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Being able to hear and manipulate the smallest units of sound (Semingson, 2014)

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Being able to hear and manipulate the smallest units of sound (Semingson, 2014)

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In my first grade classroom we use this technique for building phonemic awareness. This is an example of phoneme deletion. 

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In my first grade classroom we use this technique for building phonemic awareness. This is an example of phoneme deletion. 

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We use this activity as well as other phoneme manipulation activities such as phoneme addition and phoneme segmentation. These are great skill sets for students to have and they can make transitioning to phonics and writing easier.

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Partners in Reading - San Jose Public Library

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Phonemic Awareness - Task 6: Phoneme Deletion (Removing a Sound and Recognizing What Remains)

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The National Reading Panel defines phonics as the relationship between a specific letter and it's sound, only as it relates to the written word. 

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The National Reading Panel defines phonics as the relationship between a specific letter and it's sound, only as it relates to the written word. 

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In first grade we do a lot of word building. The practice of building words helps with reading fluency as well as writing. 

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In first grade we do a lot of word building. The practice of building words helps with reading fluency as well as writing. 

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When students begin to read and write, we use their phonemic skills to help them to recognize and map their speech in print. If a student is reading a sentence and comes across a word that they do not know, we have them use their knowledge of phonics to sound out the word.

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According to the National Reading Panel, fluency is the ability to read text accurately and smoothly.  

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According to the National Reading Panel, fluency is the ability to read text accurately and smoothly.  

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In my classroom we do sound deck drills daily adding new cards to the deck as students learn new sounds. This helps students build phoneme fluency. This will also make them more fluent writers.

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Decodable readers that relate to the phonics rule

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Decodable readers that relate to the phonics rule

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Another way we build fluency in first grade is through decodable readers that help students practice the phonics rule that we are learning that week. Here is an example of a Bonnie Kline story that uses some sight words as well as -ck words. Students read and re-read the story to build their fluency.

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In my class students have opportunities to listen to what good fluency sounds like when I read books aloud to them. They also really enjoy listening to stories on Storyline Online. Both of these allow students to hear what reading with inflection and fluency sound like.

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'Maddi's Fridge' read by Jennifer Garner

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The growing amount of stored words that students understand and use in their daily conversations (oral vocabulary) and recognize in what they read (reading vocabulary) (Wierman, 2018). 

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The growing amount of stored words that students understand and use in their daily conversations (oral vocabulary) and recognize in what they read (reading vocabulary) (Wierman, 2018). 

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Student vocabulary building is a cross-curricular, every day occurrence. When I am introducing a new lesson, concept, or book we discuss vocabulary we might come across. We do different vocabulary building activities and practice using those new words throughout the week.

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List-group-label is a vocabulary strategy which helps students learn new words and show their understanding of those words and how they relate to other words. In the beginning of the year I demonstrate this strategy whole group, but I move quickly into having this be a small group activity.

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Illustrate vocabulary word to show comprehension

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Illustrate vocabulary word to show comprehension

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This is another activity I use in my class. I found an example worksheet online from MoNique Waters, but I usually just have my students do this in their writing journals. I like writing journals because it is a resource they can continue to go back to throughout the year. Having students write the word and then illustrate it shows an understanding of the word's definition. I also have my students write a sentence using the word after making their illustration.

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The ability to understand, remember, and make meaning of what has been read (Weirman, 2018)

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The ability to understand, remember, and make meaning of what has been read (Weirman, 2018)

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Sequencing is a good way for students to show their understanding of what happened in a story or lesson. I especially like sequencing because it lends itself well to differentiation. One student can write sentences to show beginning middle and end and can illustrate their sentences. Another student could cut out sentences and pictures and glue them in the correct order. A third student might only be able to use pictures to show sequencing.

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Illustrate and write about your favorite part

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Illustrate and write about your favorite part

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Another way to monitor comprehension is to have students illustrate and then write about their favorite part of the story. They should tell what happened, but they should also tell why that is their favorite part. They should try to make a personal connection to the story if possible. The above worksheet is from Kindergarten to the Core, but this activity can also be done on a plain piece of paper or in a writing journal.

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The following are the articles I used to help me while creating this padlet.

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The following are the articles I used to help me while creating this padlet.

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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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Overview of the "Big Five" of Reading: Phonemic Awareness and More

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Scaffolding instruction by providing prompts for each section of the story map you are using. For example, in the "Beginning" box of your map, write in prompts such as: Who is the story about? Where does the story happen?

Varying the complexity of story maps and sequencing words used. Some students may benefit from the very simple beginning-middle-end format. More complex sequences, such as first-next-then-last, can be used with students who are ready.

Using wordless books. There are many wordless books that can be used for sequencing with younger students and with English language learners or students with limited English proficiency. For younger students, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, which humorously details a woman making pancakes from scratch, or the wordless adventures by Mark Newgarden about a small dog named Bow-Wow (e.g., Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug) are good options. Books by Barbara Lehmann and David Weisner are helpful for older or more sophisticated students practicing sequencing.

Using books in translation for picture sequencing activities. Providing English-learners with a copy of the text in their first language allows them to participate in sequencing and demonstrate their understanding of the concept and the content.

Modeling sequencing with a smaller group of students using a familiar book with a very clear narrative structure to help students understand each story component.

Extend the learning

Writing

Students can use sequencing words and charts to help them write summaries of texts they have read or heard. They can also use sequencing as a pre-writing technique for planning their own writing or use a sequencing word anchor chart as a writing tool.

Math

Most math curricula include worksheets on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc). You can support students' sequencing ability by encouraging the use of vocabulary words such as "What bead goes first? Then which bead? Which bead is third?" Encouraging students to write out the steps for solving addition and subtraction problems that include regrouping is an excellent way to have them think through the steps in a logical order.

Science

Scientific inquiry also develops sequencing skills. In order to study or observe changes in something, students must follow along and record, in sequential order, what they notice. Students can document their observations by writing or drawing.

Social Studies

Timelines are a great way to teach sequence in social studies. Students may enjoy making a timeline of their own lives, including important milestones such as when they learned to walk or talk or when they first wrote their name or rode a bike. Once students understand the process of charting important milestones on a timeline, topics from the social studies curricula can be used. Try this printable timeline template.

Other ideas for sequencing

Arts and crafts activities. Quilt-making and other arts and craft activities may reinforce the idea of sequencing and also introduce math concepts (measurement, addition & subtraction and basic computation, etc). Alex Henderson's Kids Start Quilting with Alex Anderson: 7 Fun & Easy Projects Quilts for Kids by Kids, Tips for Quilting with Children provides easy instructions for adults quilting with children.

Cookbooks for children can reinforce math concepts (measurement, etc) and sequencing while making connections to students' reading. The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara Walker presents recipes for foods mentioned in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Everyday activities. Create a sequence page for a simple activity around the house or at school. Fold a blank piece of paper into squares. Start with 4 large squares. For older students, create more squares. Ask kids to draw the steps they know in the order in which the steps occur. For example, draw each step it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to brush their teeth.

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Story Sequence | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story - the beginning, middle, and end - and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred. The ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narrative texts.