Put+Reading+First--Ohio+Dept+of+Ed

= Put Reading First pamphlet comments, questions and insights: = If a child does not understand how sounds work it will be difficult for them to be able to learn to read. There are several ways that children can show us that they understand phonemic awareness. The first is by recognizing the same sound at the beginning of a word, isolating the first and last sound of the word, as well as blending the separate sounds together to make a word. By using these skills the students will have better spelling and reading skills. Phonemic awareness is not phonics. Phonemic awareness sis the understanding of the sounds of the spoken language and phonics is the understanding that letters represent sounds in written language. A phoneme is the smallest part of the spoken language; this is what makes the difference in the meanings of words. Each letter has a sound. A grapheme is the smallest part of the written language; it is the chunking of the letters such as ‘ch’. Phonemic awareness instruction does help children learn to read, it also improves their reading comprehension. Phonemic awareness also helps children learn to spell. It allows the children to segment words into phonemes. Relating sounds to letters is what drives phonic instruction to work. Depending on your child’s level and ability it is important that you provide instruction for their level of literacy development. It is important to not start off with too hard of activities. By teaching children to blend and segmenting phonemes it is likely that you will see greater benefits to your students reading. Not all students will need the same amount of instruction; some will need more than others. By assessing your students you will know which students will not need as much instruction. Phonemic awareness is best taught in small groups. The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn and use the alphabetic principal. It will let the children know that there are relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. This will help the students learn to quickly decode words. Systematic phonics instruction results in the students being able to comprehend what they read. It is best if phonics instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through first and second grade. Practice materials are in the form of short books or stories that focus on the words that provide the students with practice in using specific letter sound relationships. After the second grade it is important that the teachers emphasize on reading fluency and comprehension. Two years of good phonics instruction is sufficient for most students. Even if students recognize words it is important that they read it with fluency, emotion, and expression. Although some readers will recognize words in isolation such as on a list, they may not read the same words fluently. Direct instruction is important for readers who are struggling. It would be a good time to offer silent reading to the students who do not struggle while providing direct instruction to those who struggle. The easiest way to formally assess fluency is to take timed samples of students reading and to compare their performance. By doing this it will help teachers to determine the effectiveness of the instruction and setting the instructional goals. Vocabulary in an important part in learning to read, it is the words that we must know to communicate effectively. It is also important to reading comprehension. Most vocabulary is learned indirectly, and some must be taught directly. Through everyday experiences and communication As children engage in conversations with other people the more the oral language vocabulary increases. Before reading a book with words that the students my not know it is important that we teachers teach words before students read the text. It is also important that we prepare them to use word-learning strategies. Story structure refers to the way the content and the events of a story are organized to a plot. If a story can recognize the story structure they have greater appreciation and memory of stories. Summarizing requires students to determine what is important. Teachers can teach students to use comprehension strategies. Teaching the students to find ways to use comprehension strategies will help them learn to be motivated and involved actively in learning.

Putting Reading First EDUC 520 Josh Van Horn I felt that this was a very interesting and informative booklet that put a lot of names and ideas into my head about teaching students to read. I just finished my field work in a 1st grade reading recovery classroom and this booklet tied everything together that I had witnessed over the past few days. I felt this booklet was a very easy read that kept my attention and answered many of my questions. I will briefly highlight some of the important parts of the packet. Phonemic awareness is a student ability to recognize, think, and use different sounds in a word. This is somewhat the basis of the booklet. A student must be able to break the word up into these parts in order to become a better speller and reader. Another important factor is understanding a grapheme. This is the littlest part of written language and represents a phoneme while a student is spelling the word. In this section it stated as teachers not to spend a great deal of time on phonemic awareness. This instruction works better in small groups and students should be assessed to see whether or not a teacher needs to spend more time on it. Phonics is the relationship between the grapheme and the phonemes. This is a huge part of teaching reading that includes the use of graphophenemic relationships, letter sound correspondences, sound symbol correspondences, and sound spellings. In using this system it is still important for students to use some memorization skills, because there is some words that are tricky and are not spelled like they sound. This approach is best for kindergarten and 1st grade students and works with students from a variety of backgrounds. It is a suggestion, that this style only be used for a two year period. Fluency is another important factor that students need to be good readers. This is when students can read material quickly and precisely. This provides students the ability to recognize words and comprehend them at the same time. This takes a lot of instruction and practice for a student to master this, therefore the groundwork has to be laid at a early age with the instruction stated above. One of the major keys to achieving good fluency is a lot of repetition and practice reading text that students enjoy, and that is easy for them to read. As a teacher you want the students to feel successful. Vocabulary is very important, because we must know what word we are using to communicate effectively. When students learn and master a word a teacher can use these words to build off of and teach new words to the students. Students learn vocabulary words by hearing their parents speak and read to them, by reading themselves, and by writing. The better the students vocabulary is, the easier is will be for them to put words together and become a successful reader. Comprehension is the main reason students need to read. A student must be able to understand what they are reading in order to make it purposeful. Good readers use an approach called, metacognition, which is thinking about thinking. This is when a student finishes reading and goes back and fixes what they do not understand. The work that is done to teach students to read all leads up to comprehension. If a student does not learn from the reading then it was not useful. In conclusion I felt that this booklet put a lot of definitions and insights to what I saw in a reading recovery classroom. I feel that this book tied each step together therefore a teacher understands what it takes to get students to the point they need to be, to be successful. Lastly, I felt that these suggestions will help me become a better teacher, if I do work with younger students.