Comprehensive Literacy Program:
Phonemic Awareness
What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words. It’s an auditory skill, which does not involve words in print and is best taught in kindergarten and first grade.
Why is phonemic awareness important?
"One of the most compelling and well-established findings in the research on beginning reading is the important relationship between phonemic awareness and reading acquisition." (Kame'enui, et. al., 1997) “The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness)" (Lyon, 1995)
How can we help students improve their phonemic awareness?
Teach explicit, systematic phonemic awareness lessons. Begin phonics lessons with phonemic awareness activities that activate and warm up the brain’s phonological processor. Examples of phonemic awareness activities
include:
- Blending: “Put these sounds together -/c/ /a/ /t/. What word do they make?”
-Segmenting: “What three sounds do you hear in the word cat?”
-Manipulating: “Change the last sound in cat to /p/. What’s the new word?”
Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is connecting sounds (phonemes) to the letter shapes (graphemes). It is sometimes referred to as the“alphabetic principle.”
Why is phonics important?
Phonics instruction helps all learners. Good readers spell better with phonics instruction. Struggling readers learn to read better and faster with explicit, systematic phonics instruction. (National Reading Panel, 2000, American Psychological Society, 2001) Also, when studying words in the English Language, we know:
-50% are wholly decodable
-37% are off by only one sound
- 50% of the words we use are made up of the 107 most used high frequency words (Ehri, 1995)
How can we help students be strategic phonics decoders?
Phonics should be taught explicitly in a systematic, sequenced program. An effective phonics lesson begins with a phonemic awareness warm up, includes an explicit sound-spelling lesson, moves into a blending lesson and follows up immediately with an opportunity for students to practice and review by reading decodable text.
Fluency
What is fluency?
Fluency is the ability to read text accurately, with appropriate rate and prosody (expression). Fluent readers recognize words automatically and gain meaning of the text by quickly grouping words together. When reading aloud, fluent readers have a smooth, natural flow as if they are speaking. Non-fluent readers trudge through text word by word or in short choppy phrases.
Why is fluency important?
Fluency incorporates word recognition with comprehension. Fluent readers focus on comprehending the text. Non-fluent readers struggle to decode words, limiting their comprehension.
How can we help students develop fluency?
Provide opportunities for guided oral repeated readings, have explicit phonics instruction, match texts and instruction to individual students, and apply instructional assessment to monitor student progress in both rate and accuracy. The three areas of fluency instruction are: teaching ,practicing, and assessing.
Vocabulary
What is vocabulary?
Effective communication depends on the vocabulary we utilize. The two types of vocabulary are oral and written. Oral vocabulary is what is spoken and heard, while written vocabulary is what is in print.
Why is vocabulary development important?
Listening, speaking, reading, and writing vocabulary development is important in all content areas. Building vocabulary skills increases reading comprehension and reading fluency. It is essential to learn a multitude of strategies to learn word meanings. Students need to use words correctly in oral and written language.
How can teachers help students build vocabulary?
Vocabulary can be developed directly and indirectly. Explicitly teaching individual words, word meanings, word learning strategies, and new words in different contexts is direct instruction. Indirect ways include engaging in oral language, listening to adults read, and independent reading. Teachers can encourage students to read both at home and at school. Expanding the vocabulary knowledge of English language learners is extremely important.
Comprehension
What is reading comprehension?
Comprehension is to understand and make meaning. Reading comprehension is the complex use of strategies and skills used to gain knowledge from text.
Why is it important to teach reading comprehension?
Reading comprehension is a highly complicated interaction between the reader and the text. The reader’s background knowledge (schema) and strategy and skill competence determines the level at which the reader will be able to interface with the text and extract meaning. Educators must teach essential reading strategies and a wide variety of skills to access a broad range of genres and text types.
How do you teach students to comprehend text?
Modeling your own metacognition through “think alouds” is the primary way to teach comprehension to students. Show them how to making meaning, guide them along the way and help them practice the strategies and skills until they are able to do them on their own.
What is the difference between a strategy and a skill?
While good readers use strategies all the time, skills are used only when a reader needs them. Skills can be related to strategies, but they are specific tools, unique to the demands of the text and the reader.
Phonemic Awareness
What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words. It’s an auditory skill, which does not involve words in print and is best taught in kindergarten and first grade.
Why is phonemic awareness important?
"One of the most compelling and well-established findings in the research on beginning reading is the important relationship between phonemic awareness and reading acquisition." (Kame'enui, et. al., 1997) “The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness)" (Lyon, 1995)
How can we help students improve their phonemic awareness?
Teach explicit, systematic phonemic awareness lessons. Begin phonics lessons with phonemic awareness activities that activate and warm up the brain’s phonological processor. Examples of phonemic awareness activities
include:
- Blending: “Put these sounds together -/c/ /a/ /t/. What word do they make?”
-Segmenting: “What three sounds do you hear in the word cat?”
-Manipulating: “Change the last sound in cat to /p/. What’s the new word?”
Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is connecting sounds (phonemes) to the letter shapes (graphemes). It is sometimes referred to as the“alphabetic principle.”
Why is phonics important?
Phonics instruction helps all learners. Good readers spell better with phonics instruction. Struggling readers learn to read better and faster with explicit, systematic phonics instruction. (National Reading Panel, 2000, American Psychological Society, 2001) Also, when studying words in the English Language, we know:
-50% are wholly decodable
-37% are off by only one sound
- 50% of the words we use are made up of the 107 most used high frequency words (Ehri, 1995)
How can we help students be strategic phonics decoders?
Phonics should be taught explicitly in a systematic, sequenced program. An effective phonics lesson begins with a phonemic awareness warm up, includes an explicit sound-spelling lesson, moves into a blending lesson and follows up immediately with an opportunity for students to practice and review by reading decodable text.
Fluency
What is fluency?
Fluency is the ability to read text accurately, with appropriate rate and prosody (expression). Fluent readers recognize words automatically and gain meaning of the text by quickly grouping words together. When reading aloud, fluent readers have a smooth, natural flow as if they are speaking. Non-fluent readers trudge through text word by word or in short choppy phrases.
Why is fluency important?
Fluency incorporates word recognition with comprehension. Fluent readers focus on comprehending the text. Non-fluent readers struggle to decode words, limiting their comprehension.
How can we help students develop fluency?
Provide opportunities for guided oral repeated readings, have explicit phonics instruction, match texts and instruction to individual students, and apply instructional assessment to monitor student progress in both rate and accuracy. The three areas of fluency instruction are: teaching ,practicing, and assessing.
Vocabulary
What is vocabulary?
Effective communication depends on the vocabulary we utilize. The two types of vocabulary are oral and written. Oral vocabulary is what is spoken and heard, while written vocabulary is what is in print.
Why is vocabulary development important?
Listening, speaking, reading, and writing vocabulary development is important in all content areas. Building vocabulary skills increases reading comprehension and reading fluency. It is essential to learn a multitude of strategies to learn word meanings. Students need to use words correctly in oral and written language.
How can teachers help students build vocabulary?
Vocabulary can be developed directly and indirectly. Explicitly teaching individual words, word meanings, word learning strategies, and new words in different contexts is direct instruction. Indirect ways include engaging in oral language, listening to adults read, and independent reading. Teachers can encourage students to read both at home and at school. Expanding the vocabulary knowledge of English language learners is extremely important.
Comprehension
What is reading comprehension?
Comprehension is to understand and make meaning. Reading comprehension is the complex use of strategies and skills used to gain knowledge from text.
Why is it important to teach reading comprehension?
Reading comprehension is a highly complicated interaction between the reader and the text. The reader’s background knowledge (schema) and strategy and skill competence determines the level at which the reader will be able to interface with the text and extract meaning. Educators must teach essential reading strategies and a wide variety of skills to access a broad range of genres and text types.
How do you teach students to comprehend text?
Modeling your own metacognition through “think alouds” is the primary way to teach comprehension to students. Show them how to making meaning, guide them along the way and help them practice the strategies and skills until they are able to do them on their own.
What is the difference between a strategy and a skill?
While good readers use strategies all the time, skills are used only when a reader needs them. Skills can be related to strategies, but they are specific tools, unique to the demands of the text and the reader.