Danielle Saile

C&T 840

March 8, 2019

E-book Paper

Link to ebook: ​http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view&book=134538&page=1

The topic of the e-book I chose to write was about whales. I chose this topic

because I have a first grade student who has been wanting to read every ocean book in

the library, so that passion of theirs helped guide me to my topic. This e-book was

written with second and third graders in mind. This book was written with second grade

and third grade students in mind that are in the consolidated alphabetic phase of word

learning.In addition to this, I considered how consolidated-alphabetic phase readers

would read my book. Ehri and McCormick write about this phase, “The important

acquisition at this phase involves learning chunks of letters that recur in different words

and how they are pronounced. These letter chunks might include affixes, root words,

onsets, rimes, and syllables” (1998, p. 154). When I was working on my ebook, I

considered how my words could have been chunked when using longer words. While

writing, I thought about onsets and rimes, and if those are words my readers will be able

to break apart, as well as understanding affixes and root words and deciding if they are

common enough for my readers to decode.

With print features, I focused on only having a few sentences per page, and used

bigger font so it’d be easy for younger readers to read. In addition to that, I went to a

workshop about teaching students with dyslexia. When they discussed the use of fonts,
they gave a list of fonts that were recommended, so from there, I decided to use

Trebuchet. For photographs used in the e-book, I used captions to describe what the

photographs are. I also included a table of contents and glossary. The Common Core

State Standard I’ve paired with this reading component is within Grade 2’s Reading

Standards for Informational Text: Craft and Structure: 5. Know and use various text

features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus,

icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

For word recognition, I planned for students reading this e-book to be in the

consolidated-alphabetic phase. I used a lot of sight words within this book. I also

thought about how the students should know root words, prefixes, and suffixes, so I

planned for words in my e-book to include those words that can be broken down by the

understanding of affixes. I included closed and open multisyllabic words, and other

words that can be read through phonics rules. The Common Core State Standard I’ve

paired with this reading component is Grade 2: Reading Standards: Foundational Skills:

Phonics and Word Recognition - 3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word

analysis skills in decoding words.

With fluency, although it wasn’t showcased within the ebook, in my classroom, I

would model fluency by reading it aloud. I’d also like to build upon it by adding a

recording of myself reading it so they can continue listening to fluency being modeled if

need be. The Common Core State Standard I’ve paired with this reading component is

Grade 2: Reading Standards: Foundational Skills: Fluency - 4. Read with sufficient

accuracy and fluency to support comprehension, a. Read on-level text with purpose and
understanding; b. Read on-level text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on

successive readings.

With vocabulary in the book, I made sure to include and define Tier 3 words.

When describing the body parts in the book, I attempted to make connections to human

body parts so students can make that connection. To draw focus to the new vocabulary

words, I used the CAST book builder to boldface the word so the student could see it

and click on it to see the word in the glossary. The reader should be able to use

sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. Through the

knowledge of root words, students can use that as a clue to the meaning of an unknown

word with the same root. The Common Core State Standards that I paired with this

reading component is from Grade 2’s Language Standards - 4. Determine or clarify the

meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2

reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. I also paired it with 5.

Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. I

focused on connecting this new knowledge with real-life connections between words

and their use.

During reading, I included comprehension questions throughout the book using

the coaches. I pulled questioning strategies from Harvey and Goudvis (2013). I was

intrigued with the questioning depth of the comprehension continuum while writing my

e-book. Harvey and Goudvis share, “The teacher language on the continuum moves

from practices that emphasize literal questions to more sophisticated questions that

encourage analysis and synthesis” (2013, p. 436). This stuck out to me because I’ve
found myself wondering how I can get my students to think deeper and to prevent them

from being “surface thinkers”. I liked how they laid out the comprehension continuum in

a way that would help educators word comprehension questions in a way that would

lead to students to being able to actively use their knowledge to apply what they have

learned to their daily lives. While writing how whales were endangered animals, I kept

this in mind when I wrote my comprehension question for that page. In addition to this,

as I was creating my book, I built a concept map to help scaffold student learning by

focusing on topic, concept, superordinate, and subordinate terms. To activate prior

knowledge within the classroom, I would have my students use an anticipation guide,

and at the end, would re-evaluate their answers to see if their prior perceptions of

whales had changed. The use of heading and captions were used throughout the

e-book to help readers with comprehension.

The Common Core State Standard I’ve paired with the reading component of

comprehension is within Grade 2’s Reading Standards for Informational Text: Key Ideas

and Details 1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, were, when, why, and how

to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

 References:

Common Core State Standards English Language Arts

Ehri, L. C., & McCormick, S. (1998). Phases of word learning: Implications for

instruction with delayed and disabled readers. ​Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming

Learning Difficulties​, 14(2), 135-163

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2013). ​Comprehension at the core.​ The Reading Teacher,

66(6), 432-439.
Consolidated List of Common Core State Standards addressed within this

e-book:

Grade 2: Reading Standards for Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details

1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to

demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Craft and Structure

4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2

topic or subject area.

5. Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings,

glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in

a text efficiently.

6. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer,

explain, or describe.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works)

contribute to and clarify a text.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

10. By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including

history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text

complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the

range.
Grade 2: Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Phonics and Word Recognition

3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding

words.

a. Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable

words.

b. Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

c. Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

d. Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

e. Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

f. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Fluency

4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on

successive readings.

Grade 2: Language Standards

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and

phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of

strategies
5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word

meanings.