Taking Specific Word Instruction Too Far

A lot of vocabulary is learned indirectly, however some should be taught directly. Direct instruction assists students when learning to read (particularly when learning difficult words and concepts). One of the direct instruction methods used is specific word instruction, which is teaching individual words prior to reading text. This also assists with reading comprehension. A student’s knowledge of a word prior to reading it in text will assist his understanding of what he read.

I recently read a National Institute for Literacy article which illustrated this concept perfectly. A teacher assigned the novel Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner to her class. The novel deals with a young boy who hopes to win a dog race so that he can pay his Grandfather’s taxes on his farm. A reader must understand the concept of taxes to comprehend the novel’s plot. Prior to reading the book, if the teacher adapted specific word instruction, he would discuss the concept of taxes or ask questions to make sure the students understood the concept. I thought to myself what a great idea!

Like most things in my life I tend to go too far. Yesterday morning while everyone was still sleeping, I decided to review our finances. A few minutes later, my seven year old son woke up asking what I was doing. I told him and then proceeded using specific word instruction to teach him various banking terminology. I also discussed the concept of gross verses net pay and the various components of a paycheck in detail. I thought this is great until my husband woke up and inquired as to what we were doing and when I told him he gave me a somewhat puzzled look – did I tell you it wasn’t even 7 am? Perhaps my son would have been better off reading a book or playing a game with me but at that moment (I was still drinking my coffee) I thought about the article and I wanted to expose my son to complex concepts.

Looking back I can now laugh at myself. It is important to educate our children every chance we get but it is equally important to remember they are children. When used judiciously, the direct instruction approach can be extremely beneficial to our children by exposing them to complex concepts at an early age. As with everything in life; there needs to be a balance which I sometimes need to readjust.

Skills Your Child Needs Before They Learn to Read

Prior to learning to read, research has proven that a child must possess six skills. Parents can assist in a child’s reading readiness by focusing on these skills early. Begin working with your child when they are very young (birth to two-years-old), and focus on the following six pre-reading skills:

Vocabulary

Children typically know between 300 and 500 words when they are two. Parents can assist by talking, listening and answering a child using short sentences and speaking clearly. Ask a lot of questions! Read to your child everyday and identify the pictures in the books. Research has shown a direct correlation between a good reader and a large vocabulary.

Print Motivation.

Simply stated, a child’s interest level in reading and enjoying books. Children who enjoy being read to possess the motivation to learn how to read. Begin reading books early with your child and make it a bonding moment for both of you. A child learns by example; so make sure they see you reading and don’t forget to visit your local library.

Print awareness.

The ability to recognize print, possessing the knowledge on how to hold and read a book (left to right, top to bottom). Familiarity with books and printed language assists children in understanding the usefulness of printed materials. Let your child hold board or cloth books. As you read point to the words and pictures.

Narrative Skills.

A child needs to possess the skills to describe events and things; the ability to tell a story. Tell your child stories and talk about what you are doing. Talk about your child’s day and listen to what they are saying. Try to ask questions. As always, read books. Talking to your child will assist them in comprehending what they read.

Phonological Awareness.

A child’s ability to identify sounds in words will assist a child in sounding out words when reading. Say and read nursery rhymes to your child; place emphasis on the rhyming words. A great activity to assist children in hearing the syllables in words is singing. Our family loves Miss Mary Mack which promotes phonological awareness via clapping, singing and rhyming.

Letter knowledge.

A child’s needs to be able to identify the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. Read alphabet books. Our family loves reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
As you go through the day point out letters and objects and talk about their size, shape and color. A great way to introduce the letters of the alphabet and their basic phonic sounds is to play Er-u-di-tion!

Source: A Parent Guide to Early Literacy for Early Talkers: Birth to Two-Year-Olds ~ PLA/ALSC, divisions of the American Library Association ~ Chicago, IL 60611

Does Your Home Encourage Learning?

The other day I was looking through my son’s school folder and came upon a great test to determine if your home gives your child both support and encouragement for school learning.

Benjamin S. Bloom created a test to determine if your home encourages learning. Read the following statements and for each statement answer using the following point system:

Mostly true = 2
Sometimes true = 1
Rarely true = 0

1. Everyone in my family has a household responsibility, at least one chore that must be done on time.
2. We have regular times for members of the family to eat, sleep, play, work and study.
3. School work and reading come before play, TV or even other work.
4. I praise my child for good school work, sometimes in front of other people.
5. My child has a quiet place to study, a desk or table at which to work and books, including a dictionary or other reference material.
6. Members of my family talk about hobbies, games, news, the books we are reading, and movies and TV programs we have seen.
7. The family visits museums, libraries, zoos, historical sites and other places of interest.
8. I encourage good speech habits, helping my children to use the correct words and phrases, and to learn new ones.
9. At dinner or some other daily occasion, our family talks about the day’s events, with a chance for everyone to speak and be listened to.
10. I know my child’s current teacher, what my child is doing in school, which learning materials are being used.
11. I expect quality work and good grades. I know my child’s strengths and weaknesses and give encouragement and special help when they are needed.
12. I talk to my child about the future, about planning for high school and college, about aiming for a high level of education and vocation.

Your home ranks in the top one-fourth in terms of the support and encouragement you give your child for school learning if you scored 10 or more points. Your home is in the bottom one-forth if you obtained a score of 6 or less. Your home is average in the support you give your child for school learning if you scored 7,8 or 9 points.

Benjamin S. Bloom

Expose Children to Irregular Sight Words Early & Often

Decoding words using phonics is a strategy that teaches children to use letter-sound relationships and word knowledge to translate printed words into spoken language. For example, combining the sounds of the letters d, o, and g (/d/ + /o/ + /g/) result in the word dog. This skill enables children to read words fluently. However, not all words can be decoded; irregular words need to be automatically identified. These words are phonetically irregular as they do not follow the phonic “rules”. Interestingly approximately 25% of the most frequently used words in children’s books are irregular.

Sharon Vaughn and Sylvia Linan-Thompson wrote a book called Research-Based Methods of Reading Instruction for Grades K -3, which provide the following guidelines when teaching irregular words:

1. Teach irregular words that a student will encounter regularly.
2. The number of words to teach in each session will vary depending upon the student.
3. Teach the irregular words prior to reading them.
4. Review those words on a daily basis.
5. Provide your child with opportunities to use the newly taught words (i.e. writing and reading).

One effective and fun way to provide children repeated exposure to these most common irregular sight words is by playing Er-u-di-tion, an educational board game that incorporates over 300 sight words and basic phonics.

Vaughn and Linan-Thompson suggest beginning this instruction with the following
30 Irregular Sight Words:

the	you	said	his	people
to	they	were	do	know
was	would	are	some	your
of	there	because	as	mother
is	one	what	could	who
two	too	should	put	whose

All of the above words are included in Er-u-di-tion’s game cards with the exception of one word. In addition, all of the irregular sight words noted below are incorporated into Er-u-di-tion:

a	again	answer	any	been
both	brought	cold	color	come
does	earth	enough	example	eyes
father	find	four	friend	from
give	great	have	kind	learn
listen	live	many	most	move
off	often	old	on	once
only	other	their	though	through
want	water	where	word	work

Summer Homework – Can be a Day at the Beach

While at the beach this past weekend, my daughter said, Mom come look and to my astonishment she wrote in the sand with a sea shell, “I LOVE MOM.” Of course I kissed her gently and hugged her tightly. After cherishing the moment, I proceeded to have her write her name in the sand using both upper and lower case letters. I thought to myself why stop at her name? Depending upon your child’s abilities, here are some fun ideas to make a day at the beach educational.

Write in the sand.

Using a sea shell have your child write the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet, first and last name and sight words. If your child is a fluent reader, play hangman in the sand focusing on difficult phonically irregular sight words (e.g. through, though). If your child becomes tired of writing letters and words, try numbers or shapes.

Read a book.

I spent countless hours as a young adult reading on the beach. In fact, when I wasn’t digging in the sand or attempting to go into the ocean (I have a minor phobia of natural bodies of water when I cannot see the bottom), I was reading a novel. In fact prior to packing I went and purchased a beach book. Since my commitment to summer homework, I brought some magazines for my children. We read a children’s magazine each day, which provided a perfect relaxing moment in the middle of the day.

Count sea gulls.

Another fun activity to do with your child is to count sea gulls. Just remember to keep your distance and whatever you do don’t feed them! We learned the hard way that if you feed the sea gulls on the Jersey shore you will see too many sea gulls to count. Plus, your neighboring beach goers will not be happy!

Sort and group sea shells.

Both of my children love to walk along the beach and collect shells. After we collected our shells we laid them on our blanket and put them in groups based on size and color. After sorting the shells, we made a pattern with them.

Talk to the life guard.

Our life guards were a wealth of information. While at the beach, our children often asked the life guard about the tides. When is the next high tide? What time is low tide? This information assisted us in deciding upon the best location to start building our sand castles. They also learned about what causes the tides – the moon’s gravitational pull. We also asked the life guard about the vegetation along the beach. In addition, we found out that floatation devices are not permitted at our beach - that was a bummer!

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