Small Group Phonics Instruction

Georgia Reading First ConferenceKristina Najera

University of Delaware

Walpole & McKenna (2007)

Differentiated Reading Instruction: Strategies for the Primary Grades

Guilford Presswww.guilford.com

Agenda

• A Plan for Differentiated Instruction

• Using Assessment to Differentiate Instruction

• Building Word Recognition in Small Groups

• A Differentiation Plan

A few questions about small group instruction

• Is your small group instruction needs-based and flexible?

• What are you doing with kids in the small group?

• What are other kids doing while you are working with a small group?

A Differentiation Plan

• Understand structure of the core scope and sequence of instruction

• Use and understand continuous assessments of student progress

• Choose to implement specific differentiation strategies

• Select content from the core to preteach or reteach

Steps to choose and use differentiation strategies

Key—collaborate in grade level teams

Step 1: Gather Your Resources

• Find and examine scope and sequence for developing phonics skills and recognition of high frequency words

• Locate and organize informal achievement or placement tests associated with your materials

• Locate and organize informal assessments in schools’ professional books.

A Possible Progression

1. Consonants, beginning and ending of words

2. Word Families and Short Vowels(Usually a-, i-, o-, e-, u- families,then across families, then vowels outside of families)

3. Initial blends and digraphs(bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl; br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr; sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw)(ch,sh,th,wh)

4. Affricates(g, j, dr, ch, tr, ch)

5. Final consonant blends and digraphs(-st, -ft, -mp, -nd, -nt, -sh, -th, -sh-ck, -ng, -nk, -ell)

6. Vowel-Consonant-E(-aCe, eCe, iCe, oCe, uCe)

7. R-controlled vowels(ar, er, ir, or, ur)

8. Other long vowel patterns(ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ui, igh)

9. Complex consonant clusters(scr, tch, kn, dge, qu)

10. Abstract vowels(ou, ow, ew, oi, oy, oo, au, aw)

Step 2: Consider Your Children’s Needs

• Review recent screening data

• Make instructional groups based on data

• Choose 2 areas to target for each group

• Choose differentiation strategies in those areas

• Gather materials for 3 weeks of needs-based instruction

Step 3: Try it Out!

• Pilot your plan for 3 weeks

• Gather with colleagues to share, evaluate, and fine-tune differentiation plans

Using Assessment to Differentiate Instruction

• To determine which students need additional instruction in a given area

• To determine their specific instructional needs in this area

• To determine progress in meeting needs

• To determine effectiveness of additional instruction

Using Assessment to Differentiate Instruction

• Four Types of Assessment–Screening

–Diagnostic

–Progress Monitoring

–Outcome

PhonologicalAwareness

Decoding Sight Word Knowledge

Fluency& Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

PrintConcepts

GeneralPurposes

for Reading

SpecificPurposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategiesfor Reading

ReadingComprehension

Vocabulary

Knowledgeof Structure

BackgroundKnowledge

Cognitive Model of Reading Assessment McKenna & Stahl, 2003

Guiding Questions about Word Recognition

1) Does the child make use of context to monitor his or her reading?

2) Is the child fluent?3) Does the child have adequate sight word

knowledge?4) Does the child have adequate knowledge

of decoding strategies?5) Does the child have adequate

phonological awareness?

Guiding Questions about Oral Language Comprehension

1) Does the child have adequate vocabulary for age and gender?

2) Does the child have background knowledge necessary to comprehend a particular passage?

3) Is the child able to use text structures to aid comprehension?

Guiding Questions about Strategic Knowledge

1) Does the child have a set of strategies to achieve different purposes?

2) What does the child view as the goal of reading in general?

3) What concepts of print does the child have?

Forming Groups Based on Needs

• Forming word recognition groups– Problem with fluency:

• Screen in phonics and sight vocabulary• If problem with either, do not group for

fluency• If okay in both, proved fluency instruction

– Problem with sight vocabulary• Screen in phonics• Plan needs-based instruction based on

words inventoried

• Forming word recognition groups– Problem with phonics

– Problem with phonological awareness

Forming Groups Based on Needs

What about children who are achieving at or above grade level?

Building Word Recognition

• NRP concluded that various types of systematic phonics instruction were effective in supporting reading, spelling, and comprehension, especially if they were provided during kindergarten and first grade

(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000)

Building Word Recognition• Word Recognition:

– The process by which readers match written representations of words with their sound and spelling in memory.

– Goal of phonics instruction: develop large automatic reading vocabulary so that consciously applied phonics strategies are only rarely needed

• Skilled Readers: – Read words by processing virtually every

letter in every word (Adams, 1990).

Building Word Recognition

• Development of Phonics Skills– Sort– reading.uoregon.edu/appendices/maps.php– Basic phonics concepts

• Automatic word recognition for HFW

• Decoding by analogy

Instructional Strategies for Word Recognition

• Teaching letter names and sounds• Teaching sounding and blending• Teaching letter patterns• Teaching high-frequency words

.

Teaching Letter Names and Sounds

• Who? Children who do poorly on Letter Name Fluency tasks

• How? Make letter cards consistent with your instructional sequence; figure out which they don’t know.

• How do you know if it’s working?

b, m, sm, r, st, n, gi, p, nn, t, g, m, b, td, h, ll, h, cf, j, wk, f, wd, l, fy, v, z

Here’s a 12-Week Plan

Remember that we

teach these in small sets

Teaching Sounding and Blending• Who? Children who know their letter

names and sounds but do poorly on word reading

• How? Make word cards that review and extend the patterns that have been taught in phonics instruction.

• How do you know if it’s working?

Teaching Letter Patterns• Who? Children who know their letter

names and sounds, can sound and blend, but are not automatic.

• How? Make word lists that review and extend the patterns that have been taught in phonics instruction.

• How do you know if it’s working?

ack at ight opail ate ill oreain aw in otake ay ine uckale eat ing ugame ell ink umpan est ip unkank ice itap ide ockash ick oke

High-frequency Vowel Patterns

Here’s a 16-Week Plan for Short Vowel Families

Remember that we

teach these in small sets

at, anat, agat, an, agag, an, apit, inin, igit, in, igit, ig, ipot, opop, ogot, op, ogug, utun, utun, ut, uged, eted, en, et

Here’s a 20-Week Plan for Other Long Vowels

Remember that we

teach these in small sets

short a, a_e, ayshort a, a_e, ai, aya_e, ai, ay, eishort e, e, eeshort e, ee, eashort e, ea, ee, eashort i, i_e, yshort i, i_e, y, ighshort i, i_e, igh,short o, o_e, oashort o, o_e, oa, owshort o, o_e, owshort u, u_e, ue, uishort u, u_e, ue, ewar, a_e, ai, arear, are, ai, airer, ea, ee, earer ee, ear, eerir, i_e, igh, ireor, o_e, oa, ore

Notice that each set has one easy pattern

Teaching High-Frequency Words• Who? Children who are not remembering

the high frequency words that you have taught or who struggle with HF words during oral reading.

• How? Use an inventory to decide which words to teach.

• How do you know if it’s working?

A Differentiation Plan

Steps

1) Gather your resources

2) Consider your children’s needs

3) Try it out

Step 1: Gather Resources

• Curriculum resources

• Assessment resources

Step 2: Consider Your Children’s Needs

• Instructional groups based on the data

• Assign students to groups

• Choose target areas

• Choose differentiation strategies in those areas

Step 3: Plan for 3 weeks of instruction

• Gather materials for 3 weeks of needs-based instruction

Let’s Go Through the Steps