The 5 Essential Components of Reading
- Concept of Print
- Alphabet Knowledge
- Phonological Awareness
- Phonemic Awareness
- Fluency
1. The concepts of print are making sure children: know the difference between words and nonwords, know that print is print, no matter what form it appears in, know that print can appear by itself or with pictures, understand that print corresponds to speech word for word, understand the purpose of the empty space between words, understand that lines of text are read from top to bottom on a page, understand that words are read from left to right on a page, be able to identify the front of a book and a page in it (Blevins). It is important to teach the concepts of print because they help a child learn how to read. I will teach the concepts of print by doing read alouds in my class. Before I start my read aloud I will show the begging and the end of the book. I will assess the concepts of print with a test where students would have to label the parts of the book, and which way the words are read.
2.I will teach alphabet knowledge by teaching children the name of the letters first then teaching the shapes and sounds of the letters. Then I would let students trace the letters and copy the letters. I would assess this with a letter-naming test where I would say the letter and the student would have to draw the letter on his/her paper. I could also assess this by saying the sound of the letter and students write down the letter that goes with the sound.
3. Phonological awareness is a broad term that includes phonemic awareness, in addition to phonemes. It is important to reading success because activities with it can involve rhymes, words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. (Put Reading First). I will model and teach phonological awareness by making it fun and playful with songs. I will assess phonological awareness with test that students would have to identify what part of phonological awareness it is.
4. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. It is important because before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work (Put Reading First). I will model and teach this by doing such things as isolating, deleting, adding, and categorizing phonemes. I will assess students by testing to see have they mastered how to isolate, delete, add, and categorize phonemes.
5. Fluency is the ability to read a text quickly and accurately. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension (Armbuster & Lehr). I will model and teach fluency by doing a read a loud everyday so my student will get a chance to hear what a fluent reader sounds like. I will teach fluency by doing a readers’ theatre with small groups. I will also teach fluency in my classroom by using sites like starfall.com. I will assess fluency by having my students read a timed passage. Another way I could assess fluency is by using a rubric
