Reading Sage

"The Dyslexic Reading Teacher Sean Taylor" Literacy for me was almost an unrealized unattainable dream! As a dyslexic learner I was unable to read, write, or decode words as a child, p,d,b and q were all the same letter. Many classroom teachers assumed I would never read or write due to the severity of my dyslexia and this made me feel worthless. I am a dyslexic reading teacher that has built a reputation for finding innovative ways "FREE" to teach reading to all students!

Sunday, December 17, 2017

MCAS Math Test grade 3-8

Saturday, December 2, 2017

FSA Writing Test GRADE 4, 5, 6 [PDF]

Grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 PDF Pre-Test FSA Writing Assessment

Florida Standards Assessments English Writing

Pre-Test grade 3, 4, and 5 FSA Writing Assessment Packet

Paper-based Practice Writing Tests
Grade 4 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 5 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 6 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 7 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 8 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 9 FSA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]
Grade 10/Retake FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test[PDF]

Practice Test Answer Keys
Grade 4 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 5 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 6 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 7 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 8 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 9 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]
Grade 10 FSA ELA Writing Paper-Based Practice Test Rubric[PDF]

Five-Paragraph Essay Outline

I. Introduction (5-7 Sentences)

Attention getter: State Main Ideas or Opinions
Must State Main Idea or Opinion: Evidence and Information:
Thesis statement: State ideas on the three topics you will discuss in your essay

II. 1^st Body Paragraph (Summary of Source 1 Article) (7-14 Sentences)

Topic sentence: (state the main ideas or opinions you will discuss)
Introduce a quote from the text (relates to topic sentence; an example that will help prove thesis)
MUST USE Text Based Evidence, and Opinions, Analysis of Article (1-3 Sentences)
Must Use Elaboration, thoughts, and or feelings (1-3 Sentences)
Clincher and or Transition Sentence

III. 2^nd Body Paragraph (Summary of Source 2 Article) (7-14 Sentences)

Topic sentence (state the main ideas or opinions you will discuss)
Introduce a quote from the text (relates to topic sentence; an example that will help prove thesis)
MUST USE Text Based Evidence, and Opinions, Analysis of Article (1-3 Sentences)
Must Use Elaboration, thoughts, and or feelings (1-3 Sentences)
Clincher and or Transition Sentence (Ask a Question, Thoughtful remark, or…)

IV. 3^rd Body Paragraph (Summary of Source 3 Article) (7-14 Sentences)

Topic sentence (state the main ideas or opinions you will discuss)
Introduce a quote from the text (relates to topic sentence; an example that will help prove thesis)
MUST USE Text Based Evidence, and Opinions, Analysis of Article (1-3 Sentences)
Must Use Elaboration, thoughts, and or feelings (1-3 Sentences)
Clincher and or Transition Sentence

V. Conclusion (5-7 Sentences)

A. Restate your important ideas or opinions in a new or interesting way

B. Summarize your main points or opinions in detail

C. Close with a thoughtful remark or question

Use Topic Sentence Openers to grab the r
eader’s attention
USE TRANSITION WORDS to help ideas flow!
Clinchers, Hooks, and Attention Getters: Ask a question, Tell a story, Compare or contrast ideas, Use Quotes!

Grades 3-5 Text-based Writing Rubrics: Opinion/Persuasion

Purpose Focus and Organization Scoring Rubric (Grades 3-5)

The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clearly stated opinion and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Strongly maintained opinion with little or no loosely related material
Skillful use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas
Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end with a satisfying introduction and conclusion

Evidence and Elaboration (Grades 3-5)

The response provides thorough and convincing support/evidence for the writer’s opinion that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Relevant evidence integrated smoothly and thoroughly with references to sources
Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques, demonstrating understanding of the topic and text
Clear and effective expression of ideas, using precise language
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose
Varied sentence structure, demonstrating language facility

Grades 3-5 Text-based Writing Rubrics: Informative/Explanatory

Purpose, Focus, and Organization

The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clearly stated controlling idea and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Strongly maintained controlling idea with little or no loosely related material
Skillful use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas
Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end, including a satisfying introduction and conclusion

Evidence and Elaboration

The response provides thorough and convincing support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Relevant evidence integrated smoothly and thoroughly with references to sources
Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques (including but not limited to definitions, quotations, and examples), demonstrating an understanding of the topic and text
Clear and effective expression of ideas, using precise language
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose
Varied sentence structure, demonstrating language facility

Grades 3-5 Text-based Writing Rubrics: Conventions

Conventions Scoring Rubric (Grades 3-5)

The response demonstrates an adequate command of basic conventions. The response may include the following:

Some minor errors in usage but no patterns of errors
Adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Close Reading Strategies | Close Reading Strategies on Test

Close reading is a rigorous literary investigation, text interrogation, and or a critical analysis of a complex passage or demanding literary work, with the stated goal of gleaning the true meaning of an authors words. Students need repeated concrete practice in the art of owning a text, they must filter and rank text, hunting for salient points, obscure points, and hidden ideas. Students need to be trained to see the patterns (structure, style, conventions) used by writers, the clues they leave behind that are common to the writer's craft. Close reading strategies must be practiced and honed in order for students to develop better critical and analytical thinking. Close reading is not an innate skill, it must be rehearsed, practiced, and mastered. The goal of close reading is a cogent comprehension, a clear understanding of the author's explicit and implicit meanings.

Common Core State Standards require close reading activities and lessons.

Close reading anticipatory set: Systematic Skimming or Pre-reading is an analytical "investigational reading strategy" reading activity that should be used at the beginning of a close reading lesson. The strategy effectively engages students' attention, builds background knowledge, and helps students develop essential questions that will deepen their understanding and comprehension. When students learn, use, and develop concrete reading strategies that help them fin the pertinent information "main idea" and not on extraneous detail (intentional distractors are used in many reading assessments) they start comprehending what the author truly intended.

Essential Question: How do we help students develop close reading strategies that give them the tools to understand an author's message and ideas at the deepest levels?

Close Reading should always start with questions in mind.

My Favorite Close Reading Strategies: I Teach my Students to use these Strategies for End of Year Reading Assessments.

1) Skim the article or articles to get a quick gist of the essential ideas. What is the main idea and or topics? Read the directions, read the title or titles of each passage, read the first and last sentence of each passage, read any prompts and or all questions

2) Read the introductory paragraph and the last paragraph in each passage “the conclusion” What is the author's purpose?

3) Systematic analysis: Look for similar ideas or themes in the first and last paragraphs (authors usually introduce the main idea in the introductory paragraphs or they will summarize the main idea in the conclusion) – look for important terms, key ideas, read a few interior passages if you are not seeing the big ideas introduces in the first or last paragraph

4) Generate an essential question! Create a hypothesis, theses, or a set of essential questions based on your pre-reading and skimming: What is the main idea, theme or message the authors are writing about, deliberately looking for signs of the main ideas or arguments! Inspectional reading, looking especially for a summary sentences or conclusions at the begging and end of the passages.

5) Read the entire text top to bottom reevaluate your hypothesis, theses, and or you essential question

6) Read the text again with your questions in mind: Annotate the text that supports you theses, take notes in the margins, highlight keywords, and ask questions that you would ask the author, summarize ideas, and or classify what type of writing you are analyzing

7) Create a dialectic argument “summarize” using text evidence that supports your original hypothesis, theses, or essential questions

Extensions:

8) Socratic Ranking Survey: Rank the paragraphs or sentences based importance "rank" using an analysis of “Philosophical. Historical, Scientific, or Academic Ideas”. Look for important philosophical topics in preparation for a Socratic seminar

[PDF]A Close Look at Close Reading (PDF)
Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text's form, craft, meanings, etc. It is a key requirement of the Common Core State Standards and directs the reader's attention to the text itself.

[PDF]Close Reading, Vocabulary, and Text Dependent Questions
Strategies for Close Reading. • Story Mapping. • SOAPS. • Text Connections. • Three Levels of Questions. • Arguments & Evidence. • Appeals-Logical, Ethical, Emotional. • Assumptions ...

[PDF]CLOSE AND CRITICAL READING
Students will quickly discover that the author makes multiple claims throughout the argument. When studying poetry, students could underline the imagery they find throughout the poem. Circling specific items is also an effective close reading strategy. Have students circle “Key terms” in the text. Key terms: 1. Are defined. 2.

[PDF]Steps for Close Reading
1. Number the paragraphs. 2. Chunk the text. 3. Read with a pencil. 4. Summarize in the left margin. 5. Dig deeper, draw pictures, and ask questions in the right margin. Steps for Close Reading. 1, 2, 3…

[PDF]Five close reading strategies
Five close reading strategies. (Adapted from an original blog post by Court Allam). I walked in to my first college class, Political Science 101, eager to learn. For my inaugural college assignment, my professor asked the class to read the first three chapters of the textbook for the next class period. That night, I returned to my ...

[PDF]SUppORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING - Center on ...
plan lessons that include increased instructional time working with text and engaging students in close reading of content-area texts. ..... key words, types of sentence structures, visual components, and text cohesion strategies.7. Note the reasons ...... http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/ela_pdf/ELA%20Lesson%202.pdf.

[PDF]A Close Reading Strategy
A Close Reading Strategy. 1 . Introduction. Provide some context (background) for the text. The instructor reads the text aloud. The students read the text independently. 2. Number the paragraphs. Number each paragraph in the left hand margin. This will help locate information. 3. Chunk: 1—31415-617-8. Chunking breaks ...

[PDF]Close Reading.pdf
Close reading is a writing strategy meant to help you gain a better understanding of your reading of a text and to provide you will the necessary textual evidence to support that reading.

[PDF]Close Reading versus Reading Comprehension Strategies
CLOSE READING. READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES. WHAT IS IT? An outcome; “what the kids do.” Results in deeper analysis and interpretation. A set of techniques for figuring out text.

[PDF]Close Reading Strategy - The Syracuse City School District
Close Reading Strategy Tool Kit. Basic statements or questions of a close read includes: ∙ Let's look closer at this section of the text. / Let's investigate this part further. /. ∙ According to the text, ___/ Let's use evidence from the text to .. /. ∙ Let's see how the author… / Because we want learn how to write like the author __.About 7,250,000 results (0.47 seconds)

[PDF]A Close Look at Close Reading (PDF)
What Is Close Reading? Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise ...

[PDF]Teaching Through Close Reading: Historical and ... - America in Class
meet state testing issues? ➢ I would like to learn more about techniques for active reading. ➢ What are strategies to effectively break up long readings to ...

[PDF]SUppORTING STUDENTS IN CLOSE READING - Center on ...
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing ... The emphasis on close reading in the ELA & Literacy CCSS means that ..... words, types of sentence structures, visual components, and text cohesion strategies.7.

[PDF]The Effects of Comprehension Through Close Reading - Fisher Digital ...
comprehension of a text through a close read and a general reading strategy. The findings showed ..... of reading strategies to increase comprehension. I will be ...

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Smarter Balanced Practice Test Questions

Smarter Balanced (SBAC) Practice Reading and Math Sample Test Questions with Answers Key 2017-2018 | Grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 printable test

Smarter Balanced Practice Math Tests & Sample Questions for Grades 3-11

Mathematics sample questions
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9-11
Smarter Balanced Practice Reading Tests & Sample Questions for Grades 3-11

English Language Arts sample questions
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grade 9-11

More testing resources

Smarter Balanced practice test

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Characterization in literature: Lessons

Understanding characterization is an important element of literary analysis. Students need to develop different types of characters and use characterization concepts in their own writing before they will truly understand characterization. Examining the themes and points of view in others writing usually starts with characterization. Teaching the types and uses of characterization and analysis of literature are critical for reading comprehension.

Characterization in literature: Characterization is anything the author uses to develop and shape a character's personality i.e thoughts, actions, reactions, dialogue and their physical appearance. The author usually starts by creating a detailed image of the characters for the audience. There are two main types of literary characterization, direct characterization, and indirect characterization.

Direct or explicit characterization: The author literally tells the audience what a character is like. This may be done via the narrator, another character or by the character themselves. Indirect or implicit characterization audience must infer for themselves what the character is like through the character's thoughts, actions, speech (choice of words, way of talking), physical appearance, mannerisms and interaction with other characters, including other characters' reactions to that particular person.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

[PDF]Developing Character through Literature: A Teacher's Resource Book
Character. Through Literature. A 'Teacher's Resource Book. ERIC and the Family ... Vera Frye found and wrote copy for the sections on heroes and lesson ideas.

[PDF]Defining Characterization - ReadWriteThink
Characterization is the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a ... Characterization is revealed through direct characterization and indirect ...

[PDF]Character Analysis
literary work more realistic by helping the reader connect to the characters ... potentially effective approach suggested by educator Matt Amaral in his article “Lesson Plan: ... /writcent/documents/essay_kinds_docs/character_analysis_essay.pdf.

[PDF]Literature Lesson/Learning Plan: Character Development
EXAMPLE OF A LITERATURE LESSON PLAN: Character Development. FOCUS Question: How does the writer help you understand a character? Reading ...

[PDF]Lesson Plan Literature Interpretation.pages - CoSpaces
Literature classes tend to be less visually engaging, but with CoSpaces, students can ... portray the relations between the characters and create their own figure ...

[PDF]Lessons From Literature Classroom Manual
Lessons from Literature lesson plans using other literature texts you are already teaching. Lessons .... the choices made by characters in literature, it's important ...

[PDF]Picture Books in the Classroom - Penguin Books
COMMON CORE–BASED LESSON IDEAS FOR GRADES K–3. INSPIRE · ENGAGE ... attention to words and illustrations and to learn to identify characters, setting, and plot. The books in ..... responding-literature-30.html. A jaunty ..... www.us.penguingroup.com/static/images/yr/pdf/tl-guide-soyouwanttobepres.pdf. AUTHOR ...

[PDF]The Post-Mortem of a Protagonist - Grant County Schools
www.grant.kyschools.us/Downloads/Characterization.pdfIn this lesson, students will create a visual representation of a character in a ... and/or intellect and link textual evidence of those ideas to the character's head; ... be adapted to several different grade levels with any major literary character or.

[PDF]Character Analysis (PDF)
Character Consideration C.00 -SS3.

[PDF]Character Analysis
To analyze a character, you must find out what makes the character “tick. ... potentially effective approach suggested by educator Matt Amaral in his article “Lesson Plan: ... /writcent/documents/essay_kinds_docs/character_analysis_essay.pdf.

[PDF]Character Traits Mini Lesson Lesson plan - Deyo Group
Character Traits Mini-Lesson #1. WHOLE GROUP. Materials: Character Traits/Emotions/Motives Reproducible. Characters are the people or animals in a story

[PDF]Lesson 1: Values, Beliefs and Character
Estimated Lesson Length: Approximately 1, 50 minute class periods ... Related LifeKnowledge HS 9: Understanding Values, Beliefs, Character and Integrity.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Cultivate Empathy In Kids

Empathy is a critical soft skill (executive function), it is the ability to understand or feel

what another person is feeling. Experiencing emotional empathy is the skill of seeing and feeling another person's emotional states or perspectives.

Children’s service projects and volunteering benefit children's social-emotional intelligence! Through volunteering youth learn to

cultivate empathy
respect others
be helpful and kind
understand people who are different from themselves
develop leadership skills
become more patient
gain a better understanding of good citizenship

Cultivating Empathy In Kids Articles & Resources

[PDF]How Parents Can Cultivate Empathy in Children - Making Caring ...
How can parents' ? The following are five ... empathize with our children they develop trusting, secure attachments with us. Those attachments.

[PDF]an empathy toolkit - Be Fearless Be Kind - Hasbro
educators, parents and students working to make empathy as essential as reading ... in their curricula and culture by distinctively cultivating empathy, leadership, ...

[PDF]Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen (PDF)
As parents, we all want our children to grow up to be responsible citizens and ...... others, and it allows us to empathize with them or to feel their suffering.

[PDF]A Discussion Guide for Raising Empathetic Kids and Building Caring ...
And once students grow up, a lack of empathy hampers their ability to collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve—all must-have skills for the global economy.

[PDF]Empathy - KidsHealth in the Classroom
To develop empathy, students can be encouraged to become aware of others' .... KidsHealth.org/classroom/3to5/personal/growing/empathy_handout1.pdf.

[PDF]Raising Caring, Respectful, Ethical Children - Greater Good Science ...
Research in human development clearly shows that the seeds of empathy, caring, and ... We should work to cultivate children's concern for others because it's ...

[PDF]Developing Empathy in Children and Youth - Education Northwest
This is something that education ought to cultivate and that citizens ..... students, the tutors must develop an empathic understanding of the tutees, show a certain ...

[PDF]A Toolkit for Promoting Empathy in Schools - Start Empathy
take to create a classroom where kids' social and emotional needs are met and how to cultivate the kinds of skills that are critical for success in today's (and.

Community Service Resources for Kids

https://www.nationalservice.gov

Volunteering at an early age can create positive life behaviors. Children who volunteer are three times more likely to volunteer as adults. Steady volunteering, even at a minimum of one hour a week, reduces negative behaviors. For example, youth who volunteer are 50% less like likely to abuse drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or engage in destructive behavior. It’s never too early to start to volunteer! Children have many opportunities to help their communities.

The projects below are all age appropriate under the supervision of an adult.

Pre-K to Second Grades

Make cards for nursing home residents

Contact a local hospital or nursing home to see if they would welcome having children make cards for residents. These cards can be holiday specific or just a lovely way to say hello and let that person know that s/he is being thought of.

Adopt an elderly neighbor or nursing home

They can bring cards, or small treats like handmade ornaments or cookies. It would also be a treat to have the children visit and sing or do other performances for nursing home residents.

Have a book drive

Ask children to bring books from home that they are no longer reading, or would like to give to a child in need. These books can be brought to local hospitals or shelters.

Help bake and decorate cookies

Cookies can be sold as a fundraiser or donated to an organization of the children’s choosing. This is a great opportunity to teach children about those in need in their community.

Color lunch bags

Bags can be used to package snacks, treats, or lunches that can be collected for needy children. Inquire at high schools or community service centers to see if they have a program in place that would be able to benefit from the donated bags.

Third – Fifth Grades

Make fleece blankets for children in the hospital

Blankets are easy to make and involve no sewing. The blankets can be donated to a children’s wing of a hospital or a daycare center. (http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-a-Blanket)

Collect and sort school supplies to benefit a local shelter or library

Keep a box in your classroom for the designated items; then create school kits that can be donated to needy students. Get the word out to parents, faculty, administrators and the community at large about the collection.

Rake leaves or shovel snow for elderly or disabled neighbors

Removing leaves or snow can be done as an after school program or weekend event. In warmer climates, students could plant flowers to beautify neighbors’ yards and the community. See if a local home store or nursery will donate the plants.

Create a game day at a local home for adults with disabilities

Call local group homes to see if they would appreciate a day of games and snacks for their residents. Have children bring in their favorite games to share.

Sixth to Eighth Grades

Walk or Groom animals at a local shelter

Contact your local animal shelter and ask them if they have volunteer opportunities. If they don’t have room for volunteers, children can collect food for the animals or raise money for the shelter.

Volunteer at a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter

Most soup kitchens are adept at having roles for all ages of volunteers. Volunteers can be used to serve food, make placemats for the tables, and read stories to younger children.

Participate in charity walks or runs

Involve your class in participating in a previously scheduled run or walk or create an event in which the school can participate.

Create a community health fair

Help students learn more about healthy eating, exercise and other factors that contribute to good health. Have students serve as teachers and facilitators of community discussions of health living practices.

Sponsor an Art Show

Have students create art projects with Dr. Martin Luther King’s teachings as a theme. Have a student panel to award prizes for various age groups or project types. A bake sale could also be included in this project to benefit a local charity. Close the event with students reading one of Dr. King’s speeches.

Additional Resources:

Do Something (www.dosomething.org) Provides the tools and resources for you to convert your ideas and energy into positive action.

Generation On (www.generationon.org) Inspires, equips, and mobilizes youth to take action that changes the world and themselves through service. Learn more about their programs and resources!

Youth Service America (www.ysa.org) Manages, among other programs, Global Youth Service Day and the Semester of Service. Click the links below to view the toolkit and guide respectively for these initiatives.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

STUDENT REVIEW of READING BOOT CAMP

Dear Teachers,

I think the whole school should do READING BOOT CAMP;

Mexican pizza

because I went from a 210 to a 234 (NWEA MAP) and my reading Lexile went from a 685 to a 1110 in 20 days! In the morning we get out what we call a speller. A speller is a book filled with words, fluency drills, poems, national reading vocabulary and kung fu words (Tier 2 & Tier 3 academic vocabulary), kung fu words are academic words by grade level we need to MASTER that are really hard. Another thing we do is we sit in cop cars cop cars are when one chair is facing one way and the other chair the other way. We do cop cars so both partners could see the text. When we have time we go to 2nd-grade classes like Mrs. Kirkendall's class.We also go to Mrs. Benoit's class we even sung a song with them and put it on youtube. We sing songs with them to help them read more fluently, to help them read with expression and to help them learn English. Mr.Taylor on the first weeks of school for homework gave us a book with really hard fairy tailes. That is called the blue fairy book.after READING BOOTCAMP it made reading a book more easy. Another book we read is Because Of Winn Dixie. It's about a girl that just moved to a new place, doesn't have any friends, that ends up meeting a dog that helps her meet friends. Mr. Taylor gives us all the same book to make sure kids are reading and so our partner can ask us questions and we can understand the question is about (essential questions). Are you wondering how we do our fluency test? What we do is we sit in cop cars (Kagan cooperative learning). Mr.Taylor gives us one minute on the board. And we read the passage. At the end, our partner tells us how we did on our words. Mr.Taylor gave us American juku to help us with our reading comprehension (Socratic seminars using released EOG test questions ). Juku in Japan is like additional school to them. Vocabulary sparkle is another one of the fun things we did. Vocabulary sparkle is when Mr. Taylor gives us a word and we have to define so we know if we studied the word and we really studied.We get it right we get a spice drop and if we don't we have to sit down. My favorite reward is Mexican pizza. Mexican pizza is a flour tortilla with cheese pepperoni and jalapenos, the only way you get some is if you work hard. Some songs we have learned are What the World Needs now and Across the universe. We put what the world needs now on youtube and sing along. If you think all of that was fun give reading boot camp a chance and tell everyone to do reading boot camp. 9/22/2010

Dyslexia, Phonics & Whole Language

A Cautionary Tale: My Story

Phonics/Alphabetics vs. Whole Language: I will not presume to give advice on this subject or try to argue a point as this is such a hot topic these days.

I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia in elementary school, I was told I would never learn to read or write. Please email me if you have any questions at seansart@hotmail.com

Phonics was a dead end for me after 6 months and just made me

more confused as it was taught. I was absolutely disgusted with controlled vocabulary books by age eight, with cats, mats, bats, and rats by the end of second grade. Four years of reading that rubbish with no real progress in reading. My first memories of school are feelings of inadequacy and shame. The earliest memory is trying and trying to learn how to write my name legibly. I was lost from the start learning letters and even worse trying to print letters that were dancing all over the page. It was almost impossible for me to write or copy letters because they were reversed, upside down and illegible by the time my mind tried to decipher them. Most students learned to write their names in kindergarten. In first grade and beyond, I was not able to write my name unless I had an example to copy from, even in second grade, and beyond. Worse than learning to write words was the entire reading process. Letter recognition and phonemic awareness seemed alien and incomprehensible. To me 'p,' 'b,' 'q,' and 'd' were all the same letter. How do you learn to read using phonics-based reading or letter sound discrimination if the letters are always changing? I just resorted to guessing or pretending to sound things out to make my teachers happy. I did learn to listen very carefully so I could memorize some books to pass as if I could actually read, but that only works so long. My writing never advanced passed perfunctory imitation. Even with the examples in front of me, my version was a mess. When placed into reading groups, I was always in the lowest quartile group, or as I joke, the "milkweed group," or the "crows" -- never the "roses,” or the "eagles." Inevitably, I was stuck reading with the boy who never bathed and acted like he was operating on two pots of coffee (ADHD poster child). I would select a chapter book that looked interesting and the teacher would say “That is too difficult for
you Sean”. What I heard was, “You’re too stupid to read it Sean”. I spent most of my reading time looking at picture books or daydreaming-- never reading. By second grade I was feeling even more depressed and worthless. I was eventually diagnosed with a learning disability when I failed to learn to read by the end of third grade. The term dyslexia was used for the acrobatics that the letters were doing on the page that I was instructed to decipher.

Teaching me phonemic awareness and letter recognition was like trying to drive a car from the trunk. Three years of special education phonics and even more phonics-based books didn't get me very far. Trepidation wasn’t the word I was feeling when initially evaluated for a learning disability but more a sense of relief that my charade was over. Finally, I was going to learn how to read. My happiness died quickly when the reality of more phonics was the prescription. I realized very quickly I was alone in my journey to learn how to read. I just could not make the connections between the sounds and the letters. None of the experts had a clue what to do except more of the same. no measurable progress in my
reading made me hate books and reading. The five finger rule is great for students at grade level or above, but it keeps students like me who struggle with reading in the remedial literary doldrums. After ten years of teaching all aspects of reading and my own experience, I have observed that students top out after six months in phonics and need to transition to becoming sight readers.

Phonics in the context of great poetry and literature is a powerful teaching tool.Yet, I know there is a point of reciprocity or diminishing returns that has to be respected and looked for. Eventually, I learned to read with the help and advice of a very wise librarian. Read what you have a passion for, and forget the five finger rule.

Phonics Vs. Whole Language

A thought on Phonics vs. Whole Language: A billion people in China, Japan, and other countries that use logographic character-based language have no phonics. How do they learn to read? They learn the character by sight.

Whole Language "The biggest arguments tend to be focused on student interest. Whole Language proponents claim that we may be doing more harm than good when we force our children to learn systematically and intensively with workbooks and basal readers. BORING!!! "

Whole Language as I was taught has at its core, the five component of all best practice reading philosophies. The focus is to use real literature to get to your goal of Literacy. Start with Dr. Seuss and teach phonemic awareness in the context of the literature and move forward, but this may have a point of reciprocity. If 70% of your 4th-5th-6th-grade class is not reading at grade level you may kill the desire to read by using primary literature and beginning reading methods. You must introduce literature that motivates the reader and again teach phonemic awareness in the context of the adolescent literature.

Is Phonics really always the best method for teaching a crude-phonemic based language?

"METHODZ ov teeching reeding hav graevly impruuvd sins Max Müller roet dhe wurdz kwoeted abuv. Neverdheles, eeven nou lurning to spel iz a far longger proeses for dhe Inglish chield dhan for children in meny udher kuntriz, such az Jurmany, Italy and Finland, and eeven dhe naetiv children ov dhe Goeld Koest and vaeryus udher parts ov Afrika."http://www.spellingsociety.org

"Dhe diferens iz not to be eksplaend bie asueming infeeryorrity on dhe part ov Inglish teecherz. It iz due to dhe unfonetik karrakter ov Inglish speling. Dhe speling ov Jurman, Italyan and Finish iz faerly fonetik, whiel dhe nue orthografiz ov Fante, Twi, Ewe and a number ov udher Afrikan langgwejez ar kompleetly soe." http://www.spellingsociety.org

Dyslexics have a real problem dealing with the 4000 phonemics exceptions in common English.

Alphabetics Phonemes and Phonics

PHONEMIC AWARENESS

The knowledge and manipulation of sounds in spoken words.

PHONICS The relationship between written and spoken letters and sounds.

READING FLUENCY, INCLUDING ORAL READING SKILLS

The ability to read with accuracy, and with appropriate rate, expression, and phrasing.

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

The knowledge of words, their definitions, and context.

READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES

The understanding of meaning in text.”

The foundations of learning English is the use of 44 Phonemes or sounds of the English Language
learning letter sounds (as distinct from the letter names);

For example, /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh. The letter names can be taught later but should not be taught in the early stages.
learning the 44 sounds and their corresponding letters/letter groups;

The English Alphabet Code 'Key' : 44 phonemes with their common 'sound pattern' representations:

Vowels (19):
|a| mat
|ae| ape, baby, rain, tray, they, eight
|air| square, bear
|ar| jar, fast
|e| peg, bread
|ee| sweet, me, beach, key, pony
|i| pig, wanted
|ie| kite, wild, light, fly
|o| log, orange
|oe| bone, boat, snow
|oi| coin, boy
|oo| book, would, put
|ow| down, house
|or| fork, ball, sauce, law,
|u| plug, glove
|ur| burn, teacher, work, first
|ue| blue, moon, screw, tune
|uh| (schwa) button, computer, hidden, doctor
|w| wet, wheel

Consonants (25):
|b| boy, rabbit
|ks|gz| box exist
|c|k| cat |key, duck, school
|ch| chip, watch
|d| dog, ladder
|f| fish, coffee, photo, tough
|g| gate, egg, ghost
|h| hat, whole
|j| jet, giant, cage, bridge
|l| lip, bell, sample
|m| man, hammer, comb
|n| nut, dinner, knee, gnat
|ng| ring, singer
|p| pan, happy
|kw| queen
|r| rat, cherry, write
|s| sun, dress, house, city, mice
|sh| ship, mission, station, chef
|t| tap, letter, debt
|th| thrush
|th| that
|v| vet, sleeve
|y| yes
|z| zip, fizz, sneeze, is, cheese
|zh| treasure
learning to read words using sound blending;
reading stories featuring the words the students have learned to sound out;
demonstration exercises to show they comprehend the stories
From Wiki

The Limits of Phonics and Phonemic Awareness

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