The “Big Five”: What is essential?
C&I 273: Spring 2008 - Wutz
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics & Alphabetic Principle
Vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
üMeans an awareness of sounds in language
üBegins very early in life
üIs an early indicator of children’s later reading success
üPhonemes = the smallest unit of spoken language
“Phonemic awareness is the single best predictor of first grade reading achievement.”
-National Reading Panel Report
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
üNeed not involve print.
üProvide experiences & game-like activities for young children to play with language and become aware of the similarities & differences of sounds in language.
üThink of rhyming, alliteration, segmenting, combining, manipulating sounds.
üNot appropriate to spend time teaching this after children can do it easily.
Levels of Phonemic Awareness
üRhyming words (age 3-4)
üSyllables (age 4-5)
üOnsets & Rimes - Sound substitution (age 6)
üSound Isolation - Awareness of beginning, middle, ending sounds (age 6)
üPhonemic Blending (age 6)
üPhoneme Segmentation (age 6-7)
üPhoneme Manipulation (age 7+)
Phonics
üInvolves deliberately teaching letter-sound correspondences: how letters (graphemes) are linked to sounds (phonemes)
üThe purpose of phonics instruction is to learn and apply the alphabetic principle in reading & writing.
üUse Whole-Part-Whole teaching methods
üHelps students identify words in print by “sounding out” the phonemes, blending them together, and saying the word
üDirect instruction in using phonics can usually be phased out by about 3rd grade.
The Language of Phonics
üConsonants (ex: b,c,d,f)
üLetters that are not vowels
üGenerally have a firm sound because of restriction to the breath channel when spoken
üConsonant Blends or Clusters (ex: gr, sl, scr) - each consonant retains its own sound
üConsonant Digraphs (ex: sh, ch, ck, ng) - consonants work together to make one sound
üVowels (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and w)
üSpeech sounds that are made by an unrestricted vocal passage way
üDouble Vowels (ex: ee, ea, ai, oa)
üDiphthongs (ex: au, oi, ow, oy, aw, oo) - vowels that make own special sound
üShort Vowels / Long Vowels
ü“R” controlled Vowels (ex: ir, ar, er) - vowels followed by R make their own special sound
üPrefixes
üSuffixes
üCompound Words
üSyllables
üSight Words or Sight Vocabulary - Words that are so familiar to readers that they are recognized instantly and automatically
üHigh Frequency Words - Those words that appear most often in our written language
The Language of Phonics
üOnset and Rime (Word Families)
üOnset—all letters before a vowel in a word
üRime—what follows the onset
üIn the word sing, the onset is “s” and the rime is “ing”
üIn the word string, the onset is “str” and the rime is “ing”
Vocabulary
ü2 types of vocabulary - oral & print.
üMuch easier to comprehend in oral form, as a listener of a read-aloud, then as a reader.
Promoting Oral Language
üProvide a language-rich classroom.
üRead aloud daily.
üProvide experiential knowledge.
üModel the use of rich vocabulary.
üElaborate upon words they already know.
üProvide adequate response time. (Wait.)
üPromote questions & conversations.
üUse open-ended questions.
üAsk children to retell, describe, justify, etc.
Fluency
üReading with speed, accuracy, appropriate expression.
üFluent reading sounds like talking.
üDepends on easy recognition of words.
ü“Solving problems on the run.”
--Fountas & Pinnell
Teaching Fluency
üDon’t just assume fluency will happen without practice.
üFocus on fluency at all ages.
üModel what good reading sounds like & let children practice.
Comprehension
“Intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader.” (Harris & Hodges, 1995).
Teaching Comprehension
üRight from the start, teach that reading is thinking.
üTeach students to monitor their own reading.
üTeach strategies for constructing meaning.
üTeach various text structures.
Comprehension Strategies
üMaking connections
üMaking predictions
üForming questions
üForming images
üSummarizing
üMaking inferences