Morris (Ch. 2)
Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.
* This means that teachers would be preparing those children who need the most help, or those with little prior literary experience, for the reading challenges they will face in first grade.
What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?
* Some activities that should be used in a kindergarten reading program include reading aloud to the students, contextual reading, alphabet, phoneme awareness, and letter-sound correspondence, and early writing.
Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)
* Reading aloud helps children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surroundings.
* It provides them with a vocabulary to name the new experiences.
* It acquaints them with the characteristic rhythms and structures of written language.
* The child can create a mental image and sustain it over time.
* It also allows them to use language symbols to create a mental world beyond the present context.
Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?
* It gives students a concrete, supportive and meaningful way to begin their educational career, and hopefully jumpstart a love of reading.
What is echo reading?
* This is when the teacher reads a passage and then the child reads that same passage over, mimicking or echoing what the teacher just read.
Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA)
* The LEA is based on activities and stories that are developed from personal experiences of the students. The teacher writes the story down as the students tell her what to write. They then read the story together, with the teacher finger pointing to the words. It helps student understand that what they think and say can be written. It is predictable and readable material using the child’s natural language.
Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)
* The teacher uses a big book, with oversized words and illustrations to read aloud to the children. As she’s reading she finger points. The student’s follow along with the teacher. They read this story numerous times each time the students become more involved by reading along.
Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?
* These two methods complement each other nicely. The consistent use of each will extend children’s experiences and nurture their language development, and also help them master some basic print-related understandings.
Why is finger pointing so important for early readers?
* It is important because it helps students to realize that they may not be on track with the words they are reading when they are still reading but run out of words to point to. They learn to go back in the story and sound out each individual word. It helps emergent readers learn to look at print and follow along.
Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?
* I believe some students would do okay with independent reading, especially those who are advanced who have had help at home. The students who have not had any extra support at home would not benefit from independent reading. I think it would just make them more frustrated.
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Morris (Ch. 3)
What does Fraatz (1987) mean by “paradox of collective instruction”?
* This means that the teachers must provide reading instruction for everyone, while simultaneously addressing individual differences among their students.
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 procession so that the mind can concentrate on the meaning of what is being read.
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 – the child recognizes the letters of the alphabet
* Concept of word in text – reads target words in text, after reading whole sentence
* Spelling – teacher calls out six words and student tries to spell it out
* Word recognition – child attempts to read 10 words as the teacher points to them one at a time
What are some of the challenges of small-group instruction that face students and teachers?
* This can cause self-esteem issues for some of the lower level students. They may be ashamed to participate because they don’t feel adequate.
How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?
* Round robin is where the each student in a small group reads a sentence or two or a paragraph. The teacher helps with unknown words. Some students may get frustrated if they don’t know words in the story. In the SOR, the first day the students do a picture walk with the teacher, then they echo read one page at a time. On day two the teacher pairs a strong reader with a weak reader and they do partner reading. Then on the third day they get back together as a group and read their assigned part of the text.
Why is appropriate leveling of books important and how has it been used in intervention and classroom settings?
* Appropriate leveling of books helps the students to be able to read material that is on their level and not something above and beyond, which can cause frustration, or something too low for them, which does not give them any challenges.
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 sequence of word study instruction is beginning consonants, word families, short vowels, and one-syllable vowel patterns. There is an overlap built into the instructional sequence that facilitates the learner’s movement from one conceptual level to the next.
How could you assess where a beginning reader’s is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?
* Begin by analyzing children’s invented spellings. By giving the students a spelling assessment, the teacher can see where they fall in the developmental sequence.
Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.
* Picture sorts teach beginning consonant sounds, can sort by beginning sound to letter.
* Short vowel word sorts
What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?
* Word sorting helps students learn their sight words. It also helps them master the high-frequency short- and long- vowel patterns. It is the easiest entry into word analysis.
What is instructional pacing? What factors were found by Barr (1974, 1982) to affect effective pacing?
* Pacing refers to the teacher’s skill in guiding the students through a set of graded reading materials. Barr’s four factors are (1) difficulty of the classroom reading materials, (2) time allocated to reading instruction, (3) number of low readers in the classroom, and (4) the teacher’s years of experience teaching.
In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?
* Writing can help children develop phoneme awareness. It allows readers to assume the stance of the author. It affords them continual opportunities to read and reread text. It provides children a purposeful arena for experimenting with, practicing, and eventually internalizing letter-sounds, spelling patterns, and sight words.
What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.
* Word recognition task – child attempts to read a list of 40 words graded in difficulty from early first grade to mid-second grade. Tested until child misses 7 words in a row
* Spelling task – Child attempts to spell a list of 15 words
* Passage reading task – child reads aloud up to six passages that progress in difficulty from early first grade to late second grade.
