1. Literacy Environment Analysis PresentationAngela KuklaWalden University Dr. Lin Carver EDUC 6706: The Beginning Reader: PreK-3

2. Students • McKayla – 6 years old, Kindergarten • Emergent reader • Good phonemic awareness skills • Positive attitudes about reading • Dustin – 8 years old, Second grade • Late beginning/early transitional reader • High motivation to read • James – 9 years old, Third grade • Late beginning/early transitional reader • Low comprehension skills • Negative attitudes about reading

3. Getting to Know Literacy Learners • Gives us insights into: • Background knowledge • Interests • Motivations • About what they would like to learn • Have students bring in a few items from home representing what is important to them (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009b). • Learn why this is significant to the student • Make connections to these items throughout the year • Reading inventories can be formal or informal assessments (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009d). • Formal: research-based assessments • Informal: Listening to students read and take notes

4. Getting to Know My Students • Informal conversations • Learned hobbies and interests • Listened to students read aloud • Formal assessments • Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna & Kear, 1990) • Motivation to Read Profile (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996) • Primary Spelling Inventory (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2007) • Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning, n.d.) • Initial Sound Fluency • Letter Naming Fluency • Nonsense Word Fluency • Oral Reading Fluency

5. Results of Assessments • McKayla • Focus on sight words, model reading • Use pictures for comprehension and retelling • Dustin • Build comprehension and critical thinking skills • Develop writing skills • James • Word work and phonics for decoding strategies and improved spelling • Tie interests to literacy instruction to boost motivation • Experience success in meaningful situation to improve self-efficacy as a reader

6. Selecting Text • Students must be exposed to a variety of texts to become good readers. • Literacy matrix categorizes texts on a spectrum as narrative or informational as well as semiotic or linguistic (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009a). • New literacies (e.g., online texts) provide students with lifelong technology skills (Castek, Bevans-Mangelson, & Goldstone, 2006).

7. Texts Chosen for My Students • Informational • The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving (McGovern, 1993) • If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 (McGovern, 1991) • Narrative • Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation (Stanley, 2004) • ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving(Pilkey, 2004) • Online • Starfall(http://www.starfall.com) • “The First Thanksgiving” (http://scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving)

8. Interactive Perspective(Laureate Education, Inc., 2009c) • Teaching students to read and to become strategic processors and thinkers • Modeling • Decoding strategies • Word recognition skills • Comprehension strategies

9. Interactive Perspective • Activated prior knowledge • KWL chart about pilgrims, Indians, the first Thanksgiving • Read The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving (McGovern, 1993) • Venn diagram comparing Thanksgiving now to Thanksgiving then, completed as group • McKayla dictated responses to create Venn diagram comparing her life to a pilgrim child • Dustin and James read “The First Thanksgiving” (http://scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving) • Venn diagram comparing daily lives of pilgrims and Wampanoag

10. Critical and Response Perspectives (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009c) • Critical: how to examine texts • Author’s perspective • Text features • Response: express how a text affected them • Journaling • Extend the story

11. ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving(Pilkey, 2004) • Critical Perspective • Story map • Characters, setting, problem, events, solution • Response Perspective • Picketing turkeys (“Eat Oreos, Not Turkey!”) • Written response giving reasons why to choose alternative food

12. Goal for Literacy Instruction • Being able to read words accurately is important, but it is not enough. Students must read fluently, as well as understand and apply what they have read. • I aim for my students to be excited about literacy instruction, and I hope to inspire them to become lifelong readers.

13. References • Castek, J., Bevans-Mangelson, J., & Goldstone, B. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 714-728. • Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 49(7), 518-533. • Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Analyzing and selecting text. The beginning reader: PreK-3 [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author. • Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Getting to know your students. The beginning reader: PreK-3 [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author. • Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009c). Perspectives of literacy learning. The beginning reader: PreK-3 [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author. • Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009d). Reading inventories. The beginning reader: PreK-3 [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author. • McGovern, A. (1991). If you sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. New York, NY: Scholastic Paperbacks. • McGovern, A. (1993). The pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving. New York, NY: Scholastic Paperbacks. • McKenna, M. C., & Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9), 626-639. • Pilkey, D. (2004) ‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving. New York, NY: Scholastic Paperbacks. • Stanley, D. (2004). Thanksgiving on Plymouth plantation. New York, NY: HarperCollins. • Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. • University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Official DIBELS home page. Retrieved on November 10, 2010, from https://dibels.uoregon.edu/