Week 2 - Assignment 3

From right when a child is born he is learning and discovering new things and ideas. From a very young age a child learns that letters have sounds and they make up words with meanings. It is crucial that a parent introduces reading and alphabet to a child starting from a very young age. A parent should point out letters and sounds in different places. For example: street signs, advertisements, grocery list etc. It is vital for a child to find enjoyment and pleasure in reading. A parent can instill a love for reading way before the child eve knows the alphabet. By doing this your child will have a head start when it comes to reading on her own. From Infancy a child is learning sounds and different phonemes this will eventually help them become readers.

You can have a lot of fun with your children to help them with phonemes. Some ideas are Reading aloud and playing rhyme games. You would be surprised how this can really help your child.

Phoneme swapping is a great way to learn different phonemes and string together different letters to create words.

Word Web is a great strategy to help with reading fluency. This strategy is done by taking a main word and expanding different related meanings. When a student knows many different words and how to use it in different contexts help them with reading fluency.

A semantic gradient is a vocabulary strategy which helps students understand the differences and connections in words. This helps them build their vocabulary and extend their knowledge of words. In the video clip the students are given words that have to do with size ex: tiny, large, enormous, and microscopic. The students work with these words to put it from small to large on a poster. This really helps them deepen their understanding of words related to each other. This will also help them be more descriptive in their writings.

Spelling patterns are where students are learning the rules of spelling rather than memorization. The RISE program is teaching and directing students how to spell correctly and add proper ending to verbs. The teacher uses a chart labeled Double, E-drop or nothing. This way students properly placed words where they belong rather than just guessing.

Jigsaw strategy is a unique grouping strategy to help each student become expert in one subtopic. Students read a passage in their home group and are then divided in their expert groups to discuss their topic in detail. Then they go back to their original group to help bring all the ideas together.

It’s so important to have a classroom of writers. Students should be writing every day and writing should be incorporated to other subjects as well. When writers share their writings and get feedback this enables the class to learn from the writer and for the writer to learn from the class feedback.

Ongoing assessment is a vital tool teachers should be using. This can make sure students that are falling behind get the appropriate help they need. Assessment helps detect specific difficulties a child might have such as decoding, comprehension, phonics, word per minute etc. When a teacher uses assessment to make sure students understand what they’re learning, they can continue to become fluent readers.

These videos were a great learning tool and I learnt many new strategies that I hope to implement in my own classroom.