1. Created by: Amanda Matson
Walden University
Dr. (Dagel) Lepisto Brown
READ 6706: Literacy Development, PreK–3
“The silent motionless act of reading belies the activity
happening inside the readers head. The symbols on the page
being converted into a meaningful message that the reader
understands. In the readers head, the authors tale is unfolding
word-for-word exactly how the author wrote it.”
(Wren, S., Litke, B., Jinkins, D., Paynter, S., Watts, J. & Alanis,
I. 2013)
3. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
Effective literacy educators continuously
seek new ways of creating literacy
learning possible for all leaners
Having knowledge on our students helps
make their learning more relevant and
meaningful
Get to know your students. What do they
love? What do they bring to the
classroom? Know who they are and what
interests them.
Treating our students like they are smart
and important makes them want to do
better in school.
(Laureate Education, 2014b)
4. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
(part 2)
It is important to find out about students
literacy development
Many struggling readers do not like to
read because classroom material is too
difficult and not enjoyable.
The use of cognitive and non-cognitive
assessments will give teachers crucial
information about their students that will
assist them in differentiating instruction
Finding his/her independent,
instructional, and frustration reading
levels is the first step in motivating a
struggling reader.
“When we teach we change the way kids
think and learn.”
(Mariotti, A. P. n. d.)
(Laureate Education, 2014b)
5. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
(part 3)
Learn student interests through the use of non-
cognitive assessments
Student learning autobiographies:
-Write about themselves, how they view
themselves (Laureate Education, 2014a)
• Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
-Learn what topics and types of books each child
enjoys
-Students may take survey on their own, or
it can be read to them
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
6. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
(part 4)
Assessments should be used to identify
appropriate instructional practices to
support their literacy development
Assessment areas can include
Oral language
Phonemic awareness
Concepts of print
Listening/ Reading Comprehension
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
7. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
(Part 5)
Emergent Readers
Birth through kindergarten
Pretend reading and writing
(scribbling)
In the process of developing
phonemic awareness (letter names
and sounds)
Engages in reading through read
alouds with teacher
Conversations and read alouds help
build comprehension and vocabulary
skills
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
(Laureate Education, 2014b)
8. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Learners
(part 6)
Beginning Readers
Late kindergarten through second
grade
In the process of learning to read
Can recognize words by sight
Developing phonics awareness: able to
pull apart sounds, blend sounds, put
letter(s) to sound(s)
Learning vocabulary through texts and
conversations
Benefits from hearing people read and
talk fluently
Developing writing skills
Shows comprehension through
discussion, illustrating and writing
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
(Laureate Education, 2014b)
9. Selecting Text
Literacy Matrix:
Narrative or informational
Linguistic (word oriented) or semiotic
(picture oriented)
Mapping allows teachers to
see if there is a balance of texts
provided and if they fit with goals
(Laureate Education, 2014a)
10. Selecting Texts (part 2)
Consider the difficulty
Readability, sentence length, and
number of syllables
Concept density: decreases with
background knowledge
Singletons: unique new words, which
would make it harder for independent
reads
Text structure: informational,
cause/effect, compare/contrast,
descriptive, problem/solution, poetic
Choose a book students can relate to, and
creates excitement when reading
(Laureate Education, 2014a)
11. Selecting Text (part 3)
Size of print: smaller, bigger
Visual support: number of
illustrations
Consider difficulty in curriculum:
use books that students struggle
with as read alouds. Show them
strategies for comprehension
Easier books are perfect for
independent reads
(Laureate Education, 2014b)
12. Assessments
To learn my students interests, abilities, strengths, and areas
of growth I used the following assessments:
Emergent Reader:
Cognitive assessments included:
-Metalinguistic Interview (print knowledge)
-Literal Blooms Questions Stems
(listening comprehension)
Noncognitive assessment included:
-Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
(interests)
Beginning Reader:
Cognitive Assessments Included:
-Starpoint Phonics Assessment (phonics)
-Guided Reading Thinking Activity (comprehension)
• Non-cognitive Assessments included:
-Student Learning Biography (interests)
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
13. Texts for Emergent and Beginning Literacy
Learners Lesson’s
The Magic School Bus: On the
Ocean Floor, written by
Joanna Cole
(Cole, J., & Degen, B. 1992)
Commotion in the Ocean,
written by Giles Andrea
(eBook)
(Andreae, Giles. 2010)
I Am the Biggest Thing in the
Ocean, written by Kevin
Sherry
(Sherry, Kevin. 2010)
After assessing my students interests, I
selected these texts matched their
interests, and they met instructional
skills and goals
14. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson
My lesson focused on listening comprehension
Cognitive and non-cognitive assessment data showed students
struggling to retain information on characters and character
details. I selected goals, objectives and instructional strategies
that would meet their needs through the use of Close Reading
strategies
Learning Objectives:
1. Students will form and support opinions about main characters
using textual evidence
2. Infer the characters feelings using textual evidence
3. Demonstrate understanding of main characters and supporting
evidence through discussion, illustration, and writing tasks
15. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson
(part 2)
Through Close Reading and guided reads, we annotated
character details in the text using sticky notes
Close reading invites students to look at a text piece by
piece, and teachers them how to process the details in a
text
Students used these sticky notes to write simple
sentences and create illustrations that described their
favorite characters
Close Reading and discussion go hand in hand
Children need to learn how to make inferences using what they
already know, with the information in the text, to construct an
understanding
(Fisher, D., & Frey, N. 2012)
(Dalton, B. 2013)
16. Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson
My lesson focused on reading/listening comprehension strategies
Pre-assessments showed my student was weak in the area and
comprehension
Together we practiced “magnified reading” and looking closely at texts.
As we worked through texts, I modeled many examples of using context
clues to gain understanding of unfamiliar words and phrases
We worked through each text three times:
First read: Learn the gist of the text.
Second read: Learn unfamiliar words and phrases through the
use of Context Clues.
○ After the second read we examine text-based comprehension questions to guide our thinking.
Third read: Find information to use that supports what we
know.
(Greenwood, S. C., & Flanigan, K. 2007)
(Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. 2016)
17. Beginning Literacy Learners Lesson
(Part 2)
After our third read, we used our sticky notes to answer text
based questions.
I modeled and preformed think alouds showing how to combine
information we know and details in the text to answer text-based
questions.
Students practiced these Close Reading strategies
independently: they read a text, annotate details, and combines
what they know and details in the text to answer two text-based
questions through writing.
It is crucial that students learn how to use strategies that involve
them looking carefully at text features, such as words and
pictures, to determine the construction of meaning
The use of teacher-led conversation will promote high-level thinking as well
as generating student interest and overall engagement in the text, topic,
and even questions at hand
(Dalton, B. 2013)
(Greenwood, S. C., & Flanigan, K. 2007)
18. Reflection
My digital story shows what I learned in order to
effectively teach my students.
My digital story shows the understanding emergent and
beginning literacy learners.
My story shows my understanding of text selection, based
off of students ability levels, and what types of texts are
suitable for independent and guided reads.
It also shows my understanding of different non-cognitive,
and cognitive assessments and how they can be used to
plan students next step in their literacy learning.
Lastly, it shows my instructional choices to best meet the
needs of my students in their literacy development.
I hope you enjoyed my digital story! Thank you for
viewing!
19. Resources
Dalton, B. (2013). Engaging Children in Close Reading: Multimodal Commentaries and Illustration Remix. Reading
Teacher, 66(8), 642-649.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2012). Close reading in elementary schools. Reading Teacher, 66(3), 179–188.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases
Greenwood, S. C., & Flanigan, K. (2007). Overlapping Vocabulary and Comprehension: Context Clues Complement
Semantic Gradients. Reading Teacher, 61(3), 249-254. from
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415802093/news-updates/Interest-Inventories.pdf
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). Analyzing and selecting texts [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014b). Getting to know your students [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Mariotti, A. P. (n. d.). Using interest inventories with struggling and unmotivated readers.
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. (2016). Strategies for reading assessment and iinstruction: Helping every child
succeed (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Wren, S., Litke, B., Jinkins, D., Paynter, S., Watts, J. & Alanis, I. (2013). Cognitive elements of reading. In Cognitive
Foundations of Learning to Read: A Framework. Retrieved from
http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework/elements.html
