beginning K

D I G G I N G D E E P E R

SKILLS STRAND--KINDERGARTEN

AGENDA

• 1. Burning Questions• 2. Review of lesson types• 3. Lesson Models (videos)• 4. Practice—Role Play• 5. E-Learning• 6. Data Analysis• 7. Action Plan

BURNING QUESTIONS

Open to Questions…

©2013 Core Knowledge Foundation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Lesson Types

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http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/


The Basic Code Lesson

The purpose of this lesson type is to teach students to hear a particular sound, and to write a picture of that sound using the most common (or least ambiguous) spelling for the sound.

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The Basic Code Lesson

A basic code lesson is dedicated to a single sound and will usually contain the following elements:

(Warm-up/review)Introduction of Sound (orally)Oral Language ExercisesTeacher ModelingWorksheet (Additional reading and writing activities)

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Not a Smorgasbord

• The Basic Code Lesson is not meant to be done in bits and pieces, or selectively.

• It has a sequence, with one part leaning on the previous part.

• It will be less effective if subdivided.• Same is true of other lessons.• Please try to do all the exercises, but with

fewer examples if necessary.

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Warm UpKey Instructional

Techniques• This is an oral task, no

letters.

• There are very specific gestures used for blending 3, 4, 5 syllable words. These should be taught explicitly.

• Very specific examples are used.

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Introducing the Sound

Key Instructional Techniques

• This is an oral task, no letters.

• A focus on articulation is explicitly taught as a technique to support learning of the sound.

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Introducing the SpellingKey Instructional

Techniques• What are the key ways

the teacher interacts with the materials (organization, techniques, non verbal modeling)?

• What are the key ways the teacher interacts with the students to support learning?

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Your Turn• Examine the Basic Code

checklist• Watch the Basic Code dem

onstration Note specific behaviors that

are evidence of the checklist items

Consider as a table: Are there additional behaviors that are done that you feel are ‘critical’ to a high quality/high fidelity lesson? What are these?

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http://vimeo.com/coreknowledge/review/71841388/c75e28a52d

http://vimeo.com/coreknowledge/review/71841388/c75e28a52d


Differentiation

• Ideas for differentiating the whole group code lessons???

• Number of examples• Repetition• Level of explicitness• Additional visuals• Level of engagement

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TRICKY WORD LESSON

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The Tricky Word Lesson

The purpose of this lesson type is to introduce a word that is needed for instruction but contains spellings that have not yet been taught.

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Sight Words

• Sight word is an ambiguous term; it can mean two things:

1. A high frequency word students need to see a lot and learn to recognize speedily.

2. A word that does not “play by the rules”—that is not spelled or pronounced as you would expect.

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Tricky Words High Frequency Words

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Which Words Receive Special Attention in

CKLA?• Regular high frequency words (e.g., in, on, this, at) do not require special treatment; students can read these words via blending.

• High frequency words that also qualify as tricky words (e.g., I, a, of, one, was, two) do need special attention.

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Note on Tricky Words

• The trickiness of a word is relative to which spellings have been taught.

• The more spelling patterns the students know, the fewer words need to be described as tricky.

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Note on Tricky Words

• Some words are taught initially as tricky words but, later on, students learn they are part of a spelling pattern. Examples: he, she, we, be, me; no & so; my & by.

• Other tricky words are never absorbed into the spelling patterns. Examples: one, of, two, could.

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Teaching Tricky Words

• Most words are not 100% tricky; they have tricky parts.

• Strategy: instead of teaching the whole word as something tricky that needs to be memorized as a whole, draw attention to regular parts and tricky parts within the word. (Break it down!)

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Tricky Words Across the Grades

• Tricky Word lessons Approximately 15

lessons in kindergarten

Approximately 10 lessons in 1st grade

Approximately 11 lessons in 2nd grade

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http://vimeo.com/coreknowledge/review/71889028/3c1a21a6df


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Differentiation

• Ideas for differentiating the whole group code lessons???

• Number of examples• Repetition• Level of explicitness• Additional visuals• Level of engagement

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The Tricky Spelling Lesson

The purpose of a Tricky Spelling Lesson is to explicitly call students’ attention to a spelling that can be pronounced and read more than one way.

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Tricky Spellings

• For example, ‘a’ can be pronounced as: /a/ (cat), /ae/ (paper), /o/ (father), or /ə/ (about).

• Tricky spellings present a challenge when students are asked to read unfamiliar words since it is possible to sound out and pronounce a tricky spelling multiple ways.

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Advanced Code: Tricky Spellings

“A Tricky Spelling Is Like a Tug of War

Between Two Sounds”

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/oe/ /ou/



The Tricky Spelling Lesson • The teacher calls explicit attention to many

examples of words in which the same spelling is pronounced different ways.

• Students are taught to try each pronunciation that they have learned for a spelling until they recognize a particular pronunciation as a familiar word that makes sense in the context.

• Some tricky spellings are taught in Grade 1, with many more taught in Grade 2.

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http://vimeo.com/coreknowledge/review/71843361/e7cb13b8cf

http://vimeo.com/coreknowledge/review/71843361/e7cb13b8cf


Your Turn

• E-Learning

• Choose a lesson type in which you would like additional time

Read and review Practice with Partner Reflect and consider changes for next time Share out

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http://elearning.rcsdk12.org/


Planning With Data in Mind

• Review Instructional Pathway• Practice with sample data set• Action Plan that applies to your

classroom/school—allows for differentiation

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Practice Data Set

• Kindergarten data

• Grouping Scenarios

• Action Plan

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What’s Next?Key Information to

Share with ColleaguesAction Steps How will you know this

is working?

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•THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

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