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Peaches M. Hubbard
EDU527: Literacy I
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Literacy Synthesizing Project
Abstract
I would define literacy as the ability to read, spell, write, and communicate
effectively in a given language. Although many may mistake the ability to read
extremely more complex. Literacy not only refers to student’s being able to
demonstrate their reading skills, it also involves fluency and proper pronunciation.
According to the National Institute of Literacy, “By the end of third grade, a child
must read with ease and understanding to take advantage of the learning
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Table of Contents
Abstract 2
Introduction
What is Literacy?
What is Language?
Reading Components
Pre-Test Design
Conclusion
Reference Page
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Introduction
What is Literacy?
My description of literacy refers to one’s ability to use lingual, phonetic, and spelling
skills to a tone of communication that is grade level or age appropriate. Literacy involves
demonstrating one’s ability to read, spell, write, and orally communicate with an accurate sense
of fluency.
What is Language?
My description of language is it refers to the act of putting together words, to create a speech
syntax, which allows individuals to communicate effectively. Language develops in the very
early stages of life; we build upon our language as we mature. Language involves more than just
being able to recite words, language is putting the proper words together to create an effective
According to The National Science Foundation “Most researchers agree that children
acquire language through interplay of biology and environmental factors” (NSF, 2008.)
Therefore, children are born with inherent traits and pre-disposed knowledge of verbal language.
And based on the verbal stimuli that surrounds them the will create their own paradigm of
perceived language syntax. From infancy to a school aged student, one builds upon their
fundamental knowledge of language by gaining the skills that allow them to expand their
vocabulary, develop their pre-writing and writing skills, use phonetics and spelling skills to read
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fluently and speak effectively by combining words into structured simple and complex
sentences. When students have mastered these skills at the appropriate or target grade level
range; the student begins to learn how to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together to create
active and enhanced communicatory responses. According to the Northwest Regional Education
Laboratory, a student acquires a second language through five stages, which range from: (Stage
One) The Silent/Receptive or Pre-production Stage. (Stage Two) The Early Production Stage.
(Stage Three) The Speech Emergence Stage. (Stage Four) The Intermediate Language
Proficiency Stage. And, lastly, (Stage Five) The Advanced Language Proficiency Stage.
(NWREL, 2003.) In each of the stages the student is able to comprehend and increase usage of
three are equally relevant to a students learning, I personally align myself with the
early on that children are born with a basic understanding of language and
communication. When children are talked to as an infant and toddler they are more likely
to have an enhanced median of language capability. When “baby talk” is used in can
stifle a child’s basic inquisitiveness of language, but when infants and toddlers are spoken
to in clear and concise sentences, with variations in tone to evoke meaning or emotion of
word context, the child begins to build upon their inherent knowledge of language and is
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Of the approaches presented in the course group I would align myself with the
approach to literacy focuses on learning language through reading, not learning language
through recitation. I align myself with this theory because of its strong ties
experience, thus enhancing and creating a positive and fulfilling learning environment, by
which the outcomes of learning are contingent upon the learners, not just the targeted
objectives of a textbook.
their pre-grade level, current grade level, and emerging grade level. Standards help
educators teach more effectively by giving presenting them with a clearly defined set of
goals for each student in the appropriate grade level. Mastery of the skills determined is
the end result that is desired, but above all; in synchronization with the “No Child Left
Behind Act,” if students do not master all skills they should at least be given adequate
instruction of the course material that is aligned with the designated states model content
of state.
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School Population
For the duration of this course I have aligned myself with a community charter
school and learning center located in Los Angeles, California. The charter school non
sponsorship is provided through the Director of the learning center, in which I work with
the four classroom teachers. The student’s rotate through three separate classrooms
through out the day, to receive instruction for various subjects. There are approximately
sixty students in the kindergarten class, and I work with a group of seven students.
These students range from low to high levels of literacy. My group of students are
comprised of students that ESL student’s, two siblings with some developmental
challenges, students that are faced with behavioral dilemmas, and two students that are
Puente offers a great reading and literacy program; they offer students the “write
awareness. Students also have reading textbooks, in which they are encouraged to use
“whole language” in their studies. The students are provided with pointers and each
student takes turns in the daily reading assignment. Puente also provides their students
with a weekly work packet, half of which is completed in the classroom, and the other
half is completed over the weekend, at home. The packet offers both review and
accelerated learning activity pages, as well as strong phonics based content, among other
subject content.
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In working with this group of kindergarten students I have seen the difference in
students who only practice their schools at school versus students who practice at both
home and school. My point being that the key to successful reading skills for students at
the pre-kindergarten through third grade level learning support both at home and at
school.
According to the article “Put Reading First” phonemic awareness can be taught
and learned by five tasks, which include: phoneme isolation, phoneme identity, phoneme
2001.) For example, these skills can then be integrated into lesson by using worksheets
on phonics textbook pages, where students must find the beginning sound of a word. The
use of “Writing to Read” programs can be used is correlation with regular classroom
Phonics does not just have to take place during the designated period of time for the
subject; educators can bring phonics into ever other subject, by turning it into learning
matter, such as math, for example, on a math quiz a teacher could incorporate a bonus
question such as: How many syllables are in the words: habitat, subaquatic, and
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Assessment can be integrated into my working theory through the use of pre-assessment,
which I can then use as a tool to determine the student’s level of instruction need. The
instruction and assessment will be used as a means for charting progress, and this information
will be shared with the classroom teachers to show the improvement or need of my individual
group of students.
charter school; at this age level I find formative assessments are great tools for gathering
information on the learner, what they are learning, how they are learning, and in turn give
the student feedback in a non-threatening manner. At this age level, if this is practiced in
a group setting when feedback is given to all students, if creates an understanding that
being wrong or unsure is okay and that asking questions is okay, which creates a great
dialogue between both the teacher and student(s). A few examples of how to incorporate
towards help the students blend letters to match the missing letter to the
example.
“Circle Time,” (singing or reading) during circle time a teacher may read a
book to the students, the teacher could then pick put words and write the
ending sounds on the board and the students can come up one at a time to
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fill in the beginning letter. The teacher may also want children to sing a
song about the alphabet by which each student takes a turn making the
beginning letter sound for the word that is being “called out,” for example
if the letter if S, the teacher might say snake, and the student would
respond by making a hissing sound for the letter “S” and then blend “Sss”
Literacy, phonics, phonemic and phonological awareness all share the same common
goal, to help students learn how to read effectively and fluently. All factors of phonetic
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Pre-Test Design
Pre-Test Overview
The purpose of this assignment is to create a pre-test for the student’s that we will
be working with for the duration of this course. The pre-test is comprised of four
For the duration of this course I will be working with a group of seven students that are
all diverse in their level of literacy. The pre-test that I have developed is geared for
kindergarten students. The pre-test is formatted in such a way that each of the four areas
is addressed in a distinctive manner. There are five questions included in each topic areas
and I have incorporated circle the answer and multiple-choice questions for the
assessment. The questions for the assessment have pictures that correspond with the
comprehension.
Directions: Look at the picture, which word does not rhyme with
the word van?
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Bee
Pig
Key
Directions: Circle the two rhyming words.
Ball
Mat
Fall
B) Phonics
____ C S H
_ hair
__a p K H C
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C M B
__at
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C) Vocabulary
Duck
Jump
Not
Sad
Who
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D) Comprehension
(A) Little
(B) Big
2. The color of the fish in he story is ___________.
(A) Blue
(B) Gold
3. The fish swims in a _________?
(A) Box
(B) Bowl
4. What kind of bird is singing in the story?
(A) Silver
(B) Golden
5. What was the bird singing in?
Answer Key:
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Pre-Test Summarization
Four of the students for my group were present: Joshua, Rochelle, Jennifer, and
Jafar. The remaining students were absent on this day. The students started off the
morning lined up ready to separate into their collaborative classrooms, and with
assistance from the teacher I pulled the students from the line to begin the pre-test. The
lesson took place in the classroom, at a collaborative table in the reading and
mathematics classroom. Because only four of the students were present I decided to
administer the test to the group instead of in pairs. We all sat at the table together, in
which I gave the students salutations. Before I administered the pre-test I asked the
students write their names on the worksheets and I reviewed the classroom and testing
rules.
The assessment started at 8:00 A.M. I read the directions aloud for each
set of questions, and I had the students follow along as I read. Before I had the
and read the name of and identified each picture. Next, I had the students choose
and circle their own answers, quietly. The students were assessed individually for
section C: vocabulary. While each student was tested the other students were
allowed to draw a picture and then read a book. A few of the student took a small
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I kept the students engaged by asking fun or funny questions about the pictures.
The students enjoyed this they were all eager to participate. I concluded the test by
telling the students what a great job they did; they were all very well-behaved and they
were rewarded with hand stamps, to which they were all eager to receive (which is the
equivalent of a gold star to them.) The actual assessment concluded at 9:00 A.M. Once
the student’s pushed in their chairs they returned to their classroom teacher and began
Assessment Results
Findings
All of the students tried their best. Some notes that I would like to mention are
Jafar scoring in phonetic awareness and vocabulary are slightly lower, which stem from
his developmental delays. Jafar finds it very difficult to speak in complete sentences; his
sentences are usually fragmented with no more than two words put together. After the
first initial vocabulary question he responded well and I was impressed with his
sentences, which included: I cannot get in the water (Water is the vocabulary word.)
(Personal Communication, Jafar 2009) Some of the sentences that the other students
created are: Who wants to play with me? (Play is the vocabulary word,) and I will not eat
oatmeal! (Not is the vocabulary word.) The students did well on the pre-test but there is
room for improvement. The students enjoyed the assessment, and they were focused and
well behaved. Out of the four students, the section(s) of the pre-test that seemed most
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challenging are the phonemic awareness and comprehension portions. I am very eager to
work on lessons that will provide the students instruction in these core areas.
Lesson Plans
PLANNING:
teach phonemic awareness to the group of kindergarten students that I work with
weekly. According to the text Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know to
Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar, Phonemic (Freeman and
Freeman 2004) awareness is defined as, the ability to identify the phonemes in a
word and manipulate them in various ways, such as adding phoneme, deleting
phoneme, or substituting one phoneme for another (David and Yvonne Freeman
awareness. The primary goals of this lesson are to increase the student’s
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For this lesson plan I have created three activities for the students: Part A
of the lesson refers to the fifth level of phonemic awareness, which is performing
(Adams 1990.) Part B and C of the lesson refers to the first ability of phonemic
1990.) For these activities the students are asked to draw a line to the matching
The standard(s) that apply to the lesson and its activities are in conjunction with
Lesson Objectives
knowledge of phonetic awareness to aid them in their quest for literacy. The key
objectives include:
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The students will be given the actual lesson worksheets, which they will
complete and be graded on. I will use a grading rubric to assess the students
The lesson model that I haven chosen for the implementation of this lesson plan is
paradigm. Students work on projects or problems in teams with both personal and team
elements, such as: situations, groupings, bridge, questions, exhibits, and reflections. By
teaching this lesson in a cooperative group it gives the students the opportunity to asks
questions, and get immediate feedback that can be useful to all of the students.
Student Orientation
There are a total of seven students in my group. I will break the students up in
pair and one group of three. This will enable me to get a better understanding of how the
students comprehend the lesson, as well as having the opportunity to provide a more one-
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groups for my teaching method we will work together, and review the directions and I
will give detailed examples for each lesson. Time accommodations will be made for
students who need extra time to complete the worksheets. For those students who have
questions are or unsure of how to continue their work, we will discuss those concerns as a
group and work together to find the correct answer, and go into further explanation as to
how the answer is founded. For the students that have behavior struggles I will be more
descriptive in my review of the rules of the assessment, such as raising your hand if you
have a question, and writing you answers individually and not sharing them with others.
Reading pointers,
Management Concerns
I do not for see any management issues that may arise because the classroom
teachers allow me to use a classroom or space that is not being used at the time, therefore,
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if the students become a little loud with the activities they will not interrupt the other
students.
DESIGN:
Opening Set
I have created a lesson plan that is meant to be both visually appealing and
will grab the students attention by explaining the directions for each section, explain the
point, goals, and objectives of the lesson, and give the students the opportunity to interact
by naming pictures, making animal sounds for the pictures, and sounding out words that
they are unfamiliar with. Other fun activities that I will use is chanting of the beginning
and ending sounds, and call and response, in which I will call out a word and the students
have to call out a word that has the same ending sound.
For each activity I will read the directions and give the student’s an example
demonstrating how to complete the activities. The following is the designated
times that I have allocated for each lesson.
Part A - I plan to spend about fifteen minutes, with a word review session at the
end of the lesson.
Part B - I plan to spend about fifteen minutes, with a word review session at the
end of the lesson.
Directions: Use each letter from the word box to complete the word.
M B T L C F P M
R V
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____AKE ____AN
____AKE ____AN
____AKE ____AN
____AKE ____AN
____AKE ____AN
P B C F C B F T
S
___AT ___AR
___AT ___AR
___AT ___AR
___AT ___AR
Directions: Use each letter from the word box to complete the word.
ad e
it ing
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M B T L C F P M
__ M_AKE R ___C_AN V
___B_AKE ___F_AN
___T_AKE ___P_AN
___L_AKE ___M_AN
___R_AKE ___V_AN
P B C F C B F T
S
__P_AT __C_AR
__B_AT __B_AR
__C_AT __F_AR
__F_AT __T_AR
__S_AT
ad e
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S __ a_ __d H _e__
B __ a_ __d Se _e__
D __ a_ __d Sh _e__
it ing
S __it__ S _ing__
K _ it__ R _ ing__
F __ it__ W _ ing__
H __ it__ K _ ing__
I will give each student a turn to try to sound out some of the words from
the lesson, and the other words I will have the students repeat altogether, aloud.
reviewing all of the words from the lesson, and having each of the students take
turns making simple sentences with the words. Before the students leave I will
Assessment Results
The scoring guide will create a cumulative amount of points, thus creating a total
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score. The scoring rubric will address the development of the learner, and will be
PLANNING:
Lesson Overview
words by learning the phonetic value of letters, letter groups, and especially syllables
the students have learn about the alphabetic principle, as well as increase their knowledge
of vowel patterns. In this phonics lesson, the synthetic approach to phonics will be used
by which “students convert letter to sounds and blend sounds to form words” (Freeman
and Freeman 2004, p.131.) The analytic approach is another method that will be used, by
(Freeman and Freeman 2004, p.131.) And, the onset and rhyme method, which
“connects sounds of onsets and rimes to the letter used to spell them,” (Freeman and
Freeman 2004, p.131) for the purpose of this lesson I will be focusing on rimes, which is
defined as A rime is the part of a syllable which consists of its vowel and any consonant
sounds that come after it (Lingual Links, 2004.) All of these methods are geared towards
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offering the students a systematic, explicit lesson, which in simple terms means clear and
defined as discussed in the textbook Essential Linguistics (Freeman and Freeman, 2004.)
The standard that directly correlates to my lesson and are taken from the website
of the Colorado Department of Education: Standard Three: which states that students
write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation,
capitalization, and spelling. This relates to this lesson because it instructs students on
how to spell frequently used words correctly through the use of phonics rules and
incorporating various methods of instruction to reinforce and build upon the student’s
phonics skills. Students will learn about diphthongs and how to use the spelling families
to figure out the sound of a word. The student’s will learn what the five common vowels
are (a,e,i,o,u.) Students will learn how to sound out and blend letter sounds to create and
I will assess the extent of student learning using formative assessment through
oral review in which I will review the words and vowels discussed in the lesson; the
student’s will each have a turn, in which I will give them a word the will make the
beginning sound, and as a group the students will shout out the ending rime. Next I will
administer a paper/pencil test prior to the end of the lesson, this will be done individually
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For this lesson I will be using the direct instruction-teaching model. The
definition of direct instruction is “instruction that involves some explication of the skill or
subject matter to be taught and may or may not include an opportunity for student
participation or individual practice” (Wikipedia, 2009) I choose this model because for
this particular phonics lesson because this is it a subject that requires direct and explicit
learning, in which the student’s will understand the subject matter and the method of
Student Orientation
For my case study projects I work with a group of seven students. For the
first part of the lesson I will group the students all together. For the last part of the lesson
I will work with the students one-on-one and give them a paper/pencil test to check for
groups for my teaching method we will work together, and review the directions and I
will give detailed examples for each lesson. Time accommodations will be made for
students who need extra time to complete the worksheets. For those students who have
questions are or unsure of how to continue their work, we will discuss those concerns as a
group and work together to find the correct answer, and go into further explanation as to
how the answer is founded. For the students that have behavior struggles I will be more
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descriptive in my review of the rules of the assessment, such as raising your hand if you
have a question, and writing you answers individually and not sharing them with others.
The instructional materials and resources that I will have on hand are:
Word charts
Reading pointers
Management Concerns
I do not for see any management issues that may arise because the
classroom teachers allow me to use a classroom or space that is not being used at
the time, therefore, if the students become a little loud with the activities they will
not interrupt the other students. For the student’s that have a difficult time with
letter sounds and word recognition I will do repetitive tasks that will reinforce
DESIGN:
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Opening Set
I will get the student’s attention by prompting questions, for example, using
descriptive clues to help the students figure out the word. Or another example might be
using one of the words that the students will learn and asking them if they can think of a
rhyming word. I will communicate the objectives and directions by first reviewing the
classroom rules. Secondly, I will read the directions and ask the students if they
The first activity will be comprised of word charts in which the students
will focus on learning and recognizing vowels and the sounds that they make in a
word. The second activity will focus on diphthongs: /ou/ and /ow/. I will make a
list of /ou/ and /ow/ words on the whiteboard, in which I will say the word and
point out the vowel sound, then I will have the students repeat the word. Next,
point to a word on the board and have each student take a turn reading a word
from the board and pointing out the vowels. Lastly, I will have the students
spread out a various tables in the classroom; the students are then to complete a
Name:
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Directions: Look at the words in the word bank and write the words under the correct
column. The first one is done for you. Color the picture.
/ou/ Words
cloud
Word Bank
Cloud Bow
Loud Ouch
Cow House
Owl Count
/ow/ Words
A few of the questions that I will ask to check for understanding are:
• What are the five common vowels? (Using our fingers, let’s say them and
count them altogether.)
• Can you point to the vowels on the board?
• Can you name a word that has the /ou/ or /ow/ vowel sounds?
• Can you please read the words on the board aloud?
6. Closing (Minutes 5)
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I will end the lesson by collecting the worksheets, giving the students positive
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PLANNING:
Lesson Overview
The point of this lesson is to address and incorporate many beneficial skills to
kindergarten students. The primary reason for implementation of this lesson is to teach
students about spelling through the use of the word study method. “Word Study” is a
approach is said to “encourage students to examine and study the patterns in words” (JIU,
2009.) This lesson will teach students about the three primary colors: blue, yellow, and
red. The lesson will emphasize spelling, word recognition, color recognition, and
developmental skills. I have created a worksheet for students, which accompanied this
lesson. The student’s are to cut out letter and cut large rectangles, this will help in
The lesson relates to the following standards, taken from the Colorado
Department of Education (CDE) Model Content Standards:
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Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure,
punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Rationale: spelling frequently used words correctly using phonics rules and
exceptions.
Learning Assessment
I will assess the extent of each student’s learning by doing a review at the
end of the lesson and doing an oral group formative assessment, in which I will
ask the student questions regarding the lesson. I will provide and collect a
worksheet that will accompany the lesson, this will enable me to evaluate whether
the students have achieved the objective and met the standards. I will also have a
checklist that I will use to check for the student’s understanding of the lesson.
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Because the overall goal of the lesson is for students to learn the content of
the lesson the teaching model that I will be using for this lesson is direct
taught and may or may not include an opportunity for student participation or
individual practice” (Wikipedia, 2009.) I choose this model because for this
particular spelling lesson the subject content requires direct and explicit learning,
in which the student’s will understand the subject matter and the method of
Student Orientation
For the duration of this class I will work with a group of seven kindergarten
students. For the purpose of this lesson I will group all of the students together, in
a cooperative fashion.
review the directions and I will give detailed examples for each lesson. Time
accommodations will be made for students who need extra time to complete the
worksheets. For those students who have questions are or unsure of how to
continue their work, we will discuss those concerns as a group and work together
to find the correct answer, and go into further explanation as to how the answer is
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founded. For the students that have behavior struggles I will be more descriptive
in my review of the rules of the assessment, such as raising your hand if you have
a question, and writing you answers individually and not sharing them with
others.
The instructional materials and resources that I will have on hand include:
Crayons
Glue
Scissors
Pencils and erasers
Spelling worksheet (project)
Word charts
Access to a white board and dry erase markers
Crayon box for the worksheet project
Management Concerns
I do not for see any management issues that may arise because the
classroom teachers allow me to use a classroom or space that is not being used at
the time, therefore, if the students become a little loud with the activities they will
not interrupt the other students. For the student’s that have a difficult time with
letter sounds and word recognition I will do repetitive tasks that will reinforce
DESIGN:
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using descriptive clues to help the students figure out the word. Or another
example might be using one of the words that the students will learn and asking
them if they can think of a rhyming word. I will communicate the objectives and
directions by first reviewing the classroom rules. Secondly, I will read the
directions and ask the students if they understood what they are supposed to do.
For the first portion of the lesson I will do a word recognition review with
the students, I will have the students practice spelling each word aloud by using a
rhythmic clapping pattern. Example: R-E-D spells Red; all claps once, together.
The students will clap while shouting out the letters. I will allocate approximately
five to six minutes for this portion of this lesson. Next, I will hold up word charts
and I will review the spelling to effectively increase sight word recognition for the
three primary colors, which will last for approximately five to six minutes.
Followed by asking students questions, such as: Name an item in the classroom
that is red; or Name your favorite blue item, which will last for approximately
five minutes Lastly, the students will complete the review worksheet, which
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The worksheet is comprised of three large crayons, the students are to read
the word colors and use their word recognition skills to color the corresponding
crayon. After the student’s color the crayon they are to cut out each of the letter
at the bottom of the page. The letters are not in order; therefore the student’s are
to remember the spelling of the words in order to place them on the crayons.
After the students cut out the letters they are to paste the correct letters to form the
color word—on the matching crayon. Next the student’s are to cut out the entire
crayon and place it to the side. Lastly, I will give each student a plain crayon box
(with the words “primary colors” on the front) in which they are to write their
name on the back of the box. The students will then place their crayon cutouts in
the box. The students can use this at home as a word review.
Name:
Primary Colors
Fact Sheet
Red
Blue
Yellow
Color Wheel
Questions:
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Can you think of a type of food, fruit, or vegetable that is one of the primary
colors?
Can you name a toy that you have at home that is either one or all of the
primary colors?
What is something that you can see in the sky after it rains, that shows the
primary colors?
Answer: A rainbow.
Name:
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Primary Colors
Red
Yellow
Blue
Directions: Cut and Glue the letter below onto matching crayons.
B R U Y L O
E L D E W L E
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A few of the questions that I will ask to check for understanding are:
a. What are the three primary colors?
b. How do you spell (blue, red, and yellow?)?
c. Why are they called primary colors?
d. Look at the board, there are several colors written on the board. I will
have each students identify the three primary colors that the lesson focuses
on.
8. Closing (Minutes 2 to 3)
I will end the lesson by collecting the worksheets, giving the students
positive feedback, and giving the student’s hand stamps.
PLANNING:
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The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with a lesson plan that
will help develop and sharpen their vocabulary skills. This lesson will be
learning in which the learner is given a set of vocabulary words and given
drawing from ones prior knowledge and equips the reader with
information that is implicit within the text (JIU 2009.) This lesson will
also seek to draw from student’s knowledge of childhood toys and family
activities such as: going to the beach, family outings, the season of
and the students are a mix of English learners and second language
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Make connections between their reading(s) and what they already know.
Finding information to support particular ideas.
Use of word recognition skills.
Use information from readings to increase vocabulary and enhance language.
understanding more difficult and complex readings. It also helps the teacher in
figuring out how to relate the student’s early experiences into their learning, in an
Therefore, the key objectives for student learning is to provide students with basic
vocabulary categorized sight words about summer fun. The students are expected
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formative pre-review and lesson wrap-up at the end of the lesson. I will ask the
student questions regarding the lesson. I will provide and collect the worksheets
that accompany the lesson and this will enable me to evaluate whether the
students have achieved the objective and met the standards. I will also have a
checklist that I will use to check for the student’s understanding of the lesson.
Teaching Model
Because the overall goal of the lesson is for students to learn the content of
the lesson the teaching model that I will be using for this lesson is direct
taught and may or may not include an opportunity for student participation or
individual practice” (Wikipedia, 2009.) I choose this model because for this
particular spelling lesson the subject content requires direct and explicit learning,
in which the student’s will understand the subject matter and the method of
Student Orientation
For the duration of this class I will work with a group of seven
kindergarten students. For the purpose of this lesson I will group all of the
students together, in a cooperative fashion.
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using cooperative groups for my teaching method we will work together, and
review the directions and I will give detailed examples for each lesson. Time
accommodations will be made for students who need extra time to complete the
worksheets. For those students who have questions are or unsure of how to
continue their work, we will discuss those concerns as a group and work together
to find the correct answer, and go into further explanation as to how the answer is
founded. For the students that have behavior struggles I will be more descriptive
in my review of the rules of the assessment, such as raising your hand if you have
a question, and writing you answers individually and not sharing them with
others.
The instructional materials and resources that I will have on hand include:
Crayons
Pencils and erasers
Vocabulary worksheets
Word charts/ White Board/ Dry Erase Markers
Management Concerns
I do not for see any management issues that may arise because the
classroom teachers allow me to use a classroom or space that is not being used at
the time, therefore, if the students become a little loud with the activities they will
not interrupt the other students. For the student’s that have a difficult time with
letter sounds and word recognition I will do repetitive tasks that will reinforce
what I am teaching in the lesson.
DESIGN:
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using descriptive clues to help the students figure out the word. Or another
example might be using one of the words that the students will learn and asking
them if they can name any other things that they might take to the beach, and
make a word list on the board. I will communicate the objectives and directions
by reviewing the classroom rules. Next, I will review the vocabulary words
before the actual lesson begins by going over the words and giving brief
will read the directions for the lesson worksheets. This lesson will be split into
two parts. The first day will be comprised of an introduction of the vocabulary
words for the lesson, as well as a brainstorming session regarding items and
activities associated with summer. Lastly, the students will each get a turn to
Using the first lesson worksheet as a guide I will read the selected text
aloud to the students. I will have the students take turns reading sentences from
the text aloud, to reinforce reading and re-reading skills. I will then point out the
selected vocabulary words and have each student giving me a brief definition of
each word, followed by the students coloring the first worksheet. This portion of
the exercise should take approximately 20 minutes. Next, I will have the students
complete to second lesson worksheet. For this sheet the students are to look at the
pictures, which are taken from text from worksheet I, next the students are to label
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the pictures, and ten color them. This last section will be used as an assessment of
what the students have learned. This activity should take approximately 10
Summer Fun
Name: minutes.
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Prior to the closing of the lesson I will have the students take a brief water and
bathroom break. When the lesson resumes I will do a quick wrap-up by asking
the students the following questions in order to check for their comprehension and
a. Can you name the (items) vocabulary words used in this lesson?
c. If I point to the picture, can you choose the matching vocabulary word?
d. Can you name an item that one of the Smith family member’s brought to
the beach?
f. What is an item, not mentioned in the story that you would bring to the
beach?
Lastly, I will give the students hand stamps and/or stickers when the lesson is
finished.
Writing Prompt
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PLANNING:
active readers and writers by providing them with the tools, which will allow the
• Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences
(CDE, 1995.)
Through the use of this writing prompt the student’s will demonstrate their
knowledge and comprehension of the children’s literature “This is the House that
I will assess the extent of the student’s understanding by using a writing rubric for
scoring. A sample-scoring rubric will follow the hard copy of the writing prompt, below.
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Writing Prompt
Story Synopsis
In the story “This is the House that Jack Built,” each line rhymes with next, and
surprising new way. The book introduces students to many fun-loving animals
and has a happy ending for all. This book is also comprised of lively pictures,
Writing Prompt(s):
If you were Jack and you could fill your house with any pets and/or items that you
wanted what would they be?
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What would you build you house out of? (Examples: straw, clay, bricks, sand.)
What two pets would you like to have live in your house? (Examples: a dog, cat, and
bird.)
What are three to five items that you need to have in any house?
How many people live in your home? (*Don’t forget to include yourself.)
What are the rooms that you would include in your house, and why?
Scoring Rubric
4 3 2 1
Demonstrates Consistently Demonstrates Demonstrates The student
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*Basic sight words: House, build, lay, in, the, that, rat, cat, dog, ate, is, this, cow, and man.
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Conclusion
phonological and phonemic awareness, which pertain to word sounds and letter
recognition. Understanding the nuances of each of the mediators will better help
trouble in. Some students have trouble with blending sounds; therefore, they may
have memorized some words through word recognition, yet when they are faced
with a more challenging set of words, they struggle, because they are not able to
understand how to blend and breakdown words into syllables, which create the
pre-reader or new reader may have and giving them the tools to improve and gain
The English spelling system can be a very tricky system to master because as an
illusion, things are not always what they seem. For example irregular words, which are
words that do not necessarily follow any ordained pattern of rules; the words are simple
not spelled as there are heard or pronounced and this can be very troublesome to students,
especially students who are just being introduced to the English spelling system, such as
pre-school and primary grade school students. There are also several different rules that
must be memorized in order for students to learn this complex spelling system, such as
the consonant doubling rule and the silent e rule discussed in the text reading for this
week. (Freeman and Freeman, pp.120-126.) These rules can make it very disarming for
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students to learn the proper pronunciation of a word. I have noticed in my work with
kindergarten students that the pesky silent e rule can be very hard for student’s at this
grade level to comprehend; yet alone master. Therefore, students, especially primary
grade students do face challenges when it comes to learning the English spelling system,
yet with a well-balanced phonics and reading and writing literacy curriculum the students
should grasp the rules, after all practice makes perfect; and never has this been more true
There are several measures that teachers can take to ensure that their instruction
curriculum, and strategies a teacher can provide his or her student’s with a well-balanced
curriculum that can fit the needs of every learner. In an attempt to ensure that the
instruction targets specific stages of spelling development a teacher needs to offer age
spelling as a whole, and at home for home work to promote self-assessment and to
reinforce classroom concepts, ideas, discussions, and class assignments. Another key to
are to give pre-test to see what level of learning (spelling wise) that the student is at.
Also encouraging fun activities, such as mock spelling bees, hangman, and scrabble, is a
Although, there are several strategies that a teacher can implement for spelling,
there are three specific components that are discussed in Theme five of this week’s online
module readings, they are: Phonetic processing, visual processing and building word
knowledge. Each of these skills can help develop a student’s understanding of the
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words. Building word knowledge, although self-explanatory from its title has many
facets to how to go about the process. There are several ways that an educator can build
word knowledge; this theme focuses on vocabulary lists as an option for building word
As both an educator and student I find that spelling is one of those subjects that is
often overlooked; it is a subject that many feel that everyone will just pick up along the
way. Spelling is often times not thought of as a serious subject; I myself use the
computer’s spell check tool. I seem to have no need to truly examine words, their
meanings, word rules, and the like. It seems that after the fourth grade spelling is one of
those things either you know or you don’t, but either way there is a computer program
that can help you out. Although, I am very fond of technology, this course has given me
insight, not only as an educator, but also as a student. I have always prided myself on
being a life-long learner and I find that one must continue to spell and continue on a quest
for language. After all, although it is overlooked it is something that we truly use
everyday.
Spelling
The English spelling system can be a very tricky system to master because
as an illusion, things are not always what they seem. For example irregular
words, which are words that do not necessarily follow any ordained pattern of
rules; the words are simple not spelled as there are heard or pronounced and
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this can be very troublesome to students, especially students who are just
There are also several different rules that must be memorized in order for
students to learn this complex spelling system, such as the consonant doubling rule and
the silent e rule discussed in the text reading for this week. (Freeman and Freeman,
pp.120-126.) These rules can make it very disarming for students to learn the proper
pronunciation of a word. I have noticed in my work with kindergarten students that the
pesky silent e rule can be very hard for student’s at this grade level to comprehend; yet
alone master. Therefore, students, especially primary grade students do face challenges
when it comes to learning the English spelling system, yet with a well-balanced phonics
and reading and writing literacy curriculum the students should grasp the rules, after all
practice makes perfect; and never has this been more true of such a multifarious task as
spelling.
and multilinguistic society. Much as the adults of today the students of the near
future will be faced with a demand for highly skilled employees as well as bi or
multi lingual individuals. As educators we must learn to adapt; and there are
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more and more learners whose native language is not English. In order to provide
techniques. Our primary job is educators is to teach, but there are also goals,
objectives, and demands to provide all types of learners with the ability to become
proficient in all subject matters. In order to better provide students with these
students’ culture and views into the students’ learning experience, thus providing
the student with adequate and fair learning examples and initiatives.
together when teaching reading and literacy skills. With that said I believe that word
review would be more beneficial to second language learners because it offers clearly
defined tasks that are geared to keep the students on track with what they are to learn. I
believe that the sociopsycholinguistic view would better suit an English learner because it
gives more freedom, which would be good for a student who had already demonstrated
some proficiency or mastery of the subject matter and has a better grasp of the language.
Writing Instruction
My perspective on instruction is that I although students should get a firm grasps on the
fundamental principles of writing; student’s should also be given the freedom to express
their creativity through this art form. When teachers tend to focus only on grammar
instead of the content, the student can easily begin to feel discouraged. I believe that it is
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imperative for students to learn about draft writing, in this way students are able to get
out their raw thoughts or emotions, free of grammar and punctuation, next the student can
revise their writing and start focusing on the proper placement of a semi-colon or
apostrophe. Another concern are teachers who are a bit too liberal with the idea of
writing being a form of art, and instead of focusing on all of the parts that contribute to a
great piece of writing they focus only on the uniqueness, or essence of the what is being
writing, technical writing, and grammatical writing procedures to become truly fluent
writers.
Comprehension
The statement: “Comprehension is often assessed, but rarely taught,” is a fair and
accurate statement. Too many times students are expected to learn, without being given
the opportunity to explore what learning styles best suit them, without being provided
with the skills to breakdown and explain what they have learned, both orally and in
written form. For example: (Scenario) an open book assignment, the students are given
the task of reading a passage in their textbooks and answering the questions at the end of
the Page, chapter, or unit. Some teachers may feel that the students read a passage and
answered the questions correctly; therefore, the student comprehended the material.
Unfortunately, this is not an accurate depiction of the situation. In reality, the student
didn’t get anything from the assignment, if they were unsure, unclear, or just plain
indolent they would simply skim the textbook for the answers, and then proceed to
answer the questions. A few suggestions might be; if offered in your textbook, choose
some of the extra activities for students to complete in groups, or select important
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thoughts from the page, chapter, or unit and give writing prompts in which the student
has to reflect on their own knowledge of learning. For my sponsorship I have been
working with kindergarten students, some effective ways to teach comprehension to this
grade level include: using multiple teaching strategies, teaching strategic thinking, and
active involvement in the learning process, for the student’s (IDEA 2002-2009.)
use language to read, write, listen, and speak” (Wikipedia, 2009.) And as to relate to my
kindergarten case study group I end this project with a quote by Dr. Suess, “The more
you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll
go.”
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Reference:
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Literacy Synthesizing Project
Freeman, D.E and Freeman, Y.S. (2004.) Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know
to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann Publishing.
Live Search, MSN (2009.) Clipart and Photograph Search. Retrieved: 13:01
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Kids Front (2006.) Rhymes for Kids: The Golden Fish. Retrieved: 12:10 May
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Freeman, D.E and Freeman, Y.S. (2004.) Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know
to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann Publishing.
Freeman, D.E and Freeman, Y.S. (2004.) Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know
to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann Publishing.
Live Search, MSN (2009.) Clipart and Photograph Search. Retrieved: 13:01
May 10, 2009. www. http://search.live.com/images/
Gagnon, G.W. Jr. and Collay, M. Constructivist Learning Design. Retrieved: 13:10 May
21, 2009. http://www.prainbow.com/cld/cldp.html
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Literacy Synthesizing Project
Live Search, MSN (2009.) Clipart and Photograph Search. Retrieved: 13:01
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Direct instruction. (2009, May 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
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Jones International University (2009.) EDU527: Literacy I, Content Author: Craig, D.V.
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www.jiu.edu
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Freeman, D.E and Freeman, Y.S. (2004.) Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know
to Teach: Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Portsmouth, N.H.:
Heinemann Publishing.
Colorado Department of Education (1995.) Model Content Standards for Reading and
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