The Big 5 Areas of Reading

Professional Development
PhonologicalAwareness
Whatisit?

Phonologicalawarenessisbeingabletorecognizeandmanipulatesoundsinwords
withoutattachingtheletters.Italsoincludesrhymingandrecognizingwhenwordsshare
thesamesound.

WhatDoesitLookLike?

Childrencanshowtheyhavephonologicalawarenessskillsinseveralways,including:
Identifyingandmakingrhymes:
Thepighasa(wig).
Patthe(cat).
Thebunnyis(funny).
Identifyingandworkingwithsyllablesinspokenwords:
Icanclapthepartsinmyname:Andrew.
Identifyingandworkingwithpartsofwords:
Thefirstpartofsipiss.
Thelastpartofwinisin.
Identifyingandworkingwithindividualsoundsinwords:
Thesoundsinsunaresun.

AssessYourStudentBy
AdministeringtheDIBELSassessmentinwhichthestudentisaskedto:
Identifytheinitialsoundinaword
Produceallthesoundsin34soundwords

Phonics
Whatisit?

Phonicsteachesstudentsthatlettersstandforparticularsounds.Studentsaretaughtto
usethesesoundstomakewords.Therearedifferentwaystoteachphonics.For
example,somewillteachphonicsbyteachingindividualsounds(sam),andsomewill
teachphonicsbyteachingwordchunks(sam).

WhatDoesitLookLike?

Childrencanshowtheyhavephonicsskillsinseveralways,including:
Identifyinglettersounds
LookatthisletterS.Whatsound?/s/
Breakingdownnewwords.
Readthisword
MAP./m//a//p/.Whatword?/map/.

AssessYourStudentBy
AdministeringtheDibelsassessment,whichteststhestudentsknowledgeofletter/sound
correspondenceaswellastheirabilitytoblendlettersintowords.

Fluency
Whatisit?
Fluencyistheabilitytoreadatextaccurately,effortlessly,andwithgoodexpression.
Thisisimportantbecausetimeisnotspenttryingtofigureoutthewords,butinfocusing
onthemeaningofwhatisbeingread.Studieshavedemonstratedacloserelationship
betweenfluencyandreadingcomprehension.

WhatDoesitLookLike?
Childrencanshowtheirreadingisfluentby:
Readingeffortlesslyandwithexpression
Readingsoundsnaturally,asiftheyarespeaking

AssessYourStudentBy
Asstudentsbecomereaders,fluencyisassessedthroughavarietyoforalreading
assessmentsthatevaluatespeed,expression,smoothness,andeffortlessdecoding.Our
districtcurrentlyusesboththeDIBELSNextandAIMSwebassessments.

Vocabulary
Whatisit?
Comprehensionistheessentialoutcomeinreadingandcannotbeunderstoodwithouta
strongvocabularybase.Vocabularyincludesunderstandingwhatwordsmeanwhenwe
seetheminwrittenmaterials,likebooks,orunderstandingwordsthatpeopleusein
conversation.

WhatDoesitLookLike?
Childrencanshowtheyhavestrongvocabularyskillsby:
Recognizingthatanewwordbeingreadisonetheyhaveheardandunderstood
before:

Soundingoutanewword(dig)andrecallingtheyhaveheard
andunderstoodthatwordbefore.
Whenmisreadinganunfamiliarwordthestudentknowstoadjustthe
pronunciationsothatitmakessenseinthecontextofthetextbeingread.
Understandingwhatanauthoriscommunicatingbyknowingthemeaningsofa
lotofwords.

AssessHowYourChildisDoingBy
Althoughthereisnoformalvocabularyassessmentusedbyourdistrict,studentsare
exposeddailytowordsthroughclassroomliteracyactivities,repeatedreadingsofstories,
discussions,andmanyopportunitiestohearqualityliteraturethroughteacherreadalouds.

Comprehension
Whatisit?

Comprehensionisthereasonforreading.Comprehendingwhatisreadmeansthatthe
childunderstandswhatheorshehasreadandisabletocommunicateittoothers.

WhatDoesitLookLike?

Childrencanshowtheyhavestrongcomprehensionskillsinseveralways,including:
Settingapurposeforreadingsuchas:
findingananswertoaquestion
figuringouthowtoputsomethingtogether
completinghomeworkassignments
experiencingthepleasureofgreatliterature
Monitoringwhattheyarereadingandslowingdownwhenthematerialgetsdifficult.
Answeringquestionsaboutwhathasbeenread.
Summarizingwhathasbeenread.
Predictingwhatwillhappennextinthestory.

AssessHowYourChildisDoingBy
InadditiontotheretellingcomponentofDIBELSNextandtheMazeofAIMSweb,
teachersinformallyevaluatecomprehensionthroughclassroomandsmallgroup
discussions.Asstudentsbegintoread,assessmentsareadministeredtoevaluatestudent
useofcomprehensionstrategieswhilereadingandtodetermineinstructionalreading
levels.

References
CenterfortheImprovementofEarlyReadingAchievement.(2003).Put
Reading
First:TheResearch BuildingBlocksforTeachingChildrento
Read
KindergartenthroughGrade3.Jessup,MD:NationalInstitutefor
Literacy.
LearningPointAssociates.(2004).ACloserLookattheFiveEssential
ComponentsofEffectiveReadingInstruction:AReviewof
Scientifically
BasedReadingResearchforTeachers.Naperville,IL:
LearningPoint
Associates.
NationalInstituteofChildHealthandHumanDevelopment.(2000).Reportof
theNationalReading Panel.Teachingchildrentoread:an
evidence
basedassessmentofthescientificresearchliteratureon
readingandits
implicationsforreadinginstruction.Retrieved
November,4,2011,from
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm.

AdditionalResources
FloridaCenterforReadingResearch
www.fcrr.org
ReadingResource
www.readingresource.net
ReadingRockets
http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/rootsofreading/