand application of the skills across curriculum.
What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic Awareness is the knowledge that words and speech is built from sounds, and how to manipulate those sounds. Student’s abilities to identify and manipulate sounds is key to reading achievement.
Examples:
-the word “bed” has three speech sounds, or phonemes: b, short e, and. d.
-the word “sleep” consists of four phonemes: s, l, long e, and p. Even though there are five letters, the ee combination makes one sound.
-the word “sheep” consists of three phonemes: sh, long e, and p.
Phonemic Awareness includes a variety of abilities described below:
-Identify and separate beginning sounds of words
-Identify and separate ending sounds
o Substitute sounds with a basic pattern
-Manipulate sounds by putting them together
-Taking sounds apart
-Deleting or substituting sounds
Alliteration for Phonemic Awareness
Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound. Children enjoy hearing repeated sounds, and alliteration can be used to help them focus on specific sounds. They are also appealing to children of all ages. When teaching sounds, it is helpful to introduce them with a phrase or sentence that contains repetition of the sound.
What is Decoding?
Decoding is the ability to apply sound-letter knowledge to correctly sound out and pronounce words. This gives students the ability to quickly recognize familiar words and to aid in figuring out unknown words.
What is Fluency?
• Daily reading practice will help to increase fluent reading.
• Need foundation of alphabetic principle, phonemics, and word recognition
What is Comprehension?
Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal and purpose of learning to read. Being able to read words correctly does not mean that one is understanding what is being read. It is not in understanding what is read, but in processing the text. Being able to comprehend what one is reading allows for understanding and learning from the material. Good readers predict and judge material as they read.
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability specific to reading. Common symptoms are:
-Slow and labor-intensive reading
-Difficulty reading aloud
-Mispronounces words
-Difficulty with retrieving words
-Difficulty with writing and spelling
What is Dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia is a learning disability specific to writing. Common symptoms are:
-Cramped grip and sore hand
-Poor special planning for sentences and margins
-Frequent erasing
o Inconsistent letter and word spacing
-Poor spelling and missing words/letters