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The Big Picture & The Structure of English

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The Big Picture & The Structure of English

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With the institution of Common Core, reading standards have never been clearer. However, there are still many hurdle to pass when it comes to reading education. Many teachers do not use research-based teaching strategies, and this heavily impacts the success of their students.

The basis of reading and words is made of several different parts: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

These elements create the basis of all reading.

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS:

the awareness of all of the parts of a word that make it complete

PHONICS:

the smallest sounds that make up words. This is the basis of the very start of literacy education.

FLUENCY:

the accuracy, speed, and proper expression used when reading

VOCABULARY:

The knowledge of words, and the understanding of what they mean

COMPREHANSION:

The ability to understand and retain information that was read

Overall, literacy is a process that has to be very intentionally taught be someone who has an in-depth understanding of all of the parts of words and reading mentioned above.

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Before any actual reading can be done, students must be taught letters. Letters are the foundation of reading, and are a requirement for further academic achievement.

There are many elements to letter learning, such as, Letter-Name Iconicity, Letter Characteristics, and Handwriting.

Letter-Name Iconicity is the correspondence between letter's name and the sound it makes. In the English language, there are only two letters whose name does not contain their sound: H, and W.

Letter Characteristics are the way a letter appears, or sounds. Many letters share similar characteristics to other letters, and this can make it difficult for students to differentiate between them at first.

Handwriting consists of the teaching of the formation of letter shapes, as well as the method of holding a writing utensil, and the motions of moving the hand.

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Learning Letter Sounds | Version 4 | UFLI Words | Jack Hartmann

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Phonics is the ability to decode words, based upon their letters, and synthesize those letter into their corresponding sounds, and from sounds into words.

Decoding is the deconstruction of words letter-by-letter in order to sound out the letters and combine them.

Another key part of decoding is understanding blends, and digraphs. Without an understanding of these two things, it is impossible to correctly decode words.

Blends are the combination of individual consonant sounds, such as in the word task. In task, the S and K both mack their individual sounds, but they are combined.

In a digraph, two consonants combine together to create a completely new sound. This is exemplified in the /th/ /sh/ and /ch/ sounds.

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What Is a Blend? | br, cr, dr, fr | Writing & Reading Skills for Kids | Phonics Song | Jack Hartmann

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Irregular words are words that are words that have spellings that do not align with their pronunciation, or that require special rules. These words very in frequency from high, to very low. When learning these words, students are required to learn either specific letter rules, or simply memorize the word itself.

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New Sight Words 1 | Sight Words Kindergarten | High Frequency Words | Jump Out Words | Jack Hartmann

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Multisyllabic words are words that contain more than one part. These words are more difficult to read, but there are techniques that can be use to make these words easier to read, such as syllabication.

Syllabication is the division of multisyllabic words into single syllable fragments. This makes the word easier to decode and comprehend. Each syllable contains a single vowel sound

One way to teach syllable division is the clapping method. Quite simply, children will use the claps in a word to easily break it into syllables out loud. This auditory breaking down of syllables will make it easier to transfer into reading syllables.

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Print Awareness is the ability to recognize how to read a book, how to hold it, and how to turn the pages. This also includes the parts of the book, what they are called, and the titles of the creators of the book.

This includes the front cover, back cover, title, author, pages, and several other things. This is the most foundational part of learning to read, as it teaches a child the mechanics behind the written word.

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Parts of a Book | Pre-K Version | Jack Hartmann

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Phonemic Awareness is the process of learning sounds, how to break apart words, and add or detract certain sounds or parts of a word. This is a reading foundational skill, and is eventually combined with phonics, where printed letters are combined with the sounds learned. Phonemic awareness must be incredibly intentional, and cannot be treated casually.

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Party In The Jungle | Fun Phonemic Awareness Song | Jack Hartmann

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Alfabeto | Interactive | Spanish Letter Sounds | Jack Hartmann Spanish Alphabet Song