A Sequence for breaking activities

  1. IN THE BEGINNING
Breaking letters out of a whole word – the word is not constructed in front of the child. This sets the stage by helping the child understand left to right and see a word letter by letter. / Familiarwordfromreadingor writing LLDI2(pp. 19, section 3)
Child isonyourleft.
Quickly buildaword (not a demonstration of construction – the whole word just appears).
Demonstrate breaking the word fromlefttoright, letterbyletterateyelevel directlyinfrontofthechild. Slide letters left; or up; or down.
Get the child to do this and repeat the process with an additional word or two known by the child.
  1. Beginning Constructing
When the child shows he is attending to and controls left to right breaking letters out of a known word – begin constructing or ‘building’ words in front of the child – move to page (LLDI 2, p. 42). Breaking Known Words (LLDI2, p. 42). Number 1 – letter by letter / Familiarwordfromreadingor writingLLDI2(pp. 42 –section 5)
Child isonyourleft.
Buildawordfromlefttoright, letterbyletterateyelevel directlyinfrontofthechild.
Say, "If weweregoingtowritethisword wewouldhavetomakeitletter byletter."
The teacher constructs the word and then runs her finger under the word and reads the word.
Hand the child the letters to the word one at a time and have the child construct the word from the model which is left visible.
After the child constructs the word, ask, “What word have you made?”
Talkaboutthisinwriting.Be consistent. Focusislettersmake upwordsanditisaboutthe'looking'
From time to time – Check concept of ‘letter’ and ‘word.’
Ask child to do one of the following:
1.How many letters are there in that word?
2.Show me one letter.
3.Show me one word.
4.Show me a short word.
5.Show me a long word.
  1. Breaking Known Words and Constructing Known Words
This helps the child see words can be taken apart letter by letter and are constructed letter by letter.
After breaking becomes easy…Constructing Known Words (LLDI2,
p. 140). Number 1 – learning words I know / LLDI 2, p. 140 - section13LearningonwordsI know–
Focusis forchildtobeabletoconstructletterby letterknownwords,fromlefttoright easily.
Choose 2 or 3 things from the list:
1.Teachersaysthewordand constructsthemodel.
2.Oraskchildtomakeitand handhimtheletters,firstto last.
3.Childmixesuphisversion andmakesitagain.
Say "Lookattheword. Run yourfinger underitasyousayit slowly" (Child is using eyes and L-R)
Or say"Lookattheword. What doyouhearatthe beginning?"(Child is using ears).
To increase task difficulty, (1) Place the lettersonboardalready scrambled, or(2) havehim findthelettersfromalarger groupof letters or (3) havehimwritethe letters.
  1. Another Kind of Break
When words I know becomes easy move to another kind of break. This work is adding inflectional endings to known words.(LLDI2, p. 43). Assemble a word quickly and add an inflectional ending / Shifttoanother'kind'ofbreak. The focus is now on endings -plurals and inflectional endingsLLDI 2, p. 43- section 5
Choose aknownword'looking'or'going'(onesyllable)
Assembleitquickly,lefttoright.
Askchildto watchasyourun yourfingerlefttorightunderit.
SAY:What'sthefirst letterin'look'?Canyouhearthelast partof'looking'?Wecantake thefirst partaway.
Demonstratebymoving'look'toleftandthen bring-ingoverandreaditfor thechild.
Havechilddothisand readitasawholeandastwo parts.
Linkthiswithchild's readingandwriting.
  1. Consolidating – Breaking Onset and Rime
This is working with predictable letter-sound sequences. Rimes are very stable with regard to letter and sound sequences.
(LLDI 2, p. 43). Number 3 – break known words with one syllable into onset and rime.
When this becomes easy …
(LLDI 2, p. 142). Number 5 – Change the onset and retain the rime
(LLDI 2, p. 143). Number 6 – Retain the onset and change the rime / Breakingaknownwordofone syllable(hand,wish,with,book) intotwoparts. Generalprinciple-wordscanbebrokeninmorethanone-way. ATTENDTOONETYPEOF BREAKINANYLESSON!
Retain theonsetandchangetherime. Page143 section13
Doonlywhenchildis consistentL-R-notevenanoccasional lapse)
Example:startfromwhatachildhas written.sh she shop shout
Teachersays:Saythissound'sh' andread thisword.Andthisone.
  1. Move next to simple analogies
This is working with simple analogies. When onset and rime becomes easy…
(LLDI 2, p. 141). Looking for similarities
(LLDI 2, p. 141). Substituting an initial letter
(LLDI 2, p. 142). Comparing words in a set / Tolookforsimilarities.LLDI 2, p. 141 - section13
Comparing twowordscanbeveryuseful.
Example:construct'go'andhavehim makeamodelbelowyourmodel.
Say, 'Checkitwith youreyes.Moveyour fingerunderit.''Readit'.
Addanew word,'no'totherightofyourfirst word.Repeatthesteps.
Dosomecomparingactivities,lookingand hearing.
Thechildshouldbeableto constructandcomparebeforeyouask himtothinkaboutsubstitutions.
Use wordsfrombookshereads.
gono orcanman
gonocanman
  1. Later in the Lesson Series
Later the shift is linking what the child knows to new in reading and writing.
(LLDI 2, p. 143). Analogies
(LLDI 2, p. 145ff). Advanced / Usinganalogyisplacedlateinthe learningsequence.Thisisbecauseitcan betricky. (LLDI 2 p. 143)
Theteachersays(duringreadingandwritingwouldbethemostpowerful place).'Doyouknowanotherwordlike "clever''?’andconstructstheword-letter by letter.
Thechildcouldhaveseveralways in his headtoworkwiththisword.
•analysisthesounds heardintoasequenceofphonemeslike(c-l-e-v-e-r)
•analysisthevisual patternlike (cl-ev-er)
•breakoffaclusterof soundslike(-ever)
•breakoff letters (cl-)
•pairsounds(cl-likein'clap').
•makeaquicksearchofhisown orallanguageandcomeupwitha wordornonsense word.('never'or ‘togever’)!

Dr. Garreth Zalud – Do Not Use Without Permission – Developed from Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals Part Two Teaching Procedures by Marie ClayPage 1