5 Critical Components for Reading

Resource List

 

 

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Information:

1. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate speech sounds orally.  It can be done with your eyes closed!

2.  Phonemic awareness is one type of phonological awareness 

(other types include: identifying words in a sentence, oral rhymes, & identifying syllables). 

3.  Phonemic awareness often develops along a continuum similar to the following (from easy to hard): phoneme isolation & identity, phoneme segmentation & blending, phoneme addition/deletion & substitution

4.  Teaching blending and segmenting phonemes is thought to provide the greatest benefits.

 

Information:

1.  Phonics is the relationship between written letters and the spoken sounds they represent.

2.  Phonics instruction includes how to relate letters to sounds, how to break words apart, and how to blend sounds together.  Students should apply these skills to single words, sentences, and connected text.

3.  Students should apply their knowledge of the sound/symbol relationship to their own writing.

Resource Books:

1.  Phonemic Awareness by Creative Teaching Press

2.  Phonemic Awareness Songs & Rhymes (Fall) by Creative Teaching Press

3.  Phonemic Awareness Songs & Rhymes by Scholastic

4.  Phonemic Awareness Through Language Play by Evan-Moor Publishing

5.  Phonics:Phonemic Awareness/Word Recognition by Teacher Created Materials

 

Other:

1. “Count the Sounds” (can be done with game board, snapping, tapping fingers, or     

     rhythm sticks)

2.  “I Spy” (“something with 3 sounds…the first sound is /b/, the last sound is /k/”)

3.  Segmenting song “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush” (ie This is the way  

     we sound out cat, sound out cat, sound out cat, this is the way we sound out cat,     

     /c/, /a/, /t/)

4.  Bubble Gum Words (stretch out words to hear each individual sound, students

     pretend they are stretching bubble gum).

5.  Talk about rhyme (sing songs, rehearse nursery rhymes, keep a songbook or “I 

     Can Read” notebook filled with poems/songs that are familiar)

 

 

Resource Books:

1. Making Words by Cunningham & Hall

2. Various word family resources  (mini-books, sliders/wheels, games)

3.  Phonics FUNdamentals Vol. 1 & 2 by Evans

4.  Phonics From A-Z by Blevins (Darcy’s copy)

5.  Words Their Way sorts (for all stages) by Johnson, Bear, & Invernizzi

 

 

Other:

1.  The reading room has lots of games for phonics skills in the tall cupboard –   

     come check them out!

2.  Phonics Programs:  Read Well K (grades K-1), Read Well 1 (grades K-3), Read

     Well Plus (grades 1-3), Phonics for Reading (grades 2-5), REWARDS (grades    

     4-5), Explode the Code (grades K-5)

3.  Reading A-Z

4.  Phonics Kits (see a first or second grade teacher)

5.  Read Naturally GATE (Group & Tutoring Edition – new)

5 Critical Components for Reading

Resource List

 

 

Vocabulary

Fluency

Information:

1.  Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively (that includes reading, writing, listening, & speaking).

2.  Vocabulary knowledge is essential to comprehension.

3.  Students may learn vocabulary indirectly through oral language experiences, listening to adults read to them, and reading extensively on their own. 

4.  Students also should receive some direct vocabulary instruction.  It is often helpful to pre-teach words before the story, provide practice over time, and offer a variety of contexts for the words.

 

Information:

1.  Fluency is the ability to read text accurately and quickly.

2.  Fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words so they are able to focus more attention on what the text means.

3.  Expressive, properly-phrased reading is also important.

4.  Students should practice fluency on text that is at their independent level.  Students must be accurate before they work on increasing rate.

 

Resource Books:

1.  Easy Mini-Lessons for Building Vocabulary (Grades 4-8) by Laura Robb

2.  Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Beck, McKeown, &  

     Kucan  (Darcy’s copy)

3.  Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice by Baumann & Kame’enui

     (Darcy’s copy)

 

 

Other:

1.  Provide daily encounters with the words through games such as: BINGO, Tic 

     Tac Toe, crossword puzzles, concentration, or “I’m Thinking of a Word”

2.  Teach the most common prefixes (the following prefixes make up 97% of ALL

     prefixed words! They are in order of frequency)   un-, re-, in/im-, dis-, en/em-,

     mis-, pre-, pro- a-

3. Teach the most common suffixes (the following suffixes make up 83% of all

     suffixed words.  They are in order of frequency)    -s/es, -ed, -ing, -ly, -er/or,         

     -tion/sion, -able/ible, -al/ial

4.  “Have you ever?” – Use the target word in a sentence beginning with “Have

     you ever..” to see if students understand the meaning. For example, the target

     words are meadow and advice.  Have you ever been to a meadow?   What did

     the meadow look like?  Have you ever given advice to someone?  Tell about  

     the advice you gave.

 

Resource Books:

1.  Developing Reading Fluency (Grades 1-5) by Creative Teaching Press

2.  Perfect Poems with Strategies for Building Fluency (Grades 1-2, Grades 3-4)   

      by Scholastic

3.  Readers’ Theater (Grades 1-5) by Evan Moor publishers

4.  Good-bye Round Robin Reading

5.  Assessing Reading Fluency by Timothy Rasinski (a publication from Pacific

     Resources for Education and Learning)

 

Other:

1.  Read Naturally program

2.  Reading A-Z

3.  Increase repeated reading opportunities: choral reading, echo reading, partner  

     reading, timed re-readings

4.  Two general steps to increasing fluency:  1) model fluent reading and 2)  

      provide opportunities for repeated readings with corrective feedback

5.  Have students pick a favorite page in a book they can read. Have them re-read  

     that same page for 2 minutes.  Have select students read aloud.  Discuss how  

     their reading improved.

 

5 Critical Components for Reading

Resource List

 

 

Comprehension

Information:

1.Good readers think about what they are reading as they read.  They are active and they even know when comprehension is breaking down for them.

2.  Some comprehension strategies are: questioning, summarizing, visualizing, using inference, predicting, and making connections.

3. Interacting with the text in any way helps to increase comprehension. This includes discussion (or other reader response options) or completing graphic organizers.

 

 

 

Resource Books:

1.  Strategies That Work by Harvey & Goudvis

2.  Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller

3.  Reading Strategies That Work by Laura Robb

4.  Reading Comprehension by Susan Glazer

5.  Snapshots: Literacy Minilessons Up Close by Linda Hoyt

 

Other:

1.  Students use a post-it note to record a connection they make with the story they

     are reading and another text (or their own life).  Post-its could also be used to

     mark a different strategy you are focusing on.

2.  Best Practices by Options Publishing (for grades 3-4) – paired fiction and non-

     fiction stories that highlight comprehension strategies

3.  Reading A-Z

4.  Use Thinking Maps or other graphic organizers

5.  Ask students to retell or summarize the selection both orally (maybe with a

     partner) or in writing.