SUPPORTING EMERGENT

& LETTER-NAME READERS

iSearch Presentation
Kat Gross
Fall 2017
 Typical EEP classrooms contain one Lead
Teacher (must be certified) and one
Assistant Teacher (does not have to be
certified, although many are).

TARGET AUDIENCE

EAST END PREPATORY

SCHOOL
 GUIDING QUESTIONS

• What instructional practices are already being used by the assistant

teachers/lead teacher in the classroom to support students’
phonological awareness and phonics skills?
• What instructional practices/understandings could teachers
incorporate into their existing small group word work time to support
student learning?
 SEARCH PROCESS
H A S B RO U C K & D E N TO N ( 2 0 0 5 )

Data Analysis & Research Goodness of Fit

Teacher Input

• Analyzed most recent K/1st STEP data
for areas of widespread difficulty
• Observed in K/1st classrooms to see
what teachers were already doing
• Spoke with teachers about what they
felt they needed support with
• Consulted elementary literacy
journals (The Reading Teacher, The
Elementary School Journal)
• Read Words Their Way after noticing
similarities between student
difficulties, teacher concerns, and the
developmental sequence described in
the text.
• Considered how to apply
the strategies in the
literature to the needs
shown in the data as well as
needs brought up by the
teachers.
• Selected practices that
would be a reasonable
additional to what teachers
were already doing.

Effective Instruction Responds to Create Links to Research Changes Must Be Realistic

the Needs of the Learner &
Meeting Adult Learner Needs
 THE BREAKDOWN OF
Phonics ** K teacher concerns
DECODING SKILLS

Letter Phonological
Recognition Awareness

** K teacher concerns
Phonemic
Onset-Rime Syllabication
Awareness

* K STEP Data (avg) Phoneme Word

on segmentation Manipulation
4/28, 14%
families
* K STEP Data (avg)
10/23, 43%
* K STEP Data (avg) on
Phoneme Rhyming
identification of initial sounds Words
19/32, 59% Identification
* - Data Concerns ** - Teacher Concerns
 WHY A WORD STUDY (ORTHOGRAPHIC)
APPROACH

• Early learning about words (how they are formed, what they mean, how to read them,
etc.) comes from what young children see, write, hear, and say.
 WHY A WORD STUDY (ORTHOGRAPHIC)
APPROACH

• Early learning about words (how they are formed, what they mean, how to read them,
etc.) comes from what young children see, write, hear, and say.
• Examining words orthographically (spelling) gives learners insight into the sound
system of words, the print system of words, and the meaning system of words (Bear
et al., 2004).

SPELLING
ORTHOGRAPHIC
KNOLWEDGE
READING WRITING

ORAL LANGUAGE
Figure adapted from Bear et al. (2004)
 WHY A WORD STUDY (ORTHOGRAPHIC)
APPROACH

• Early learning about words (how they are formed, what they mean, how to read them,
etc.) comes from what young children see, write, hear, and say.
• Examining words orthographically (spelling) gives learners insight into the sound
system of words, the print system of words, and the meaning system of words (Bear
et al., 2004).
• Word Study provides teachers with the opportunity to heighten students’ awareness
around particular aspects of word learning that connect with the component skills of
word reading (letter recognition, phonemic awareness, rhyme, etc.)
 WHY A WORD STUDY (ORTHOGRAPHIC)
APPROACH

• Early learning about words (how they are formed, what they mean, how to read them,
etc.) comes from what young children see, write, hear, and say.
• Examining words orthographically (spelling) gives learners insight into the sound
system of words, the print system of words, and the meaning system of words (Bear
et al., 2004).
• Word Study provides teachers with the opportunity to heighten students’ awareness
around particular aspects of word learning that connect with the component skills of
word reading (letter recognition, phonemic awareness, rhyme, etc.)
• Word Study activities are highly engaging for young children who may not respond
well to the call-and-response (B says /b/, What does B say? What letter says /b/?)
 EMERGENT & LETTER NAME STAGES

Many of the reading/spelling behaviors that teachers described and I observed are reflective of the
emergent and letter name stages of reading/writing described by Ganske (2013) and Bear et al. (2004).
EMERGENT STAGE LETTER NAME STAGE
• Not yet reading • Beginning to read predictable texts
• Developing alphabetic principal • Often rely on the names of letters to spell words
• Developing phonemic awareness (attention to • Move from partial to full phoneme segmentation
individual sounds in words) when spelling words

Word Letter Name Spellings

Bed B, BD, Bad
Ship SHP, Sep
Float F, Fot, Flot
Drum Jrom
 ST R ATE G Y 1 :
SORT S ORTHOGRAPHY SORTS (SPELLING)
BEAR ET AL. (2004); GANSKE (2013)

• Sorting activities allow students to analyze

different aspects of word structure (spelling,
sounds, meaning)
• Engaging because students physically manipulate
words into categories that build awareness of
patterns/connections among words.
• Help students recognize underlying structures
(spelling, sound, meaning) of words so that when
they come to an unknown word, students can
apply their word knowledge to figure out the
unknown word.
• Word sorts is a phonics strategy that can be
tailored to meet the current developmental phase
of students
 ST R ATE G Y 1 :
SORT S PHONOLOGICAL SORT (SOUNDS)
BEAR ET AL. (2004)

• Sorting activities allow students to analyze

different aspects of word structure (spelling,
sounds, meaning)
• Engaging because students physically manipulate
words into categories that build awareness of
patterns/connections among words.
• Help students recognize underlying structures
(spelling, sound, meaning) of words so that when
they come to an unknown word, students can
apply their word knowledge to figure out the
unknown word.
• Word sorts is a phonics strategy that can be
tailored to meet the current developmental phase
of students
 LET’S PRACTICE

1. Analyze student writing sample for evidence of a

misunderstanding about letter-sound correspondence.
2. Think of a sort that would support this student’s
developing word knowledge by drawing their attention to
their misunderstanding.
3. What categories would you use? Would words might you
include in your sort?

Image source: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/mrs-wills-kindergarten-3983229/how-to-

writing-in-kindergarten-3907089191
 STRATEGY 2:
WORD BOXES
C L AY ( 1 9 9 3 ) ; M C C A RT H Y ( 2 0 0 8 )

• Tool for students to practice phoneme

segmentation, blending, letter-sound matching, and
letter writing.
• Number of boxes corresponds to number of
phonemes in a word.
d o g
1. As student says each slowly says each phoneme in
a word, they slide a marker into each of the
boxes.
2. Then have students slide their finger underneath
all boxes and say the word.
3. If you want to introduce letters, after students
have segmented phonemes, have them say and
write the letters to go with each phoneme.
4. Then, have then swipe their finger under the
boxes again and say the word formed.
 WORD BOXES IN ACTION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=185F_qAAJtA&t=5s
 STRATEGY 3 :
EMBEDDED AWARENESS
YO P P ( 1 9 9 5 ) ; YO P P & YO P P ( 2 0 0 0 )

• Play with language (rhyming,

alliteration) in a natural more
authentic way, imbedded in books
and nursery rhymes.
• Teachers read and re-read stories
and sue verbal noticing to draw
attention to language patterns
(“Hmm, Sally sell seashells… those
/s/ sounds at the beginning of the
words are fun to say.
• Extension activities through writing.
Use the language strucutres in teh
book as “mentor texts” for student
writing. (Harry has heavy hats.
 RELEVANCE TO LITERACY
PROFESSIONALS

• The National Reading Panel (2000)

identified 5 key pillars of reading
instruction.
• Using a developmental spelling
approach and activities such as sorts,
word boxes, and embedded word play
supports two of the five pillars:
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics
Instruction.
• Supports the Common Core State
Standards (2014) integrated model of
literacy in that reading, writing, and
speaking/listening are highly
interconnected.
 SOURCES

• Bear et al. (2004). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
• Clay, M. M. (1994). Reading recovery: A guidebook for teachers in training. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
• Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2014). English Language Arts Standards> Introduction> Key Design Consideration.Retrieved from
Common Core State Standards Initiative: http://www. corestandards. org/ela-literacy/introduction/keydesign-consideration.
• Ganske, K. (2013). Word journeys: Assessment-guided phonics, spelling, and vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
• Hasbrouck, J. & Denton, C. (2005). “Teaching Teachers: Providing Effective Professional Development.” The reading coach: a how-to manual for
success. Boston, MA: Sopris West.
• McCarthy, P. A. (2008). Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness.The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 346-349.
• National Reading Panel (US), National Institute of Child Health, & Human Development (US). (2000).Report of the national reading
panel:Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for
reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.
• Yopp, H. K. (1995). Read-aloud books for developing phonemic awareness: An annotated bibliography. The Reading Teacher, 48(6), 538-
542.
• Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 54(2), 130-
143.