I did not post back then, but in January, we received a new set of instructions from the school explaining how we should work on fluency.
The instructions explain how fluency means using the appropriate pitch, pace, phrasing and expression. The instructions explain that this kind of fluency "aids comprehension."
The sheet explains 5 different methods parents can use at home to increase reading fluency.
1. Echo reading: You read one line and the child reads the same line. Increase the number of lines at a time to 2 and so on. This should be done at least once a week.
2. Choral reading: You and your child read the same text aloud together. Choral reading should be done at least twice a week.
3. Partner reading. You read a sentence and your child read the next and so on. When the child's reading improves, you read a page and your child reads the next page and so on. This should be done at least once a week.
4. Repeated reading. Read the same book or story more than once in the same week.
As you can guess, I was busy actually teaching reading, so I chucked these instructions to the side. Frankly, in my opinion, fluency comes with actually knowing how to read. And, some of these instructions seemed to me as if they were actually a deceptive way to disguise that the books have gone beyond the child's memorized words. After all, if the parents are reading the text first, that tells the child what the words are so that the child doesn't have to figure them out. That's even so with the choral reading, because I would bet that some children will be slightly behind the parent - like when you're singing a song you don't know the words to.
And, I just love that there was an assessment at the bottom giving guidance on determining the fluency of a child's reading. For example -
Needs work - Reading is word by word, slow, and choppy, with some words missed and not enough expression to show an understanding of the text.
Finally, I really don't care if my daughter can read the three little pigs and use the wolf's voice for the wolf. I'd rather that she can actually read the words.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Rhyming
I remember from my daughter's early first grade days that there was a big focus on rhyming. But at the time I wondered why this was so important in first grade. As far as I was concerned, rhyming is relevant to writing rhyming poetry. It seemed unnecessary for first grade.
I have since read that rhyming is considered by some to be helpful for children learning how to read. But to me it seems like reading should come first and then rhyming. For instance, how does a child look at the words "red" and "said" and know that they rhyme unless the child can actually read the words. Also, although words like "bed" and "red" will probably appear to a child to rhyme, even if a child can't read the words, how does this help a child to actually read these words. I realize that the thought is that if the child knows the word "red" but not the word "bed", that through rhyming the child should know the word "bed." But this does not help children at all when the sounds are the same but the spellings are vastly different.
My daughter, for instance, brought home this terrible rhyming assignment in the first month or so that had words my daughter could not read at all and she was supposed to be able to pick out the rhyming words. It was the most horrendous and frustrating assignment for my daughter all year. And, she didn't learn anything from it, nor would I have expected her to.
I have since read that rhyming is considered by some to be helpful for children learning how to read. But to me it seems like reading should come first and then rhyming. For instance, how does a child look at the words "red" and "said" and know that they rhyme unless the child can actually read the words. Also, although words like "bed" and "red" will probably appear to a child to rhyme, even if a child can't read the words, how does this help a child to actually read these words. I realize that the thought is that if the child knows the word "red" but not the word "bed", that through rhyming the child should know the word "bed." But this does not help children at all when the sounds are the same but the spellings are vastly different.
My daughter, for instance, brought home this terrible rhyming assignment in the first month or so that had words my daughter could not read at all and she was supposed to be able to pick out the rhyming words. It was the most horrendous and frustrating assignment for my daughter all year. And, she didn't learn anything from it, nor would I have expected her to.
Friday, March 11, 2011
We Teach Phonics
I recently asked my daughter's school district what the district policy is on the teaching of phonics and here's what I received in response:
As recommended by the district, state and current evidenced-based research on best practices, the first grade teachers at *** use a balanced literacy approach that includes components of alphabetics, vocabulary, and sight words. Students are immersed in alphabetics daily which includes both phonemic awareness and phonics (sound isolation, identity, categorization, blending, segmentation, phonemic deletion, and onset-rime). Systematic strategies are taught to teach students how to isolate and manipulate phonemes in words (beginning, middle, and end). Vocabulary instruction is taught through three components: oral, listening and speaking, within context at students’ independent and instructional level. Research informs us that vocabulary is best learned when taught explicitly, when students are engaged in class discussion and conversation, when read aloud to, and when they read on their own. Sight word recognition is taught through systematic instruction based upon evidence that quick and effortless recognition of words is necessary for readers to read fluently. In addition, in acknowledgment of research that indicates alphabet and phonemic awareness are the two best indicators of how well children will learn to read, the **** First Grade teachers work hard to provide individualized instruction through scheduled word work, Intervention Block, Guided Reading, Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop.
I see a lot of phonemic awareness, but where is the phonics? What is described as phonics parenthetically is virtually only a list of phonemic awareness topics.
As recommended by the district, state and current evidenced-based research on best practices, the first grade teachers at *** use a balanced literacy approach that includes components of alphabetics, vocabulary, and sight words. Students are immersed in alphabetics daily which includes both phonemic awareness and phonics (sound isolation, identity, categorization, blending, segmentation, phonemic deletion, and onset-rime). Systematic strategies are taught to teach students how to isolate and manipulate phonemes in words (beginning, middle, and end). Vocabulary instruction is taught through three components: oral, listening and speaking, within context at students’ independent and instructional level. Research informs us that vocabulary is best learned when taught explicitly, when students are engaged in class discussion and conversation, when read aloud to, and when they read on their own. Sight word recognition is taught through systematic instruction based upon evidence that quick and effortless recognition of words is necessary for readers to read fluently. In addition, in acknowledgment of research that indicates alphabet and phonemic awareness are the two best indicators of how well children will learn to read, the **** First Grade teachers work hard to provide individualized instruction through scheduled word work, Intervention Block, Guided Reading, Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop.
I see a lot of phonemic awareness, but where is the phonics? What is described as phonics parenthetically is virtually only a list of phonemic awareness topics.
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