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Why is there a need to access children? 

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Why is there a need to access children? 

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Children develop differently, and there is no one universal lock-step linear path to literacy development. And because of the many possibilities of alternative pathways to literacy, it emphasises the educator’s need to access children’s development so as to better plan and manage literacy learning. Assessment is used to measure development and learning, to guide teacher and program planning and decision-making. It is an important part of a comprehensive early childhood program.

In this plan, a child will be accessed the 5 main things she needs to know about decoding print text.

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This form requires an educator to read the questions aloud and have the child write and draw her responses. This reading interest survey is effective for emergent and early readers. Through this survey, the educator will be able to select a topic that are relevant to the life of the child. This is supported by Vukelich, Christie and Enz (2002) which states that selection of topic needs to be a blend of topics that are important to children and departmental guidelines to help children make sense of their own personal experiences and life around them.

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What is the chosen literacy area and why is it important?

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What is the chosen literacy area and why is it important?

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Literacy is reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing and involves the knowledge and skills required to engage in activities for effective functioning in the community (Hill, 2012). Because of the breadth of concepts involved in literacy, I would be focusing on reading and viewing in this plan and presentation.

Reading and viewing begins at birth and continues steadily as children develop. They are essential skills for one to be able to understand the world around them. This is supported by Hill (2012), which states that reading is a complex process that involves decoding and understanding modes in order to deduct and deduce meaning.

Reading is a socially embedded meaning-making process that occurs through multi-literacies and multimodal textual practices (Bull & Anstey, 2010; Cope & Kelantzis, 2013; Kress, 2010; New London Group, 2000). This means that reading is not just print or language; it also includes the ways in which meaning is represented in signs, logos, music, animation and forms of multimedia. Reading and viewing is everything. According to Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework, the desired outcomes of preschool education is to develop “A confident person” and “An active and self-directed learner”. As such, literacy is important as one of the factors in contributing to these outcomes. When children are able to make meaning from decoding, they will feel confident and take initiative in learning.

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Play-based - Sight words / high frequency words

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Play-based - Sight words / high frequency words

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High frequency words are words that occur more than others in children's first reading books. Since many of these words are not decodable and are essential to fluent reading, repeated exposure and memorisation are crucial for students to read quickly and fluently.

Why play-based?
Play offers varied contexts for acquiring literacy skills as well as acting out the various social roles associated with literacy. When children are engaged in play they can also be viewed as being in the zone of proximal development. It is as though they are a head taller than themselves, engaging in risk-taking, and achieving higher levels of cognitive functioning  A play based assessment generates levels of feedback under conditions of less risk.

This is supported by the social constructivist theories of Dewey (1964) and Vygotsky (1978) which believes that learning is a social, collaborative and active process.

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Formal Standardised - Concepts of Print (Marie Clay) 

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Formal Standardised - Concepts of Print (Marie Clay) 

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Concept of print involves understanding of concepts like book-orientation, directionality and letter/word. It is important to assess a child’s concepts of prints as what Marie Clay called them as “the rules of the road”. Through teaching, children become knowledgeable about these essential concepts so they open doors to literacy. An assessment of each child‟s level of understanding, and sometimes misunderstandings of these conventions helps teachers know what their students are attending to in print and what still needs to be learned.

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Accessing Fluency via Observation / Rubric

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Accessing Fluency via Observation / Rubric

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Fluency is fundamental. It is a bridge between the two major components of reading; decoding and comprehension. Fluency in reading “is important because it frees the child to concentrate on the meaning of the text” (Hill, 2012). Children’s ability to read fluently impacts on their text understanding and can also shape their lifelong attitude to reading (Hill, 2012).

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On the surface, Reese looks like any other six-year-old. Reese has been attending preschool in Singapore since she was three years old, clocking forty hours a week over the past school year.

Reese lives in a stable and functional family with her father, mother, and sister. Both Reese's parents are bilingual in English and Chinese, however insist on only speaking English at home. Reese's parents are working long hours in the veterinary industry, hence she is taken care by a caregiver during the day. She is extremely outgoing, with a passion for investigating the things around her and is always asking questions. She enjoys spending quality time with her family especially watching television programs on the National Geographic channel with her father. Due to the parents' nature of work, it sparked Reese's interest in science especially animals and its link to natural world.

This knowledge could present many options for learning in the classroom. This is supported by Hill (2012) which states “building on the familiar is linked to making connections to children’s world,” (Hill, 2012). Additionally, “teachers need to learn about children’s homes and communities in order to make connections between what children already know or are interested in and what they need to learn to be readers and writers.”

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From the reading interest survey, it is clearly evident in her responses that Reese enjoys reading, as well as possesses a high level of confidence in her own abilities. Reese thoroughly enjoys reading at home, and in school. She has progressed beyond reading out aloud, and while she does like people reading to her, she also prefers to read silently to herself. What she likes to read varies a lot, as she likes information books on animals and insects as well as fantasy and fairytales. In her own words, she shared that the book is right for her if "I don't know how to read some words but I can learn from it."

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The fable 'The Hare and The Tortoise' was chosen for this assessment. Reese was asked Bloom's six ever-increasing level of thinking questions and her responses are as describe below.

Reese first confirmed literal facts about the story. The first level, Knowledge, required Reese to recall the information and sequence the events in the story. Reese was able give the flow of the story in sequential order. The second level, Comprehension, had Reese giving her opinions on why she thinks the Hare wanted to rest after eating the carrots. In the third level, Application, Reese shared about a similar experience she had. "When I have a running race with my sister who is 4 years old, I win because I am so much taller and faster." When probed further on how was it similar or different from this story, Reese explained, "it is different because I am not proud like the Hare." The fourth level, Analysis, required Reese to compare and list the differences in the characteristics of the characters, Hare and Tortoise. At the fifth level, Synthesis, Reese was asked to change the character, "what would happen if we change the tortoise to a dog?" "Do you think it is a good idea for the Hare to rest?" At the final stage, Evaluation, Reese had to evaluate and make judgement. In this level, it also requires the child to be creative. Reese was asked, "What did you learn from this story?" "How do you think we can make this race fair?" "What if we changed it to an underwater race?"

Through Reese's responses, she was able to recall, understand, apply, analyse, synthesise and evaluate. Hill (2012) defines comprehension as "the act of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning from the text." By this definition, Reese is able to comprehend narrative texts. This demonstrates Reese's own knowledge of the conventions of a narrative: that there has to be a problem and resolution, and character(s) develop and change.

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Accessing Comprehension via Bloom's Questions

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Accessing Comprehension via Bloom's Questions

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Comprehension is understanding meaning. “Reading comprehension is the act of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning from the text” (Hill, 2012).

Comprehension assessment can be attained using different types of questions. Bloom's classification of comprehension is used to access Reese's understanding of what she had read. These questions are based on six ever-increasing levels of thinking.

It is important to support the development of children's comprehension as it encourages active reading that involve children thinking about their thinking.

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Taking a record of reading behaviour helps teachers to find books at an appropriate learning level for children. It provides a clear indication of the words the child has read and reveals the information the reader is attending to.

"Reading is a problem-solving activity and the methods that children use to solve problems provide a 'window' into the child's mind." (Hill, 2012)

Accessing and knowing how the reader work on cues from the text (story/meaning, syntactic or structural information, and visual) and self-correct oneself allows teachers to work out ways to support the child's progress. Miscue analysis informs teacher about strategies the child uses.

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Reese reads section of the Wings Reader book 'Not Too Many' by
This is an instructional reading book levelled at 11.

A fluency of reading rubric (Hill, 2012) was one strategy used to access Reese as she read the book. When reading the book 'Not Too Many', she scored a fluency score of 2 with her reading 100 words in 50 seconds. Comparing Reese’s score of 2 with Hill’s (2012) reading fluency rubric, she would be classed at between level 2 and 3, steering towards level 3.

Evidence for the following conclusion can be heard on the audio attachment. Reese performed a mixture of word by word and phrased reading. As Reese read, most words and phrases flowed. She demonstrated an awareness of syntax with her smooth sentence reading and attention to punctuation. Her interpretation of expression was also evident in the audio attachment, as it is a book he is familiar with.

Hill (2012) defines reading as fluent if the “words are read together in meaningful chunks… there are few examples of word-by-word reading (and) there is attention to syntax and punctuation”. By this definition, Reese read fluently. Reese's ability to understand a text without struggling to decode words or meaning has ignited a sheer pleasure of reading in this student.

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From the standardised assessment, Reese scored a maximum score of 27. This meant that her knowledge on concepts of print is present. This is important because “as children begin to learn to read, they develop their understanding of how print works” (Hill, 2012).

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From all these above assessments, Reese's literacy stage would be transitional according to Hill (2012) phases in literacy development breakdown. At this stage, the child is fine tuning her reading strategies before becoming fluent reader. She reads confidently and fluently in phrases and minimal word-by-word, and is beginning to use intonation and expression. She reads silently and can retail main ideas and summarise a text (demonstrated in the reading of book 'The Hare and the Tortoise').

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According to Fountas and Pinnell Continuum for Literacy Learning (2007), Reese displays characteristics of Early Emergent Readers at level F and Developing Readers at level G. She possesses the ability to process longer (ten words or more) and more complex sentences. Reese also have a large sight word vocabulary. Sge reads many texts silently, following text with with their eyes and without pointing.

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Goal 1 - Making connections & predictions in reading

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Goal 1 - Making connections & predictions in reading

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According to Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework Language and Literacy edition, learning goal 3: requires a child to read with understanding and enjoyment. One of the key knowledge and skills in this learning goal is to show understanding of the story. In our assessments, we only accessed comprehension based on responding to questions on the lines, between the lines and beyond the lines.

Something that Reese didn’t do during her reading and questions session was reread the text to see if her original predictions were right. An activity suggested in Winch et al (2012) is to engage the class in a guided reading session and invite the students to make predictions about the text. After the text is read, students retell the text in their own words on strips of paper and then arrange these main events in chronological order. A sharing session at the end would encourage children to reflect on their earlier predictions and how close they were to the text.

Since Reese is currently transitioning to Primary One, we will look at the literacy goals in Singapore MOE Primary Syllabus. According to the Singapore MOE Primary English Language Syllabus, the learning outcome 4 under focus area of reading and writing requires a child to make predictions about a text.

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Goal 2 - Exposure to variety of text types

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Goal 2 - Exposure to variety of text types

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According to the Singapore MOE Primary English Language Syllabus, the learning outcome 5 under focus area of reading and writing requires a child to read and view from a variety of different text types.

In our assessments, we mainly worked with narrative text types. Hence, the goal for Reese is to be able to expose and engage her with more different text types, from both print and non-print sources.

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As Reese is such a confident and independent reader, Winch et al (2012) suggests the formation of discussion groups to aide in the child’s critical analysis of the book. This could also be a practical way for the teacher to assess progress with confident, solo readers. “Students can be asked to prepare a short presentation on their text, to give a character profile, to compare this book to one they have read previously, or to read a short extract” (Winch et al 2012). The other students in the group or class will ask questions and a discussion about the text will take place for the promotion of student learning.

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This resource depicts a reading corner with an inclusive of different types of texts and levelled books. Types of texts include poetry, dictionaries, non-fiction, fables, fairytales, alphabet books, photograph albums, books made by the class, big books, recipe books, manuals, magazines, comics and many more. Since one of the goals set for Reese is to introduce her to more text types and gradually increase level of book, this resource would be ideal.

Text levels can provide a scaffold for supporting children's reading development.

It is important from the very beginning, children are introduced to a variety of books and a range of texts to read. According to Hill (2012), such reading corner is vital for encouraging independent or collaborative reading. In addition, according to Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework, with such a reading centre, it will also be able to cater to children with different interests and abilities and helps to nurture in them a love for reading. Gambrell (2011) also shared that to engage reluctant readers, allow them to have access to wide range of reading materials, make choices about what they read and to allow social interaction.

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Bookworm Heaven!: Creating a Classroom Library (Virtual Tour)

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One of the goals set for Reese is to include more guided reading and collaborative learning to improve her literacy in reading.

This resource offers an example of making meaning from reading. In this resource, the teacher demonstrated strategies that are important for active reading. These strategies included making connections, predicting, questioning, visualising, inferring and critiquing, determining importance, monitoring and repairing understanding, and summarising (Gill, 2008; Fountas & Pinnel, 2006; Harvey & Goudvis, 2000; National Reading Panel, 2000).

Supported by Hill (2012), "encouraging children's awareness of their thinking as they read is essential for comprehension."

Through such technique, it also promotes dialogic discussion/ reading which is vital in increasing children's long term oral language development, scaffolding of children's emergent literacy and greater enjoyment of books. (Hill, 2012; Ministry of Education NEL, 2013)

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Reese's present level of performance (PLOP) for fluency is nearing to level 3. To fully stretch her ability and reading fluency, this resource would be useful.

This resource created with kids literacy in mind, offers a myriad collection of ebooks for children to read along with the narration, flipping pages at their own pace and most importantly, model the fluency. After listening to the story read to them, students can read the story and record themselves as they go. They can play back the book in record mode listening to their pronunciation, annunciation, voice, and rhythm. With such a system, children can get almost immediate feedback by teachers.

Supported by Hill (2012), "encouraging children's awareness of their pronunciation, enunciation, tone and expression as they read is essential for understanding of fluency."

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Understanding a child’s funds of knowledge is a crucial element in creating effective and successful lessons. To be able to build lessons around a child’s passions or strengths will aide classroom engagement and improve an attitude to learning.

Through the data collected here, I have also come to realise the impact affective elements have on literacy learning and ways I can support positive self-efficacy  in my students.

The most important thing one can do as a teacher is to READ EVERYDAY TO THE CHILDREN.

"If students are not motivated to read, they will never reach their full literacy potential." (Gambrell, 2011)

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Through the results from play based assessment as well as assessment on reading behaviour, Reese has an extensive sight word vocabulary. She is able to read all the first 60 high frequency words in this template, independently.

It is useful information as when a child knows how to read high frequency words, it speeds up her reading efficiency.

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Reading is a socially embedded meaning-making process that occurs through multi-literacies and multimodal textual practices (Bull & Anstey, 2010; Cope & Kelantzis, 2013; Kress, 2010; New London Group, 2000). This means that reading is not just print or language; it also includes the ways in which meaning is represented in signs, logos, music, animation and forms of multimedia.

Research has shown that the
benefits of introducing visual literacy early in life; has provided scarcity of visual literacy programs for young children. "Effective readers use a range of strategies to create a match between the visual, structural, semantic and phonological cues." (Hill, 2012, p. 204)

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This resources offers visual supports that are helpful for teaching and supporting literacy development. It offers ideas that may be useful for designing literacy lessons that are appropriate and challenging for learners in the inclusive classroom.

One of the strategies emphasise an ability to understand the composition and meaning of an image through interpretation and analysis.

According to the Singapore NEL Framework, children learn to recognise and ‘read’ environmental
print through their many experiences with it. (NEL, 2013, p. 48) This means that visual thinking helps children in highly developed self-expression and ordering of ideas, motivation and
engagement in a variety of subjects, self-image and
relationship to the world and self-reliance, independence
and confidence.

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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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According to the results from the record of reading behaviour, Reese displayed certain traits of the four roles of reader.

Freebody & Luke (1990) states that the teaching opportunities are based on the four roles of the reader: meaning maker, code breaker, text user and text critic.

Here are some teaching and learning activities to suit this context.

Code breaker: Word Wheel
It is an activity for building words from the same word family. They focus on alphabetic code, learning high-frequency words and word building.

Meaning Maker: KWL
The idea is to connect the reading to the children's prior knowledge.

Text user: This means to expose and encourage children to explore different text types.

Text critic: Teacher can allow children to explore catalogues and advertising leaflets to explore how words and pictures are used to create meaning and influence the reader.

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Working with Family - Strategies for helping children at home

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Working with Family - Strategies for helping children at home

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According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1994), "the social environment of a person affects every aspect of that person’s life."

This image depicts a brief example of helping children at home. It can be done up into a book / brochure and share it with parents. This way, they will know that reading is not just literal books. Reading is from everywhere, anywhere and everything!