WHAT BEHAVIORS AND SKILLS DO

EMERGENT READERS EXHIBIT?

Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 7 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc.

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF PRINT KNOWLEDGE

• Print Awareness• Print Knowledge• Integration and Fluency

Benedictine University 2

Adapted from: Barr, R. et. al (2007). Reading Diagnosis for Teachers: An Instructional Approach(5th Edition.) Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

PRINT AWARENESSA child who possesses print awareness:• Understands that print is meaningful• Orients to text• Has concept of story• Uses “story talk” when “reading” books• Has ability to rhyme • Has auditory discrimination of beginning/ending

sounds• Engages in environmental reading

Benedictine University 3

A child who possesses print knowledge:• Has alphabet knowledge• Has sound/symbol knowledge• Has some concept of words• Has some sight vocabulary• Has limited decoding

Benedictine University 4

PRINT KNOWLEDGE

INTEGRATION AND FLUENCYA child who possesses integration and fluency skills:• Has growing orthographic knowledge• Has decoding strategies• Uses contextual strategies• Uses “cross-checking” of cues• Has increasing sight vocabulary• Increases reading rates and prosody

Benedictine University 5

EMERGENT READER LITERACY GOALS

• Develop language and pre-literacy skills:– Increase exposure to books and print– Foster phonological awareness– Develop alphabet knowledge– Model literacy behaviors through read-

alouds– Encourage writing and drawing

Benedictine University 6

Literacy Goals

WHAT STRATEGIES FOSTER EMERGENT LITERACY?

Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 7 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc.

STRATEGIES FOR EMERGENT READERS

• Read Alouds• Shared Readings• Guided Reading• Independent Writing• Shared/Interactive Writing

Benedictine University 8

SHEILA OWEN’S KINDERGARTEN CLASS

• Please click on the web link below or cut and paste the link into your web browser– http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1724

• As you watch the video of Sheila Owen’s Kindergarten Class, use the observational checklist to record examples of the following literacy teaching practices:– Read-Aloud– Shared Reading– Guided Reading– Independent Reading– Interactive Writing– Independent Writing

Benedictine University 9

HOW CAN… PHONOLOGICAL

AWARENESS, LETTER KNOWLEDGE AND

CONCEPTS ABOUT PRINT BE DEVELOPED IN

EMERGENT READERS?Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 7 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing

Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION FOR EMERGENT READERS

• Direct instruction is especially important in the following areas:– Concepts about print/literacy– Phonological awareness– Letter knowledge

Benedictine University 11

CONCEPTS ABOUT PRINT/LITERACY• Book orientation– Front and back of book– Cover and title page– Print and pictures

• Print-direction concepts– Print is read left-to-right and top-to-bottom

• General print concepts– Words can be written down and read– Words = sounds– Letters represent sounds– Upper case vs. lower case letters– Function of punctuation– Words are composed of lettersBenedictine University 12

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND READING

• Characteristics of students having difficulty learning to read– Cannot detect separate sounds in words (phonemic

awareness)– Are developmentally unable to think of language as

an object itself – words as words and sounds as sounds (metalinguistic ability)

Benedictine University 13

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS TASKS• Rhyming• Blending onsets and rimes• Segmenting words– Syllables– Onset and rime– Individual sounds

Benedictine University 14

BUILDING PHONOLOGICAL SKILLS

• Phonological awareness: – Grows out of vocabulary knowledge• The more words that a student knows, the easier it is to

develop phonological awareness– Is necessary for initial reading• However, it doesn’t need to be mastered to begin reading

– Should not be taught as an isolated skill, • It should be combined with reading and writing

Benedictine University 15

RHYMEStrategies to build rhyming skills:• Read and discuss nursery rhymes, humorous verses, jump-

rope rhymes• Begin to stress the rhyming elements in words• Teach the language used to talk about rhyme (same, sounds,

etc.)• Build sets of rhyming words

– bag, rag, tag, flag

• ID words that rhyme• Sort rhymes

Benedictine University 16

BLENDING ONSETS AND RIMESStrategies to build blending skills:• Begin breaking apart words as you say them– b-ee, h-at, b-ook

• Create riddles– I am thinking of a word that begins with

b and rhymes with toy

Benedictine University 17

BEGINNING SOUNDS Strategies to build beginning sound knowledge:• Use names to identify beginning sounds– Is this _eth or Beth?

• Use alphabet books to find all the words that begin with a specific letter

• Sort pictures and objects with the same beginning sound into groups

• During the day, repeat words that have the same beginning sound – Monday and Math

• Say a rime and have students make as many words as they can by adding initial consonants

Benedictine University 18

SEGMENTATIONStrategies to build segmentation skills:• Have students clap out syllables• Have students identify the number of sounds

in individual words • Have students identify the mouth movements

to make different sounds• Use the Elkonin technique

Benedictine University 19

LETTER KNOWLEDGEStrategies to build letter knowledge:• Teach letters by their distinctive shapes– Slants, curves, open or closed lines– Allow students to compare letters to see their differences

• Start by teaching students the letters in their own names

• Keep a wide variety of items with letters in the room • Read alphabet books

Benedictine University 20

TYPICAL READING RECOVERY LESSON

• Fluent Write• Reading of Familiar Books• Rereading of Previous Day’s Book

and taking a Running Record• Working with Letters• Writing a Story• Reading a New Book

Benedictine University 21

WHAT ‘PREVENTION PROGRAMS’ ARE

APPROPRIATE FOR PRESCHOOLERS?

Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 7 and 14– Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc.

EARLY INTERVENTION“The difficulties of the young child might be

more easily overcome if he had practiced the error behavior less often, had less to unlearn

and relearn, and still had reasonable confidence in his own ability.”

Marie Clay developer of Reading Recovery (1985)

Benedictine University 23

EMERGENT READERS PREVENTIVE PROGRAMS

• Example of Preventive programs– Language Enrichment Activities Program (LEAP)– High Scope– Opening the World of Learning (OWL)– Webbing into literacy– Reading Recovery

Benedictine University 24

READING RECOVERY• Basics:– One-on-one instruction– 30 minutes a day– Five days a week for 12-20 weeks

• Success:– 81% success rate– 84% success rate with Spanish program– Students who still struggled often benefited from the

addition of a systematic phonological awareness and phonics program

Benedictine University 25

EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS FOR EARLY READERS INCLUDE…

• Initial Assessment• Class size of 3-5 students• Instruction in:

– Phonological awareness– Decoding– High-frequency words– Essential conventions of print

• Reading and re-reading of books• Opportunities to teach word-analysis and comprehension strategies• One-on-one and independent reading opportunities• Writing component• Parental involvement• Ongoing assessment

Benedictine University 26