Cues Systems & Strategy Prompts

from  Wright Group

Meaning (Semantics)

    Did that make sense?

    Look at the pictures.

    What happened in the story when____________?

    What do you think it might be?

    Can you re-read this?

Structure (Syntactics)

    Did that sound right?

    Listen to what you just said  ( then read with the  

    miscue the child made to force the child to pay            

    attention to the sentence he/she just “created”.)

    Does  that sound right?

    Can you re-read that?

    Can you say it another way?

    What is another word that might fit here?

Self -Corrections

    Can you find the tricky part?

    Are you right? Could it be _______?

    Take a closer look at __________.

    How did you know that word was______?

Visual (Graphophonic)

    Where do you start reading?

    Point to the words.

    Did that match/did you have enough words?

    Can you point to _____?

    Do you remember seeing that word before?

    Close your eyes and see if you can hold the word        

     in your mind.

    Can you find_______?

    Teacher covers up miscue with finger and asks    

    what he/she would expect to see at the    

    beginning... end?

    Does it look right?

    What sound/letter does it start with?

Cross-Checking

    How did you know that was______?

    Is there another way to tell?

    It could be_______, but look at _______.

Self-Monitoring

    Try that again.

    What did you notice?

    Were you right?

    How did you know?

    Why did you stop?

Splash by Jennifer Mowat

`                               

S kip the word

P redict. What word makes sense here?

L ook for parts you know.

A ask. Is it like a word I already know?

s ay the parts and blend them together.

H elp!(ask someone)

1. ❖Early Reading Strategies Visualized
   

2. ★Strategies for Teaching Reading - Song
   

(I’m a Littlecup) by Deb Renner Smith

Constructed by Mary DeFalco

Revisited 9/20/19

Assessment

Take an assessment of each student at the beginning of  first grade. You could have substitutes come in and cover for the classroom teachers while they assess. The Reading Specialist and the classroom teacher could do it outside the classroom- in the reading room, cafeteria- or whatever space is available. A subs could be trained  to administer part of the test. One teacher and sub administers the same part of the test to each student. With the same teacher administering the same part, there is more consistency.   As one student returns to the classroom another goes to the assessment room.  You can’t assess them all in one day. This way two children would be out of the classroom - one leaving and one returning to the classroom. Marie Clays Diagnostic Test is an  all inclusive assessment.

After all the children are assessed, use the assessment results to group the children. The lower quartile should be receiving daily support from the reading specialist besides instruction from the classroom teacher.

1. ★ Assessment and Rubrics  -Click on Emergent Strategies to return to this page
   

Give a brief introduction to give the child a “feel for the book” -some background to make a  connection to him/herself.

1. Concepts of Print Assessment with Lily YouTube
   

2. Concepts of Print Assessment -You Tube  Using Sand Book

Morning Message/Hubbard’s Cupboard

Morning Message/Tooter4Kids

Mrs. Gugler’s Kindergarten

Remember: Some children have been read to from day 1. Others have had little or no exposure to books prior to entering school. Can those 1,000 or more hours ever be made up or will the “gap” continue throughout their school years?  The At Risk can catch up if we  hold back those read-to-children-from-birth; not the way to go.

Children learn at different rates; the slow learner can’t be expected to catch up to gifted child.  What we need to do is take the children where they are and take the time to teach them about the world instead of wasting time teaching to those “fricken” tests. Assessment through observation is necessary but not the constant testing. Through close observation, a  good teacher can sense when a student is not progressing. The students responses via art,  written  and oral are also good indicators.

    Children imitate what they see. If they see adults in their world reading and writing, they will imitate them.  Children learn all the language processes through active use. Just because a child doesn’t talk doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t understand.

    A child doesn’t have to speak before he can “read.” Looking at the pictures is the beginning stage of reading. 

At an early age Luca

focused on pictures in a book.  Before his second birthday he knew 11  letter names and sounds.  His parents began to read to him as a baby. 

Matias, at 20 months

could sing all of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the alphabet song by himself . His mother would use the cloze technique - sing up to a point and pause letting her son supply the next word. He knew all the names of Thomas’ train set. At 20 months he took the dinosaur book off his library shelf, sat down and pretended to read . As he turned a page he would say, “Dinosaur... Dinosaur...” When  he turned the pages of his  Thomas’ Train book he would say,  “tunnel...dark...Help Help!..” calling trains by name and changing his voice to relate  being scared to being rescued.  As he turned the pages of A Hunting We Will Go,  he sang the song  as he  heard his mother and grandmother singing the song. His local library has tons of fun books to read.

With the morning message, Mrs. Gugler supports the children’s on going development of reading and writing. She uses children’s experiences to help children make connections  into new learning. 

Emergent Readers’ Strategies & Instructional Materials

Sample Lesson Plans/ Activities

1. •Mrs.Wishy Washy/ Making Learning Fun
   

1. •Mrs. Wishy Washy at The Virtual Vine
   

Don’t Miss

1. •Rosie’s Walk Props Be Patient for the download
   

1. •A-Book-A-Week:Classroom Instruction/ Rosie’s Walk
   

1. ✴Class Book Ideas Lesson Plans;Teacher Net
   

2. •Apples and Pumpkins Activity Card by Laura Smollkin
   

3. •Apples_and_Pumpkins_Activity_Card.pdf
   

4. ★Welcome don’t miss this monthly outline of readings, ideas, and activities supported by the following authors:
   

Jan Brett   Marc Brown   Eric Carle   Tomie dePaola      Mem Fox
Don Freeman     Kevin Henkes    Ezra Jack Keats     Steven Kellogg
Leo Lionni    Mercer Mayer        Robert Munsch       Jack Prelutsky
Dr. Seuss   Don and Audrey Woods

Race to the Top

1. In a Reading First Impact
   

2. Final Report,
   

3. “... Children trained with intensive phonics did not do significantly better on tests in which they had to understand what they read. The same goes for Direct Instruction. “      
   

“The best way to get children to refine and extend their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to read.” Commission on Rdg. ’85 (Not through worksheets and drills.)

More Ideas for Using Predictable Stories and Poems to Develop Concepts of Print

This strategy is intended to support children's understanding of the following concepts of print:

• letter

• words (high frequency and decodable words)

• sentence structure

• punctuation

• provides vocabulary enrichment

Materials

• variety of books/poems that make use of predictable patterns

• blank sentence strips

• pocket chart

Ideas for a weeklong unit using a story or poem.

1. Read the story or poem you have selected to the children, inviting them to join in with you as you read (the second time). Children often do this spontaneously without always being able to talk about the pattern they have identified.

2. Each time you reread the story or poem omit words from a repetitive sentence pattern with each subsequent rereading--for example, moving from omitting very predictable words to omitting more difficult ones. In this way, you are encouraging students' use of syntactic knowledge.

3. Write some or all of the text, from the story or poem you are using, on chart paper. Use the chart to draw attention to concepts of print through activities like the following

4. Go on a High Frequency word hunt using a pointer or fly swatter to highlight the words discovered.

5. Draw children's attention to the appearance of the sentences and words through framing them, or moving a pointer along them as you read (e.g., find "big" words and "small" words).

6. Count the number of letters in a few selected words.

7. Point out the spaces between words and count the words in one or two sentences.

8. Show students the features of a sentence that help the reader know where it begins and ends (capitalization of first letter of first word, periods, question marks, or exclamation marks at the end).

9. Frame one sentence and ask students how many words it has in it, or frame a word and ask students who think they can read it.

10. Let students take turns being the reader. Allow enough time for all students to participate if they wish.

11. Distribute the sentences from the story or poem. Ask the children to come up to the chart and place their sentence strip in the correct place in the poem

12. Duplicate the poem or story on paper in a large font. Give one sentence to each child (or have students work in teams). The children cut up their sentence into the words it contains. Ask students to work in pairs to scramble their words and then put them back in the order of the sentence they were given. The students then paste their sentence on a large piece of white paper in the correct order. At this same time the large pocket chart is still available for students to use as a reference. Allow students to illustrate the sentence and combine all sentences to create a class book.

13. 13.Make a cloze activity by leaving specific words out.

Familiar Reading

“When children are allowed to re-read familiar material, they are being allowed to learn to be readers, to read in ways which draw on all their language resources and knowledge of the world, to put this very complex recall and sequencing behavior into a fluent rendering of the text. The orchestration of these complex behaviors cannot be achieved on a hard book.” Marie Clay Becoming Literate:the construction of inner control p.184

“Each time a child rereads a story, the child processes the text at a different level. With each reading, the child notices new features about text. The benefits of reading familiar material include:

-they provide the child an opportunity to a make meaningful predictions which can be checked against visual information

-they provide the child an opportunity to practice effective strategies on easy material

-they provide the child an opportunity to engage in fluent and expressive reading

-they emphasize the joy of revisiting favorite stories

-they provide the child an opportunity to expand knowledge of story structure and vocabulary

-they promote independent reading and problem-solving activity

-they provide the teacher with a tool for teaching grapho-phonetic information within the context of meaningful materials.

Familiar materials for independent reading should be available throughout the room. Individual baskets of children’s books should include specially selected texts which the children can read with at least 90% accuracy. Copies of poems, which were read during shared reading activities, can be glued into individual poetry books. Chart stories should be hanging around the room for familiar reading. The teacher should ensure that all children have appropriate materials to promote successful reading strategies. As the children read, the teacher circulates among them and observes their reading behaviors. The teacher can take a running record on one or more of the children.”

E-mail:

Tenors3@AOL.com

At the age of four, Gwyneth wanted to write. She decided to write a  “grocery list.” She knew the names, sounds, and could write the alphabet. When Gwyneth asked how to spell a word, I had her listen to me slowly pronounce the word as she wrote the word. I told her the vowels and silent letters. Choice is a great incentive to want to learn.

Her last week in preschool she visited the  kindergarten class she would be attending in the fall.  Each morning after that, she would come to the breakfast table asking for paper and crayons to draw pictures of her mother and herself.  She wanted to do everything her older sister did.

( No doubt she wanted to prove to adults that she was either ready for kindergarten or she wanted to prepare herself for kindergarten.) She told her mother that everything she knew she learned from her teacher, her sister, and herself. ( She did not include her parents.)

9/9/12

Now Gwyneth is in first grade.  One night she asked her mother to read a book about sharks that she had bought at the book fair that day.  The book described the habitat and nature of sharks, including how sharks are left to fend for themselves just after they are born.  At school a story was read about animals caring about their young, and some of Gwyneth's classmates discussed how terrible the animal mothers must feel when their babies are injured or killed. Gwyneth said a shark mother wouldn’t feel bad because the mother shark doesn’t take care of her baby after it is born. 

Already in first grade she is doing some good critical thinking.

In school,  Gwyneth’s first grade teacher read the history of the Statue of Liberty. That night at home, Gwyneth’s, now five, wrote about it.

She spelled because by using mnemonics: “Big elephants can always understand small elephants.”

              April

  Gwyneth, first grader,

   is  pondering  her writing 

   of her chapter book.      

                                                            

The point being: take time to know where your students are at when they come to you in the beginning of the school year. Make no assumptions and above all do not waste their time on teaching what they already know.  Don’t squelch their desire to learn.

Workbooks and dittos are a good way to squelch the desire to learn. They want to write, read, and dramatize about what is familiar to them.

When Tomie De Paola was a youngster in school, he didn’t appreciate the art teacher giving him step by step directions how to draw.  He wanted freedom to express himself.

Eric Carle remembers his first day of school. “I went to first grade in Syracuse, NY. I remember a large sun-filled room, large sheets of paper, fat brushes, and colorful paints. My teacher, Ms. Frickey, was very kind and and loving. I enjoyed painting pictures. Ms. Frickey liked what I painted. She encourage my mom to nurture my talent,”

I observed my own four children become aware of print and observe how they learned to read. With my husband or I reading to them daily, they became aware of what print was all about. We were fortunate that our library allowed each of my children to take out a stack of books with each visit.

When they were ready, I would sit next to my child and ask her/him to tell me what they could do. I would letter (sticks and balls/circles) what my child said.

                                “  I can sing.

                                   I can run.

                                   I can sit.

                                   I can...   “

I put the repetitive words underneath each other.

Later I substituted “I“ for their name.

Drawing and painting pictures was a regular activity, also. I would take their paintings or drawings and letter exactly what they told me about the picture. If the paper was filled with paint, I would letter the sentence on a separate strip of paper. I made a fuss over their art work and would frame some and hang them in our living room,  bedrooms, and hallway. Each child learned to read in kindergarten except my oldest son. He learned to read before he entered kindergarten. My method has changed since then but I still begin with their thoughts and language.

Now I have been observing nine grand children.

                                             

                                                                                          Instead of lettering what they can do, I have them stand next to me at the computer and tell me what they can do. I am constantly taking pictures of them.  When my granddaughter, Eleanor, entered first grade I made a booklet of her and her drawings which she made as a kindergarten child. I  scanned in her drawings and made a booklet. If she lettered the title herself, I scanned in the title. Otherwise I typed in the title as she stood next to me at the computer.

I entitled my granddaughter’s booklet

“The Life of Eleanor”

She gave me the idea when she was sitting next to me writing.  She wrote about how she save  a bubble bee. She entitled her story, “Eleanor”

The booklet I made for her  included: pictures of her going to church, riding a horse, playing soccer, playing the piano, singing, in her kindergarten classroom, helping me plant a garden, playing table games, drawing, reading, observing nature,  hugging Grandpa...24 pictures. I began with simple pattern: Eleanor plays, Eleanor sings, etc.  I then changed the repetitive patterned to: She jumps rope. She rides her bike... The patterned then changed to “She likes to play legos with her brothers...”

In fifth grade she wrote this note to me:

To Grandma,

“We only have one heart! I want to take care of mine and help you take care of yours too! This year, I have set a personal goal to raise money for the American Heart Association at my school.

Heart Disease can happen to anyone so it's really important to be physically active and eat healthy. Did you know that heart disease is our nation's number one killer? Help me become a lifesaver!

Will you make a donation to help me reach my goal? It's fast and easy to do on my personal webpage. Just use the link below to support me today!

Your contribution will support the American Heart Association's work to:

- Put up-to-the-minute research into doctors' hands so they can better prevent and treat heart disease among patients.

- Fund groundbreaking pediatric heart and stroke research.

- Train more than 9 million health professionals and others each year in emergency cardiovascular care.

Please support me in my efforts - together we can save lives! Also, if possible donate as soon as you can! Thank you very much!

In sixth Eleanor won the state essay contest.”

Also in sixth she and a friend also decided to do a fund raiser for the school. She wrote to the Islanders and asked for free tickets which she and her friend in turn could sell to the students. A rep from the Islanders came  in person presented the tickets to Eleanor and her friend.

In 7th grade she won the speech contest in school:
Hunger Speech

Hunger rates for women are higher than they are for men. Research has shown that to be true. Ironically, however, efforts to end hunger ignore this fact and act neutrally towards gender. These movements to end hunger fail to recognize and accept which group of people are in the majority of insufficient sustenance. The result of this oversight means efforts towards change will ultimately fall short of finding a solution.  Many efforts to end hunger are fruitless, resulting in little if any major ...

                              (Her research and list of facts are listed; she goes on to say)

With all of this information in mind, it becomes more and more difficult to understand how women have been ignored for so long. In a similar way, it becomes more and more obvious why the attempts to quench hunger in the United States have been so fruitless. As mentioned in the beginning, efforts made to “solve” hunger function as though there is no separation between men and women solely because we are equal; this is an erroneous approach. While the gender discrepancy is likely rooted in the fact that throughout almost all of our existence women were thought to be below men, in today’s society we should not be so bound by such prejudiced beliefs. It should also not come as surprising that in the aftermath of our battle for equality there are stragglers holding onto the past; remnants of traditions not yet diminished. The only plausible reason that women would be more likely than men to be in hunger no matter their age, race, children, or

                                        (She concludes with...)

With all of this information in mind, it becomes more and more difficult to understand how women have been ignored for so long. In a similar way, it becomes more and more obvious why the attempts to quench hunger in the United States have been so fruitless. As mentioned in the beginning, efforts made to “solve” hunger function as though there is no separation between men and women solely because we are equal; this is an erroneous approach. While the gender discrepancy is likely rooted in the fact that throughout almost all of our existence women were thought to be below men, in today’s society we should not be so bound by such prejudiced beliefs. It should also not come as surprising that in the aftermath of our battle for equality there are stragglers holding onto the past; remnants of traditions not yet diminished. The only plausible reason that women would be more likely than men to be in hunger no matter their age, race, children, or feminist and true researcher is sure to agree, the only way to end hunger in this country begins with the empowerment of women, and the pursuit of true equality in all areas.

Chris 4yrs. Later

Reading to His Sister

Summer Before Entering into 3rd Gr.

Baby Eleanor

Listening to Stories

Summer before entering first grade/ Eleanor reads  her life story which her grandmother wrote for her.

Gwyneth Celebrating Her Third Birthday by Hosting a Tea Party for Uncle Camilo

Strategic teaching and strategic learning in first- grade classrooms           

   Everything a child learns needs to be experiential -related to something he/she already knows.

1. ★Guided Reading Activities & Small-Group Instruction Best Practices Benchmark Education(Texas Home)
   

Common Core, however, introduces text with the drill of sounds, letters, abstract definition of new vocabulary and then repeat and repeat until the text is practically memorized - that is not reading. Crucial background knowledge is ignored. The Pre K - four year old-curriculum- includes the study of the alphabet: recognizing the visual and auditory plus writing the letters and words - so inappropriate for  Pre-K. Dr. David Elkind Ph.D in Child Development- warned us of this in his Hurried Child book.

Dr. Elkind state, “In too many schools kindergartens (Now pre-k!!!) have now become “one-size-smaller” first grades, and children are tested, taught with workbooks, given homework, and take home a report card. The result of this educational hurrying is that from 10 to 20 percent of kindergarten children are being “retained” or put in “transition” classes to prepare them for the academic rigors of first grade! ...Many of our schools reflect the contemporary bias toward having children grow up fast. They do this because such schools have become increasingly industrialized and product oriented.

Getting Reading Right From the Start Hiebert, Elfrieda H.; Taylor Barbara M.

Post Script

Guide the child in discovering how words work through developing letter knowledge, word structure awareness, and familiarity.   Phonics & Phonemic Awareness gives suggestions for the development of sounds in spoken words, clusters, and the ability to manipulate  those sounds and  clusters.  When necessary, a kinesthetic approach is used when learning a new letter, cluster, or word. The child writes with his/her finger on soft, hard, rough, etc. surfaces including his/her arms and in the air.

In developing phonics a list of skills are taught but not in sequence. If the story; e.g., has a consonant the teacher wants to develop such as the p sound, or sight word, she/he will draw attention to the letter/word in the phrase or sentence in the story of the day. S/he has the child place his fingers before and after the letter/word.  To reinforce the sound or a word of the day,  a poem is chosen which repeats the sound/word frequently. There are many poems with the alliteration on Poetry & Music - (another page on this site.) A poem or nursery rhyme is placed on the chart, chalkboard, white board directly or via the iPad or transparency on overhead projector. The child circles or places a triangle over all the letters or words that are new for the day. The child listens as each word is pronounced etc.  There are numerous ways of teaching the alphabet sounds which is listed on the ABC page.

                    Terminology:

        Observation Survey  includes the following:

1. 1.Letter Identification - a list of 54 upper and lower case letters and extra for a and g.
   

2. 2.Word Test - a list of 20 words most frequently used in early reading materials.
   

3. 3.Concepts about Print- a variety of tasks related to book reading, familiarity with books, and specific concepts about printed language.  
   

4. 4.Writing Vocabulary- children are given an opportunity to write all of the words they know in ten minutes.
   

5. 5.Dictation Test- a story is read to the child who writes the words using sound analysis.
   

6. 6.Text Reading Level- reading leveled material  - books organized by a gradient of difficulty.
   

7. 7.Picture Sorts- sort pictures by beginning sounds, then final sound, finally medial sound
   

8. 8.Words Sorts- sort by initial sound, final, finally medial sound.
   

1. ★What Is Guided Reading? Get the Answer Plus The Best Resources ...2/14/18
   

1. ★Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative/Lesley University
   

Shared Poetry Reading: Teaching Print Concepts, Rhyme, and Vocabulary

Repetitive or Predictable Texts

1. ★Using Repetition and Picture Cues to  Foster Independent Young Readers NCTE
   

1. ★DRAGoals & Reading Recovery    
   

2. ★A Reading Recovery  Guide
   

3. ★ Marie Clay Reading Recovery on Pinterest  Danielle Davis
   

4. ✴Reading Recovery U Tube
   

5. ✴Reading Recovery Enviroment
   

6. ★Basic Materials for Reading Recovery
   

1. ★As I observed my little grandson (under the yoke of Common Core) reading his little books placed in his backpack for homework, I observed that his reading was definitely phonetically controlled. Neither semantics nor syntax were being developed.  New words that are not phonetically controlled can be unlocked via the first letter, picture support, rhyme, meaning, and syntax but my grandson was taught sight vocabulary out of context - given a list of words to memorize. My grandson made a few self corrections so he is reading for meaning but the stories are too contrived.
   

My question: Does the teacher relate the stories  to his background. I question how the teacher is using the “Picture Walk” activity. Is she using that time to make connections with the reader and the text; predicting, and placing new words in the child’s ear? When my grandson does the “Picture Walk” he uses it as a time to use his imagination and develop a whole new story with each picture. He didn’t realize how each sequential illustration is part of one and the same story.  He didn’t relate to the story much less predict, evaluate, or apply any of the information. He is totally consumed with decoding the words. He had become a word caller- not a reader.

Characteristics of Texts That Support

Beginning Readers/ Ohio State 1988

Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and K

Effective read-alouds are those in which children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening...

The first read-aloud includes 4 components: book introduction, voc. support techniques, analytical comments & questions, and an after reading, “why” questions.

The authors suggest three readings of the same story.

First Day:  Give a few sentences about the main character and main problem; use illust. on cover, back, and title page as needed. Intro. 5-10 words, pointing to illust., gesturing, or giving definitions. Make comments suggesting what the main character is thinking or feeling. Ask a few question thought questions. After rdg. ask “why” questions. Demonstate how to answer by saying, “I’m thinking...”

Second Day/second read-aloud: Ask about the characters and problem - motive and thoughts. Recall new voc. and expand on definition and dramatize the words. Focus on other characters - what they are thinking or feeling. End  with e more analytical questions. Use follow-up questions to prompt their thinking.

Third Day: Ask the children to identify the problem and describe the solution. Recall title of book. Before reading show illustrations and ask what is happening . Before turning the page ask what is going to happen next. Draw attention to some voc. in different contexts. Ask another “why” question or “What would have happened if...?”

Lea M. McGee & Judith A. Schickendanz in 5/2007 Rdg.Teacher

I would like to add a fourth day: Story Innovation

When the  children  have internalized the pattern for a story, show them how to use this knowledge in creating their own story.

The following steps are based on The Longest Journey in the World.

1. -Do shared reading until the children almost know the story by heart.
   

2. -Rewrite the pattern on chart tablet leaving blanks for children fill in.
   

3. -Brainstorm as a group places a caterpillar might go
   

4. -Record children’s responses in a shared writing activity.
   

5. -Do shared reading of the responses and invite the children to select appropriate words for the sentence frame.
   

6. -After each word is written in the sentence, return to the beginning of the story for shared reading before the next word is written.
   

7. - Do shared reading of the completed story.
   

Follow -up activity:

-Reread the story together.

-Cut off  language stripe form story and have individual children glue strip to large sheet of paper and illustrate

- Assemble all pages into a big book for familiar reading.

e.g. One morning as the sun was coming up,

a little caterpillar said to himself,

“I am going on a long journey.”

He crawled and he crawled and he crawled.

He crawled over a high mountain.

He crawled into a deep valley.

He crawled around a huge castle,

He crawled up a high wall.

He crawled across a wide river.

He crawled under an iron fence.

He crawled over a fallen tree.

He crawled past a sleeping dragon.

He crawled through a dense forest.

He crawled and he crawled and he crawled.

That night as the sun was going down,

the little caterpillar wondered how far he had come.

So he climbed a tall Chinaberry tree to look back.

“I am truly amazed,”  he said to himself.

This is the longest journey in the world.”

Eleanor Caught Picture Reading

Where there is a will there is a way.

When my granddaughter, Gwyneth, entered first grade, I made a booklet for her, too. I took numerous photos of her doing everything from playing the piano, playing badminton- trying,  to attending church, listening to her siblings read to her...

Aides or volunteers, could type the story line for each child or letter it and the students illustrate each line.  “I can...”  The book could become their first book to take home. If  a laminating machine is accessible, laminate their first booklet. Children could exchange their booklet with a friend or friends. The “I” could be changed to the child’s name. Change the pattern but keep the sentence of one line until an understanding of the concepts of print are well established.

My grandsons at the ages of 2 and 3 loved to listen to stories, sing songs, recite the alphabet- in isolation and mixed up order. At the age of three one of my grandsons began reading - using picture clues and even sounding out words. (I never encouraged him to sound out words- his parents might have.) He even spelled such words as big and pizza. He counted backwards - of course forwards. (He is gifted and not appropriate for the average learner. We certainly do not want to spend precious time drilling and memorizing at this age.) More appropriately is to reread a text as long as it captures the 2/3 year old’s attention. The 2 and 3 year olds love to repeat the list of foods the Hungry Caterpillar ate. They take such pride in pointing to each food and naming each food.

My point being: from day one, babies have a great capacity for learning. With encouragement, right stimulations and a conducive environment, they make unbelievable strides in learning. Everything in moderation. Don’t impose; indirectly let the child lead.

Reading may not be the only key but it is a major factor in helping children develop the desire to learn and reading to learn is a major factor in them wanting to read independently. Reading and discussing the  story go hand in hand.

Pre school definitely has an impact but the parents have a far greater impact on their child’s learning. The separation from the mother at an early age could leave an emotional scar.

Year after year, as a teacher,  I witnessed kindergarten children  clinging to the parent who brought them to school on the first day. Wrenching cries often were heard coming from K  classrooms because of the trauma of separation.  Sometimes the only way for a child to calm down and be receptive to learning was to allow the parent to stay in the room until the child could accept the parent leaving.  If this is true of kindergarteners, I am sure it is just as traumatizing in preschool. The emotional scar caused by school phobia can have a detrimental affect on the child’s educational future.

Preschool isn’t necessarily the answer to bridging the achievement gap. Other countries may have a govt. sponsored preschool but that isn’t necessarily the solution- especially not for all children.  Parents’ attitude is crucial.

3 year old Chris

“picture reads”-

second stage in reading

Shared Writing

Story Innovation- using same story pattern:

The Longest Journey in the world

After the children have internalized the pattern for a story show how to use that pattern to create their own story.

1. 1.So shared reading until the children almost know the story by heart.
   

2. 2.Rewrite the pattern on a chart tablet leaving blanks for children to fill in.
   

3. 3.Brainstorm places a caterpillar might go.
   

4. 4.Record the children’s responses.
   

5. 5.Do shared reading of the responses and invite the children to select appropriate words for the sentence frame.
   

6. 6.After each word is written in the sentence, return to the beginning of the story for shared reading before the next word is written.
   

7. 7.Do shared reading of the completed story.
   

Follow-up activity:

1. 1.Reread the story together.
   

2. 2.Cut off language strips from story and have individual children
   

glue strip to large sheet of paper and illustrate.

3. 3.Assemble all pages into a big book for familiar reading.
   

An example of using the same story pattern:

“One morning as the sun as was coming up, a little caterpillar said to himself, ‘I am going on a long journey.”

He crawled and he crawled and he crawled.

He crawled over a high mountain.

He crawled into a deep valley.

He crawled around a huge castle.

He crawled up a high wall.

He crawled across a wide river.

He crawled over a fallen tree.

He crawled through a dense forest

He crawled and he crawled and he crawled.

That night as the sun was going down,

the little caterpillar wondered how far he had come.

So he climbed a tall Chinaberry tree to look back.

‘I am truly amazed,’ he said to himself.

‘This is the longest journey in the world.”

The Reading Recovery Lesson

“Reading Recovery utilizes and builds upon genuine conversations between teacher and child as the primary basis of instruction. This teacher-child dialogue has been found to be an effective method for teachers to help students learn to deal with complex tasks such as reading. the Reading Recover lesson follows a strict routine of components containing activities that are molded to meet the individual needs of each child  bases up a daily analysis of student progress by the teacher.

                                                                         Before  the lesson begins, the

                                                                         student practices fluent writing

                                                                         of one High Frequency word                                                                

                                                                         on the chalk/white board.

The 30-minute lesson then begins with its seven distinct parts:

1. 1.The child rereads several familiar books.
   

2. 2.The child rereads a book introduced in the prior lesson while the teacher does a running record. The teacher chooses 2-3 powerful teaching points.
   

3.The child  is guided toward discovering how words work through

developing letter knowledge and word

structure awareness and familiarity

Author unknown

Experience Stories in Shared Writing

Teacher reads a leveled book e.g. by Rigby that consists of relevant topic for children, such as “Getting my Hair Washed”, “Getting in Trouble at School” and “Getting a Haircut” - a story that helps the children identify with events in their lives as a basis of writing a story.

Steps in Writing an Experience Story:

1. 1.State the problem in sentence form.
   

2. 2.Add some detail about the event.
   

3. 3.Restate or expand on some of the details in dialogue.
   

4. 4.State how the problem was solved.
   

5. 5.Add a catchy ending on a creative way to prevent the episode from happening again.
   

During shared writing, the teacher and children collaborate  on the construction of the story. The teacher does most of the writing, but may call individual children up to contribute known words. The story is reread each  time new details are added. This places the emphasis on meaning-construction and provides a language scaffold for adding new details.

Independent writing using experience stories:

Once children have learned the structure for writing experience stories, they are encouraged to write independently.  They then start a writing folder with lists of topics for future references. Experience stories are child-centered, meaningful, functional types of writing..

The teacher /group should select particular stories to be written into class books.  The teacher does the writing and

the children do the illustrations.               (author unknown)

University Training Centers
for Reading Recovery Professionals in the United States