Chapter 2

Morris (Ch. 2)

Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.

Kindergarden is the first year of institution for some children while others have attended pre-school or pre-k schooling. Kindergarden is essentially the stepping stone between little or no previous institution and first grade. It is the duty of the kindergarden teacher to provide basic knowledge of the english language and reading skills.

What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?

Kindergarden programs should include reading aloud or text talks, contextual reading, big book reading, and letter identification by sound and sight.

Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)

By reading aloud to children, children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surroundings, provides them with a new vocabulary to explain the new experiences, acquaints them with the characteristic rhythms and structures of written language, creates mental images, and helps a child become literate by forcing mental words to be created while listening.

Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?

Children begin to connect the text on the page with the spoken language when contextual reading is used. I also forces children to see that there is a written word for every spoken word and that they are separate and do not run together into one big word. Also that words can have multiple syllables and each syllable is not a separate word but one word.

What is echo reading?

Echo reading is when the teacher reads aloud a sentence or line of text then the student repeats what the teacher modeled.

Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA)

This method allows children to write their own short story or experience. The teacher writes it on the chart and has he student read and reread it with the teachers support. This is a good approach be cause the student is reading in his/her own language and can become familiar with the text more easily.

Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)

Big Book uses a larger size book with large print so a group of children can follow along with the teacher. Often the pattern of text in the big books is natural and rhythmic. Also there is a high frequency of chosen words in the book to familiarize the student with those key words. One day one that the book is introduced the teacher reads the story aloud and asks questions about the story line and finger pointing is used to track the individual words as they are read to the class.  On day two the class reads the book in a choral format while the teacher finger points each word.  On day three the teacher sets up small groups and observes the children’s ability to finger point the story.

Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?

Both incorporate finger pointing modeled by the teacher, include a natural language pattern, and both emphasize a choral reading format.

Why is finger pointing so important for early readers?

Finger pointing is key in young readers so that the student can identify words as a whole and not separate syllables or run words together. Teachers can be sure that students are not memorizing the story and evaluate that the student understands how words are separated.

Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?

Yes, anytime a student wants to practice alone with a book should be encouraged.

Words Their Way

Emergent/Preliterate
This state can range from scribbles to the first legitimate letters. Children will begin with scribbles often in circular motions and tell stories while drawing them. Kids will then move to “pretend” writing which is often modeled after an adult or older child writing near the emergent writer and often has no letter to sound relationship and no order or pattern. Then the emergent writer will begin to identify letters and sounds of a few letters most often the letters in their own name. Near the end of the emergent stage students are able to memorize short words and produce them on paper, such as love, mom, dad, dog, cat, etc. In this stage students can begin to connect first letter sounds and produce one letter words.

Letter Name-Alphabetic
This is the stage of development when students are formally taught how to read and write typically ages 5-8. In this stage spelling is based on phonics of words and only consonants are identified in the word. The first and last sounds are usually represented in early letter name stage, the middle elements and vowels are usually omitted. Sound and letter association in this stage are usually associated by the sound and how it is made, b and p may be confused because they are both made by the lips. In the middle of this stage students will spell common words fairly well or correct. Vowels will begin to be represented but will not always be the right vowel and silent letters will most likely still be omitted. Students will also begin to pick up on easy blends and represent them correctly. By the end of the letter name stage students will correctly represent short vowels.

Within Word Pattern
In the Within Word Pattern stage students will be able to read and spell many words correctly. Students now understand some word patterns such as a silent -e at the end of words. They will identify that there are different patters for making vowels short or long. Students will begin to identify homophones also by using different patterns to produce the same sounding word such as bear and bare.

Syllables and Affixes
Students reach this stage in upper elementary to middle school. In this stage student s can spell single syllable, long and short vowel words. They have trouble with words with two syllables and where affixes meet. For example stopped is spelt as stoped or hiking is spelt as hikeing. The concept of doubling or dropping a letter is still confusing to these students. By studying about base words and derivational affixes students will learn about the English spelling patterns.

Derivational Relations
Once this level is reached the student will be in it through out adulthood as a person continues to develop a vocabulary. They discover that spelling rules are constant across different but related words. Word study continues across latin and greek bases and develops a wide vocabulary. Students who are in this stage early should focus on base words to develop the correct spelling of longer words derived from the base.

Text Talk

A new way to read aloud to children is by using a Text Talk. Text Talks engage students in the text of the book, which is commonly overlooked by kids being interested in the pictures more. This is a problem because students will base their interpretation of the story on the pictures and can miss the true substance of the story. The key parts to this article seem to be finding the right level of challenging text, using open ended questions, and keeping pictures hidden until the text on the page is read.

For a successful text talk you need to consider a few things when choosing a book. One is the content it should have a clear event structure and some complexities of events to provide children with something to build a meaning from. Another thing to consider is the vocabulary of the book it should have some higher level words to direct attention to after reading and discussion of the story. These are both important to apply to your level of readers when choosing so the students will stay engaged and learn from the story.

Using the right formula to ask a question is key in the Text Talk lesson. Questions should require students to engage in a discussion at important parts of the story. This is accomplished by asking open ended questions that cannot be answered with one or two words. If students answer an open ended question in a few words you can prompt them to expand that idea by asking them to explain what they said.

Pictures are students’ favorite part of a book and can cause them to over look the text and not pay attention to the story. You can avoid this by keeping the picture hidden until the end of the text on that page and discussing it then showing the picture. Students will be able to focus on the story and discuss it then draw other conclusions from the story by seeing the picture and not have it change the text story.

This article made me realize how important it is to really sit down and plan out a Text Talk and make each book read aloud in class be as engaging and meaningful as possible.

Book Reflection 4

1. Vanessa Gill- Brown / Mandy Stanley
2. January 2003
3. Rufferella
4. 0-439-33321-0
5. 1st-3rd grade
6. Ruff the dog tries to be a human and turns into Rufferella. She becomes famous and realizes she misses being a pet so she gives up Rufferella and goes back to being Ruff the dog.
7. This would be good in a lesson about being yourself.

Book Reflection 3

1. Deborah Nourse Lattimore
2. September 1998
3. Cinderhazel
4. 0-590-20233-2
5. 1st-3rd grade
6.This is a twist on the classic Cinderella story using witches. Cinderhazel loves dirt and has 2 step witch sisters and a step with mother in the end Cinderhazel and the Prince live happily ever after in piles of dirt.
7. This book can be used in a lesson about being uniques. Also would be good at Halloween time.

Book Reflection 2

1. Penny Pollock / Ed Young
2. 1996
3. The Turkey Girl
4. 0-316-71314-7
5. 1st-3rd grade
6. Turkey girl is an orphan in charge of all the turkeys in the village. She wants to go to the festival so the turkeys speak to her and give her the chance to go to the festival. They tell her to be back and not forget about her or they will leave and the village will be upset with her. She forgets about the turkeys and they leave her.
7. This story could be tied in with a lesson about responsibility, keeping your word and a doing to others as you want them to do to you.

Book Reflection 1

1. Giles Andreae / David Wojtowycz
2. October 2000
3. Barnyard Hullabaloo
4. 0-439-20735-5
5. k-2nd grade
6. This book introduced animals found on the farm with a short poem about each animal. It was an easy read and cute for kids to learn about each animal.
7. This book will teach kids about farm animals. You could use it to teach about rhyming and ending sounds.

Daddy, where did the words go?

1. Is it a good idea to have young, beginning readers use their fingers to point to

words as they read (finger-point reading)? Why or why not.

Yes, adults can keep track of if the studen memorized the words or is reading them.

 

2. Do most kindergarten students know what a word is (have a “concept of word”)?

No

3. Do most kindergarten students know what a phoneme is (an individual sound unit,

often represented by a letter in writing)?

No

4. How do children become aware of words and phonemes?

By learning to sound out words and the different parts of words.

Answer the following questions AS you read the article.

5. What happened with Jack

ʼs finger pointing?

Jack broke each phoneme of the word into a separate word which caused

him to run out of words on the page.

6. What differences are there between speaking and reading?

When we speak we do not pause or separate words and when we read text

words are separated.

7. What is phoneme awareness (phonological awareness)?

The understanding that a spoken word can be conceived as a sequence of

sounds.

8. Describe the 4-stage model of early literacy.

The first stage a child can identify the beginning letter of a word. In stage

two the child can identify a word by its beginning letter and end letter. In stage

three the reader can identify phonemic sounds. Stage four the reader can

recognize words.

9. Describe what this means: “It is not in the telling, but it is in the very act of reading

that Jack will actually learn how to read.” p. 10

This means that no one can tell Jack how to read, he will just have to

practice reading aloud and to himself in order to read.

10. What instruction helps develop beginning readers phonemes?

Having an adult model how to read aloud, with appropriate pauses and

breaking up of words is a good way to show a child how words and phonemes

are different.

11. Go back and look at the questions you answered BEFORE you read and adjust

your answers or elaborate on them. Briefly describe here how you have changed your

thinking about the process of learning to read.

I always thought it was bad to use finger pointing while reading because it

was a distraction and the child could become dependent on it. I now know that

you could miss out on a child not knowing the difference between words and

phonemes by not using finger pointing. The child could be memorizing the story

too and just recite and you would not know without using finger pointing.

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