Learning to Read

1. Learning to Read A National Problem and Recommended Solutions Lake Norman Elementary School Reading Foundations Team Sally Webb, Krista Dennington, Heather Bradford, Beth Sutliff, Karen Marshall, Sharon Gulledge, Kim Griggs, Sandy Buttersworth, and Cortney Frasier

2. Presentation • Created by the Lake Norman Elementary Reading Foundations Team: Sally Webb, Krista Dennington, Heather Bradford, Beth Sutliff, Karen Marshall, and Cortney Frasier • Presented as part of the Professional Development Session on February 10, 2010 to entire certified staff (42 members plus leadership team) • PowerPoint also located on wiki as part of staff development requirement: http://pdfeb.pbworks.com/ • Blog response and further questions on school website:http://iss.schoolwires.com/16702095154645297/Blog/browse.asp?a=398&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=86658&16702095154645297Nav=|&NodeID=3550

3. National Reading Panel • This PowerPoint provides a summary of the National Reading Panel’s materials and findings in the areas of Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension. Information was generated from: Armbruster, B., Kehr, F., & Osborn, J. (n.d.). Put Reading First (R. Adler, Ed.). The National Institute for Literacy. • You can download a copy of Put Reading First by going to : www.nifl.gov

4. Phonemic Awareness • Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It improves word reading, comprehension, and spelling. It is most affective when children are taught to manipulate phonemes by using letters of the alphabet. • Phonemic awareness can be taught through teacher directed activities such as blending phonemes to make words, segmenting words in to phonemes, deleting phonemes from words, adding phonemes to words, substituting one phoneme for another to make a new word. • Instruction should focus on only one or two types of phoneme manipulation rather than several. Blending and segmenting phonemes in words, is likely to produce greater benefits to your students reading than teaching several types of manipulation. • The best approach is to assess students’ phonemic awareness before you begin instruction. Assessment will let you know what students do and do not need the instruction. • Small group instruction is more effective than individual or whole group because children will benefit from listening to others respond and receive feedback from the teacher.

5. Types of Phoneme Manipulations to Build Phonemic Awareness • Phoneme Isolation: Children recognize individual sounds in a word • Phoneme Identity: Children recognize the same sounds in different words • Phoneme Categorization: Children recognize the word in set of three or four words that has the odd sound. • Phonemic Blending: Children listen to sequence of separately spoken phonemes, and then combine the sounds to form a word. • Phonemic Segmentation: Children break words into separate sounds, saying each sound as they tap or count it. • Phoneme Deletion: Children recognize the word that remains when a phoneme is removed. smile without /s/ mile • Phoneme Addition: Children make a new word by adding a phoneme to an existing word. add /s/ park spark • Phoneme Substitution: Children substitute one phoneme for another to make a new word. bug change /g/ to/n/ bun *Phonemic awareness instruction is not a complete reading program. Adding well thought out phonemic awareness instruction to a beginning reading program is very likely to help students learn to read and spell. Whether these benefits are lasting will depend comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the entire literacy program.

6. Phonics • Phonics teaches children the relationships between graphemes and phonemes • graphemes- letters • phonemes- sounds • The goal of phonics instruction is to help children understand that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken words • The alphabetic system is a mnemonic device that supports our memory for specific words • What does scientific research tell us about phonics instruction? • it is more effective than a non-systematic approach • it is best when it begins in Kindergarten and First grades • it significantly improves comprehension • it is effective for children from various social and economic levels • it is especially beneficial to those having a difficult time learning how to read • Approaches to phonics instruction • synthetic - children learn how to convert letters into sounds • analytic- children learn how to analyze letter-sound relationships • analogy-based- children learn how to use word families • phonics through spelling- children learn to segment words • embedded- phonics instruction as it comes up in everyday reading • onset-rime- children learn to identify the sound of the letter(s) before the first vowel (onset), and the sound of the remaining part of the word (rime) • Phonics should be taught for 2 years • either K-1 • or 1-2

7. Vocabulary • Vocabulary refers to words we must know in order to communicate effectively. Vocabulary can be described as oral vocabulary, that which we use in speaking or recognize in listening and reading vocabulary, that which we recognize or use in print. Beginning readers rely heavily on oral vocabulary to make sense of words they come across in print. It is very difficult for a beginning reader to work with text that is not already part of their oral vocabulary. As readers become more advanced, they must learn new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary. They begin to grow a reading vocabulary. • Research reveals that most vocabulary is learned indirectly through everyday experiences with speaking, listening and text. Young children learn word meanings through conversations with adults. The more conversations and oral language experiences a child has, the more word meanings are learned. Children also develop vocabulary when listening to adults read to them regardless of their age, especially when discussions take place before, during and after reading. A third way children learn vocabulary indirectly is by reading extensively on their own. The more words encountered, the more word meanings are learned. • Children also develop vocabulary through direct instruction. Direct instruction includes providing students with specific word instruction as well as teaching students word learning strategies. In order for direct instruction to be most beneficial, words should be taught before reading, work with words should be over an extended period of time with students being actively engaged in word work and students should be provided with opportunities for repeated exposure and within different contexts.

8. Direct Instruction of Vocabulary • Direct instruction must include use of dictionaries and other resource aides as well as experiences involving word parts such as prefixes, suffixes, base words and root words. (Knowing the prefixes un, re, in and dis will provide important clues about the meaning of 2/3 of all English words having prefixes). Children must also be taught how to use context clues while reading to help determine meaning of unknown words. • It is neither possible nor practical to teach students all the words they might not already know in a text. It is best to teach thoroughly eight to ten words a week. There are three different types of words which demand attention. Important words are those that must be learned before an important concept can be understood. An example would be the word photosynthesis. Useful words are those words that students are likely to encounter again and again . For instance, it would be more useful for students to learn the word fragment rather than fractal. Difficult words such as those with multiple meanings or those that are part of an idiomatic expression are also very important to teach directly. • Vocabulary development is crucial to comprehension and reading growth.

9. Fluency • Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. Fluent readers group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly word by word, in a choppy and plodding fashion. • Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words, they can focus their attention to what the text means. Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time. Less fluent readers, however, must focus all their attention to figure out the words, leaving them little attention for understanding the text. • MORE FLUENT READERS: focus their attention on making connections among the ideas in a text and between these ideas and their background knowledge. Therefore, they are able to focus on comprehension. • LESS FLUENT READERS: must focus their attention primarily on decoding the individual words. Therefore, they have little attention left for comprehending text. • Fluency changes, depending on what readers are reading, their familiarity with the words, and the amount of their practice with reading the text. Even very skilled readers may read in a slow, labored manner when reading text with may unfamiliar words or topics.

10. Activities for Repeated Oral Reading Practice • Student-Adult Reading: reading one-on-one with an adult provides a model of fluent reading, helps with word recognition, and provides feedback. • Choral Reading: reading aloud simultaneously in a group. • Tape-Assisted Reading: reading aloud simultaneously or as an echo with an audio-taped model. • Partner Reading: reading aloud with a more fluent partner- or with a partner of equal ability- who provides a model of fluent reading, helps with word recognition, and provides feedback. • Readers’ Theatre: the rehearsing and performing before an audience of dialogue-rich script derived from a book.

11. Comprehension: The reason for reading! • Text comprehension is purposeful and active.  • Teachers can teach comprehension strategies to develop students' comprehension. • There are 6 comprehension strategies with strong scientific support that teachers can teach to their students.  Teachers can teach students to:  • Monitor their own comprehension. • How to use graphic organizers. • How to answer questions that are generated by the teacher. • How to generate questions for themselves. • How to recognize story structure; ie. plot. • How to summarize. • There are two comprehension strategies that have some scientific support that you may want to try in your classroom:  • Making use of prior knowledge. • Using mental imagery.

12. Teaching Comprehension Strategies • through explicit instruction. • through the use of cooperative learning. • by helping students use strategies flexibly and in combination. • These comprehension strategies and tips are not ends in themselves; they are a means of helping students understand what they are reading. • Help your students use comprehension strategies in natural learning situations --  for example, as they read the in the content areas.