As a kindergarten teacher, you are laying the foundation for your students’ literacy journey. Following the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope ensures that your students develop the essential skills needed to become proficient readers. This article will guide you through structuring your literacy instruction for the months of September, October, and November, highlight the most important reading skills to target, and explain how to support all learners, including those with reading disabilities and English Language Learners (ELLs).
The Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope: What Are They?
The Science of Reading is a body of research that explains how children learn to read and what instructional practices are most effective. Scarborough’s Reading Rope is a model that visualizes the two critical strands of reading development:
- Word Recognition (the ability to decode words by recognizing letters, sounds, and patterns).
- Language Comprehension (understanding the meaning of words and text).
Together, these strands work like interwoven threads in a rope, with strong word recognition and comprehension leading to skilled reading.
Key Reading Skills to Target in September, October, and November
September: Focus on Phonological Awareness and Letter Recognition
- Skills: Phonological awareness (specifically phoneme awareness like identifying first sounds), letter identification, and letter-sound correspondence.
- Why Important: Phonological awareness is the strongest predictor of future reading success. Research shows that students who master these early skills are better prepared to decode words, which is a foundational reading skill. Letter recognition is equally crucial because it sets the stage for letter-sound correspondence.
October: Phoneme Segmentation and Beginning Blending
- Skills: Phoneme segmentation (breaking words into sounds) and phoneme blending (combining sounds to make words).
- Why Important: Phoneme segmentation and blending are necessary for decoding. These skills enable students to sound out unfamiliar words, an essential step toward independent reading. Research indicates that students who can manipulate phonemes early on are more likely to become fluent readers.
November: Early Decoding and Sight Words
- Skills: Decoding (sounding out simple CVC words like “cat”) and recognizing high-frequency sight words.
- Why Important: Decoding allows students to tackle unfamiliar words, while sight word recognition helps with reading fluency. Research suggests that students who can both decode and recognize common sight words become more fluent, confident readers.
Why Are These Skills So Important?
Each of these skills forms a critical part of the word recognition strand of Scarborough’s Rope. Strong phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and decoding skills are essential for children to become proficient readers. By building these foundational skills, you’re helping your students develop automaticity in reading, which frees up cognitive resources for comprehension.
The Importance of Explicit, Systematic, and Direct Instruction
Explicit, systematic instruction means teaching reading skills in a clear, intentional, and structured way. The Gradual Release of Responsibility approach supports this by guiding students from teacher-led instruction to independent practice. The steps typically include:
- I Do: The teacher models the skill.
- We Do: The teacher and students practice the skill together.
- You Do: Students practice the skill independently.
This method ensures students fully understand each skill before they are expected to use it on their own, which is particularly important for young learners who benefit from repetition and scaffolding.
How Are These Skills Taught to Mastery?
Mastery is achieved through:
- Repetition and Practice: Daily practice of skills in various contexts helps solidify understanding. For example, segmenting sounds can be reinforced through rhyming activities, songs, and phonics games.
- Cumulative Review: Reviewing previously learned skills ensures students don’t forget foundational concepts as they learn new ones.
- Immediate Feedback: Providing immediate feedback during lessons helps students correct mistakes and reinforces correct responses.
Assessment and Progress Monitoring
Monitoring student progress is essential to ensure they are mastering reading skills. Use both formative assessments(ongoing checks during instruction) and summative assessments (like the mid-year Acadience benchmark) to track growth. Consider the following tools:
- Phonological Awareness Assessments: Measure skills like identifying beginning sounds, segmenting phonemes, and blending sounds.
- Progress Monitoring: Tools like Acadience can provide regular data on students’ mastery of phonemic awareness, decoding, and letter knowledge.
Regular assessments help you identify students who may need additional support or enrichment, allowing for timely intervention.
Differentiation for Students with Reading Disabilities, ELLs, and MLLs
Students with reading disabilities, ELLs, and MLLs benefit from structured literacy instruction but may require additional support. Differentiated instruction can help meet these students’ unique needs:
- For Students with Reading Disabilities: Provide extra practice with phonological awareness and phonics. Use multi-sensory activities (like tracing letters in sand) and small group instruction for targeted support.
- For ELLs and MLLs: Focus on oral language development alongside phonemic awareness. Explicitly teach vocabulary and use visuals to support word learning. Incorporate home language when possible to build connections between languages.
- Scaffolding: Use sentence frames, guided practice, and peer support to scaffold learning for these students. Provide opportunities for oral practice to develop both language and phonemic skills.
Sample Lesson Plan Structure for Teaching Core Foundational Reading Skills
Objective: Students will identify beginning sounds and segment CVC words into individual phonemes.
Materials: Alphabet cards, Elkonin boxes (sound boxes), picture cards of simple CVC words.
Lesson Structure:
- Warm-Up (5 minutes): Review previously learned letters and their sounds. Show picture cards and ask students to identify the first sound in each word.
- I Do (10 minutes): Introduce phoneme segmentation. Model how to break a word like “cat” into its individual sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/. Use Elkonin boxes to show each sound.
- We Do (10 minutes): Guide students as they segment simple words. Use CVC words like “dog” and “sun.” Have them push a token into each box as they say the sounds.
- You Do (10 minutes): Students practice segmenting words with a partner, using their own set of picture cards and Elkonin boxes.
- Blending Practice (5 minutes): Say the individual sounds of a word and have students blend them together to say the full word (e.g., “/b/ /a/ /t/” becomes “bat”).
- Assessment (5 minutes): Quickly assess individual students by asking them to segment and blend a new word.
- Closure (5 minutes): Review the key skill learned today and encourage students to practice at home.
The Benefits for Kindergarten Students
Mastering these core foundational skills early in kindergarten sets students up for long-term reading success. Phonological awareness, phoneme segmentation, blending, and early decoding not only prepare students to read independently but also increase their confidence. By teaching these skills explicitly and systematically, you’re ensuring that your students have the tools they need to thrive as readers.
Conclusion
As a kindergarten teacher, you’re building the foundation of literacy for your students. By focusing on core reading skills in September, October, and November, following the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope, and using explicit, systematic instruction, you’re setting the stage for success. Regular assessment and differentiation ensure that all students, including those with disabilities and English Language Learners, have the support they need to become confident, proficient readers.