Early Literacy Foundations

Penny Danielson

South Carolina Department of Education

September 26, 2014

Goals for Today

• Early Literacy Research

– National Research

– S.C. Research

• Strategies to Strengthen Early Literacy

• Read to Succeed and Early Learning

• Readiness Assessment

• Q & A

2

Building Literacy Foundations

Reading and Early Learning Team 3

Lowest SES Highest SES

Recognizes letters of the alphabet

39% 85%

Identifies initial sounds of words

10% 51%

Writes own name 54% 76%

Hours read to before kindergarten

25 1,000

Accumulated experience with words

13 million 45 million

Beginning Kindergarten Students’ School Readiness Skills by

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Source: S.B. Neuman, “From rhetoric to reality: The case for high-quality

compensatory prekindergarten programs,” Kappan 85 (2003): 286-291.

30 Million Word Gap

“Children in poverty hear 30 million

fewer words by the time they are four

years old than children with

professional parents.”-Hart and Risley, 1995

If you haven’t heard the words,

you can’t speak or understand the words

to later read the words.

Preschool Classrooms can

Provide many opportunities to

Foster Oral Language…

But is this actually happening????

6

Time Spent on Early Literacy

• Researchers looked specifically at how much of the preschool day was spent devoted to early literacy and language. This would include:

– Book readings,

– children looking at books on their own,

– writing,

– activities to encourage expressive oral language, and

– alphabet /letter sounds.

National Center for Early Development and

Learning Findings

A surprisingly high percentage of the pre-kindergarten day is spent eating meals and performing routines like hand-washing or standing in line.

Additionally, children are not engaged in constructive learning or play a large portion of the day.

Children have relatively few meaningful interactions with adults during the pre-k day.

Findings on Time devoted to

Language and Literacy

• Read to (child is being read to by an adult) (5%)

• Pre-read/read (child is reading or exploring books on his/her own or with peers) (3%)

• Letter/sound learning (phonemic awareness activities) (4%)

• Oral language development (child is involved in activities where teacher is trying to build expressive language) (7%)

• Writing (writing, pretending to write) (2%)

Results from a Multi State SWEEP Study

S.C. Early Childhood Classrooms

SC data in 2007 revealed these findings:

• Pre-K classrooms – Similar low scores in to

the national average scores using the CLASS

instrument in the areas of concept development

and teacher interactions.

• Classroom literacy environments ranked below

average on ELLCO – measures of literacy and

language

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National Early Literacy Panel (NELP)

Developing Early Literacy (2009)

Synthesis of all high-quality scientific

research that identified preschool and

kindergarten skills that predict later

reading

NELP Findings

Found These Highly-Significant Predictors

of Successful Literacy:

– Oral Language: Vocabulary and Syntax

– Alphabetic Knowledge

– Phonological Awareness

– Print Knowledge/Concepts

National Early Literacy Panel: Developing Early Literacy (2009)

Focus on Literacy Areas

Oral

Language

Phonological

Awareness

Alphabet

Knowledge

Print

Awareness

Oral Language Identified as Key to

Reading Success

Vocabulary at age 3 predicts

reading comprehension scores at

age 9-10.

(Hart and Risley, 2003).

From age 3 onward a child should

build a vocabulary store of at least

2,500 words per year. He or she

should encounter and explore at

least 2 words each day.

Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart (2004), p. 1.

Oral Language Development

• To read effectively, children need to be able to express and understand ideas fully.

• They need to understand that stories have:

– events that occur in sequence

– characters

– beginning, middle, end

• They need to be able to respond to questions and ask questions to clarify what is not understood

What Can We Do?

– Read aloud!

– Hold meaningful conversations

– Record language experience stories

– Engage in shared book experiences

– Tell stories from wordless picture books

– Encourage children to make connections with the text

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Enrich children’s vocabulary by:

• Using varied words.

• Expressing ideas in full

sentences

• Expanding the child’s

comments, but don’t take

over

• Presuming their

knowledge about a topic is limitless

Planning Purposeful Multiple

Readings of Children’s Books

PD for Teachers on Effective Preparation

– Planning form

– High Quality Children’s Books

• Vocabulary

• Background knowledge

Concepts About Print

An understanding of how print works is crucial to

reading

– print conveys meaning, not pictures

– print is tracked from left to right and top to

bottom

– you read words not pictures

– The left page is read before the right

– words are separated by spaces

Print-Rich Classrooms

Let’s Take a Look….

Literacy-Rich Classroom Environments

ELLCO – Early Language and Literacy

Classroom Observation tool

Pre-K – K and K-3, Research Edition

Brookes Publishing

Learning about the Alphabet

The question is not

should we teach the

alphabet,

but

how do we teach

the alphabet?

Alphabet Knowledge

• Ability to name letters is an excellent predictor of early reading achievement– consists of two parts

• recognizing letters

• writing letters

• Introduce letter knowledge embedded within the context of words so children see it meaningfully

Alphabet KnowledgeWhat to do?

– Read alphabet books (put in centers!)

– Provide children’s names and interesting words in writing center

– Provide letter stamps and picture stamps to match

– Always start with what children know! (Names)

– Provide opportunities for children to write (not copy) their names

“Teaching” Alphabet Knowledge

NAEYC and IRA recommend young children

learn about letters and sounds of language as

part of early literacy experiences in

meaningful and relevant ways (1998).

Interesting Writing Centers and

Materials

Early Alphabet Knowledge through Writing

Writing looks more “writing like”

Disconnected scribble with letter-like

forms, letters

Bridge, Pierce et al 2009

South Carolina Department of

Education

“Once the children get into the routine of writing,

they develop ownership over their work. They gain

control over their writing when they can choose their

own topic, paper, and format, whether to work alone

or with a friend, and how to share their work.”

Bobbi Fisher, Joyful Learning, 1998

Names Everywhere!

How could you make “name puzzles”?

The Name Game

Alphabet Toys and Books

Writing to Make Center Choices

Alphabet in Block Center

Phonological Awareness:

Getting the p-words straight

• Phonological awareness refers to the whole

spectrum from beginning awareness of speech

sounds and rhythms to rhyme awareness and

sound similarities and, at the highest level,

awareness of syllables or phonemes

• Phonemes are the smallest units in speech

Phonological Awareness Development

12

3 4

5 6 7 8

Phonological Awareness Development

1

Listening

2

Rhyming

3

Alliteration

4

Syllables

5

Beginning

SoundsOnsets

6

Ending

SoundsRimes

7

Medial

Soundsmiddle

8

PhonemesSegmenting and

blending

Phonological Awareness

• Becoming attentive to the sound structure of language -- becoming phonologically or phonemically aware --is an “ear” skill, unlike phonics, which is the relation between letters and sounds in written words

• One of the best ways to teach letter/sound relations is to draw attention to initial sounds (onsets) and word endings (rimes)

• Phonological processing is the ability to identify, remember, separate (segment), blend, and manipulate speech sounds within words

Phonological Awareness Provides the Foundation

for Later Phonics Instruction

• By listening at ages 2, 3, and 4, children are

beginning to gain experiences with sounds and

characteristic rhythms and structures

• Explicit phonics instruction in 5K and 1st grade

builds on these listening skills but means doing

whatever is necessary to teach children all the

information and skills they need to learn to

read…but doing so appropriately--NO

WORKSHEETS!

Sample Materials to Enhance

Phonological Awareness

I’m thinking of something that

begins with the sound…

Letter-Sound Games that go with

children’s books

Pointers for Children to Use to Find

Beginning Sounds

Enhancing Phonological Awareness

• Studies have shown that just 20 minutes three times a

week over four months has a dramatic difference in

children’s awareness

• Phonological awareness activities can happen throughout

the day

– During transition activities, routines, and play:

• Play rhyming games to call attention to rhyme

• “One two three, come along to me” What two words rhyme?

• Offer fun chances for segmentation of morphemes and syllables

• Can you say only a little bit of “butterfly?” What would butterfly be

without the butter?

“Becoming literate in the modern world is

indeed an increasingly complex task.

Reading and writing abilities don’t just

happen. They are acquired, nurtured and

refined through the acts of those who

provide appropriate instructional contexts

and support.”

Strickland, D.S.

Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey

Critical Elements…….

• print-rich classroom with numerous children’s books, fiction and non-fiction at varying levels, and

• significant time in daily schedule devoted to language and literacy development, and

• developmentally appropriate literacy curriculum which guides intentional teaching of literacy and language skills, as well as background knowledge, and

• prevalence of small group and one-on-one teacher/child time, with intensity based on the changing needs of students, and

• hands-on educational materials in centers to support alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language development, and writing

• Connect new experiences to what children

already know – SCAFFOLDING

• Make learning experiences meaningful

• Are Purposeful and

– Base decisions on knowledge of child

development

– Plan content based on standards and

curriculum

Implement effective, developmentally

appropriate teaching practices—

A plan for implementing teaching practices

proven effective in raising literacy achievement,

guided by standards and evidence-based

research, delivered in a literacy-rich environment

to authentically engage all young children.

****S.C. Good Start, Grow Smart Early

Learning Standards currently being revised.

South Carolina Department of

Education

NAEYC and IRA Joint Position Paper on Reading

and Writing – NAEYC.org

https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSR

EAD98.PDF

The official statement of the National Association of

the Educators of Young Children and the

International Reading Association on appropriate

practices for preschoolers literacy areas. It is a good

resource for teachers, administrators, and parents.

Recommendations for Plan of Action

• Findings from two S.C. Early Literacy projects

provide models for replication

– Professional development – sustained over time

with on-site technical assistance

– Assessment and Screening tools

– Focused, literacy curricula

– Literacy-rich classrooms

– Partnerships And Involvement of Parents/families

Read to Succeed

and Early Childhood

• Pre-K to be an important part of the State,

District and School Literacy Plans

• In-class intervention for students with

Language and or Literacy learning needs

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Early Childhood Interventions

What is an intervention for Pre-K?

• Developmentally appropriate activities

• Small groups and one-on-one intervention for up

30 minutes per day in total.

What is not an intervention?

• Assigning students to a computer lab to complete

an online program.

• Requiring students to complete worksheets.

R2S Office

Reading and Early Learning Team

Read to Succeed Impacts EC

• Pre-K - Expanded and Strengthened

• Effective Early Language / Literacy teaching

strategies

• Statewide Readiness Assessment

• Language and Literacy Assessment in 2014-15

• Additional Domains in 2016-17

• All 4K and 5K students to be assessed

• State Department, Office of Assessment funds and

provides PD on administration

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Purpose of the Readiness Assessment

To provide teachers and parents with information to

address the readiness needs of each student,

especially by identifying language and literacy

needs, so teachers can plan for small groups and to

individualize as well as to involve the parents in

meeting each child’s needs.

Additionally, decisions can be made as to whether

further diagnostic assessment is needed.

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Readiness Assessment• Readiness Assessment required by Read to Succeed

Legislation (page 5 and page 10):

• EC Stakeholders developed characteristics RFP

• The Request for Proposal (RFP) – approved by State

Board of Education, July 9, 2014

• “Off the Shelf” Assessment –procured through a bid

process by Budget and Control Board in August

• Must be administered within first 45 days of enrollment

• Contact Office of Assessment with questions related to

administration: Kevin Fatica kjfatica@ed.sc.gov

(803) 734-8282

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Kevin Fatica

Office of Assessment

SC Department of Education

Phone: (803) 734-8282

kjfatica@ed.sc.gov

For More Info about

Readiness Assessment

South Carolina Department of

Education

R2S Office

Reading and Early Learning Team

tinyurl.com/readingtosucceed

It’s Up to You…Make a Difference for our

Children

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Contact Information

Penny Danielson, Early Learning and

CDEP Coordinator

pdanielson@ed.sc.gov

803-734-8251

R2S Office

Reading and Early Learning Team

Questions

.Every Child Will Enter Kindergarten

Prepared to Succeed

Primary Resources1. “Research and Practice in the Field of Early Literacy Learning.”

(November 2013). Getting on Track Early for School Success:

www.norc.org/gettingontrack

2. “From rhetoric to reality: The case for high-quality compensatory

prekindergarten programs,” Susan Neuman: Kappan 85 (2003): 286-291

3. National Center for Early Development and Learning Findings

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/4283, retrieved:

Sept. 23, 2014.

4. S.C. Education Oversight Committee CDEPP Evaluation, 2008

5. CLASS Assessment: http://teachstone.com/the-class-system/

6. ELLCO Assessment: http://www.brookespublishing.com/resource-

center/screening-and-assessment/ellco/ellco-pre-k/

7. Hart and Risley, Meaningful Differences: research implications, 1995,

http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/05_Meaningf

ulDifferences.pdf

R2S Office

Reading and Early Learning Team