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The Frayer Model consists of a graphic organizer with the aim of building vocabulary in students. It asks students to try defining unfamiliar words by creating examples, giving characteristics,  and/or drawing illustrations depicting its meaning. This is a valuable tool for teaching vocabulary in the classroom and can be used to teach specific vocabulary before reading a story.

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George Miller asserted that our brains can hold seven things at a time, plus or minus two. Later studies showed that number to be even less. Chunking is a strategy that follows this theory by having students break down difficult texts into smaller more manageable parts so their brains can focus on less at a time.

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Chunking in Instructional Design - Training Wizard

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Chunking in instructional design is the process of logically grouping topics to a meaningful unit that's easy to absorb and retain for the learner.

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10 Fun Ways to Use Realia in Your ESL Classroom

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10 Fun Ways to Use Realia in Your ESL Classroom

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Realia utilizes real objects that hold significance to students in order to create important and meaningful connects to content in a lesson. This is especially useful in teaching reading as students often need help establishing connections with texts. It is also beneficial to kinesthetic learners who require more hands-on learning.

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BridgeUniverse - TEFL Blog, News, Tips & Resources

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If you're a teacher, chances are that you've used realia at some point in your classroom and you may not have even realized it! Whether you've held up a real object to elicit a vocabulary word from students or brought in a special item from home to grab your students' attention, you've used realia. If you are beginning to learn how to teach kids English, looking for a way to spice up your online classes, or trying to find fun activities for adult learners, using realia is a great technique to help your students learn!
If you're new to teaching, you'll want to get initial training and qualification with a TEFL certificate. You can explore our online TEFL courses to get started!
What is realia?

Simply put, realia refers to authentic objects from real life that one uses in the classroom to teach a specific concept. Realia can be both physical and virtual, as long as it is something used in the real world (rather than created specifically for an ESL class).

Why use realia in the classroom?

Realia for ESL can make the learning experience more memorable and create connections between objects and vocabulary words or other language concepts. This can make it easier to recall information. For in-person classes, it adds a kinesthetic element for people who learn better with hands-on activities. For online classes, it provides a visual aid to engage students. Additionally, realia is more dynamic than a written word or flashcard used to teach a concept.

What are some examples of realia?

Realia can incorporate what's already in your classroom, such as a desk, chair, or poster. Or, it can be something you've brought from outside of class, like a collection of colorful brochures, a stuffed animal, tickets, or souvenirs you got while traveling. While any of these will work for both an in-person class or an online class (for the latter, simply hold the objects up to your screen), you can also make use of virtual realia in the online classroom. Virtual realia refers to authentic resources found online, such as advertisements, photographs, menus, receipts, or maps. Similar to using props to teach English online, incorporating realia into the virtual classroom engages students and makes for a livelier class.

How is realia useful to English teachers?

Realia reinforces language skills and appeals to both visual and kinesthetic learners of all ages. Most teachers use realia to demonstrate the meaning of vocabulary words. Think of the difference between teaching students the words for fruit versus showing them the real thing and having them guess the name. It's especially helpful when teaching students whose native language (L1) you don't speak.

How can I use realia in the ESL classroom?

ESL realia can be incorporated into a ton of fun activities that can liven up your in-person or virtual classroom and get students excited about learning English. Here are ten to get you started!
Watch an excerpt from the BridgeUniverse webinar, "Using Traditional and Digital Realia When Teaching English Online," to learn more about how realia can engage learners.
Realia activities for young learners

1. Recreate the realia

Young students love arts and crafts, and getting them to make their own version of a newspaper, train ticket, or other realia that you've shown them is a great way to solidify the lesson. It helps make vocabulary memorable and gets students to apply what they've learned. Plus, this one can be done in both an in-person class and an online class.

2. Scavenger hunt

You can hold a scavenger hunt both inside and outside of the classroom to review a number of subjects such as nature or classroom objects. To use as a game for younger kids or beginner learners, ask them to find an item for each color or shape. This activity gets students moving and teaches them to differentiate between vocabulary words, but it also allows you to assess who has a firm grasp of the lesson and who may need additional help. It's also a great activity for the virtual classroom, as students can quickly find objects around their own homes.

3. Following directions

One of my favorite ways of using realia is to give students directions to carry out with the objects. For instance, if you're teaching prepositions, have students take out the items from their pencil bags, and give directions like, "Put the pencil under the eraser" or, "Put the eraser in the pencil bag." Or, for a lesson on comparing objects say, "Hold the pencil higher than the eraser." It's a great way to make students active participants in the lesson. Again, this game can easily be played in both the physical or virtual classroom.

4. What is it?

Fill a bag with realia and have students take turns trying to guess what one of the objects is by putting their hand in the bag and feeling it. They can use vocabulary to describe the object to their classmates as they guess. This game can be adapted to the virtual classroom by hiding an object in a bag or under a cloth. Students can look at the shape and listen to you describe the object (e.g., it's heavy, it's round, etc.) while they try to guess what it is.

5. Ask students to bring in their own realia

Get to know students better by asking them to bring in several items from home that they feel represent them. If you're teaching online, students can hold objects up to their cameras instead. Have them present these items to the class and explain why they chose each object. For a variation of this activity, have classmates guess how the objects represent their fellow students. Students love to share things about themselves and are usually excited about activities that involve getting to talk about their own lives.
Teaching ESL virtually? Bridge's Micro-credential course in Games and Activities for the Online Classroom (Young Learners) has plenty of tips to make your class more fun.

Realia activities for teens and adults

6. Act out a scene

No matter what concept you're teaching, acting out scenes and roleplaying is a wonderful way to help students memorize the material and encourage speaking skills through an easy activity. Try using realia to inspire the students and really get them invested in the role they're playing.

For example, if you're teaching a lesson focused on ordering food at a restaurant, bring in some food items and a menu and have students take turns acting out a scene in which one student is the waiter and another is the customer. Realia will help them generate lines and guide them to review essential vocabulary.

Students can act out situations in the virtual classroom as well. Tell them to bring certain items to class ahead of time, and then have them use the objects to create a dialogue with another student(s). If the teaching platform you're using allows it, enlarge the camera feeds of the students currently acting so the rest of the class can easily see who is speaking.

7. Incorporate realia into a writing prompt

To make writing assignments come to life, bring in random objects and place them at the front of the classroom. Have students write a short story (either with or without a prompt) incorporating all or a certain number of the objects. This activity gets students to think outside of the box and reflect on how they can use the vocabulary they've learned in everyday life. It's another great one for both the physical and virtual classroom as well, as you can simply hold the objects up to the screen if you're teaching online.

8. Island survival

Bring in a handful of items and divide students into small groups. Have each group discuss which three things they would choose to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island. Have them explain why they chose each object and how they would use it. You can modify this activity by changing the number of items students can pick or by having them discuss how they could use each item you brought in. If you're teaching online, simply turn the game into an individual activity and hold the objects up in front of your camera to show them. Students can take turns sharing their thoughts.

9. Price guessing game

Set up a row of objects (either on a desk at the front of the classroom or on a table in front of your webcam) and have students try to guess what each of the items costs. Reveal the real prices at the end of the activity. This is a great game to play to practice numbers and shopping vocabulary (e.g., how much does it cost, is it expensive, etc.). You can alter this activity to have students try to organize the objects from the least expensive to the most expensive, which can help with giving commands, vocab related to directions, and more (e.g., "Move the basketball to the left of the T-shirt"). You can also choose a theme - like groceries or clothing - for the objects in order to target specific vocabulary.

10. Memory

If you're in a virtual classroom, quickly pass objects by the screen, one after the other. See if students can recall which objects they saw and whether they can name them in the correct order. If you're in a physical classroom, you can set the items out on a desk and hide each object under a cloth or paper bag. Then, lift the bag/cloth for a few seconds to reveal the object. If you're wondering how to teach vocabulary, this is a great activity, as you can choose items from a specific theme/category (food, sports, objects that are different shapes or colors, etc.).

To learn about more games and activities to incorporate into your classroom, check out our Specialized Certification courses in Teaching English to Young Learners and Teenagers.

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10 Fun Ways to Use Realia in Your ESL Classroom

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Realia, or real objects you use when teaching, can be incorporated into a ton of fun activities that can liven up your ESL classroom and get students excited about learning English.

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience

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Orally telling stories along with the use of props aids students with reading comprehension as they can see aspects of the story acted out with props or hear emotions in dialogue through the acting of the reader. For younger children this is also extremely beneficial in developing language skills.

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BY KRISTIN GUAY
When it comes to story time with you children, try thinking beyond books. When a beloved stuffed animal is transformed into a character in the story, a long woolen scarf becomes a river, or a sofa cushion becomes a mountain to climb, the story comes to life for your child, creating a wonderfully interactive reading experience.

Oral expression engages children in the story, gives them a better understanding of the characters, helps them hone comprehension skills, and develop creativity and language skills. Puppets, plush characters, and everyday household items can be used to enhance the reading experience with your child. An article in Reading Rockets , "Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten," shows the importance of this enhanced reading with children: "Research has demonstrated that the most effective read-alouds are those in which children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening. These read-alouds are called interactive or dialogic and result in gains in vocabulary, comprehension strategies and story schema, and concept development."
Start By Gathering Some Props
Look at your child's collection of stuffed animals, dolls, action characters, plush toys, cars, trucks, and other small objects that can be used as props in a story. A stuffed teddy bear can be used while reading Winnie The Pooh, for instance (you do not need to have an actual Pooh plush toy). A plastic car or truck can be used as a fire truck, a boot can be a bird's nest or a bear's cave, a blanket rolled up is now a tall mountain, a stack of books can be a building, and Legos can be rocks, sand or snow. You do not need to look any further than what is already in the room - anything can become a part of the story when you use your imagination. Many popular children's stories do have accompanying plush characters and this is a fun option if you find yourself reading these stories over and over with your child.

Props Allow a Child To Be Engaged In All Aspects of the Story

Elements of a story such as characterization, setting, sequence of events, and foreshadowing can be introduced to children at a young age. Before beginning the story, take a minute with your child to create the setting by using a few props. This might require the parent to look through the story before reading to the child to have an idea of what props might be needed. If the story takes place in the woods, set up some objects to represent the trees, a pond, or even a bear's cave. If the setting is a city street, stack some books or even wooden blocks as the city buildings and maybe even use a few toy cars for the busy city streets. This allows the child to become fully engaged in creating and understanding the setting of a story. For example, if the story took place deep in the forest, creating trees, ponds, and mountains would be appropriate but stacks of blocks as buildings would not. The conversation that occurs while creating the setting helps the child understand what is appropriate for the woods and what is appropriate for the city.

The next step would be to gather any stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures to be used as the characters in the story. (Again, this is where it is important for the parents or caregiver to have read the story ahead of time so some of the characters can be readily accessible as the story progresses. Sometimes just a quick look at the cover or a reading of the synopsis is enough to determine the characters in the story.) As the story develops, these characters can come to life through their actions and voices. This is a great opportunity to talk with a child about how a particular character would talk or move if they were gloomy (such as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh) or very excited (like Tigger). A parent and child can have conversation about how a character would move - a frog would hop, a bear would lumber, and a butterfly would flutter in the sky. This is also a good time to play around with different voices of the characters - a young child, a grumpy troll, and a silly fairy would all have very different voices to represent their characters. The child can better understand all the dimensions of a character by making them come alive with plush characters.

Props can also be used to allow children to predict what might happen next in a story. Think about the story We're Going On A Bear Hunt where a family spends an entire day traipsing through various terrains in hopes of finding a bear. While the story progresses, you can have a stuffed bear in a boot representing the bear sleeping in his cave. As the family gets closer to the cave, you can stop and ask your child what they think might happen next. Here we have a bear peacefully sleeping in his den and a family creeping closer and closer. The child can visually see this happening with the props and can make a prediction as to what might happen as the family gets closer to the den.

Comprehension skills can also be developed through the use of characters and props. Your child can use a plush character to retell the story and the sequence of events to a parent or caregiver. For example, in the story We're Going On A Bear Hunt , a child can retrace the steps of the family by using the props as a guide - a brown towel is the squishy mud, a blue scarf is the river, scattered pencils are the branches in the forest, and a green shirt is the tall grass. This helps develops a child's comprehension skills as they recall and retell the events in the story.
Development Of Oral Language Skills and Self Expression
Using props during story time enriches the reading process by creating a ripe environment to delve deeper into the stories. This is a perfect time to introduce some skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and comparison and contrast. For example, while reading the book Dragons Love Tacos , there are many opportunities a parent or caregiver can develop these skills. In the beginning of the story the reader is told how much dragons love tacos but how much the equally dislike spicy, hot salsa. This is a good time to "ask" the plush character representing the dinosaur why they do not like salsa and if there any other spicy foods they do not like. The story explains how the dragons like mild seasonings so a parent can ask their child what else could go inside a taco that would not upset the dragons. The story further explains that dragons do love parties - parties of all kinds. Brainstorm with your child to come up with some party themes that dragons would probably enjoy. Use the plush characters to act out the dragons at the various parties talking with their friends, dancing, and enjoying the tacos. When the dragons do eat the spicy salsa and emit fire from their mouths, a red napkin or scarf would be a perfect prop to represent the fire. When the dragons help rebuild the house at the end of the story, this creates a perfect opportunity to talk about how to rebuild the house. While using the plush characters to mimic rebuilding the house, ask your child what the dragons could do to prevent another fire in the future - maybe build the house out of bricks or put water fire hydrants and hoses in each room. This is an opportunity to have your child articulate their thoughts about the story and the characters.
Develop Creativity and Imagination By Going Beyond the Printed Page
Using tangible objects such as dolls, action figures and stuffed animals helps brings the characters off the printed page and creates more of a real presence for the story. In going back to the story Dragons Love Tacos , use a plush character to verbalize the thoughts of the young boy when the dragons have eaten the hot sauce and are destroying his home with their flames. Ask your child what he might be thinking or how he might be reacting to the situation. Maybe the plush character can run into another room to call the fire department, or get the garden hose, or simply seek some shelter. These are not actual situations in the story but they are all possibilities that can be created by you and your child during story time.
Connection Between Written Word and Spoken Word
Puppets and plush characters can not only enrich any reading experience but also help develop early literacy skills. An article in Scholastic , "Building Language and Literacy Through Play," outlines the importance of learning through symbolic representation. "By using objects that represent other objects (such as colored play dough representing food), children learn symbolic representation. This ability to separate the function of an object from the object itself (using a pencil to stir, pretending you stir with a spoon) is the foundation for more advanced symbolic representations, such as the written word as a representation of a spoken word." Not only is this an enjoyable experience for an adult and child, it is helping the child to learn and develop key literacy skills. Some of these skills include developing oral language, fostering a creative imagination, learning about the order of events in a story, helping the child with comprehension and recall of the events in the story, developing self expression while interacting with the story, and helping to extend the story beyond what is printed on the page.

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience

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BY KRISTIN GUAY When it comes to story time with you children, try thinking beyond books. When a beloved stuffed animal is transformed into a character in the story, a long woolen scarf becomes a river, or a sofa cushion becomes a mountain to climb, the story comes to life for your child, creating a wonderfully interactive reading experience.

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Most children love arts and crafts as well as toys. Using props for story retelling incorporates these interests together. The props also provide visual support for visual learners to better understand the content of a story or text.

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The Five Pillars of Reading - Breaking Down the Elements of Successful Literacy Instruction

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The Five Pillars of Reading - Breaking Down the Elements of Successful Literacy Instruction

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The five pillars of reading consists of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. When students master each of these five pillars, they essentially master reading. We can work with students to master one pillar at a time.

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All the best things in life start with a strong foundation. A good garden needs good soil, a good party needs a good playlist, and a good introduction to literacy needs the five pillars of reading. The building blocks of reading, as defined by the National Reading Panel, include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Together, these five pillars make up the components of successful reading instruction by shaping learners' brains one step at a time, to learn to read and understand the written English language. Built to these five pillars and supporting scientifically backed reading research (or the Science of Reading), our engaging Reading Eggs and Exact Path programs (including targeted K-2 enhancements) are the perfect tools to guide your youngest readers through their literacy journey.

Structuring an effective and research-based literacy and language arts block is the first step to laying a good foundation for your student's literacy skills. It's no easy task, but with the FREE Reading Workbook from Edmentum, you'll learn how to select the best approach for your classroom and explore the different components of a successful literacy teaching strategy. The workbook includes several pages dedicated to helping you incorporate these five components of literacy into daily reading instruction. But, before you dig into that resource, let's take a closer look at what these five pillars are and how they work to build the foundation of an effective literacy instruction strategy.

1. Phonemic Awareness

What it is: The ability to hear, identify, manipulate, and substitute phonemes-the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning-in spoken words

What it means: Teaching phonemic awareness means instructing students to identify and manipulate the approximately 44 phonemes in the English language. It doesn't require students to be able to read or even see printed letters to grasp this concept; it's all about the sounds that word parts make. Essentially, students begin by learning individual phonemes, then joining phonemes, and finally, building words.

Why it matters: Phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success. By using effective teaching strategies, phonemic awareness can be successfully taught during your literacy block. As you're planning instruction, it's also important to recognize that phonemic awareness development must be quickly followed by the introduction of phonics. Research shows that teaching sounds along with letters of the alphabet helps students better understand how phonemic awareness relates to their reading and writing.

2. Phonics

What it is: The ability to understand that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds in written language) in order to associate written letters with the sounds of spoken language

What it means: This is where students begin to "crack the code" on reading. Phonics instruction teaches students how to build relationships between sounds and letters or letter combinations and how to use those relationships to build words.

Why it matters: While the English language is full of irregular spellings and exceptions to phonetic rules, phonics teaches students a system for remembering how to read words so that they are able to read, spell, and recognize words instantly.

3. Fluency

What it is: The ability to read text accurately, quickly, and expressively, either to oneself or aloud; the NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Passage Reading Expression Scoring Rubric helps represent the learning progression of this skill

What it means: Fluency is the ability to read as well as one speaks and to make sense of what is being read without having to stop or pause to decode words. Fluency is different from memorization, which can occur when students interact with the same text so frequently that they can repeat it without reading. Actual fluency is developed with the repeated, accurate sounding out of words.

Why it matters: Developing fluency is critical to a student's motivation to read. When students struggle to sound out letters and words, reading can become a laborious and exhausting task, and students may begin to perceive reading as a negative activity. As students begin to acquire words more easily, they should also practice dividing text into meaningful chunks, knowing when to pause and change intonation and tone. With regular guidance and feedback, students begin to recognize these cues during reading and develop deeper comprehension.

4. Vocabulary

What it is: The growing, stored compilation of words that students understand and use in their conversation (oral vocabulary) and recognize in print (reading vocabulary)

What it means: Vocabulary is very closely tied to reading comprehension, and it can be absorbed or learned both orally and through print. Most vocabulary is learned through everyday listening in conversations, reading aloud, or independent reading. In fact, studies show that there are direct links between how many words children hear spoken at home and how well they excel in 3rd grade. This is because children are unconsciously building their oral vocabularies all the time.

Why it matters: In order to comprehend reading, a student must know what the words mean that he or she is reading. Beginning readers use their oral vocabulary to make sense of words they see in print. If a student encounters an unfamiliar word while reading, his or her reading is momentarily interrupted until the new word is added to his or her mental vocabulary. Direct instruction of explicitly taught vocabulary, as well as word-learning strategies, can help build a flourishing vocabulary and improve reading fluency and comprehension.

5. Comprehension

What it is: The ability to understand, remember, and make meaning of what has been read-this is the purpose for reading

What it means: Students with developed reading comprehension abilities can predict, infer, make connections, and analyze what is being read. If you want to think of reading like a watering can, then the four preceding pillars are the different parts that make up the watering can, like the handle, spout, and body of the can itself. Comprehension is the water. Without it, you still have a watering can, but an empty watering can won't help your flowers grow. Comprehension allows the flowers of literacy to bloom as it gives meaning and purpose to what is being read.

Why it matters: Even before children become independent readers, they can begin practicing and developing comprehension skills when books are read aloud to them. Students who comprehend what they read are both purposeful and active readers. They use metacognitive strategies to think about the purpose of what they're reading and monitor their own understanding as they read. This allows these students to isolate and verbalize where they have a lack of understanding, which, in turn, opens doors for them to apply specific strategies to attain that understanding.

The five pillars of reading are vital to literacy instruction, but they are still only one component of your larger reading instruction strategy. For an in-depth guide on how to evaluate the many facets of structuring an effective, research-based reading and language arts block, and for help selecting the appropriate technology tools to support your approach, download our FREE Reading Workbook.
This blog was originally published February 2018 and has been updated by Jiana Khazma.

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[The Five Pillars of Reading] Breaking Down the Elements of Successful Literacy Instruction

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All the best things in life start with a strong foundation. A good garden needs good soil, a good party needs a good playlist, and a good introduction to literacy needs the five pillars of reading.

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Effective teaching meets the needs of all kinds of learners. Tools such as this are vital for a diverse classroom. Students with dyslexia or students who learn better through audio will greatly benefit from using audiobooks. It's important that students have options in how they engage with material in the class.

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While there are a number of free audiobook options on the website, I will focus my discussion on my two favorites for dyslexic students. Please note that many local libraries will also offer audiobook options. You can often "check out" audiobooks via an internet portal.

Librivox - Free - This site offers free text to speech audio books for public domain books. Volunteers read, record chapters of books, and release the audio files back onto the internet.

Project Gutenberg - Free - This site also presents free text to speech audio books for public domain literature. Volunteers record chapters of books and release the audio files back onto the internet.

Audiobooks for students with reading disabilities - membership sites:

This option is available for dyslexic students or others with a reading or print based disabilities. For these sites, membership does require a qualified, certifying professional to fill out a form from the site. This professional can be a special education teacher, a vocational rehabilitation counselor, ophthalmologist, psychologist, doctor, or neuropsychologist. After a parent or guardian fills out an application, they will need to email the appropriate forms to a professional that can verify the needed documentation for membership. Please note that the only free option below is Bookshare, as it received financial support from the government.

Bookshare - Free - This site offers free text to speech audio books for diagnosed individuals with dyslexia. The books are simply scanned. Then, free or purchasable apps use computerized or synthesized voices to read the text aloud. See my assistive technology page for app options.

Learning Ally - $ - This affordable option offers text to speech audio books for diagnosed individuals with dyslexia. Learning Ally uses volunteers to read the books aloud.

AnyBook Personal Reader - $ - This unique product allows physical books to be read aloud without having to scan the text. Pages are orally read and digitally recorded. Readers can then instantly access any page via scannable stickers.

RELATED: Dyslexia Screener FREE | Test For Kids, Teenagers & Adults

Again, there are more alternatives available on the internet, but the following two audiobook options are my personal favorites.

Audible.com - $ - This Amazon company provides audiobooks. It also provides magazines, radio shows, podcasts, stand‐up comedy, and speeches. They claim to feature the best narrators interpreting books by top authors.

Raz-Kids - $ - This website provides comprehensive reading resources for students, with hundreds of audiobooks offered at 27 different levels of difficulty. Kids access leveled text and read at their own rate. They can record themselves reading, and they can even take an eQuiz.

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Free public domain audiobook sites for dyslexic students: While there are a number of free audiobook options on the website, I will focus my discussion on my two favorites for dyslexic students. Please note that many local libraries will also offer audiobook options.

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Oral Language Matters: Disrupting the Phonics Monopoly

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Oral Language Matters: Disrupting the Phonics Monopoly

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Phonics is essentially seen as the building blocks of literacy. Students that fall behind are often not given interventions specifically suited to them but instead umbrella solutions. In other words, interventions need to target the specific needs of the individual student. This starts with proper assessments to figure out of the student is struggling with decoding, fluency, or something else.

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In many schools, students are expected to demonstrate reading comprehension by third grade. For students who can't, intensive interventions are offered that focus on phonics and decoding.

"GO TO PHONICS. Go directly to Phonics. Do not pass GO; do not collect $200."

There's a bit of a phonics monopoly, when it comes to helping kids read with comprehension. But is it safe to assume that all of these kids need better word decoding skills? What about the student who reads 100 words correct per minute with good accuracy?

As Valencia and Buly (2004) have noted, there are plenty of struggling readers whose needs have nothing to do with phonics and decoding. Take, for instance, me reading in Spanish. I can read a lot of words-gracias, Señor Solís from junior high. And with practice, I could probably read them even more quickly and accurately. But if it's a newspaper article, and you ask me to explain what I've read? Problema. I just don't know enough vocabulary, idioms, or conjugations. I don't understand well enough to make good sense of most real-world text.

Decoding is not enough. Oral language comprehension is a thing, and it matters. So let's talk a bit about, well, talking.

How can kids develop comprehension even before they can read? Kids who can't read yet live in a world of oral language. And surely, they understand one another, even without a written language. Otherwise, how would these little folks negotiate such elaborate rules about saving seats, or decide and publicize which part of the Marvel Universe is happening today at recess?

Oral language - both producing it and understanding it - matters. But it doesn't just happen on its own. In kids, even those who speak English as a first language, vocabulary and idioms and grammar develop gradually. We hear kids move from "him runned too fast" to "he ran too quickly for me to keep up." But that gradual development can be slowed or accelerated, depending on what kind of language experiences a child has.

We can help kids best by interactive, supportive conversations about themes, including the new words and phrases that come with that theme. We can help them by giving them chances to talk and repeat and elaborate. We can give them new experiences- field trip, anyone? - and help them reflect on those experiences. We can expose them to language-rich material that might have been too hard without our good scaffolding and support.

Think about those themed play centers in the pre-kindergarten room and those after-recess read alouds still happening in third grade. Those are not just about creativity and chilling kids out; those are for developing kids' oral language comprehension. How else are we going to have conversations about what it means to say, "Will that be cash or credit?" at the retail store or, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" (from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)?

Recent research is showing us that oral language proficiency across the primary grades is a critical predictor of how well students will comprehend what they read, even years later (Foorman, Herrera, Petscher, Mitchell, & Truckenmiller, 2015).
MAP® Reading Fluency™ can now help you assess your early readers-in as little as 20 minutes. Learn more.
So are decoding skills, of course. As a previous blog discussed, reading with comprehension relies upon both Decoding and Language Comprehension (RC = D X LC, the Simple View of Reading). Phonics and decoding are important focuses of instruction. They just shouldn't be the only focuses of instruction. We shouldn't be sending all kids directly to phonics, directly and without good information from broader formative assessments. When excellent teachers have strong formative assessment information, they can find which students need some phonics support, and which have a primary need for improving language comprehension.

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Oral Language Matters: Disrupting the Phonics Monopoly

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In many schools, students are expected to demonstrate reading comprehension by third grade. For students who can't, intensive interventions are offered that focus on phonics and decoding. "GO TO PHONICS. Go directly to Phonics. Do not pass GO; do not collect $200." There's a bit of a phonics monopoly, when it comes to helping kids read with comprehension.

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Teaching students strategies for chunking larger words into smaller parts is a useful tool that will be able to utilize while independently reading. Additionally, it's important students are equipped with knowledge of the different syllable types.

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Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2009). Excerpted from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS): Spellography for Teachers: How English Spelling Works (Module 3). Boston: Sopris West.

For more information on Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) visit Voyager Sopris .

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Learn the six types of syllables found in English orthography, why it's important to teach syllables, and the sequence in which students learn about both spoken and written syllables.

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Kids Who Make A Difference Reading Passages

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Kids Who Make A Difference Reading Passages

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These passages are aimed at helping students master reading skills such as comprehension and listening by sharing moving stories they can enjoy and relate to.
Including illustrations to support students in learning unfamiliar vocabulary before reading will help them get through the passages in a way that keeps them engaged. What's most important in teaching reading is that students read texts that interest them and make them motivated to read.

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Copy of 06 - Reading Passages 4rd & 5th Grades_ Distant Learning ELA  {Google Classroom™}

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"The following five Content Framing Questions are typically applied to text but may have been modified to address visual art by replacing the word text with work of art:
1. Wonder: What do I wonder and notice about this work of art?
2. Organize: What is happening in this work of art?
3. Reveal: What does a deeper exploration reveal about this work?
4. Distill: What is the essential meaning behind this work of art?
5. Know: How does this work of art add to my knowledge of [specific topic]?"

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Great Minds integration of visual art offers powerful opportunities to build literacy for students of all reading levels.

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Art as Text: Building Literacy Skills Through Art

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Art as Text: Building Literacy Skills Through Art

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Art is a universal language that everyone all over the world can read. While text can often be difficult for children to read, everyone can look at a piece of art and give an opinion on it or "read it." Reading art can be great practice for reading actual text.

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Art as Text: Bridging Literacy and the Arts

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5 Ways to Bring Literacy into the Art Classroom

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5 Ways to Bring Literacy into the Art Classroom

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When doing an art activity with elementary school students there are many opportunities to provide students with a chance to practice their literacy skills. This can be done in many ways, one of which is an exit slip. At the end of your art lesson, you can have the children complete an exit slip where they write a reflection on the lesson or their work.

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With good reason, it seems like every school district across the nation has a movement toward a literacy action plan. It can feel like a "push" for literacy bombards many teacher training days and takes the front seat to many initiatives. However, it is important to define literacy as more than being able to read and write. It is about being able to express oneself and interpret the world around us using written, spoken, or heard language. Because of its broad nature, literacy is like art. It connects all the other subject areas at some point or another.

As art educators, we are not only responsible for the creative practice of our students, but also literacy practice as well.

The good news is that literacy practice in the art room doesn't have to be some big fancy initiative involving laborious training. We can use what we are already doing with our students and add a literacy twist.

As long as students are engaging writing, reading, listening, or speaking skills as they interact with their artwork, they are engaging in literacy skills. It is a win-win.

Here are 5 easy ways to bring literacy into your art classroom today.

1. Use Exit Slips

Before students leave the art classroom, have them write a reflection or specific information learned during the class on a small piece of paper. Students will hand in this "slip" before they "exit." An effective method (especially for younger artists) is to provide a slip with a starter sentence for students to fill in.

"Today I created..."

"Two examples of complementary colors are..."

"One fact about Vincent Van Gogh I remember is..."

Exit slips are very effective, not only for student reflection and recall but also for teacher reflection and planning.

For example, if a lesson with a focus on warm versus cool colors results in hardly any students writing down correct examples of warm or cool colors on their exit slips, you have reviewing to do. Exit slips are also a meaningful way to spend those last few minutes of class when students' focus may require redirection.

You can find three downloadable exit slip examples in the Literacy Strategies in the Art Room PRO Learning Pack. In this resource, I also share many more ideas and specific lessons about how to bring literacy into the classroom.

2. Curate an Art Book Library

Many art rooms have "free drawing," art games, and/or building activities to keep students busy and creative when they finish a task. An art book library encourages students to take, look, and read as they please. It can pique their interest and is a great connection between art and literacy. It is also a great way for students to exercise choice. As a bonus, it is a teaching library for lesson inspiration and planning. Finally, students LOVE to revisit books used in lessons for previous projects.

3. Have Students Do Sequence Writing

Even in the simplest of art projects, there are steps. As art educators, we are teaching students concepts, techniques, and processes step-by-step. Students are much more likely to remember the steps when they write them down.

As they write, they practice the literacy skill of sequencing. "First, Next, Then, and Finally" written statements are very insightful and informational. Sequence writing can also act as both formative and summative assessment tools for you and your students. For example, if you ask your students to sequence the act of joining two pieces of clay together and they get the order wrong, you know you need to revisit the concept.

You can use the download below to get started with this activity in your classroom right away.
Download Now!
4. Assign Artist Statements

It may seem obvious, but asking students to write about their artmaking is a way of engaging in literacy. Artist statements accomplish three tasks essential to art and literacy. First, students are using language to define the visual work they have created, thus adding depth to their creativity. Second, by using proper sentence structure and word choice, students are figuring out the best way to communicate about their creative work to others. Finally, artist statements show you what students have learned, making them an effective assessment tool.

There's a great End-of-Project Reflection available in the Peer Feedback Strategies PRO Learning Pack that would be the perfect tool to use for an artist statement. You can also find more specific strategies for elementary kiddos in 5 Hints for Helping Young Students Generate Artist Statements.

5. Incorporate Storytelling

"A picture is worth a thousand words..." Right? Any project that has a central focal point of a person, animal, or character can be a catalyst for an original story told by the artists themselves. Young artists, especially those at the elementary level, love to use their imagination to make up their own narratives and descriptions.

Using graphic organizers to help scaffold young artists' ideas is very helpful to get the story off the ground. Works with people, animals, or imaginary creatures are great places to start. Ask students to give the subject of their artwork a name.

Where did they come from?

Where are they going?

Who are their friends?

What problem do they run into?

How is it resolved?

What happens next?

Both you and your students will enjoy the variety of anecdotes that can come from using their own storytelling skills. Storytelling is also an excellent way to tap into another form of creativity, this time in writing. For instance, a student's drawing can be hard to decipher because of their level of motor control. But once they clarify that the large black blob in the corner is, for instance, a spider who ate too many flies and now needs to take a nap, you've cracked the code. The students are using their creativity and building their literacy skills at the same time.

Art and literacy can be parallel concepts in the art classroom. At first, making intentional connections may seem like more work. But often, providing opportunities for students to practice their literacy skills with existing artmaking units may be easier than you think.
What literacy connections do you use in your classroom? How are you effectively getting your students to read, write, speak, and listen about their artwork or that of others?

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5 Ways to Bring Literacy into the Art Classroom - The Art of Education University

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With good reason, it seems like every school district across the nation has a movement toward a literacy action plan. It can feel like a "push" for literacy bombards many teacher training days and takes the front seat to many initiatives. However, it is important to define literacy as more than being able to read ...

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7 Art Activities to Practice Reading Skills

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7 Art Activities to Practice Reading Skills

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Art activities can be used in many ways during literacy lessons in order to support student learning while keeping them engaged and motivated. One writing activity I particularly liked from this article is "What's going on here?" Students look at a photograph and answer: What is happening here? What happened before this photo was taken? What will happen next?

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7 Art Activities to Practice Reading Skills | Lexia Learning

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The sudden shift to remote learning has been challenging for teachers, students, and parents alike.

For students, it can be…

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Common Core in Action: 10 Visual Literacy Strategies

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Common Core in Action: 10 Visual Literacy Strategies

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The ability to read images can help students master the ability to read words. Students are constantly bombarded with images where ever they go but are not usually taught the language to talk about these images. Visual literacy strategies help students learn how to articulate their thoughts about images which thus helps them learn how to articulate their thoughts in general.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Blending Art and Reading Programs for K-5

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Blending Art and Reading Programs for K-5

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Academic research has been done that shows art inclusion in the classroom improves academic performance of students. Students with art in their education tended to have higher levels of performance in reading, cognition, math, verbal abilities, and critical thinking skills.

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Nearly every subject in school has an element of reading involved, even math and science, which makes reading one of the most important skills developed in elementary school. The ability to read well isn't the only necessary component of good reading, though. Reading comprehension is even more essential. By blending art and reading programs in K-5, teachers can not only enhance reading comprehension in students, but may increase art appreciation as well, which has proven beneficial to academic success.

Why blend?

When students are assigned art projects based on reading assignments, they must have some comprehension of the material in order to complete those projects. One can't paint a picture of a character unless he or she comprehends from the text what the character looks like.

The benefits of teaching art with reading doesn't stop with understanding of the text, though. The added bonus of blending art into reading programs is that, while schools are closing down art programs in an effort to save money, a blended program provides a means of keeping art in the curriculum. This inclusion of art in educations doesn't just help in reading, but may improve academic performance overall. Research has shown that art has been linked to higher performance in reading, cognition, math, verbal abilities and critical thinking skills.

Keeping it simple

A teacher doesn't need art training in order to effectively incorporate art projects into a reading program. The teacher just needs a few good ideas, and those ideas don't need to be complex. Coloring pictures that pertain to the readings students work on in class can help students visualize the text and make connections with characters. Younger students should also be able to handle simple assignments, such as drawing or painting a picture of a favorite scene from the book. This type of open assignment will also help students recognize that reading is subjective when students create different artistic representations of the same scene.

Step it up

As K-5 students get older, art projects associated with reading can be more complex. Teachers may pair books that have important social or historical themes with art projects such as collages that require students to do independent research or think creatively to complete.

A simple book like Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax," for example, has an environmental theme highly relevant in today's world. Assigning a project that requires students to use found materials to create a collage, a mixed media artwork, or an ornament inspires creative thinking and teaches students about reusing and recycling at the same time.

Individualize reading

Students in higher K-5 grades may be able to handle independent reading and art assignments, which gives teachers an opportunity to assign art projects not just over works read in class, but also over works read outside of class.

With independent assignments, teachers can allow students to pick a book on their own, much as they might do for a book report, and create an art project based on that book. Students could be required to complete the same type of project, such as a diorama or painting, or could be given the freedom to create their own pre-approved art projects.

Individual book choices and projects do give teachers a little less control, but provide one major benefit. Instead of the students in a class getting exposure to only one book, they get exposure to many different books. Teachers can increase this exposure by having each student give an overview of their artwork in class with a short summary of the book he or she read.

Make it a class project

A single book can make for a full-scale, full-class art project. This type of project is ideal for complex books that have multiple components. Throughout a book's reading, the teacher can assign separate art projects. Each student can make a puppet of a different character, for instance, or draw a backdrop that represents one of the sets in the story. When the students' parts of the project are put together, they'll create a visual reference students can interact with as they read.

When it comes down to it, there is no right or wrong way for teachers to incorporate art into a reading program. Any type of artwork can stimulate students' minds, encourage participation, and enhance comprehension. As with any schoolwork, it's essential to choose art projects for each age group that challenge students and push them toward higher achievement.

Tags: Art, Early Childhood and Elementary (Grades: PreK-5), Language Arts

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Blending Art and Reading Programs for K-5 | Resilient Educator

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Nearly every subject in school has an element of reading involved, even math and science, which makes reading one of the most important skills developed in elementary school. The ability to read well isn't the only necessary component of good reading, though. Reading comprehension is even more essential.

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Children learn better when material connects to their interests. This connection motivates them to actively engage with the material. Including art in literacy lessons is one useful way of building this connection for students.

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Integrating Subjects in Elementary School

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Integrating Subjects in Elementary School

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Many schools, including the one discussed in this article, have begun integrating subjects in their curriculum. They help students see the connection between all the core subjects which in turn shows them the value in each subject as well. Integration of subjects also helps students understand different content better. For example a student who struggles in literacy but excels and is greatly interested in science would benefit from literacy lessons centered on scientific content.

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Integration

In most elementary schools, when students are learning math, it's separate from science. When they're learning language arts, it's separate from social studies. In the upper grades at Ralston, however, students learn how two subjects are connected.

Through departmentalization, their teachers specialize in two subjects, as well as teach those subjects in the same lesson. When the students learn math, they will then be able to apply that to what they learn in science. When they learn language arts, they will be able to apply that to what they learn in social studies.

"It makes me feel more involved," reflects Pablo, a sixth-grade student. "You have the chance to learn more about the real world."

How It's Done

To recognize the benefits of Ralston Elementary's departmentalization practice, it's necessary to understand how the school is structured:

Kindergarten and first-grade students learn in regular elementary classrooms, with one teacher for all subjects.

Second- and third-grade students have three teachers, each responsible for a separate subject: math, reading, and writing. This is departmentalization. For example, all students learn math from the same math teacher.

In grades four through six, there are two teachers per grade level. One teaches math and science, and the other teaches language arts and social studies. This is departmentalization plus subject integration.

Start Small: Implement Departmentalization Across One Grade

Three years ago, Ralston piloted departmentalization at the second-grade level. The teachers wanted to deepen their content knowledge, which departmentalization allows, and they also wanted the ability to quickly iterate their lessons to better meet students where they are.

What Departmentalization Looks Like in Second Grade

There are three classrooms at the second-grade level.

Students have one teacher for each of the core subjects: reading, writing, and math.

Each core subject is a 75-minute block.

Each teacher also teaches social studies and science for their homeroom class.

Students rotate to each of the three teachers for their three content areas.

Expand Implementation Slowly Across Other Grade Levels

After Ralston's successful semester pilot using departmentalization for their second-grade students, other teams began to show interest. Principal Dawn Odean, instructional coach Anne DiCola, and the teachers discussed what departmentalization would look like in other grade levels and how they might facilitate that.

They began by looking at units of study. Instead of approaching content in the traditional way -- teaching math by itself, teaching science by itself -- they looked at how math, science, social studies, and language arts interacted, and how the students could apply their math learning to their science learning, and apply their reading and critical thinking skills to help them better understand social studies concepts. Through departmentalization, Ralston teachers teach only two subjects, making those subjects easier to integrate.

"One of the things we found," recalls Odean, "was that [departmentalization] really helps integrate curriculum and provide opportunities for students to apply and transfer -- so we could really see mastery."

Today, Ralston uses departmentalization in grades two through six. They keep kindergarten and first grade in the traditional setting, with one teacher for all subjects, as they want to focus on making students feel comfortable and building strong relationships in a new school environment.

What Departmentalization Looks Like in Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade

There are two classrooms at each grade level.

One teacher teaches science and math as one class, and one teacher teaches social studies and language arts as one class.

Each teacher sees all grade-level students every day.

Students rotate between two class periods of two hours and 15 minutes each.

Reflect on and Refine Your Lesson Plans

An added bonus of departmentalization is the idea that teachers are teaching the same lesson multiple times, which gives them an opportunity to quickly iterate based on student feedback.

"[The teachers] do their lessons three times a day in their content area," explains Odean. "If they were in a normal elementary school it would take them three years to do a lesson three times. [With this approach] they can reflect, shift and adjust, shift and adjust again, and make it be the best that it can be."

Integration In Action

While teachers practicing departmentalization specialize in specific subject areas, integration in the upper grades is the practice of weaving content from one of their subject areas to the other.

By applying their learning from one subject to another, the students begin to see its relevance. For example, by learning computational skills and measurements in math, Ralston sixth-grade students were able to measure the slope in the drain in their school parking lot, giving them ownership in fixing the school's water overflow and ice problem, and showing them that their learning is connected to the real world.

"We wanted to do something that would tie into one of our three big spheres of science," explains Jon Bromfield, sixth-grade math and science teacher. "Hydrosphere is a perfect connection for measuring the slope of the parking lot because it connects to watershed and how our friend gravity is always pulling things down. You couldn't ask for a better laboratory."

In their sixth-grade social studies and language arts class, while doing a simulation on the Maya, students take breaks for research, close reading of articles (from secondary sources to primary documents written in the 1500s), and analyzing their own artistic replicas of primary documents.

By departmentalizing and integrating two subjects, Ralston teachers guide their students in transferring their skills. They have more time to plan and intentionally integrate their lessons.

Create Integrated Lesson Plans

Departmentalization at Ralston has spurred upper elementary teachers to create integrated lesson plans. Laura Hinijos, a sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher, offers three tips from what she has learned:

Be transparent. Some days, she says, students ask her if they'll do reading in class. To be more transparent, she could say, "We're doing social studies today, and here are the literacy skills that we're using."

Create structure. Some days, she outlines defined reading and writing time. Other days, their focus is on a social studies concept, and her students use their language arts skills to learn and better understand the ideas discussed.

Be responsive. It's important to have structure in place, she notes, but that structure is responsive to what needs to happen in the classroom. "If we need more time on a project and more time collaborating, then some of those other structures shift, which is the beauty of having that almost two-and-a-half-hour block. I have that ability to shift what's happening during those two and a half hours."

Look at Concepts Across Grade Level

Ralston Elementary integrates concepts across subjects. Each grade level has one specific concept that ties across all their classes.

In kindergarten, they looked at the concept of change. "They're looking at change in science," describes Odean, "and they can talk about those things in reading and writing, and in math as well. Some of that integration is done at the more basic level at the primary grades."

Hinijos focused on risk as a concept in her sixth-grade social studies and language arts class, and she talked with Bromfield about how he could incorporate risk into his math and science class at the beginning of his geosphere unit. They brainstormed questions such as:

What are the risks that we take, or don't take, with our natural resources?

How does that affect our geosphere?

Integrate Expectations

Ralston's teachers share students across grade levels and create common expectations. With departmentalization and integration, explains Hinijos, "it's more of a sixth-grade decision versus an 'in my classroom' decision."

Create shared expectations.

Both sixth-grade teachers share the kids and share that responsibility of creating unity among both classes. They talked about their expectations and agreed to always be on the same page. "We've worked really hard on making sure we have those commonalities as far as shared expectations for the kids," Hinijos points out, "so it's not like whiplash for the kids. . . 'This is what Miss Hinijos expects.' 'This is what Mr. Bromfield expects.'"

Create a homework agreement.

They also created shared agreements around homework. If one of them has their students working on a large project, the other one won't be assigning a lot of homework. "We're trying to be responsive to what the students need," elaborates Hinijos, "but also respectful of what students can handle, and making sure they're getting a common line of communication from both of us."

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Integrating Subjects in Elementary School | Edutopia

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Integration In most elementary schools, when students are learning math, it's separate from science. When they're learning language arts, it's separate from social studies. In the upper grades at Ralston, however, students learn how two subjects are connected. Through departmentalization, their teachers specialize in two subjects, as well as teach those subjects in the same lesson.

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What Does Subject Matter Integration Look Like in Elementary Instruction?

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What Does Subject Matter Integration Look Like in Elementary Instruction?

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This article focuses on integrating science concepts into literacy but the same approach can be used for integrating art and literacy together.

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Practice Brief 62 -- Topics: Instruction Equity Practices Implementation

What does subject matter integration look like in elementary instruction? Including science is key!

Educators at all levels should be aware of educational standards across subjects and be able to make meaningful connections across the content disciplines in their teaching.

District staff & PD Providers should consider how to provide professional development that allows teachers to experience exemplars and facilitate the design of integrated lessons.

School leaders should support teachers in integrated teaching by authorizing relevant professional learning experiences and setting expectations for integrated lessons.

What is the Issue?

We do not live in disciplinary silos so why do we ask children to learn in that manner? All science learning is a cultural accomplishment and can provide the relevance or phenomena that connects to student interests and identities. This often intersects with multiple content areas. Young children are naturally curious and come to school ready to learn science. Leading with science leverages students' natural curiosity and builds strong knowledge-bases in other content areas. Science has taken a backseat to ELA and mathematics for more than twenty years. Integration among the content areas assures that science is given priority in the elementary educational experience.

Authors:

BY LYDIA HILL, ANTHONY BAKER, MEGAN SCHRAUBEN, ANNE PETERSEN, AMBER MCCULLOCH, KATHY RENFREW, MARSHA WINEGARNER, CARLA ZEMBAL-SAUL, MEGAN CANNON | OCTOBER 2019

Reflection Questions

Reflect on an authentic project you know well. What were the range of disciplinary knowledges and practices involved with accomplishing it?

What examples of integrated disciplinary learning experiences are already present in your context that can be leveraged?

How can you arrange professional learning to support teachers in planning for and using integrated lessons?

Things to Consider

Attending to Equity

Recommended Actions You Can Take

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This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1920249 (previously through Awards #1238253 and #1854059). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

Work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Others may adapt with attribution. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Opinions expressed are not those of any funding agency.

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What does subject matter integration look like in elementary instruction? Including science is key! : StemTeachingTools (en-US)

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Practice Brief 62 -- Topics: Instruction Equity Practices Implementation Educators at all levels should be aware of educational standards across subjects and be able to make meaningful connections across the content disciplines in their teaching. District staff & PD Providers should consider how to provide professional development that allows teachers to experience exemplars and facilitate the design of integrated lessons.

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Subjects do not have to be and should not be isolated from each other. Students learn to understand the core subjects better as well as better understand their application to the real world better when they see how all the subjects connect and impact each other.

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Combining academic subjects produces deeper learning.