Stages of Early Literacy Development: Emergent - Early - Early Fluent - Fluent The terms beginning reading and writing

or early literacy development actually include several phases of learning through which children progress in different ways and tempos. It is an exciting and complex process that usually occurs between the ages 5 through 8. As in most other areas of development, all children do not follow one clear sequential path in lock-step. Rather, individual children may take a variety of routes to reading and writing mastery. Literacy learning is circular or "recursive"; learners may move forward in some areas and seem to step back as they consolidate understanding in others. Thus, reading and writing may not develop evenly. A child may be fluent in one area and emergent in another. Ultimately however, whatever the timetable or path, the goals are the same for all:

to become fluent and efficient readers and writers who can make sense of and convey meaning in written language; to become thinkers and communicators who are actively reviewing and analyzing information; to enjoy reading and writing; and, to feel successful as users of literacy for a variety of purposes.

NOTE: Keep in mind that the grade levels associated with each phase described below are only approximate. In each grade there are likely to be children in all phases of literacy acquisition. Also, remember that within each phase there may be a range of learners who are developing in different ways.

Early Literacy: Background Information There are many children who come to school ready to read, but there is an ever growing population of children coming to our schools who have barely even seen a book, much less had the thousands of hours of lap reading, vocabulary building, and positive experiences with letters and sounds that are so essential to learning to read. Reading is central to learning - in school, in the workplace, and in everyday life. For many children, learning to read and write during early school experiences is a pleasurable and even a thrilling experience for themselves, for their parents, and for their teachers. But for children who do not make good progress in these early grades, learning to read is difficult and is associated with both present and future failure. Children who do not learn to read well in the first and second grades are likely to struggle with reading throughout their lives. But, it is not a simple matter to teach reading. Early literacy is such a complex topic involving many issues like whole language, phonics, development, natural environment, 1

direct teaching, and intervention. There is a wealth of new research that supports a balanced approached to early literacy instruction through purposeful, functional use and meaningful context within a print-rich environment. Skills and strategies are taught within these meaningful contexts rather than in isolation. Alphabet Background Knowledge Research Letter knowledge has been identified as a strong predictor of reading success (Ehri & Sweet, 1991). While teaching children letter names does not in itself result in success in learning to read (Jenkins, Bausell, & Jenkins, 1972), it can facilitate memory for the forms or shapes of letters and can serve as a mnemonic for letter-sound associations or phonics (Adams, 1990). Understanding how the alphabet works is necessary but not sufficient. Children must use their spelling-sound knowledge in their own reading and writing: only through use will this knowledge become fluent and effortless. Where instruction systematically fosters such use, reading acquisition is accelerated and the incidence of failure is significantly reduced. Classroom Implications One of the best foundations for early reading success is familiarity with the letters of the alphabet. Children can learn alphabet songs, match pictures or objects with initial letters, play games with letters and sounds, and so on. Children need to learn to recognize, name, and write letters. Children need opportunities to learn about and manipulate the building blocks of written language. Knowledge of letters (graphemes) leads to success with learning to read. This includes the use, purpose, and function of letters. Comprehension Background Knowledge Classroom Implications Children need opportunities to learn and apply comprehension strategies as they reflect upon and think critically about what they read. Written language offers new vocabulary, new language patterns, new thoughts and new ways of thinking. Comprehension depends on the ability to identify familiar words quickly and automatically, which includes fluent reading, as well as the ability to figure out new words. But this is not enough. Comprehension also depends upon the understanding of word meanings, on the development of meaningful ideas from groups of words (phrases, clauses, and sentences) and the drawing of 2

inferences. It also depends on the demands of the text (its concepts, its density) and the knowledge the reader brings to the text. The discussion of good books with their friends and classmates will help children appreciate and reflect on new aspects of written language and on the wide, wonderful world of print. Students discuss the meanings of everything they are learning to read - words, sentences, and stories - with each other and with their teachers and other adults. They learn comprehension strategies as they engage in storytime discussion, journal keeping, wide reading, and purposeful writing. As they read various kinds of books and other materials, students learn and practice comprehension strategies, sometimes on their own, and sometimes with direct help from their teachers. Use interesting stories to develop language comprehension. Children benefit from stories that the teacher reads to them by building the children's oral language comprehension which ultimately affects their reading comprehension. These story-based activities should be structured to build comprehension skills, not decoding skills. Early Intervention Background Knowledge Research For many children, alphabetic insight poses a formidable difficulty (Wallach & Wallach, 1979). Without awareness of the phonemic structure of words, spellings remain odd shapes or arbitrary symbol strings and are extraordinarily difficult to remember (Ehri, 1991). Children with little phoneme awareness usually struggle in learning to read and spell words, developing a wide achievement gulf between themselves and peers who are phonemically aware (Juel, 1988). Explicit instruction in phoneme awareness may help these children avoid reading delay by gaining an early insight into the workings of our alphabetic writing system (Stanovich, 1986). Children who are behind in their literacy experiences (storybook reading, daily living routines, listening comprehension, vocabulary, language facility) upon entering school become "at risk" in subsequent years (Copeland & Edwards, 1990; Mason & Allen, 1986; Smith, 1989). Attention-deficit-disorder and reading disability often coexist, but the two disorders appear distinct and separable with respect to the effects of ADD on cognitive tasks. For example, it has been found that ADD children perform poorly on rote verbal learning and memory tasks, but relatively well on naming and phonemic awareness tasks. The converse appears to be the case for children with reading disabilities.

Despite the widely held belief that boys are more likely to have reading difficulties than girls, research has shown that as many girls as boys have difficulty learning to read. More identified by teachers in school because of their tendency to be more rowdy and active than girls. Many children acquire phoneme awareness in the course of naturalistic encounters with alphabet books (Murray, Stahl, & Ivey, 1996), rhyming and alliterative texts (Maclean, Bryant & Bradley, 1987), and by devising invented spellings (Clarke, 1989). These children tend to learn phoneme identities informally with minimal explanation and practice, and their reading ability thus seems to emerge naturally. Other children come to school with impoverished literacy backgrounds. Many of these children come from economically marginal homes where preschool literacy activities give way before the pressures of survival. If schools don't provide explicit instruction in phoneme awareness to help these children gain a foothold in decoding, they may never discover the pleasure and utility of reading. Without early identification and intervention, reading difficulties typically persist into adulthood at least to the extent of hindering the enjoyment and productivity of reading. The logic of all alphabetic languages, including English, is built on the understanding that every word is made up of a sequence of elementary speech or phonemes, for it is the phonemes that are represented by the letters. A failure to notice that spoken words can be broken into phonemes is a major cause of profound reading disability. Almost all of the children who have serious trouble learning to read (about 20%, according to the International Reading Association's estimates) are in one or more of these three groups - children from low-income, low-literacy homes; children from homes in which English is not the language spoken; and children who have learning/neurological/emotional disabilities. (Greenberg, 1998) Classroom Implications Teachers and parents must work collaboratively early in the child's schooling to ensure the child's success. Reading Recovery is one program that has been highly successful in early intervention. Teachers must be diligent with assessment to recognize needs and intervene as early as possible.

Language Experiences

Background Knowledge Classroom Implications Children need knowledge and understanding of their own world to make sense of what they read. Children need to be exposed to content in science, history, and geography from an early age to give them a context for understanding what they read. Experiences with print (through reading and writing) help preschool children develop an understanding of the conventions, purpose, and functions of print. These understandings have been shown to play an integral part in the process of learning to read. Classroom experiences that offer children opportunities to write for real life reasons include having children write letters to parents and other community members to visit their classrooms, or writing letters of thanks to individuals and organization that have contributed to their school. Children write to record newly acquired information, to reflect on what they are learning and to organize their ideas. They also work in groups to write reports on special topics. Classroom experiences that offer children opportunities to read, listen and speak for real life purposes include the reading of "everyday" notes, news, messages, lists, labels, and the reading of compositions and reports written in the classroom. In such classrooms, reading, writing, listening, and speaking become important and meaningful to every child. Children expand their speaking and listening skills, their background and vocabulary knowledge in formal and informal activities as they engage in storytime discussion, journal keeping, wide reading, and purposeful writing. Phonemic/Phonic Awareness Background Knowledge Research Phonemic awareness is not phonics. Phonemic awareness is an understanding about spoken language. Children who are phonemically aware can tell the teacher that bat is the word the teacher is representing by saying the three separate sounds in the word. They can tell you all the sounds in the spoken word dog. They can tell you that, if you take the last sound off cart you would have car. Phonics on the other hand, is knowing the relation between specific, printed letters (including combinations of letters) and specific, spoken sounds. You are asking children to show their phonics knowledge when you ask them which letter make the first sound in bat or dog or the last sound in car or cart. The phonemic awareness tasks that have predicted successful reading are tasks that demand that children attend to spoken language, not tasks that simply ask students to name letters or tell which letters make which sounds. Recent longitudinal studies of reading acquisition have demonstrated that the acquisition of phonemic awareness is highly predictive of success in learning to read - in particular of 5

successful reading acquisition. Programs for teaching phonics often emphasize rules rather than patterns and focus on "separate" sounds, called phonemes. In contrast, the most effective and efficient phonics instruction focuses children's attention on noticing letter/sound patterns in the major components of syllables: that is, on noticing the letter/sound patterns in initial consonants and consonant clusters and in the rime, which consists of the vowel of a syllable plus any following consonants, such as -ake, -ent, -ish, -ook (Moustafa, 1996). Conventional blending and segmentation instruction improves the ability to manipulate phonemes. When instruction emphasizes phoneme manipulations, children learned what they were taught. In contrast, teaching beginners about phoneme identities does not seem to enhance phoneme manipulation skill. Kindergarten children with explicit instruction in phonemic awareness did better than a group of first graders who had no instruction, indicating that this crucial pre-skill for reading can be taught at least by five and is not developmental (Cunningham). Precursory phonological awareness skills such as rhyming and alliteration can emerge in informal contexts before school and are seen in young children who can neither read nor spell (Snow, 1991; van Kleeck, 1990). A general order for the emergence of phonological awareness abilities begins with rhyming and alliteration; segmenting sentences into words; followed by segmenting words into syllables; followed by segmenting words into phonemes. (Fox & Routh; Ehri, Holden & MacGinities; Huttenlocher; Liberman; Liberman, Shankweiler, Fisher & Carter) Phonemic awareness alone is not sufficient. Explicit, systematic instruction in common soundspelling correspondences is also necessary for many children (Adams, 1988; Ball & Blackman, 1991; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1990; Foorman et al, in press; Mann, 1993; Rack, Snowling & Olson, 1992; Snowling, 1991; Spector, 1995; Stanovich, 1986; Torgeson et al., in press; Vellutino, 1991; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1987a; Foorman, Francis, Novy & Liberman, 1991.) Explicit, systematic instruction in sound-spelling relationships in the classroom was more effective in reducing reading difficulties than a print-rich environment characterized by interesting stories, even with children who had benefited from phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten. (Foorman, Francis, Beerly, Winikates, and Fletcher, in press) Research has established a correlational, if not causal relation between phonological awareness and reading (Eric & Sweet, 1991; Mason & Allen, 1986; Sulzby & Teal, 1991; van Kleeck, 1990) Young children's awareness of onsets (the initial consonant of a word or syllable) and rimes (everything after the initial consonant in a one-syllable word or in syllables, traditionally referred to as phonograms or word families) is related to success in beginning reading. 6

(Goswami, 1988, 1990; Goswami & Bryant, 1994). Effective phonics instruction focuses children's attention on noticing the letter/sound patterns in initial consonants and consonant clusters and in rimes (the vowel of a syllable, plus any consonants that might follow). Focusing on rimes rather than on vowels alone is particularly important in helping children learn to decode words. (Adams, 1990) Research shows that all proficient readers rely on deep and ready knowledge of spelling-sound correspondence while reading, whether this knowledge was specifically taught or simply inferred by students. Conversely, failure to learn to use spelling/sound correspondences to read and spell words is shown to be the most frequent and debilitating cause of reading difficulty. Many children learn to read without any direct classroom instruction in phonics. But many children, especially children from homes that are not language rich, do need more systematic instruction in word-attack strategies. Well-sequenced phonics instruction early in the first grade has been shown to reduce the incidence of reading difficulty even as it accelerates the growth of the class as a whole. Given this, it is probably better to start all children, most especially in highpoverty areas, with explicit phonics instruction. Such an approach does require continually monitoring children's progress both to allow those who are progressing quickly to move ahead before they become bored and to ensure that those who are having difficulties get the assistance they need. Sulzby and Teale (1991) noted that while phonological awareness has long been tied to research and practice in the teaching of phonics and other decoding skills, it has been neglected in emergent literacy due to the tendency to view phonological awareness research as traditional and bottom-up theory. The dimensions of phonological awareness are represented by a range of difficulty. From easiest to hardest the range of difficulty is as follows: rhyme, auditory discrimination, phoneme blending, word-to-word matching, sound isolation, phoneme counting, phoneme segmentation, and phoneme deletion. (Yopp, 1988) Young children are competent at analyzing spoken words into onsets and rimes but not into phonemes when onsets or rimes consist of more than one phoneme. (Calfee, 1977; Goswami & Bryant, 1990; Liberman, et al., 1974; Treiman, 1983, 1985) Young children who are beginning to read make analogies between familiar and unfamiliar print words to pronounce unfamiliar print words and that they make these analogies at the onset-rime level rather than at the phonemic level. (Goswami, 1986, 1988) Classroom Implications One of the most important foundations of reading success is phonemic awareness. Phonemes are the basic speech sounds that are represented by the letters of the alphabet, and phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are sequences of phonemes. Phonemic awareness is demonstrated by the ability to identify and manipulate sounds within spoken words. Children can learn to assemble phonemes into words as well as break words into their phonemes even 7

before they are writing letters or words. Giving children experience with rhyming words in the preschool years is an effective first step toward building phonemic awareness. Hearing rhymes, and then producing rhymes for given words, requires children to focus on the sounds inside words. Rhyming activities initiate phonemic awareness. The reading and rereading of books with clear, simple rhymes offer abundant and fun opportunities for direct instruction in rhyming and the beginnings of phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is an insight about oral language. There is evidence to suggest that the relation between phonemic awareness and learning to read is reciprocal: phonemic awareness supports reading acquisition, and reading instruction and experiences with print facilitate phonemic awareness development. Young children's awareness of onsets (the initial consonant of a word or syllable) and rimes (everything after the initial consonant in a one-syllable word or in syllables, traditionally referred to as phonograms or word families) is related to success in beginning reading. Therefore children should be taught to identify and manipulate these sound units. Children in kindergarten should be introduced to common phonograms. In addition to building phonemic awareness, providing instruction with phonograms also prepares children for reading words by analogy. Instruction in both phoneme identity and phoneme manipulation are valuable. After the children have caught onto how letters cue the phonemes of spoken words, learning to manipulate phonemes by blending and segmentation manipulations will likely help beginners progress into sequential decoding. Instruction in phoneme identities is likely of greater value than manipulation instruction for children who have not yet demonstrated alphabetic insight. Activities focused on the identities of individual phonemes, which make these phonemes familiar and memorable, and which help children recognize their identities in words could well be incorporated into early literacy programs that contain other activities we know to be helpful in preparing children to read. Phonological awareness and letter recognition contribute to initial reading acquisition by helping children develop efficient word recognition strategies (e.g., detecting pronunciations and storing associations in memory.) Children need opportunities to understand and manipulate the building blocks of spoken language. Children's ability to think about individual words as a sequence of sounds (phonemes) is important to their learning how to read an alphabetic language. Children's phonemic awareness, their understanding that spoken words can be divided into separate sounds, is one of the best predictors of their success in learning to read. Teach each sound-spelling correspondence explicitly. Explicit instruction means that a phoneme is isolated for the children. E.g. This letter says /mmm/. A brief practise of phonemes each day

for about 5 minutes should precede these phonemes in context of words and stories. Teach frequent, highly regular sound-spelling relationships systematically. (m, t, s, f, d, r, ch, g, l, h, c (k), b, n, k, v, p, w, j, y, z, kn, ph, qu, sh, th, and vowels and vowel combinations) Show children exactly how to sound out words. Children need opportunities to learn the relationships between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language. Increasing children's awareness of the sounds of spoken language and their familiarity with the letters of written language prepares them to understand the alphabetic principle - that written words are composed of patterns of letters that represent the sounds of spoken words. Effective instruction provides children with explicit and systematic teaching of sound-letter relationships in a sequence that permits the children to assimilate and apply what they are learning. Children learn how to divide spoken words into individual sounds and to blend spoken sounds into words. Children learn that sounds can be represented by letters, and to recognize the most useful soundletter relationships. Read and reread favorite nursery rhymes to reinforce the patterns of the language and enjoy tongue twisters and other forms of language play together. Reread favorite poems, songs, and stories and discuss alliteration and rhyme within them. Read alphabet books to and with children and make alphabet books together. Discuss words and make lists, word banks, or books of words that share interesting spelling/sound patterns. Discuss similar sounds and letter/sound patterns in children's names. Emphasize selected letter/sound relationships while writing with, for, or in front of children. Encourage children to play with magnetic letters and to explore letter/sound relations. Help children write the sounds they hear in words, once they have begun to hear some separate sounds. When reading together, help children use prior knowledge and context plus initial consonants to predict what a word will be, then look at the rest of the word to confirm or correct. Teaching recognition of particular phonemes in word contexts may help beginners gain insight

into the alphabetic principle and apply their insights in early word identification. Implicit teaching of phoneme awareness involves word play through rhyme and alliteration, and games that involve manipulation of sounds in names, songs, poetry and drama. Students who are not progressing with implicit teaching will benefit from structured teaching.

Summaries of Current Models Marilyn Jaeger Adams is highly quoted through all phonemic awareness literature as a knowledgeable and well-grounded source. Following is a summary based on Adams' work: There are 5 basic types of phonemic awareness: Task 1- Rhymes and alliteration: 1. rhyme - working with same word endings coat, goat, boat 2. alliteration - six snakes sell sodas and snails (s) 3. assonance - the leaf, the bean, the peach all were within reach (e) Task 2- Oddity tasks: 1. Rhyme - Which word does not rhyme? 2. Beginning consonants - which two begin with the same sound? man, sat, sick? 3. Ending consonants - which two words end with the same sound: man, sat, ten? 4. Medial sounds (long vowels) - which word does not have the same medial sound: take, late, feet? 5. Medial sounds (short vowels)- which two words have the same middle sound: top, cat, pan? 6. Medial sounds (consonant) - which two words have the same middle sound: kitten, missing, lesson? Task 3-Oral blending: 1. Syllables Example:Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. ta...ble- What's the word? (table)

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2. Onset/rime Example: Listen to this word: pan. Say the first sound in the word and then the rest of the word. ( /p/...an) 3. Phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds) Example: Listen to this word: sat. Say the word sound by sound. (/s/ /a/ /t/ ) How many sounds do you hear? (3) Task 4-Oral Segmentation (including counting sounds) 1.Syllables Example: Listen to this word:table. Say it syllable by syllable. (ta...ble) 2. Onset/rime Example: Listen t this word:pan. Say the first sound in the word and then the rest of the word. (/p/...an) 3.Phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds) Example: Listen to this word: sat. Say the word sound by sound. (/s/ /a/ /t/) How many sounds do you hear? (3) Task 5 - Phonemic manipulation 1. Initial sound substitution Example: Replace the first sound in mat with /s/. (sat) 2. Final sound substitution Example: Replace the last sound in mat with /p/. (map) 3. Vowel substitution Example: Replace the middle sound in map with /o/. (mop) 4. Syllable deletion Example: Say baker without the ba. (ker) 5. Initial sound deletion Example: Say sun without the /s/. (un) 6. Final sound deletion Example:Say hit without the /t/. (hi) 7. Initial phoneme in a blend deletion Example:Say step without the /s/. (tep) 8. Final phoneme in a blend deletion Example:Say best without the /t/. (bes) 11

9. Second phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say frog without the /r/. (fog) Some Hints: The first four can be used in kindergarten and possibly some of 5. The last ones are very hard tasks even for second graders. This is not a linear sequence. Rather each area can be worked on simultaneously, a mix is best during each lesson. It is better to do oral blending tasks before oral segmentation. This work was written up in this form by Wiley Blevins in Phonics from A to Z A practical Guide by Wiley Blevins. Scholastic Professional Book 1998. Work was taken from Adams work in Adams, M. J. 1990 Beginning To Read: Thinking and Learning About Print. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cunningham: Three books have been prepared for teachers to use with children to construct, manipulate, and "play" with words. Following is a summary of Cunningham's ideas for working with young children. Alphabet books are very important for young children and should be read often. When blending sounds for words start with the cvc (consonant/vowel/consonant) configuration. Also start with these consonants as you can easily hold their sounds : m, n, r, s, v, z, l, f. When teaching phonic sounds - s, t, m, f, r, b, l, c, h, p, w, n, d, q, j, k, v, z, x, y, q. Then move to sh, ch, th, wh, ph, gh, ng. r blends, s blends, l blends One form of sample lesson: Step 1: repeated reading and warm-up. Step 2: explicit instruction of sound -spelling relationship. Step 3: blending and word-building exercises also Cunningham's letter cards to make words. Step4: reading connected text Step 5: dictation and writing Step 6: Free writing 12

Second lesson suggestion (based much on Reading Recovery model) 1) Guided Reading block: teacher-guided reading and discussions from basal readerstradebooks 2) Writing Block: follows a writing process format 3) Self-Selected Block- children choose from a wide range of books and other reading material. (Project editing comment: this one falls apart here as sometimes it will be necessary to choose books for children or provide choices from a limited selection to make sure you are helping them further their reading skills as stated by Clay.) 4) Working With Words Block: Multi method, multilevel literacy instruction (Project editing recommendation: also go back to reading or print with this.) Reading Recovery: A very strong global movement is spreading and teachers need special training in order to implement it properly. It is based on the following premises: 1. Child writes from memory several high frequency words, the teacher dictates. 2. Child selects from book already read: 3 books reads with high accuracy and fluency. 3. Child rereads book read yesterday with a running record being recorded - analyzed later. 4. Child makes words using magnetic letters-manipulates these: changes letters, makes words like he, she, me, and finds patterns. 5. Writing notebook - rereads 2 previously written one sentence stories- matches their cut-up words. 6. Child writes a new story based on book read today - writes those he knows, blends others, teacher support provided. Reads sentence, teacher writes on strips and cuts out words. Child matches twice and put together twice without matching. 7. Teacher introduces new book, which child reads. 8. Child takes home old book read today and cut up strips. Reading Recovery material was based on Reading Recovery (Clay) but summarized by Patricia Cunningham. The model following Clay one is Patricia's from Second Edition Phonics They Use Words For Reading and Writing Harper Collins College Publishers. 1995 Tarasoff:

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1. Students reread familiar stories. As books are introduced they can be kept handy for rereading. Students (or teacher) choose favorite, familiar books to be reread by students each day. 2. Without help students orally read the book that was introduced the day before. The students should be able to read this book with 90-95% accuracy. As students read, teacher notes reading strategies and difficulties. 3. Work with letters or words. Teacher provides lesson focusing on letter recognition and/or sounds related to students' decoding needs as observed in Step 2. Teacher ensures there is a link between the lesson and miscues in the students' story reading. Other reading, strategies may be focused on as needed. 4. Students write a message or story daily. As the students write the teacher makes connections with decoding and spelling focused on in steps 2 and 3 and with the content of story. 5. Reading a new book. Teacher introduces a new book, with students looking through it, discussing pictures, predicting what it may be about, and employing other prereading activities. Depending on their level students may listen to the story, read the story with assistance, or just be involved in the prereading discussions. ( This is the story that is read independently the next day.) Tarasoff idea's based on Clay's Reading Recovery in her book Mary Tarasoff Reading Instruction that Makes Sense; Active Learning Institute Inc. Publishers, 1993 Early Intervention Reading Program (ERI) Series: focuses on preventing reading problems with first graders in a small group setting. Children spend 3 days on each story. Teacher reads story to the entire class, modeling fluent reading. Before, during and after reading the teacher chooses to focus on aspects of reading suitable to the whole class. Then, while most of the class works independently, a summary of the story written on a chart is read to a selected group of children. Teacher stops and works on developing phonemic awareness and models decoding based on context and phonics. Children write using words from chart and lesson. Next 3 days the children practice decoding skills on the summary and continue to write about the story. Children get personalized book once read to take home. The last part is a series it does include books that has come out based on Clay as well, only Clay would not approve of a series but her method. At any rate this one would be worth checking out. Stone's Animated Literacy Program: Jim Stone knows that children learn best when they are animated, that movement motivates and stimulates the mind. His program is an interactive, multisensory, movement, meaning, and literature based approach to integrating language arts instruction. All lessons are based on the stages of oral language acquisition. He uses a packaged 14

series of tapes and lessons that introduce the alphabet through animation, music, and stories. Alliteration is highly emphasized. After the alphabet characters and jingles have been learned, children move onto the Pattern Reading, Writing, and Singing component of the program. Children begin substituting sounds for sounds in selected pattern songs. For example, in the song Are You Sleeping, the ding, dong, ding becomes ping, pong, ping and so on. His program contains a third component The Draw To Read and Write Book, which has children draw objects and read and write to label their illustrations through simple drawing lessons. His emphasis on phonemic awareness is unique in that children do not just practise hearing and producing sounds, but also "signing" them with a gesture. (project editing comments: ideas excellent, but program rigid for whole class needs; children need flexibility and provision for individual needs. Difficult to pull out part of this to use - you either buy into the whole package or you cannot use it?) Spelling Background Knowledge Research Teaching children strategies for correcting their spelling is far more important that giving them the correct spelling of any particular word. Such strategies include: a. writing the word two or three different ways and deciding which one looks right b. locating the spelling in a familiar text or in print displayed around the classroom c. asking someone, consulting a dictionary, or using computer software (Wilde, 1992) Discussing spelling patterns and drawing spelling generalizations as a class will also help children develop an every-growing repertoire of words they can spell correctly in first drafts. Such interactive, thought-engaging lessons are likely to be more productive than spelling lists and tests (Wilde, 1992; Wagstaff, n.d.; Cunningham, 1995; Buchanan, 1989).

Assessment Background Knowledge Assessment Classroom Implications Teachers and administrators who regard assessment as informative, select and administer assessments according to the needs of individual students. They conduct ongoing evaluations of student progress to help them plan instruction. Parents, teachers, and administrators are kept 15

abreast of every child's reading progress based on such assessment and evaluations. Children who reveal serious problems in reading often need further assessment. However, the following assessment and evaluations should be used with all children: screening assessments: During kindergarten and first grade, every student is screened for phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge and understanding of basic language concepts. informal assessments: On a regular basis, children are informally assess to determine if they are making adequate progress. These assessments can include measures of reading rate and accuracy and story retellings. These assessments are used as a basis for adjusting instruction to the needs of each child. rubrics: Teachers and students are involved in determining measurement tools based on learning outcomes. running records: On a regular basis, children's reading is analyzed for miscues to determine educational teaching and needs. end-of-year assessments: Every student is assessed at the end of the school year to inform parents, teachers, and administration about student progress. These assessments are used to make plans to meet the needs of children and of the school population in the following year. Oral Language Background Knowledge Classroom Implications In recognition of the research into the development of auditory awareness skills, teaching methods have changed from a phonics or sound based approach to one that draws on the child's knowledge of oral language. This includes the meanings of words and sentence patterns, which hand-in-hand support children as they learn to "crack the code" of our printed language. Reading is a complex task that demands that children have well developed spoken language skills. What we know about the way children learn to speak and understand language helps us to understand how printed language skills are learned. Children first process language in chunks at the phrase or sentence level. The language is then broken down to the word level, then syllables and finally to the sound level. When children reach this end stage, we say they have achieved phonemic awareness. Students need a broad array of language experiences. Oral language, vocabulary, and other language concepts are crucial foundations for success in reading, especially reading 16

comprehension. Children need to be able to use language to describe their experiences, to predict what will happen in the future, and to talk about events in the past. Programs can develop children's language by giving them opportunities to discuss their experiences, make predictions, and discuss past events in small groups. Children learn how to attend to language and apply this knowledge to literacy situations by interacting with others who model language functions. Children need opportunities to expand their use and appreciation of oral language. Children's comprehension of written language depends in large part upon their effective use and understanding of oral language. Language experiences are a central component of good reading instruction. Children learn how to attend to language and apply this knowledge to literacy situations by interacting with others who model language functions. Language and concept development activities are an important part of the classroom curriculum. Language arts instruction includes daily reading aloud and discussion of high-quality literature, both fiction and nonfiction. Teachers and students engage in meaningful discussions that focus on interpretations of and reflective thinking about what they (and others) are reading and writing. They learn to support their interpretations by relying on the text. Writing Background Knowledge Classroom Implications Encouraging young children to engage in writing using temporary (invented) spelling is another excellent way to foster phonemic awareness. As children learn to use letters to represent words in writing, they naturally need to think about the sounds that compose the words. Writing activities in which children have the opportunity to experiment with and manipulate letters to make words and messages. Invented spelling is a powerful means of leading students to internalize phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle. Children need opportunities to write and relate their writing to spelling and reading. As children learn to read and write words, they become aware of how these words are spelled. Increasing children's awareness of spelling patterns hastens their progress in both reading and writing. In the early grades, spelling instruction must be coordinated with the program of reading instruction.

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Children write using their knowledge of printed letters and the sounds they represent. Because knowledge of letter-sound patterns contributes to reading success, spelling instruction is coordinated with the programs of reading instruction. Knowledge of and practice in correct spellings also contributes to more effective writing. Children's written work is displayed in the halls and in the classrooms.

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