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Foundational Skills are described as the "nuts and bolts" of writing. These are the basic actions of getting words down on paper. Examples include letter formation, handwriting, correct spelling, and knowing how to use punctuation and organize things on the page.

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Composition involves knowing about the topic you're writing about and being able to pick the right words and put them in a logical order. This includes things like having knowledge about the topic, choosing vocabulary and words, and forming sentences correctly (like knowing complete vs. incomplete sentences and using the right verb tenses). It also covers grammar and usage (like commas, punctuation, and quotation marks), organizing your ideas, and thinking about who your audience is.

Scarborough's Reading Rope was created by Dr. Hollis Scarborough and has two main parts, or strands.

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One strand is Language Comprehension. This part includes things like having background knowledge, knowing vocabulary, understanding how language is put together (language structures), being able to reason verbally, and having knowledge about literacy.

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The other strand is Word Recognition. This part includes phonological awareness, decoding words, and recognizing words instantly by sight. The sources state that these two strands are intertwined. When a student masters all of these strands, they will be able to understand what they read (reading comprehension will happen).

Ehri's Phases of Word Reading is a model developed by Dr. Linnea Ehri, outlining four steps students go through as they learn to read words.

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The first step is the Pre-alphabetic phase. In this phase, students don't know much about how letters represent sounds and might use pictures instead.

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Next is the Partial alphabetic phase. Here, students start to learn that letters stand for sounds and pay attention to the shape of letters.

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The third step is the Full alphabetic phase. At this point, students are decoding harder words and word patterns they haven't seen before.

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The final phase is the Consolidated Alphabetic phase. Students learn more about words, including things like syllables.

What Effective Teachers Do:

They make the classroom exciting and full of learning tools like books, posters, and poems.

Students stay busy with meaningful work, whether it’s as a whole class, in groups, or on their own.

Teachers work with different group sizes—whole group, small groups, and individuals.

Learning Theory Mentioned:

Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky): Kids learn best when working with others. Some tasks they can do alone, but others they need help and guidance to complete.

Make your classroom print-rich by filling it with things like word walls, books, posters, poems, student work, and even comics or magazines.

Set up the space so it feels safe and welcoming. Let students know where things are and give them choices, like different learning centers for reading, writing, math, art, or science.

Let students feel like they’re part of the classroom—it should feel like their space too.

Always model tasks for students, both academic and social. Don’t assume they know how to do something—show them first.

Student grouping is also important and will be discussed more later.

Phonemic Awareness: This is the ability to hear and play with sounds in words—like rhyming, blending sounds (like /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat), and noticing alliteration. It's all about listening and speaking, and it's an important skill before kids learn to read.

Phonics vs. Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness is about hearing sounds in spoken language. Phonics is about matching those sounds to written letters and words.

Print Awareness: Kids start noticing print even before they fully understand reading. They learn things like books go front to back, left to right, and top to bottom. Teachers should model this clearly. Big books, book walks, and interactive read-alouds help teach this.

Classroom Environment: Make the classroom welcoming and organized. Have labeled areas for different subjects and lots of visible print. Give students choices and help them feel like the classroom belongs to them.

Modeling & Grouping: Always show students how to do something before asking them to try it. Don’t assume they know. Grouping students for learning will be covered more later.

• Word Walls help students connect print to speech.

• Words are organized by their first letter (e.g., B for ball).

• Words are listed alphabetically.

• Focus on high-frequency words.

• Help students see word patterns (phonics and spelling).

• Serve as references for reading and writing.

• Should be interactive for students.

• Can be used in any subject (Math, Social Studies, Science, etc.).

Activities for Word Walls

• Find words with a certain number of letters or syllables.

• Play Word Wall Bingo.

• Look for rhyming words.

• Play Tic-Tac-Toe.

• Use word wall cheers.

• Add words to center activities.

• Play "Mind Reader" (e.g., "I’m thinking of a word with 3 letters and a short 'a' sound").

Sound Walls

• Sound Walls help students connect speech to print by categorizing sounds.

• Allow students to explore how sounds are made with the mouth.

• Show that letters can have different sounds.

• Include different sound categories like:

  • Stops (one burst of sound)

  • Voiced and Unvoiced sounds

  • Fricatives, Affricates, Glides, Liquids, Nasals.

• Changes in standards and state mandates affected student assessments.

• Many schools focused on high-stakes testing.

• Formative assessments (guiding instruction) became summative assessments (assessing outcomes).

• Poor student performance led to criticism of schools, principals, and teachers.

• Focus shifted to test prep instead of the curriculum.

• Reading curriculum became narrower.

• Led to cheating, teaching to the test, and too much focus on test-taking skills.

Response to Intervention

• 2002-2008: Reading First Initiative (No Child Left Behind) required early screening and progress monitoring for primary students (4 times a year).

• Standardized tests were introduced, but they didn’t account for students’ needs, attitudes, or motivation to read.

What is Assessment?

• An assessment is an inference based on reliable and valid data.

• Reliability means the data is consistent.

• Validity means the data measures what it’s supposed to measure.

• Assessments should be authentic.

• Teachers are in the best position to assess student ability.

Formative Assessment

• Shows what students know at the time of the assessment.

• Examples include: alphabet assessment, phonemic awareness, decoding, reading level, comprehension, running records, writing samples.

Collecting Evidence During the Year

• Teachers can assess students in many ways: work samples, rubrics, teacher-made tests, discussions, observations.

• Teachers can also help students learn to assess themselves.

• Use phonics or word study lessons.

• Focus on orthographic mapping (4-part processing system).

• Teach high-frequency words.

• Practice words often through meaningful activities (e.g., tactile activities, word searches).

• Group words by spelling patterns.

• Explore word structures like syllables, phoneme-grapheme relationships, and morphemes.

• Introduce 5 new words per week.

• Teach syllable types and syllabication.

• Have students use words in sentences (e.g., cloze sentences).

• Sort words by patterns.

• Have students proofread their work.

• Follow specific curriculum spelling activities and word lists.

• Practice dictation.

• Why Text Matters?

  • Factors to consider: grade level, readability, student interest, and whether the text challenges students to think.

  • Moving to more complex texts helps improve vocabulary, knowledge, and reading skills.

• Assessing Text Difficulty:

  • Can be assessed by:

    1. Readability formulas (e.g., Lexile scores)

    2. Text characteristics like depth, organization, and language

    3. Reader-task analysis

    4. Leveling apps or author information

• Readability Formula:

  • Based on vocabulary difficulty and sentence complexity.

  • Fry Method: Measures word difficulty by syllables and syntactic complexity by sentence length.

  • Lexile Framework: Combines word and sentence complexity to determine text level (criticized by some as inaccurate).

• Book Leveling:

  • Fountas and Pinnell System: Levels A-Z, based on book complexity (e.g., ideas, print size, text-picture match).

  • Decodable texts are recommended for beginning readers.

• Learning English is important, but students shouldn’t forget their native language.

• 77% of English learners speak Spanish.

• English learners tend to score lower on tests compared to English-speaking students.

Importance of Learning English

• Expose learners to English as early as possible.

• It takes at least 5 years for English learners to reach the oral skill level of native speakers.

• The push for language arts curriculums has made outcomes harder for English learners.

• Exposure to English is key for progress.

Effective Teaching Practices

• English learners need support from teachers, including help with both language and culture.

• Make students feel comfortable and provide support.

• Build on students' experiences and familiar concepts.

• Provide background knowledge and set language/content objectives for each lesson.

• Use graphic organizers.

Teaching Practices (Continued)

• Keep instruction clear and simple.

• Use pictures or real-life objects.

• Provide hands-on learning opportunities.

• Give extra practice and time for activities.

• If possible, teach in the student’s native language.

• Some schools have dual-language programs for non-English speakers.

Instructional Techniques for Working with English Learners

• Some words in different languages may look or sound similar—use these to teach.

• Give extra time for assignments and tests.

• Allow yourself extra time to teach English learners.

• Build vocabulary in multiple languages in the classroom.

• Involve family members in the learning process.

• If possible, have English-speaking family members help with teaching.