- http://www.expage.com/page/woodshop - Lisa's Literacy Connections
- http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/prog.html - Sources of Curriculum Materials to Stimulate Growth in Phonological Awareness
- http://www.teachers.net/archive/phonemic_awareness.html
- http://www.riggsinst.org/phoneme.htm - Helping Children Learn "Phonemic AND Graphemic" Awareness
- http://ericir.syr.edu/Virtual/InfoGuides/alpha_list/Phonemic12_97.html - Ask Eric InfoGuide Phonemic Awareness
- http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/library/literacy/glossary/cjj456/krz503.htm - What are phonemic awareness skills?
- http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed400530.html - Phonemic Awareness: An Important Early Step in Learning To Read
- http://www.ertp.santacruz.k12.ca.us/connect/2c.html - Phoneme Awareness Instruction
- http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/klarson/recife.html - The Structure of Phonemic Awareness
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Djinn - Hello - and welcome to our chat on Phonemic Awareness with Lisa/Ca - Lisa has been involved in the Phonemic Awareness assessment in her District
Lisa/CA/2nd - Phonemic Awareness really needs to be imbedded into your classroom -- and not something that you just use sometimes
Marcia/Ca - I think PA can be multilevel. Children can use it from where ever they are.
Linda/CA - I have began to use PA activities with my lowest group--2nd graders still reading at PP level or lower--the grade level kids want to do these things too
Djinn - Lisa- we are using the Observation Survey as our only PA assessment
Hope - Djinn, the observation survey, that can be used to assess PA in kindergarten? What can I use for Kindergarten?
Djinn - Hope our district uses it K-3
Hope - How's it going Djinn in Kindergarten?
Djinn - Hope - we have been using it for 5 years now. It really helps to focus your teaching.
Lisa/CA/2nd - Hope -- in my district (Oakland) -- we use Rigby's PA assessment with our K, 1, and 2
Lisa/CA/2nd - Marie Clay's Observation Survey is a wonderful tool for assessing PA -- I introduced it at my school -- all the 1st grade teachers use it now
Addie k/mo - i am planning to use the 3 pg phonemic awareness assessment in the book "phonemic awareness". i have never used it before, so i can not say whether or not it is a good assessment
Djinn - Lisa- I understand that your helped develop the program for your district. Can you tell us more about that?
Lisa/CA/2nd - In Oakland, we were looking for something that would be fairly easy to assess -- 40% of our district are intern teachers w/o credentials
Lisa/CA/2nd - In Oakland, we have developed a Literacy Assessment given 3x's a year. It contains PA assessment, writing samples, letter ID, Concepts About Print, High-Frequency Word Lists
Djinn - Lisa-is it like the Observation Survey- more detailed?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Yes, it is -- I wrote most of it for the district -- and drew heavily from Marie Clay's work
Linda/CA - My problem is to convince some of the K and 1st teachers why PA is valuable--I know that I learned a lot doing it with my 5 students, but need some good reasons to present to them--anyone have any?
Peachy - Linda, if you have a copy of m x m Reading and Writing in Kindergarten by Hall and Cunningham, the intro explains this real well.
Hope - Lisa, what's Rigby's, do you have a site for it?
Lisa/CA/2nd - I don't have Rigby's URL -- but you can see a similar assessment at http://www.chapman.edu/soe/faculty/piper/resource/informal.htm
Hope - Can anyone tell me some really helpful books for a first year kindergarten teacher?
Djinn - Hope - Joyful Learning- by Bobbi fisher - Month by Month Reading and Writing in Kindergarten- P. cunningham and D. Hall
Doug - Djinn- can you share with us some good PA activities
Linda/CA - ONe of Lisa's links--Patti's Activities--has some very good PA activities - http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/patti/k-1/activities/phonemic.html
Djinn - Many of the name activities we do are great for PA
Djinn - Many rhyning songs - name songs etc. are great PA tools
Lisa/CA/2nd - Let me give us a definition of Phonemic Awareness. PA is the understanding that spoken words are made up of a series of discrete sounds.
Doug - Lisa- isn't it also the manipulation of those sounds?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Doug -- yes it is
Djinn - Lisa- is your assessment on your website?
Lisa/CA/2nd - No, Dinn -- it's not at the present time -- after the school year starts, I will scan it onto a new site -- but add a link from my current one
Donna 3/tn - Are there any good, basic assessments for older kids? Most of the ones I'm familar with I used with 1st's, and seem too basic for my 3rd's, OTOH, I expect some are weak at it, based on writing samples.
Lisa/CA/2nd - In Kinder and 1st, it is so much easier to incorporate PA into your "rug" time -- singing, chanting, playing with words is expected in those 2 grades -- it's harder to do in the later grades
Donna 3/tn - I do a lot with rhyming-coming from music, I have a lot of resources on it, because most songs involve rhyming words, and it's pretty easy to focus on medial and final sounds especially. A little harder on initial, but most of my kids seem to get initial.
Hope - sorting words by length, by letters, singing alphabet songs and reading alphabet books,clap syllables, work with nursery rhymes, riddles, are good activities for PA
Donna 3/tn - I still do "Rug time", with singing, games, etc with my 3rds, and they love it. They especially like sponge-ball games, where they have to come up with words which fit the pattern as the ball comes to them, and keep it moving.
Djinn - Lisa- are Making Words activities a place to start with the Older grades?
Lisa/CA/2nd - definitely Djinn! You can start right away in first -- but with the older kids, you can tell you lacks PA skills
Donna 3/tn - I find the OS too basic for my kids-any other good assessments
Doug - Donna- try the retrospective miscue analysis by yetta Goodman.
cathy - I have a community circle in secong grade. Each day I conclude it with a different activity from Month to Month phonics for second grade. At this point the kids are no longer in a circle, but still sitting on the flor.
Donna 3/tn - I'm stuck with trying to incorporate PA skills into a reading program which assumes that kids don't need them past gr 1. It's very frustrating.
Georgeann - I have a LD class of 7 year olds reading on a first grade level. I have searched for a program to teach them reading. I have felt as successful as I could be with them. I am now taking a class on the 4 blocks program.
Lisa/CA/2nd - My literacy assessment and SAT9 bore it out -- my ELD kids outscored all of the other 1st and 2nd grades at my site
Djinn - Lisa- impressive results! Congratulations
Na - Cathie. does your school have a specific literacy program in place, eg "Sucess for All"?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Success for All is very sneaky -- looks great -- but in actuallity -- kids read for a total of 8 minutes a day!
Linda/CA - Donna--I teach 2nd and find that my kids still need this type of activity. They especially need the rhyming activities--most cannot tell if two words rhyme, much less give me a rhyming word
Georgeann - If my children are reading on a pre-first and first grade level, should I still start with PA?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Georgann -- yes! Start the year out doing PA activities as your reading program
Donna 3/tn - One of the best things I've found is to have kids find common sounds in their word lists. Since we're on SFA (Ugh), word lists are a big part of the program, and they're everywhere. Again, keep it fast, and they have fun.
Djinn - We have many eld students -PA activities in Kinder have helped so much in getting them ready for 1st grade
Djinn - Linda- so true - many students do not even have prior experience with nursery Rhymes
Georgeann - I want to start with nursery rhymns and poems.
cathy - Whether you prefer whole lang. or not, PA is a must!
Linda/CA - You are so right Djinn--my school is 80% LEP and this really helps them--regardless of grade level
Donna 3/tn - Lisa-I know. It's like you're pecked to death with all the little things. I've written 20 minutes of independent reading and reading/response journals into my schedule, as well as the group time where I do a lot of rhyming and poetry activities. I'm cutting time from other areas to do this, which I don't like much, but I think the reading is more important.
Georgeann - I mentioned the 4 Block Program to my principal. She was a reading specialist before administration. She didn't know of it, but is very interested.
Lisa/CA/2nd - Last year, when I taught 1st grade, I dd lots of PA types of activities unitl Thanksgiving -- did not start the reading book until Dec. 1 -- still my class exited my room in June reading at a 2nd grade level (average)
Djinn - Donna - in our district Literacy is so important that we are literally told to drop everything else!
Hope - Lisa, do you do jounal time with them? (K)
Lisa/CA/2nd - Yes I do journals every day -- when I taught Kinder I did from day 1
Linda/CA - I found Word Wall, Making Words, and PA activities so important--that somehow I managed to find 30-45 minutes/day to do these things
Donna 3/tn - Jack Pretlutsky Poems are great, especially for medial sounds and rhyming words-not only final. He also has some good alliterative stuff, and kids love them. There are also some really good musical settings of them, so if you're friends with the music teacher...
cathy - I do guilded reading, as discribed in Guilded Reading by Penall and Fountis. But, I have incorporated the phonics block of the 4 blocks program. This works well for me!
Djinn - I also do journals daily in Kinder
Georgeann - How do you do journal writing with the pre-reader?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Now, I do Dialogue journals with my 1st graders and will do with my 2nd graders -- they write a letter to me -- I tell them that it is just like talking to me
Hope - What do you do it on, do you give the topic for them to write about? Do you encourage inventive spelling and then write underneath what they said?
Lisa/CA/2nd - With Pre-readers -- they can draw or "drite" as it is called -- encourage them to write however they can
Donna 3/tn - How do you keep dialogue journals from becoming overbearing? So far, I've been able to keep up, but I only have 15 so far (out of 25 on my roll). I really would like to respond to every child, if not daily than very frequently.
Lisa/CA/2nd - I read and respond to 4 every day (20 kids) -- I don't write much back -- but I add a sticker to it and leave it on their desk so it is the first thing they see in the morning
Katharine/CA - re: journals with pre-writers. We did a lot of drawing - even me in my mini lesson.
Donna 3/tn - I got a deck of cards at the teacher's store called KidTalk-when I can't think of a good prompt, I just draw a card. It's also great for subs.
Katharine/CA - I started teaching them to 'drite' for writers workshop the first day
Lisa/CA/2nd - They write to me however they can -- after 12 years, I can read just about anything
Linda/CA - Kids love it when the teacher draws pictures!!
Katharine/CA - I started teaching them to 'drite' for writers workshop the first day
Djinn - This year I am going to start something that I began at the end of last year. The student will tell me what they want to write. i will repeat the sentence , we will count the words, then I will make the same number of lines on the page to match the words. The student will fill the lines - drite, scribble, first letter etc. This is much like 'seen dictation"
Georgeann - How do you do driting and work with children that can do a little writing. I didn't get to the writing chapter in my course?
Linda/CA - I had my 2nds write a letter to the prin telling her what they did over the summer
Hope - I was wondering about teaching the alphabet? You know how some teachers teach a letter a week, is this a good thing? Do I go in order, or will the basal help me out on what letter to teach first?
Djinn - Hope -= you may wnt to visit the archives - we just had a discussion about that. i don't teach letter a week, We do names activitites- and by jan. most know all caps. and lower case
Lisa/CA/2nd - Hope -- with letter of the week --it'll take you 26 weeks to get through it
Katharine/CA - Hope, the letter a week is tooo slow. Have you tried teaching them via chunks?
Georgeann - I am very nervous about doing this program as well as I can. My principal said she will be looking at my classes reading results. She was interested, because I was so enthusiastic about it. I hope I can do this whole program?
Djinn - Georgeann - try implementing one block at a time - not all at once
Djinn - I introduce sign along with letter ID and sounds
Peachy - I am always amazed at how quickly K's pick up the alphabet through the daily letter I write to them and the name activities.
Lisa/CA/2nd - Peachy -- Daily News is great -- you can teach so many skills that way
Djinn - Peachy - so right! I use daily news and interactive writing with my Kinders. very powerful stuff!
Donna 3/tn - Are any of the commercial computer reading programs any good at helping kids with PA relationships? I have a class computer, but I really don't have any good reading software. Also, has anyone used a word processor with a text-reader? Does this help or does the direct phonetic interpretation make it more confusing?
Jean Ann - We use a program called Doing Words...
Lisa/CA/2nd - what's that, Jean Ann? Like Making Words?
Hope - by whom Jean Ann
Jean Ann - we are a four block school...this program is used in k....
Jean Ann - It is Kindergarten's Making Words...we do this in place of Making Words
Djinn - Jean Ann - can you tell us more?
Jean Ann - It is a developmental program where children are given a word each day until they have 40...and share with friends....then later they do an activity with their word
Djinn - did your district develop this or is there a book we can look at?
Jean Ann - I don't know of any books...however...I presented this at a Four Block workshop this summer and someone knew of this program...I would like to know of it origin.
Hope - why 40?
Jean Ann - No real reason for 40...after they know their 40 words...they then get sentences that they generate to the teacher
Linda/CA - Lisa--I have a question for you. In doing PA, how many examples do you do when the child does not seem to understand the directions?
Lisa/CA/2nd - Linda -- after a few examples and even telling them how to answer -- if they still don't get it -- skip it -- then remember that is a concept that this child needs
Lisa/CA/2nd - There are a few books that deal with Phonemic Awareness Activities -- they are Phonemic Awareness Activities by Wiley Blevins -- good for K-1. A Sound Way by Elizabeth Love and Sue Reilly (in Wright Group's catalog) seems to be great for older kids
Djinn - Lisa - Where would you start if you wanted to develop PA in your classroom?
Lisa/CA/2nd - For PA -- O would make a conscious effort to incorporate songs, chants, poems, etc EVERY DAY -- have a rug time where kids feel comfortable to take risks -- should be a fun, comfortable environment
Djinn - Lisa - this has been so informative! Thanks for your great ideas. Congratulations on your first focused meeting! Great Job!
Djinn - Good night All - Special thanks to those wonderful Ca. girls in the cheering section!!!
Lisa/CA/2nd - Thanks Djinn -- you must be quite experienced by now!
Lisa/CA/2nd - I want to thank everyone for coming tonight!
