This final chapter shows how to integrate the essential instructional elements of reading described in previous chapters, and is divided into three sections:

• A brief overview of the five core instructional areas and their essential elements,
• A discussion on the use of progress monitoring to inform instruction and identify student needs, and
• Tips for helping students who are having difficulty acquiring reading skills.

Overview of the Essential Elements of Reading

To read efficiently, students must apply letter-sound correspondences, blend sounds together to read words, and recognize that some words are irregular. In addition, they must learn that when they do not understand something they are reading, they can use comprehension and vocabulary strategies to construct meaning from the text. That is a big undertaking for both students and teachers.

In the first four years of school, children will gradually acquire the skills they need to read proficiently. Teachers can introduce these skills separately, but they should be integrated as quickly as possible. This pattern should continue each time students learn more complex skills. Different critical elements should be emphasized at different times; for example, whereas the focus in kindergarten is on phonological awareness, in 1st grade the focus is on phonics and word study. Nevertheless, teachers should include all the elements on a daily basis as appropriate for the grade. Figure 7.1 shows which elements to focus on at each grade level.

Figure 7.1. Timeline for Teaching Literacy

	Kindergarten	1st grade	2nd Grade	3rd Grade
Phonological Awareness	Syllables  Onset/rime  Phoneme level	Phonemic awareness
Phonics and Word Study	Print awareness  Alphabetic  knowledge  Alphabetic principle  Decoding  Irregular word reading	Alphabetic principle  Decoding  Irregular word reading  Decodable text reading
Fluency		Connected text (second semester)	Connected text	Connected text
Vocabulary	Oral vocabulary	Oral and reading vocabulary	Reading vocabulary	Reading vocabulary
Comprehension	Listening comprehension  Sense of story	Listening comprehension  Reading comprehension	Reading comprehension in narrative and expository text	Reading comprehension in narrative and expository text

Though teachers may already incorporate many of the elements in this book into their reading programs, they should be certain that instruction in each is of sufficient length, focuses on the essential components, uses appropriate materials, and integrates such features of effective teaching as modeling, explicit language, multiple opportunities to practice and review, and corrective feedback.

The following is a summary of the essential elements of reading instruction. It will help teachers determine whether or not they should enhance their reading programs with additional instructional activities.

Phonological Awareness. This element is essential in kindergarten and 1st grade, and should be taught for approximately 15 to 20 minutes daily for instruction to be effective. Though most of the activities related to phonological awareness are oral, teachers should be sure to link sounds to letters and print as soon as possible. They should base activities on students' skill levels and degrees of knowledge, proceeding from easier to more difficult tasks; be sure to include such tasks as identifying, blending, and segmenting syllables, onset/rimes, and phonemes in their lessons; and remember that the two most important tasks are segmenting and blending words at the phoneme level.

Phonics and Word Study. These elements provide the foundations for literacy instruction in 1st grade, but related skills such as print awareness and alphabetic knowledge and understanding should be emphasized in kindergarten. Letters and their corresponding sounds should not be introduced in alphabetical order, but rather in a systematic sequence that allows students to decode and blend common consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, both in isolation and in connected text. Students should learn to read decodable text in 1st grade, since doing so allows them to apply their other skills to reading as well. The goal is to help students develop independent word recognition strategies and automaticity.

Fluency. Fluency instruction should start the second semester of 1st grade, when students have built a strong foundation in word identification. Twenty minutes of fluency instruction daily is sufficient for most students, using independent-level text, especially if they are reading alone or with a same-age peer; for students reading with a tutor or a knowledgeable adult, instructional-level text is appropriate. Effective fluency-building activities include model reading and rereading or choral reading, paired reading with another adult or student, and reading with taperecorded selections.

Vocabulary. This element should be an ongoing part of the instructional day in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and taught in the context of reading activities. Text should be age-appropriate and expose students to new words. Activities can be explicit, where teachers describe or define key words, or implicit, where students engage in oral language activities, are read to, or read independently to learn new words. When teaching vocabulary explicitly, teachers should target words that are used frequently, will extend students' vocabulary, and will help students understand the text.

Association methods that teach students to make connections among words, and multimedia approaches that expose students to words across different media, can also be used to enhance vocabulary. It's best if teachers use a variety of methods in their instruction, and remember that students cannot learn all the words they need to know from explicit instruction; they need many opportunities to read a variety of texts to build their vocabulary. Reading good age-appropriate literature is the best vocabulary builder and a great source of engaging material for young students.

Comprehension. As with vocabulary, comprehension skills should be taught from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Kindergarten students start building these skills when teachers model strategies that develop comprehension before, during, and after reading a selection. Some students will be able to use these strategies as they begin to read text on their own, though others will need additional instruction. Effective reading comprehension instruction goes beyond asking students to answer questions about a text they have heard or read; it should also include teaching students how to use appropriate strategies and monitor their own progress.

Teachers should consider the following valuable practices, which are embedded into the instructional activities in this book, when teaching the above elements:

• Modeling.
• Being explicit about what students should do.
• Sequencing activities so that students learn and develop skills systematically.
• Providing multiple opportunities for students to practice, and
• Providing feedback so students practice new skills correctly.

Progress Monitoring to Inform Instruction

Progress monitoring is essential to reading instruction, enabling teachers to keep track of student learning and identify those who need additional help. Though teachers should monitor student progress in all aspects of reading, a few skills at each grade level serve as critical markers of development:

• In kindergarten, teachers should focus on letter recognition and phonemic awareness. By the end of kindergarten, students should know most of the letter names and sounds and be able to segment words at the phoneme level (Blevins, 1998). Both accuracy and automaticity of letter names and sounds and phoneme segmentation should be assessed at this stage.
• In 1st grade, the focus should be on the alphabetic principle, which can be assessed through nonsense-word reading activities; regular and irregular word reading, which can be assessed using word lists; and oral reading fluency, which should begin in the second half of 1st grade.
• In 2nd and 3rd grade, teachers should concentrate on reading fluency and reading comprehension. Learning appropriate oral reading rates can help teachers identify students who need additional help with fluency.

Teachers can assess these critical skills formally or informally at each grade level using the measures described in previous chapters, in addition to those provided by their schools or districts.

To monitor progress efficiently, teachers should assess all students at the beginning of the year in the critical areas for their grade level. Once they determine the students that will need additional instruction, they should develop a plan for teaching those students in small groups, then monitor them on a regular basis, perhaps every six to eight weeks, to assess their progress. Students who are reading at grade level should be assessed approximately three times a year: at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year. Assessment information can also be used to regroup students and to alter instruction as needed. Though monitoring progress is very important, the focus should be on providing students with solid instruction and enjoyable literacy experiences.

Supplemental Reading Instruction from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade

Students who do not make progress learning to read will need supplemental instruction that allows them to practice and master foundational skills and concepts before they get too far behind their peers. Two ways to intensify instruction are by increasing instructional time and reducing group sizes (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001); students who are behind should be taught in small homogeneous groups of three to five. The teacher, an instructional assistant, or a trained tutor can provide the supplemental instruction.

As with core instruction, supplemental instruction is most effective if it is systematic and explicit. Small homogeneous groups help teachers focus on one or two essential components, let students participate actively more often, and allow for more individualized scaffolding and corrective feedback. The instructional activities described in this book, along with the features of effective instruction noted at the beginning of this chapter, can all be used for supplemental as well as core instruction, and can be used individually or in combination depending on student need.

Kindergarten

In kindergarten, students develop the foundational skills of literacy. Because students enter school at different levels of literacy, it is important that they all have opportunities to acquire such skills as letter naming and phonological awareness. Students with limited reading experience and those who just need additional practice will benefit from 15–20 minutes of additional instruction.

Figure 7.2 identifies different types of activities suitable for kindergarten, along with their objectives and critical components. The activities provide students with additional practice following whole-group instruction, and can serve as a review of previously taught letters and lessons. Teachers should keep in mind that supplemental activities are for students who need more practice than their peers, and should not take the place of core instruction.

Figure 7.2. Supplemental Reading Instruction for Kindergarten

Instructional Component	Objectives	Activities	Lesson Components
Phonological Awareness	To accurately and automatically manipulate onset and rimes (first semester) and phonemes (second semester)	Identifying, blending, segmenting, and substituting words in sentences, and syllables in words, onset/rime, and phonemes with or without support	Focus on one or two types of manipulation (e.g., blending and segmenting) Conduct all activities orally initially, and then link to print Allow students to respond individually and as a group Use manipulatives if desired
Phonics and Word Study	To understand that sounds are represented by letters To apply sound-letter correspondences to reading words accurately and fluently	Identifying letter names and sounds, consonants in initial and final positions, and short vowels Blending sounds to read words Dictating letters and words	Introduce letters and sounds systematically Have students combine sounds to form words Allow students to practice writing the letters and words they are learning
Listening Comprehension	To construct meaning from stories using comprehension strategies	Reading narrative and expository text out loud Predicting and activating background knowledge before reading Summarizing periodically during reading Questioning and retelling activities after reading	Introduce strategies systematically Model strategies Focus on the most important idea Use different types of questions

1st Grade

Progress monitoring will help you identify 1st grade students who are struggling with reading acquisition. Students who only know a few letters and sounds at the beginning of the year will benefit from intensive instruction in phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, blending, and word building. They will also need additional practice applying their decoding skills to connected text (see Figure 7.3), which can help them build the skills to become independent readers. Other students will have adequate decoding skills but trouble with fluency, and still others may need additional help with comprehension strategies.

Figure 7.3. Supplemental Reading Instruction for 1st Grade

Instructional Component	Objectives	Activities	Lesson Components
Fluency	To automatically recognize words, both in isolation and in connected text	Partner reading (student-adult or student-student) Choral reading Tape-assisted reading	Provide a good and explicit model Provide opportunities to reread text Have students reread text at least three times Establish performance criteria
Phonological Awareness	To be able to manipulate phonemes	Blending and segmenting words at the phoneme level with or without support	Focus on one or two types of manipulation (e.g., blending and segmenting) Use print Provide opportunities for students to respond individually and as a group Use manipulatives if desired
Phonics and Word Study	To apply sound-letter correspondences to read words accurately and fluently To use decoding strategies to read unknown words	Blending sounds to read words Reading decodable text Dictating words and sentences	Read books that contain words students have learned Let students use decoding strategies Introduce patterns and rules systematically Combine sounds to form words
Comprehension	To use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading text to construct meaning	Engaging in comprehension strategies before, during, and after listening to or reading a text Predicting and activating background knowledge Self-questioning, self-monitoring, and generating and answering questions	Model use of self-monitoring and comprehension strategies Provide opportunities for students to use self-monitoring and comprehension strategies

2nd and 3rd Grade

Students in 2nd and 3rd grade who are still struggling with reading acquisition may need additional practice with fluency-building activities, vocabulary instruction that emphasizes structural analysis and decoding multisyllabic words, and additional practice with comprehension skills (see Figure 7.4). Progress monitoring tools can help teachers identify students' areas of need. Students who are having difficulties in all areas will benefit from an additional 30–40 minutes of small-group supplemental instruction; those who are especially behind may need to receive phonics and word study instruction to solidify word recognition skills, which are essential for fluent reading and comprehension.

Figure 7.4. Supplemental Reading Instruction for 2nd and 3rd Grade

Instructional Component	Objectives	Activities	Lesson Components
Fluency	To automatically recognize words in connected text	Partner reading (student-adult or student-student) Choral reading Tape-assisted reading Fluency building at the word and phrase level	Provide a good and explicit model Provide opportunities for student to reread text at least 3 times Establish performance criteria
Vocabulary	To use advanced word recognition strategies with unknown words	Teaching words and their extended meanings systematically	Model and teach the use of both explicit and implicit vocabulary instruction activities Provide multiple opportunities to practice and use key vocabulary
Comprehension	To use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading text to construct meaning To use self-monitoring strategies	Predicting and activating background knowledge before reading Providing decoding support and monitoring comprehension during reading Answering and generating questions and summarizing after reading	Make sure books are at instructional level Preview vocabulary when introducing books Model the use of self-monitoring and comprehension strategies Provide opportunities for students to use self-monitoring and comprehension strategies

Conclusion

Over the years, approaches to reading instruction have come and gone. Recently, however, several syntheses (National Reading Panel, 2000; Swanson, 1999; Vaughn, Gersten, & Chard, 2000) have examined reading strategies, leading the identification of effective, science-based practices. Though some of the phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary activities in this book have been around many years, some of the practices, such as fluency building and progress monitoring, are new or have been given new emphasis as a result of scientific research.

Whether you are a new teacher or a veteran, these are exciting times in reading education. We know more about teaching reading effectively now than ever before, so even the most experienced teachers can enhance their teaching. The changes to instruction may be minor or major, but the goal is for teachers to continue to integrate their knowledge and craft with science-based research to improve their effectiveness.

Now more than ever, the ability to read well is essential for academic and economic success (Juel, 1988). The primary grades are crucial in a child's education, and teachers are in a position to ensure that their students become proficient lifelong readers.