ELM-316 Foundations of Early Reading Instruction by

What is it?

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:28:25 UTC

Print concept is taught so that students understand that print carries meaning

(Gunning, 2019).

Milestones & Mastery

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:30:26 UTC

Introduction to print concept: As early as possible
- Children can be read to from extremely early ages to start to develop these skills. Even allowing a 5 month old to play with a book can start to develop print concepts.
Mastery of print concept: End of Kindergarten (AZED, 2016)
- Going into 1st grade, students should understand concepts such as:
  - Reading occurs left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
  - Sentences are made up of groups of words.
  - The difference between a word and a letter.
  - Spaces separate words.
  - Spoken words are represented in written language, through specific sequences of letters.

Evidence-Based Instruction

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:34:28 UTC

One of the best ways to help develop print concept is to demonstrate it to students and to ask them guiding questions.

Examples:

Pointing to the words you are reading during read aloud to show that you are reading left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
Allow students to help you turn the page when you have finished reading the text on that page.
Ask students to point to the author of the book before beginning to read aloud.

A silly way to help students understand could be to try reading the book bottom-to-top. They will realize that the story does not make sense when the text is read this way.

Assessment

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:35:32 UTC

One-on-one assessment with students is most effective to establish how well they understand print concepts. In this one-on-one assessment, the teacher should ask questions such as, "Can you show me" :

A word?
A letter?
The front of the book?
The back of the book?
The title?
Where to start reading?
How to hold the book?
How many words are in this sentence?
The end of the sentence?
(Reading Rocket, n.d.)

This can also be done as a less formal assessment, such as asking these questions to the whole class during read aloud time. This informal assessment can give the teacher a better idea of how the class as a whole is understanding print concepts, while asking the questions one-on-one will better assess individual students.

Differentiation

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:36:40 UTC

One way to multi-sensory approach that can be used to differentiate print concepts for ELL and/or dyslexic students is to create pointers. This is engaging because they can decorate them how they wish. Students can then use these pointers to follow along with words as they are being read. They can also use these pointers to identify the different print concepts, such as pointing to the first word of the page, or pointing to the author's name on the book cover. By pointing to words as they are being read, students are showing that they understand where one word starts and the next begins, which is an important skill in print concept.

What is it?

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:09 UTC

Phonological awareness is understanding that sounds come together to make words and words come together to make sentences.

What is it?

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:21 UTC

Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate phonemes (letter sounds).

What is it?

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:27 UTC

The identification of each letter as an uppercase or lowercase symbol.

Milestones & Mastery

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:35 UTC

This starts prior to being in school and should be mastered by the end of 2nd grade.

Milestones & Mastery

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:48 UTC

Most students (75%) enter kindergarten with proficient phonemic awareness skills.

Milestones & Mastery

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:37:57 UTC

Identifying and naming uppercase letters only
Identifying and naming lowercase letters only
Identifying and naming uppercase and lowercase together
Writing the alphabet
Tying the common sounds to most letters

Evidence-Based Instruction

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:07 UTC

This is an integral part of learning language because it puts everything all together (Gunning, 2019)

Evidence-Based Instruction

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:14 UTC

Hands-on and interactive strategies, like letter games and multisensory activities, help students develop phonemic awareness by connecting sounds to letters through movement, touch, and auditory cues.

Evidence-Based Instruction

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:20 UTC

Teach distinctive features of the letters (shapes, open or closed, curves, etc. ) Do not compare 'b' and 'd' early on as this may cause confusion (Gunning, 2019).
Teach the letters in isolation, focusing on one at a time. Often, it is smart to teach consonants first as their sounds are typically simple (Texas Education Agency, 2025).
Provide ample opportunities for children to play with letter manipulatives, alphabet books, and/or blocks (Texas Education Agency, 2025).
Use songs, rhymes, and tracing letters to help learn letter names and shapes. Jack Hartmann videos are great for this.

Assessment

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:35 UTC

Putting the whole "umbrella" together to assess if students understand phonological awareness

Assessment

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:43 UTC

Screening or assessing phonemic awareness should be carried out early in the first year of school and monitored throughout.

Assessment

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:38:51 UTC

Reading Universe Organization provides a free letter naming assessment PDF to view. They also provide a video as an example of how to administer the assessment to the student.

Differentiation

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:39:00 UTC

Manipulation and visual representation go hand in hand

Differentiation

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:39:07 UTC

A multi-sensory approach is an effective teaching technique for children with dyslexia.

Differentiation

jantzyng — 2025-02-13 06:39:14 UTC

Music, movement, and letter manipulatives provide great opportunities to create a multi-sensory experience for students learning letter names.