Slavin (Ch. 1)
Is there a reading crisis in America?
Are we doing as well as we should in elementary school?
How instruction can impact children:
Example: Average School (Hardin Park)
100 first graders in 4 classrooms (25 in each)
Categories Percentage Count Count
Of Students in School in Classroom
(100) (25)
Natural Readers (40-50%) 50% 50 12
Teachable (30-40%) 35% 35 8
Tutorable (10-20%) 13% 13 4
True Dyslexics (1-2%) 2% 2 1
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Morris (Ch. 2)
Explain what Morris means by the traditional role of kindergarten is “to level the playing field” in terms of literacy experience.
What literacy activities should be included in a kindergarten reading program?
Why read aloud to children? (5 things children learn)
Why is guided contextual reading important in kindergarten?
What is echo reading?
Describe dictated experience stories (language experience approach—LEA)
Describe big book approach (shared reading approach)
Why include both LEA and shared reading methods in kindergarten?
Why is finger pointing so important for early readers?
Questions about letter-sound study:
Questions about early writing:
Is there a role for independent reading in kindergarten?
Questions about early assessment and how it informs instruction:
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Morris (Ch. 3)
What does Fraatz (1987) mean by “paradox of collective instruction”?
What are the three critical components of learning to read?
List the four tasks that the first-grade teacher can use to assess individual children’s reading ability during the first week of school. Describe what each task is used to assess?
What are some of the challenges of small-group instruction that face students and teachers?
How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?
Why is appropriate leveling of books important and how has it been used in intervention and classroom settings?
Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of? Why is it recommended that teachers follow such a sequence of instruction?
How could you assess where a beginning reader’s is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?
Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.
What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?
What is instructional pacing? What factors were found by Barr (1974, 1982) to affect effective pacing?
In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?
What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.