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Becoming Real Readers
Pages 61-126

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From page 61...
... This chapter provides a view of children learning to read in kindergarten through third grade, using information from the latest research but made concrete through vignettes and activity examples. Our goal is to provide families and communities with a basis for understanding and helping out as teachers work with children who are becoming llrealll readers.
From page 62...
... Bulletin boards offer children word attack strategies, with lists of spelling patterns and rhymes. Each child has a journal filled with interesting writing.
From page 63...
... During this time, he takes the opportunity to move around the classroom and provide personalized attention.With one child, he reviews the previous day's word attack lesson. With a small group, he sits down on the floor and begins asking questions, helping them make meaningful connections between the literature and their own lives.
From page 64...
... These materials must be of high quality and of a difficulty level appropriate to the individual. Repeated readings of easy texts help children practice and assimilate what they/ye learned.
From page 65...
... As for the earlier sets of activities, the main purpose is to illustrate the concepts underlying reading instruction in kindergarten. We expect that the individual activities included win be helpful for most children; however, they are not a substitute for a comprehensive curriculum.
From page 66...
... You can turn His into a major bookmaking project, collecting oral stories that children dictate, illustrate, and share with one another. And you can do frequent short dictations, writing down children/s captions or titles for their artwork, or writing their shopping lists for pretend play.
From page 68...
... ~ Tell children that you are going to play a listening game with them.
From page 69...
... Here are some words you can use: Starting words Words requiring removal Words requiring addition late ate plate gray ray great pin in spin (or pinch) tore or store .
From page 70...
... into a meaningful one syllable target word. Tell children that you are going to say a word broken into parts and that you need them to put the word back together.
From page 71...
... ._ i.. dolphin tepee L: Activities Help children develop the knowledge and vocabulary they win need to become successful readers.
From page 72...
... .E" Sociodramatic play activities give children a chance to develop ~;l language and literacy skins, a deeper understanding of narrative, and their own personal responses to stories. Encourage children to retell, reenact, or dramatize stories or parts of stories they have read.
From page 73...
... Provide ample time for children to create scripts and scenarios. Develop their background knowledge for the play setting Encourage and guide rehearsals of dramatic retellings.
From page 74...
... Draw children/s attention to the forms of print, such as punctuation, letters, the space around words, chapter title placement, the line length differences between prose and poetry. Provide repeated readings of the same story so children can gain mastery of the narrative, ideas, and language.
From page 75...
... NDoes anyone have relatives who like to give hugs when they come an visit? N Her purpose is to help children learn to connect information and events in texts to real life.
From page 76...
... Stock your class library center with a variety of materials, including storybooks, nonfiction, poems, newspapers, and magazines. · Other activity centers can include print from everyday life, such as take-out menus, this week/e cafeteria menu, seasonal toy catalogs, and class rosters that are kept current.
From page 78...
... ~ _ _ Or . ~.~ ~ - _ ~ _ _ ,~ Letter Recognition, Decoding, and Word Recognition By the end of kindergarten, children should be able to name most of the letters of the alphabet, no matter what order they come in, no matter if they are in uppercase or lowercase.
From page 79...
... -it -~ 0-Ig0O)
From page 80...
... NO OUT RIGHT . Help children get increasingly comfortable with recognizing and ~j;l naming all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
From page 81...
... Becoming Be| revealed, he or she gets to turn over another two cards, trying to get a match. Play until all cards have been matched.
From page 82...
... Put the word on the wall with other words like llthell that will occur freqently in text. These words should be taught as sight words so they are recognized instantly.
From page 83...
... W7:~,: A_ am its card >55< ~.
From page 84...
... Toward this end, we list a particular set of accomplishments that the successful learner should exhibit by the end of kindergarten. Because of their importance, we present them in fun, as published in Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Academy Press, 1998~.
From page 85...
... Makes predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories. Demonstrates understanding that spoken words consist of sequences of phonemes.
From page 86...
... First Grade: An Important Year PHI don't think there is one best method of teaching reading or one best program. What I have done over my 27 years is pick what I think works and incorporate it.
From page 87...
... Teaching this age group, in particular, presents major challenges. In just about every school in America, some kids enter the first grade reading on a third grade level, whereas others are not able to reliably recognize all the letters of the alphabet.
From page 88...
... In addition, first graders need intensive opportunities to read, each and every day, meaningful and engaging texts, both aloud with others and independently. In first grade and throughout the early grades, teachers should include explicit instruction on comprehension strategies, such as summarizing the main idea, predicting, and drawing inferences.
From page 89...
... Pi row A~c~cem pace There's a birthday in the family today. Larry's little brother Eva n has turned four.
From page 90...
... . Tell children you are going to play the Name Game.
From page 91...
... NYou're darn right it is,Nsays the teacher. NThis is the gift I give children the alphabetic principle.
From page 92...
... OUT RIGHT . First Graders On another day you and the child might keep the picture concealed at first.
From page 93...
... from the class library or from home, a if wordyll comic book, an entry from a children/s encyclopedia, the school lunch menu for the week, the weather report from the daily paper, an article from a children/s magazine, the ridges from the Sunday comics, the Saturday morning listing from a TV guide, the monthly event calendar from the school or some other community organization, a menu from a local favorite restaurant, a recipe, a shopping list, a story written by a child, directions for playing a board game, a class roster, a report card form, a preprinted standardized test. · Ask questions that win help the children discuss the meaning of what is read but also to notice the different structures and conventions.
From page 94...
... Decoding, Word Recognition, and Oral Reading During first grade, the emphasis is on moving from pretend reading to conventional reading, relying less on others to read, and more on oneself. By the end of the year, every first grader should be able to read aloud with comprehension and reasonable fluency any text that is appropriately designed for the first grade, at least on a second reading.
From page 95...
... In this way, children practice speDing and reading 12 to 15 additional words each day. One at a time, the teacher displays the correctly spelled word, taking care to point out letter-sound correspondences and speDing patterns.
From page 96...
... By the end of this year, first grade children should be reading and comprehending both fiction and nonfiction that is appropriately designed for firstgrade level. They have an expanding language repertoire, and they should be spending at least 10 minutes reading aloud to someone each day.
From page 97...
... Becoming Be| Activities .E" Give children the chance to thoroughly master more difficult texts ED through repeated readings. Most first graders love to read the same books over again, particularly if they are good ones, so don't be afraid of repetition.
From page 98...
... It helps them build their vocabularies. It requires word attack strategies.
From page 99...
... 1. Prereading Activity Help children develop background knowledge and vocabulary they need to understand the text they are about to read.
From page 100...
... _UG OUT RIGHT First Graders . sentence, i,The family waited three long hours.// Isn't an hour always 60 minutes?
From page 101...
... Relate texts to their own lives: encourage children to make connections between the texts and themselves, their homes, their neighborhoods, their feelings and aspirations. If children read an illustrated essay about animal tracks, ask them to talk about the animals and birds in their backyard or neighborhood, and what sort of tracks they might see.
From page 102...
... Yes, first grade children should be expected to correctly spell previously studied words and spelling patterns in their final writing products. But experimenting with spelling in the primary grades provides an invaluable opportunity for new readers to understand and extend their lessons on letter-sound and soundspelling relationships.
From page 103...
... At the end of His session, have children date their work and put it back in their files. On another day, take out the list that the children developed and read it back to the class, giving them the opportunity to add or change things.
From page 104...
... OUT RIGHT Ye mi~ c~+ A` E~ he .d manly she-..:: ~ f ~_, _ , ~ A; ~f ~e In -A hat Pi ~5 ( I.. r f he- n (~ ~a nish ~ o } or ~ d ~ ~ ~ ~ - [u ~ - -mu serrv Bum, c~.
From page 105...
... . ~-__ -- A ~ Hi_ ~ ~ ~..~^ =3;~ Have children write and read their own writing.
From page 106...
... A particular set of accomplishments that the successful learner should exhibit by the end of first grade are shown in the following table. Because of their importance, we present them in full, as published in Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Academy Press, 1998~.
From page 107...
... Accurately decodes orthographically regular, one-syllable words and nonsense words (e.g.,Nsit,NNzotN) , using print-sound mappings to sound out unknown words.
From page 108...
... In third grade, His instruction should extend to spellings and meanings of prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Beyond securing, or resecuring, these skins, the second and third grade curricula have two major goals: to help children build automatic word recognition, speDing skills, and read ing fluency.
From page 109...
... ~ l rats .: it.;, · ~ Lot-.
From page 110...
... And we have rules in our book clubs: you must always be nice; you can't interrupt; you have tofollow along. Then everyone feels comfortable, even if the abilities are mixed.,, Utmost of the work I do on fluency happens during these sessions when it's just three or four of us in a group.
From page 111...
... But how we go about it makes all the difference. Teaching specific words may improve children/s knowledge of those particular words taught but that is all it does.
From page 112...
... . create a literate environment in which the children have access to a variety of reading and writing materials; present intentional instruction for reading and writing, using trade books and other literature and providing practice using games and activities separate from connected text; carefully choose instructional-level text from a variety of materials, with a reliance on literature, big books, and linking reading and writing activities; create multiple opportunities for sustained reading practice in a variety of formats, such as choral, individual, and partner reading; adjust the intensity of instruction to meet the needs of individual students; encourage children to consciously monitor their understanding; and competently manage activities, behavior, and class room resources.
From page 113...
... Language, Comprehension, and Response to Text Children should be motivated enough to read voluntarily for their own interests and purposes. They should read to find out answers to their questions and be wed acquainted with the purposes of many different print resources, such as dictionaries, atlases, chapter books, weather reports-even joke books.
From page 114...
... They are rapidly incorporating the spelling patterns of the words they have studied into new words they attempt. Increasingly, they are becoming writers, using formal language patterns, such as quotes and proper verb forms, in their writing products.
From page 115...
... Language, Comprehension, and Response to Text Most third graders are reading long fiction and chapter books independently, ideally at least 20 minutes every day outside school. During class, they are taking part in creative responses to texts, such as dramatizations, oral presentations, and fantasy play.
From page 117...
... With assistance, they are reviewing, editing, revising, and clarifying their own writing, including attention to spelling, mechanics, and presentation. Previously studied words and spelling patterns appear correctly in their finished products.
From page 118...
... Shows sensitivity to using formal language patterns in place of oral language patterns at appropriate spots in own writing (e.g., de-contextualizing sentences, conventions for quoted speech, literary language forms, proper verb forms)
From page 119...
... Correctly spells previously studied words and spelling patterns in own writing. Begins to incorporate literacy words and language patterns in own writing (e.g., elaborates descriptions; uses figurative wording)
From page 120...
... program set the stage for classroom use of comprehensive literacy software programs for use in beginning reading instruction. The development of comprehensive literacy software for preprimary and primarygrade literacy has been accelerating, together with the more recent surge in the p ow er / cost r all 0 of ~ esktop c amp users .
From page 121...
... Provides young readers with practice in alphabetizing, rhyming, identifying long and short vowel sounds, and creating compound words. Provides students with word-processing, color graphics, sound effects, and music for use in creating their own stories.
From page 122...
... Yet districts currently spend less than one half of one percent of their resources on staff development. Teacher education must be viewed in a new way: as a career-Ion" undertaking, rather than something that is completed with the receipt of a bachelor/s or ,..
From page 123...
... It is absolutely essential that teachers at all grade levels understand the course of literacy development and the role of instruction in optimizing it. State certification requirements and teacher education curricula should be changed to incorporate this knowledge base, including, at a minimum: · information about language development as it relates to literacy; · information about the relationship between early literacy behavior and conventional reading; · information about the features of an alphabetic writing system and other writing systems; · information about both phonology and morphology in relation to spelling; · information about comprehension and its dependence on other aspects of reading and on language skills; · information about phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, and writing development; · procedures for ongoing, in-class assessment of children/s reading abilities; · information on how to interpret and modify instruction according to norm-referenced and individually referenced assessment outcomes, including both formal and informal in-class assessments and progressmonitoring measures used by specialists;
From page 124...
... Beyond traditional workshops, districts and schools should consider teacher research projects, discussion groups, school-university partnerships, and ways to encourage individual teacher efforts toward improvement (e.g., certification by the National Board for Professional Teacher Standards)


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