Word Knowledge Assignment

Part 1 (5 points): The chart below contains Kilpatrick’s Stages of Reading Development. In an effort to see how his Word Knowledge
Stages align with our Literacy Stages, complete the chart below. Level 1 has been completed for you. Your task is to compare what
Kilpatrick says about Word Knowledge development alongside our Lesson Plans across the stages of Literacy Development. HINT:
Kilpatrick notes there may be some overlap across levels, just as we view the literacy continuum as progression through phases, with
less emphasis on clear demarcations at each level.

Fit with Where Do You See This Type of

Typical Fit with Literacy
Levels of PA What Includes Spelling Instruction in our RLL Lesson
Age Stage
Stage Plans?
Learning Letter Sounds PreK-K  Rhyming  Emergent  Emergent Emergent Plan
 Alliteration  Early LN  COW work
 Segmenting at the  Beginning sounds
syllable level  PA portion of lesson
Level One:
 Segmenting off (depends based on TOPPA
Early
initial sound in assessment)
words  Letter Names
 Letter Sounds
 Oral Language Play
Phonic Decoding K-1  Alphabetic  Beginning  Letter  Re-reading/ fluency practice
Principle Name  Word Study work
 Phonological o Letter Name
blending  Segmenting
Level Two:  Medial
Basic vowels/
blends/
digraphs
 Rhyming
word Families
  Writing Practice
o Writing for sounds
o Firming COP
understandings
 Reading
o Decoding words
o Comprehension
strategies
o Teacher Read-Aloud
Sight Word Learning via 1-4  Advanced  Transitional-  Late  Reading
Orthographic Mapping phonemic Intermediate Letter o Independently for
awareness Name fluency
 Letter-sound  Within o Hot/ cold reads
knowledge Word  Word Study
 Phonological long-  Syllables o Decoding/ word
term memory & Affixes identification
strategies
o Long vowels
Level Three: o Patten & meaning
Advanced based changes
 Guided reading
o Instructional level
reading
o Comprehension
strategy practice
o “reading to learn”
 Writing
o Writes for many
purposes
o Exposure different
ways to organize
writing
o Forms voice
Part 2 (10 points):

 Kilpatrick shared the above visual/graphic of the relationship between (1) phonemic
awareness, (2) letter-sound skills, and (3) word study. On p. 41 in this week’s pdf
handout, he describes word study as “the connection making process used to
remember words. The word study aspect of mapping is the superglue that anchors
words in permanent memory via orthographic mapping.”

Pretend you are a reading specialist and your principal comes to you in the hallway,
catching you in between classes, saying that he wants to ‘run something by you.’ He is
considering eliminating word study in favor of what you believe to be an implicit phonics
approach, similar to what may typically be found in programs such as Leveled Literacy
Intervention. What’s your 5-minute “elevator speech” in response, with particular
regard for struggling readers? Organize your speech around no more than 5 key talking
points, supported with research from the readings. Keep in mind that the principal has
not read Kilpatrick, likely does not know the meaning of “orthographic mapping” or
other key terms from the readings, and will likely need your response put into lay-
person terms as much as possible.

“While there are pros that come with using a program such as Leveled Literacy
Intervention, they still do not even compare to the effectiveness of using the word study
technique for classroom literacy instruction. While an implicit phonics approach does
expose the students to basic phoneme instruction, it does not actually teach them how
to recognize and pronounce different word features, and what to do if they come across
a feature that they are unfamiliar with. Word Study provides everything that the
students need in order to support the proper development of their phonological
awareness. This means that they are exposed to rhyme and syllables, word families,
blends/ diagraphs, meaning and pattern-based changes. All of these word features
provide the students with the “why” behind what they are learning, which is especially
beneficial to struggling learners. With an implicit approach, they only learn to memorize,
and use the process of elimination to figure out how to read the words. They look for
commonalities across words and fill in the blanks when reading or writing. All of our
readers, especially those who are a little behind their grade level, need the explicit
instruction that word study can provide to them on.”