1. Phonemic awareness and phonics
A) Teach phonemic awareness directly in kindergarten. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of elementary speech sounds. Some educators advocate programs that teach phonemic awareness first, others recommend that it be embedded in phonics instruction. What is important, however, is that the skill be mastered in the course of leaning to read.
B) Teach, explicitly and in isolation, the single speech sound-spelling represented by each letter or letter combination. Provide practice in recognizing these speech sound-spelling relationships in decodable text.
A Headsprout example: A sequence from the rigorously developed on-line reading program, Headsprout Early Reading™, demonstrates 1) the acquisition of letter-sound correspondence represented by both single letter and letters in combination (phonics), and 2) finding the order in which sounds occur in words (phonemic awareness).
In the example labeled "s, ee" below, notice how the sound is presented with three pairings of first seeing then hearing the letters and sounds, followed by three parings of hearing then seeing the sounds and letters. The learner is then asked to select the letter when the sound is heard, and finally, the letters are picked from a group of similarly looking letters. This is extremely important for making sure the learner really can recognize the letters corresponding to the sound, and to prepare the learner for the next skill of finding sounds in words. The example labeled "making a word" shows how words are made of sounds that occur in a specific phonemic order.
A Flexiphonics phonemic awareness & phonics example:
2. Finding sounds in words: segmenting
Teach frequent, highly regular speech sound-spelling relationships systematically, progressing from easier to more difficult, and provide practice reading them daily, first in isolation and then in the context of words and sentences.
A Headsprout example: Once isolated sounds are learned, it is important to provide opportunities to find the sounds in actual words, which is a more difficult task called segmenting. Once a child is able to find the sound, it is important that this skill be practiced so that it becomes nearly automatic.
An illustration of first finding sounds in words (segmenting) is found below in the example segmenting activity labeled "rest" from Headsprout Early Reading. Notice how the learner must find letters representing sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of the words. It is very important to vary the location of the sounds in the example words.
Segmenting example:
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| rest |
3. Blending
Teach students directly how to sound out words by blending the words' speech sound-spellings together sequentially from left to right, and then provide practice using words composed of only those speech sound-spelling relationships that have been systematically taught.
A Headsprout example: Blending is often difficult to teach. Part of the difficulty comes from how the individual sounds are pronounced. They should be pronounced in a way that "stretches" out the sound. These stretched sounds can then be said so as to produce a continuous sounding blend that is recognizable as a word. In the following illustrations, labeled "sees" and "ran" below, notice how the sound is held to facilitate blending, and then the word is said "fast." Notice the instruction to the learner, and how long the finger in the example stays under a sound, prompting the learner to say it as it is modeled. Notice also how learners are asked to match how they said the word to how a model says the word. This is to facilitate learning to listen to how they, themselves, pronounce the word.
Once learners master "sounding-out" words, many new decodable words can be first introduced in blending exercises that also include vocabulary development. The example below, labeled "pancakes," demonstrates how blending and vocabulary development can be integrated.
Blending example:
4. Build reading fluency
A) Provide connected, decodable text for students to use to practice the speech sound-spelling relationships they have learned.
B) Teach reading comprehension using interesting teacher-read stories that include words most students have not yet learned to read, but which are part of their spoken vocabulary.
A Headsprout example: While children are learning to read it is important that they have text they can actually read. Unfortunately, many stories written for children do not contain leveled, decodable, words. Some irregular words are necessary and should be taught separately, but it is best if most of the words in a story comprise sounds that the beginning reader has been taught.
It is also important the learners be exposed to text above their reading level. Making sure they are paying attention to the text is the challenge. One way to do this to involve the child by providing sentences the child can read in the context of a more complex story. Children then listen to the story and follow along, as it will lead to an opportunity for them to read.
The "Sprout Stories" found at the link below demonstrate three different story types.
The "Headsprout Readers" match stories read as a part of the teaching sequence. They give young readers the opportunity to pick up a small book that they can confidently read to teachers, parents, friends, or relatives.
The "Read with Me" stories provide the context for guided reading in a way that successfully involves the learner in more complex text by providing an opportunity for them to read small parts as they are listening to a longer story.
The "Companion Stories" present words they have previously decoded along with novel decodable words in the context of brand new stories, and help children build reading fluency. Children learn to decode new words in context and to practice newly learned vocabulary words.
It is also important that children be introduced to different types of text, including narrative and expository and poetry. The Headsprout stories depicted below show the progression to all three forms of text
Story reading example:
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| Stories |
Excellent reading speed and spoken inflexion is a central characteristic of a fluent reader. An effective strategy for attaining fluency is to have the learner listen to a well-modeled passage, then read the same passage attempting to reflect the rate and inflexion of the model. Using timed passages where the learner's own performance sets the baseline for improvement can be an effective way to achieve fluent reading.
A Headsprout example: Providing repeated opportunities to read familiar text fluently is an important feature of building reading confidence and fluency. The goal here is not to decode new words, but to provide the experience of reading smoothly with the appropriate speed.
In the example below labeled "Fluency practice," notice that children first hear a model read a familiar passage; they then read it and set a baseline time. The learner reads the passage again. If the duration is shorter, the child is congratulated for reading faster. If the duration is not shorter, the child is congratulated for practicing. The model then rereads the passage. Now that the child has read the passage twice, hearing the correctly read passage points out any discrepancy between the learners performance and the model's performance. The learner is then given a third opportunity to "self-correct" and read the passage again.
Building fluency example:
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| Fluency practice |
A note on fluency. The word fluency is often understood to refer to the reading of stories smoothly without hesitation and using the proper inflection. While important, there is another sense of the word that is important as well. This meaning is close to the meaning of "automatic." That is, the learner can find the sounds or words without having to stop and think about them.
A Headsprout example: Research has shown that when the component skills that make up the more complex skill are fluent, the complex skill requires far less attention for it to become fluent as well. Therefore, it is important that enough practice be provided at the early skill level so as to increase the likelihood that these component skills become fluent. Two sequences from Headsprout Early Reading show how timed-practice can be arranged on the early sounds and words to encourage this type of component fluency. The first provides practice finding sounds in words, the other identifying words.
Component Fluency example:
5. Decoding and comprehension
Teach decoding and comprehension skills concurrently, but separately, until reading becomes fluent such that comprehension skills learned through teacher-read literature can be applied to the students' own reading once they become fluent decoders.
A Headsprout example: Teaching comprehension to young learners begins with introducing the concept that sounds can be put together to make words that are in their spoken vocabulary. However, it is also important for them to recognize that words can have meaning, even if they don't know what it is at the moment. For young learners this can be accomplished by using learned sounds to make the name of new cartoon characters. Most children understand the concept of a name. By teaching words that first have no meaning, such as /l/ and /ee/ make lee, and then introducing a character named "Lee," young learners can be introduced to the concept of meaning for words for which they may not be familiar. This processes is demonstrated in the two examples labeled "lee" and "Lee" below.
Word meaning example:
Another important aspect of comprehension is to show that when words are presented in sentences, they have meaning not found when they are simply presented as a list of words. Poor comprehenders often treat sentences as just that, lists of words said left to right. By having children first say words at random, and then having them read the same words in a sentence, it becomes clear that sentences are not simply lists of words, but units of meaning. It is important in the early stages of teaching comprehension that "each" sentence read be tied to a comprehension exercise. Assessing comprehension requires a response from the learner that indicates understanding. For example, if "Look at the ceiling" is written on a blackboard and a learner says, "Look at the ceiling," that is decoding; if on the other hand, the learner "looks up," that is a form of comprehension.
It is important that comprehension activities begin being tied to reading on a sentence-by-sentence basis and not wait for global questions at the end of a story. It is also important, however, that children experience the sense of completion that comes from reading an entire story.
The first sequence below, labeled "friends," illustrates how meaning can be introduced first by contrasting words read as a sentence by a model, with the same words said in a random sequence by the learner, and finally, with the words read as a sentence by the learner. After a reading a few sentences, the learner can be asked to engage in an activity that shows the meaning of each sentence; in this case it is matching an action represented in a picture to the sentence.
The second sequence, labeled "story," shows how story reading can be combined with opportunities to read and sound-out words in a new story. Notice how both employ comprehension indicators for each sentence, and in the case of the story reading, without interrupting the story. When reading through the story, try pausing on a decodable word until given instruction by the program.
Sentence & story comprehension example:
After sentence comprehension is well established other forms of more complex comprehension can be introduced.
A Headsprout example: The example below labeled "understanding stories" shows how a familiar indicator, picking out pictures that represent story meaning, can be used to expand comprehension activities from a sentence to an entire story.
Intermediate comprehension example:
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| Understanding stories |
Important to understanding is building and expressing meaning. Comprehension is facilitated when children can make their own sentences.
Headsprout example: The activity below labeled "making meaning" shows how quite young children can be given the opportunity to use words to build meaning by choosing words to make a sentence that produces a picture, often animated, that represents the meaning of the sentence. Notice that after children construct sentences and see the appropriate picture presented, they are presented a picture first and then build a sentence to express the meaning of the picture.
Constructing & expressing meaning example:
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| Making meaning |
Other, even more challenging, comprehension exercises can now be introduced to help prepare learners for success with the kind of advanced comprehension activities that characterize advanced readers. One such activity is choosing a word that fills in a blank to complete a sentence that bests describes a picture. Another activity involves reading a passage, reading a question, then reading and choosing the best answer from among similar alternatives.
Headsprout example: If introduced and presented systematically, rather young learners can come to understand quite complex stories (for their age). Notice how both comprehension activities below, labeled "sentence completion" & "multiple choice" provide support for students who make errors on their initial choices. It is important that instructive comprehension activities be learning activities, not simply test activities. In the process, Headsprout prepares learners for success with standardized tests, not by "teaching to the test," but by providing them the skills and strategies necessary for reading success.
Advanced comprehension examples:
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| sentence completion |
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multiple choice |
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