Emergent Readers
1. A. a.) Children who are writing in the letter-like stage are beginning to learn the alphabet. In order to develop this alphabet knowledge, children must compare and contrast different letters. According to Gill in “Teaching Phoneme Segmentation Naturally,” one must begin with more than one letter at a time. This is necessary because in order for one to know what a letter is, he must first know what it is not. Gill states, “...what makes a letter that letter is largely determined by what features it does not hare with other letters.” The only way children can figure out one letter's distinctive features is to compare that letter to others. This position was also supported by the research of Elanor Gibson. Gibson took the theory of the “Template Model” of learning which purports that in order to learn something that is abstract, all one has to do is see that thing the same way for a great number of times. This would then leave a lasting impression of that abstract thing and solidify it in one's mind. Gibson disproved this theory. If this model worked, then children would not go through the letter-like stage of spelling.
b). Children need to compare and contrast different fonts of the same letter so that they can begin to understand that some features can be changed and the letter still stays the same. This relates back to the story of Dr. Gill's grandson learning to distinguish cows from horses that was shared in class. Now he must learn that even though some cows look different ( its distinctive features have changed), it is still a cow. When applied to letters, the comparison and contrasting of different fonts will allow children to understand that each letter has specific distinctive features and that while it may look different, it is still that letter. Children will gradually begin to build a sense of “A-ness,” or what an A is.
c. Children need to compare their own writing of a letter with a correct formation of that letter because this activity brings his prior knowledge to the front of his mind. The guess (his writing of the letter) is his hypothesis of what the letter looks like. Once he has made his hypothesis, he can check to see if it concurs with the accurate formation of the letter. If it does not, the child can then make necessary changes in his mind.
B. In order to assess a group of children just beginning kindergarten, I would begin by checking to see if they know the alphabet. I would begin with lower case letters. If a child knows lower case letters, it is likely that he also knows upper case letters. If a student did not know lower case letters, I would go back and assess upper case letters. I would also give children an alphabet strip to see if they can track and say the alphabet. I would also ask students to spell some words for me. Children will fall into one of seven levels of spelling. These levels range from random scribbles to spelling with vowels. After conducting this portion of the assessment, I would then ask students to memorize a short rhyme like “Sam, Sam the Baker Man. Once they had memorized the rhyme, I would show them the text and ask them to point to the words as they read it. What a child is able to do in terms of tracking print will correlate with his spelling level. By looking at their writing and how they spell words, as well as how they track print, I would be able to group children for instruction.
C. a.) In order to teach children to name letters in order as they track them, I would first teach children the alphabet song. As I am teaching the song, each child would have a letter strip in front of them with the upper case letters on it. As we sing or say the song, children will tracking or pointing to each letter as they say its name. As children move across the strip while tracking, they are forced to compare and contrast letters. This comparison of letters lends itself to quick and effective learning of the alphabet.
b.) To teach letter recognition in isolation I would play a letter recognition game with the students. To begin with each student would have a letter strip in front of them face down. I would write a letter on the board and then ask students to guess what the letter is. All students answer at the same time. Children can check their hypothesis by turning over their letter strip and tracking down to that letter. The rationale for teaching letters in isolation is to bring their prior knowledge to the forefront, have them make a hypothesis and then check it for accuracy. Again, this allows children to make necessary changes in their minds.
c.) To teach letter production in isolation I would use the same format or game that I used for letter recognition. This time, instead of the teacher writing a letter, I would ask students to write the letter. Once they have written what they think it looks like, they can turn over their alphabet strip and track down to that letter. Again, this allows them to check their hypothesis against what is accurate. They are then able to make changes in their mind if necessary.
d.) To teach children to sort letters I would first do the sort in a pocket chart with the whole group. I would chooses letters for each sort that come in “breath groups” when you say the alphabet song. For example, I would start with A, B, C, D. In the pocket chart I would place cards with the letters on them as my headers. As a group, we would sort letter cards into the appropriate columns. Once this is complete, children receive their own paper with the sorting columns already labeled. Each child also receives 24 letter cards (6 for each letter). They then conduct the sort on their own. Later on they should receive new letter cards with the letters written in different fonts. This will firm up their knowledge of each letter because they are now comparing and contrasting each letter's distinctive features.
e.) Once students have done the letter sorts and have achieved mastery, they should sort letters for speed. These sorts would be conducted in the same manner as the regular letter sorts, but would have a time factor included. For example, students could be timed by the teacher or could work in pairs and time each other. Sorting for speed increases fluency and automaticity. In “Teaching Phoneme Segmentation Naturally,” Gill states that “when students have automaticity of recognition and production more cognitive energy can be turned to higher order thinking while reading and writing.”
2. A. a.) To conduct a language experience activity with a group of children who are spelling in the letter-like stage, it is best to begin with a common experience like a field trip or shared story. I would begin by having students discuss the experience and answer open-ended questions pertaining to the experience. Once we had discussed the experience thoroughly, I would ask each student to tell me one thing he or she would like to say about the experience. The student responses would be recorded on chart paper and would all start in the same predictable manner (i.e. Susie said...). Once a child's statement has been written, he or she would come up and practice tracking the sentence. After each child has had a turn, then each child's statement would be transferred to one page of story paper. These would then be stapled in book form. The book would be placed in the reading center where students have ready access to it. If a student had difficulty reading a page, he could easily find help just by asking the author of that page to teach him to read it. The author can easily track and read the sentence even though he doesn't yet have concept of word because it is his own words and he is relying on memory.
b.) Individual dictations can also be used in a similar manner. Students can dictate a longer personal story which can then be made into a book for that particular child. As the child tells the story, the teacher writes down what the child says word for word. When transferring the story into book form, it should be broken down into parts with only three to six words on a page. This enables the child to track accurately as he reads. The number of words has to be limited because these children do not yet have concept of word. If there are more than six words on a page, students will get off track and will be practicing incorrectly.
B. When taking a dictation from a student who is beginning to spell with some logical initial consonants, I would alter or adjust the manner in which the dictation was taken. For example, as the student was telling the story I would ask him to tell me what some of the words started with. Also, I would not limit the number of words on a page to three to six. I would increase it to eight to ten. If a child gets off track while pointing I could go back and begin teaching this child how to self-correct. I could do this by saying things like, “Wait a minute. You said _____ for this word, but this word starts with ___. Can that be this word?” Since this child has beginning consonant knowledge, he will be able to self-correct.
3. A. a.) Children who are spelling with random letters are not focusing on letter names or individual letters because this knowledge has been firmed up in their minds. Consequently, a child in this stage is pointing to words when shown a written version of a text he has previously memorized. This does not indicate that a child has a concept of word. He is simply mimicking what he has seen adults or other self-reliant readers do.
b.) Children in this stage also point to a stressed word or a stressed group of words each time they point to a written word in a memorized text. They do this because as they begin to write with random letters, they now begin noticing groups of letters together. They also notice that these groupings of letters also have spaces on either side of them. In essence, they begin to notice words. However, children at this stage are still unable to segment language by spoken words. Therefore, they still say each stressed unit of speech as they point to the text.
B. a.) Children who are spelling with beginning consonants don't spell with ending consonants at the same time because the beginning consonant is far more salient when saying a word. That is, the beginning consonant stands out much more than the ending consonant. In fact, we typically do not even really enunciate the ending consonant sound when saying a word. Consequently, children's attention is focused on the beginning consonant sound. Ending consonants will not come into play until the beginning consonants have been firmed up in the child's mind and his attention can then shift to a new concept.
b.) Once a child moves into spelling with beginning consonants, they begin to realize that as they are tracking print saying the stressed unit of speech isn't working anymore. Therefore, they must try something else. The next logical step is to try syllables. At this stage children think English is a syllabary. In other words, he thinks all the sounds we make are represented by print, but they are not. Since the child recognizes beginning consonants, it is likely that he is using the initial consonant to represent the entire syllable.
c.) Children in this stage can be taught how to self-correct if they get off track while pointing. For example, if a child is reading “Sam, Sam, the Baker Man” and points to the word man as he says the syllable “ker,” he can use his knowledge of beginning sounds to help him self-correct. When he says “ker” while pointing to man, the teacher can draw his attention to the letter m and ask the student what sound that letter makes. Then the teacher would ask if that word could be “ker.” The child might also make this connection on his own and self-correct without help from the teacher.
4. A. Once a child starts spelling with random letters, he can begin to focus his attention on beginning consonants because he no longer has to focus all of his attention on letters. This knowledge has been firmed up in his mind and no longer draws his attention. Therefore, he is free to concentrate on the beginning consonant sound. This will occur once a child has learned 20 out of 26 letters.
B. When teaching beginning consonants it is easier to use picture sorts than to try to teach the sounds in isolation because the sound of a beginning consonant cannot be made without a vowel attached to it. The two are co-articulated. Children must compare and contrast words by their beginning consonant sound. One should begin with picture sorts with two sharply contrasting letters such as b and t. It is also useful to contrast within the column. This will help children understand that words like pit, pat, and put all begin with a p, and will help them be able to keep the three words separate in their minds.
C. At this stage of a child's development, sight word vocabularies are extremely limited or nonexistent. Therefore, it is easier and more beneficial to use pictures because they cannot read words at this time.
Beginning Readers
1. When children are spelling with beginning and ending consonants, the beginning sounds are established and the end of the word becomes more apparent. Children begin to notice the spaces between the words, and therefore can focus in on the actual words as they relate to print. As this concept develops and stabilizes, children can keep themselves on track when reading memorized text. The ability to segment language into words is stabilized and children are now partially phonemically aware.
2. Children can achieve complete phonemic awareness only after they have developed a concept of word. When children are rereading memorized text, they are able to keep themselves on track while pointing because they notice the spaces between the words and are able to focus on the word in print. Because this concept no longer is requiring their conscious attention, they are now able to shift their attention to the vowels in words. They begin to notice that there is something between each beginning and ending consonant in every word. At this point children can segment a word into all phonemes and have achieved complete phonemic awareness.
3. Sight word vocabularies develop only after children can accurately track print. This is true because if a child cannot track print, he cannot practice the words as he reads because he is saying the wrong words as he points to the text. Also, a child cannot deal with the vowels in words until he has a concept of word. Children are not able to keep words like pit, pat, and put apart in their minds until they have a concept of word. This is due to the fact that these three words have the same beginning and ending consonants. Until the child has a concept of word, he will not be able to focus on the vowels in these words and that is the only way a child can distinguish the three.
4. A. Beginning readers are also called support readers because they must have support in order to be able to read. A beginning reader must receive help from the teacher in a variety of ways because he is unable to read independently. That is, he is unable to read a PP2 book with 90-95% accuracy.
B. The material used with beginning readers should give the necessary support for these readers to be successful. These readers need patterned texts, pictures, and also need to read their own dictated stories.
C. Support can be given by the teacher in several ways. The teacher can echo read with the students, choral read with the students, and do picture walks before reading. How much support the teacher gives depends on the child's needs. The teacher must give as much or as little support as needed.
5. While beginning readers gain a sight word vocabulary most readily through reading and rereading, it is still important to pull words from the text to create word banks for students. After the teacher echo and choral reads with a child, he could probably read a page on his own. He is able to do this because he is depending on his memory for support. He is also using pictures and beginning consonants in the story. In order to make the student look at more than just the beginning consonants in words, the teacher should pull out words from the text and put them on cards. The child is forced to look more deeply into the words. He can no longer depend on his memory or the context clues in the story.
6. As a child is building a sight word vocabulary he is trying to keep words straight in his mind. As more and more words come in, the child has to compare more and more words. This forces the child to look at finer and finer phonic details to keep all of the words apart. It forces the child to look at the vowels in words. Therefore, the building of a sight vocabulary will give the child a better understanding of how letters work in words. He is examining all parts of the word at this point.