Action

Research
Kristen Fuller
Kindergarten

Background Information
Meeting with teacher: September 24, 2015
Three students chosen: Michael, Jim, and Dwight
Michael: 51 letters, 24 sounds
Jim: 52 letters, 25 sounds
Dwight: 50 letters, 23 sounds

Target Skill: Phoneme Blending

Research Phoneme Blending

Listening to a series of sounds and combining them to create a word
(Put Reading First)
An advanced form of phonemic awareness (Put Reading First)
Sequence of phonemic awareness: syllable units, onset-rime units,
then phoneme units (Yopp & Yopp, 2000)
Phoneme segmentation goes hand-in-hand

Research General Strategies

Make a list of words to segment or blend beforehand, instead of
coming up with the words during the lesson (Walpole & McKenna, 2008)
Use engaging, concrete materials (Walpole & McKenna, 2008)
Use words with both continuous sounds, like /m/ and stop sounds,
like /d/ (Walpole & McKenna, 2008)

Assessments
OnTrack Reading Phoneme Blending Assessment
Literacy Resources, Inc. Blending Syllables Assessment
Literacy Resources, Inc. Blending Onset and Rime Assessment
Literacy Resources, Inc. Blending Phonemes Assessment
Nonsense Word Fluency Assessment

Timeline of Sessions
Session/Date

Assessment

Session 1
October1

Initial Assessments

--

--

Differences in student scores

Session 2
October 8

Initial Assessments

--

--

Differences in student scores

Session 3
October 14

--

Syllable Blending

Trip to the Zoo

All 3 students did well and enjoyed the activity

Session 4
October 19

--

Onset-Rime
Blending

Word Surgery and

Spoon Activity

Activities were more challenging, but the

students performed the well. They especially
enjoyed the Word Surgery Activity

Session 5
October 23

--

Phoneme
Blending and
Segmenting

Park the Car activity,

Picture Cards, Treasure
Chest activity

The students needed some guidance during

these activities, but they seemed to learn and
improve with each activity

Session 6
October 27

Midpoint
Assessments

Sessions 7
November 5
Session 8

Skill

Strategy/Activity

-Blending
Nonsense Words

Final Assessments

--

-Draw-A-Letter activity
--

Observations/Student Growth

Some scores stayed the same, some increased,

and some decreased
This activity was the most beneficial. I saw a lot
of improvement between sessions 7 and 8
Students scores either improved or stayed the
same from the initial assessments to the final
assessments

Progress Monitoring Chart

Description of Strategies and Activities

Trip to the Zoo Syllable Blending

Description of Strategies and Activities

Spoon Activity Onset-Rime Blending

Word Surgery Activity Onset-Rime Blending

Description of Strategies and Activities

Picture Slides Phoneme Blending

Park the Car Activity Phoneme Blending

Description of Strategies and Activities

Treasure Chest Activity Phoneme Segmenting

Description of Strategies and Activities

Draw-A-Letter Activity Blending Nonsense Words

Assessment Data Michael

OnTrack Reading Phoneme Blending Assessment

Literacy Resources Assessments

10
8
6
4
2
0

5
4
3
2
1
0

Initial

Initial Midpoint Final

Nonsense Word Fluency Assessment

Initial

Midpoint

Final

Midpoint

Final

Assessment Data Jim

Literacy Resources Assessments

OnTrack Reading Phoneme Blending Assessment

5

10
8
6
4
2
0
Blending Syllables Assessment

4
3
2
1
0

Initial

Initial Midpoint Final

Nonsense Word Fluency Assessment

Initial

Midpoint

Final

Midpoint

Blending Phonemes
Final

Assessment Data Dwight

Literacy Resources Assessments

OnTrack Reading Phoneme Blending Assessment

10
8
6
4
2
0

5
4
3
2

Initial

1
0
Initial Midpoint Final

Nonsense Word Fluency Assessment

Initial

Midpoint

Final

Midpoint

Final

Reflections

and Conclusions

The process was beneficial gave me the opportunity to work with

students to help them improve their ability to blend phonemes.
My original research plus additional research helped me know what
strategies and activities to do in each session.
Learning how to collect and analyze data was a good learning experience.
Seeing improvement between the initial and final assessments showed me
that my instruction benefited the students.
In conclusion, I plan to do action research projects in my future classroom
because they are very beneficial to improving students performance.

Questions

and Suggestions

Are there any questions?

Are there any suggestions or advice about what I could have done
better?

References
Put Reading First. The National Institute for Literacy. http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf
Walpole, S. & McKenna, M. C. (2008). Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies for the primary grades.
New York: The Guilford Press.
Yopp, H. K. & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the
classroom. The Reading Teacher, 54(2), 130-143). http://literacyhow.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/SupportingPhonemicAwarenessDevelopmentintheClassroom.pdf