The simple view of reading explains reading comprehension as decoding and language comprehension; RC=DxC.  As a person’s ability to decode words drops toward zero, then reading comprehension will also drop toward zero (365).

2. What are Ehri’s 4 stages of word recognition? Name each and give a short description.

1. Visual Cue Reading- children recognize words through distinctive visual features

2. Phonemic Cue Reading- once children have developed rudimentary phonemic awareness they begin to use salient letters to identify words

3. Full Alphabetic Coding- child examines each letter of a word

3. On page 368, there is a good definition of Phonemic Awareness. What is it?

Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness, which “refers to a broad class of skills that involve attending to, thinking about, and intentionally manipulating the phonological aspects of spoken language”

4. On page 370, we learn that knowledge of the alphabet is necessary for beginning to learn to read and spell words. There is a developmental sequence to learning about the alphabet: What is it?

1. recite the alphabet- ABC song

2. name the individual letters, printing those letters

3. identify letter sounds

5. What is the value in “reading to” or having children “read” alphabet books?

Reading alphabet books helps improve children’s phonemic awareness

6. What is the value in children’s fingerpointing as they read?

The ability to track print seems to be the nexus of storybook reading, alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, and the development of word recognition.

7. What is a predictable book and what is its value in helping children learn to read?

Predictable books contain a repeated linguistic pattern that children can use to support their reading.  They allow children to concentrate on the words, using the text as a support.  As the book is re-read, children are expected to take more of the responsibility for reading onto themselves.

 8. So, in the end, what role does storybook reading play in helping children learn to read?

Reading books to children can improve their language skills.  Language comprehension is essential for reading comprehension.

1. Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.

“Level the playing field,” means to bring all students up on the same level.  Some students are on a higher literacy level because they receive reading and writing experience at home.  To “level the playing field: means to bring the children who don’t receive help from home up on the same level as those who do.

2. What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?

-Reading Aloud to Children

-Guided Contextual Reading

-Letter-sound study

-Writing

3. Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)

-Helps children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surroundings

-Provides them with a vocabulary to make the new experiences

-Acquaints them with the characteristic rhythms and structures of written language

-Involves the child in creating a mental image and sustaining it over time

-The listener can draw on speaker’s gestures and intonation, to interpret the speaker’s meaning

4. Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?

Guided contextual reading teaching students to blend individual letter-sounds, to memorize individual words, or to echo-read simple texts.

5. Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA).

Dictated experience stories involves using children’s own experiences, recorded in their own language, to teach them to read.  A group of children tell a story to the teacher, who then writes the story on chart paper so the children can read and reread the story with help from the teacher. 

6. Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)

Big Books are helpful because the text and pictures are oversized.  This is helpful when a big group of children are being read to. 

On day 1 the teacher introduces a new book by reading it to the children and asking them questions about the story.  The teacher uses a pointer to follow the words as they are being read.  The children read with the teacher the second time through.

On day 2 the class choral-reads the same story at least once, while the teacher points to each word.  After reading through several times, students may come up and finger-point read a page. 

On day 3 the teacher works with small groups.  This allows the teacher to observe the students and to see how they do with finger-point reading.

7. Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?

They work well together, and consistent use of both will extend children’s experiences and nurture their language development and help them master some basic print-related understandings (16). 

8. Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?

I think there is a role for independent reading in kindergarten.  I think after the teacher has worked with the children on reading, and they understand it, they can read alone.  The books they are reading need to be on an appropriate reading level.

(Chapter 3)

1. What does Fraatz (1987) mean by “paradox of collective instruction”?

Paradox of collective instruction is the fact that first-grade teachers must provide reading instruction for everyone, while simultaneously addressing individual differences among their students (33).

2. What are the three critical components of learning to read?

- Attend to individual sounds within words

- Decode printed words by matching letters to sounds

- Automatize decoding or word-level processing so that the mind can concentrate on the meaning of what is being read.

3. List the four tasks that the first-grade teacher can use to assess individual children’s reading ability during the first week of school. Describe what each task is used to assess?

- Alphabet Task- the child names the alphabet letters, upper- and lower-case, as the teacher points to them in random order

- Concept of Word Task- The child and teacher read together.  After the child’s finger-point reading attempt, the teacher then points to the first target word and asks them to read it, and does the same with the second target word.

- Spelling Task- The teacher does a model of sound-it-out spelling.  The child tells the teacher which letter to write, until the word is spelled.  The teacher then gives the child a chance to write words that the teacher calls out.

-Word-Recognition Task- The child tries to read a list of 10 words as the teacher points to them. 

4. How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?

Round robin reading allows students to read a couple pages out loud and then pass the book along to another student to read.  SOR is a 3 day process; Day 1: previewing and echo reading, Day 2: Partner reading, Day 3: Expert reading.  SOR allows the teacher to guide comprehension, model fluent contextual reading, monitor children’s rereadings, and provide each child with a final opportunity to show mastery of the story.

5. Why is appropriate leveling of books important?

If the level of the book is too easy, the reader won’t be challenged, and won’t learn anything new.  If the level of the book is too difficult, the reader won’t be able to understand what is going on in the story and won’t be able to read the words.

6. Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of? Why is it recommended that teachers follow such a sequence of instruction?

The teacher must understand the content or developmental continuum of word-study instruction, be able to determine where individual students need to be instructed along with continuum, and must develop a method or procedure for teaching the various letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns.

The continuum consists of beginning consonants, word families, short vowels, and one-syllable vowel patterns

Teachers should follow this sequence of instruction because it allows all students to begin at the same level, and learn based on skills learned.

7. How could you assess where a beginning reader is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?

You analyze the child’s invented spelling to see if they recognize beginning consonants or ending consonants, or both.

8. Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.

You start by sorting picture cards by the beginning consonant sound and sound-letter pairings.  Then study the five short vowels in a rhyming-word format.  The teacher models practicing sorting (short a word).  The students take turns sorting remaining word cards and reading the words in the columns after each card is placed.

9. What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?

They help the children better recognize short and long-vowel sounds. They also help children to make sense of other spelling patterns they could see while reading.

10. What is instructional pacing?

First-grade teacher’s skill in guiding (or moving) his or her students through a set of graded reading materials.

11. In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?

Writing can help children develop phoneme awareness.  Throughout the year, the student has a sense of being the author.  They are able to read their own writings, as well as their classmates’ readings. 

12. What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.

Word recognition- the child attempts to read a list of 40 words, graded in difficulty from early first grade to mid-second grade

Spelling task- the child attempts to spell a list of 15 words; each of the words is scored according to a developmental rubric

Passage reading- the child reads aloud up to 6 passages that progress in difficulty from early first grade to late second grade

In “Text Talk” the authors discuss the importance of reading aloud to children to encourage language and literacy.  Text talk is an approach to reading aloud that is directed toward enhancing children’s ability to construct meaning.  The most valuable aspect of text talk is that it gives children experience with de-contextualized language requiring them to make sense of ideas that are about something beyond the here and now (10).  Research shows that “text surrounding the text” or “getting children to think about what was going on in the story” were keys to literacy growth.  It also shows that the most effective talk involved encouraging students to focus on the most important story ideas and giving them opportunities to reflect rather than expecting a quickly retrieved answer (11).  The most effective features of text talk include: focusing the discussion on major story ideas, dealing with ideas as they come up in the story instead of waiting until the children have heard the whole story to ask them questions about it, and involving the children in the discussion with opportunities to be reflective.  An important point in the article involved the pictures.  The children should not be shown the pictures while they are hearing the story.  They will pay attention to the picture and base the story on what is happening in the pictures.  Though the pictures follow the text, they are not followed closely enough to understand the story without the words.  Another important point was about the follow-up questions.  They should be open ended questions so students can give detailed answers.  By asking open ended questions it allows the students to give more that one response, and helps them to build on previous questions and answers.

2. Summarize the key steps in planning and performing a Text Talk lesson.

1. The text should be age appropriate and challenging, but not too difficult.

2. Come up with questions to ask before you read the book to the students.

3. The questions that you come up with to ask should challenge the students, and allow them to answer questions about what they think will happen.

4. After reading about a “scene” stop and ask a question or two, and show the pictures that match what they children just heard, after they have answered the questions.

I think it is a good idea for young, beginning readers to use their fingers to point to words as they read.  I think as long as they are matching their finger to the word, and not just memorizing a passage, it can be useful to the child.  I can be helpful in sounding out words, by moving the finger along the word, as they make out the sounds.

2. Describe the 4-stage model of early literacy.

Stage 1: Beginning consonant knowledge; readers use the first letter-sound of a word.  Able to begin matching spoken words with written words while finger-point reading familiar text

Stage 2: Concept of word in text; readers begin to learn not only the beginning word sound, but also the end of word sound.  The reader is able to read the words as he is finger-point reading.

Stage 3: Phoneme segmentation ability: Once the   reader is able to read the beginning and ending sounds, they are then able to look to the middle of the word, and look at the medial vowels.

Stage 4: Word recognition; the reader is able to completely and accurately store words in memory.

3. Describe what this means: “It is not in the telling, but it is in the very act of reading that Jack will actually learn how to read.” p. 10

You can’t tell someone how to read.  They have to experience it themselves to learn how to do it.  You can provide them with the tools to learn the letters, words, and sounds, but they must actually read to master it.

4. What instruction helps develop beginning readers’ awareness of words and phonemes?

Read Aloud, Model Finger-Point Reading of  Familiar Texts, Echo Reading, Choral Reading, Partner Reading, Buddy Reading, Text Copies, Concept of Word Center, Cut-up-a-Sentence, Be the Sentence

Children increase their vocabulary by incidental encounters with words that they see in the text they are reading.  Another way they increase their vocabulary is by hearing adults say and explain words to them

2. What evidence is there that reading aloud to children can increase their vocabularies?

There were several studies done on reading listed in the article.  They all basically said that children increase their vocabularies by hearing the same words multiple times.  So reading the same story aloud more that once, over a few days, can increase their vocabularies.

3. Does it matter what teachers read to students?  In other words, if you are reading aloud to students in your kindergarten class, should you care about the richness in the language that a book does or does not have?  What kinds of books are best to read aloud to students if we want to build their vocabularies?

It does matter what teachers read to students.  You want the book to be around their reading level so they can understand what is going on.  You don’t want to choose a book that is too below their reading level, because they will be bored with the book.  You also don’t want to choose a book that is way above the reading level.  If the students can’t understand what is happening in the story, they aren’t going to understand it, and won’t enjoy the story.

4. Why do you think you should focus on emphasizing vocabulary in your lessons with students?  Does this apply to read aloud activities?

Children learn new vocabulary when they hear the words.  Reading aloud to children allows them to hear new words and to learn new words.  Read aloud activities introduce new words to students, which is important for developing a wider vocabulary.

5. What role will reading to students play in your teaching?

I think reading aloud will be a big part of my classroom.  This article showed that reading to students plays an important role in helping them learn new vocabulary.