STAR. Early Literacy Teacher s Guide

Transcription

1 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide

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3 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide

4 The STAR products logo, STAR Early Literacy, STAR Reading, Accelerated Reader, Power Lessons, Renaissance Learning, Renaissance Place, Make Teaching Exciting and Learning Fun, and the Renaissance Learning logo are trademarks of Renaissance Learning, Inc., and its subsidiaries, registered, common law, or pending registration in the United States and other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. ISBN by Renaissance Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. It is unlawful to duplicate or reproduce any copyrighted material without authorization from the copyright holder. If this publication contains pages marked Reproducible Form, only these pages may be photocopied and used by teachers within their own schools. They are not to be reproduced for private consulting or commercial use. For more information, contact: 06/08 Renaissance Learning, Inc. P.O. Box 8036 Wisconsin Rapids, WI (800)

5 Contents Learn the Basics Get Started Introduction...1 The Purpose of STAR Early Literacy...5 An Overview of the Assessment...5 Who Takes STAR Early Literacy Assessments?...6 What Can STAR Early Literacy Do For You?...6 Consider the Student Experience...9 Create Testing Guidelines...11 Prepare Yourself and Your Students...12 Begin Student Testing...13 Consult the Testing Checklist...13 Understand the Data Learn About STAR Early Literacy Scores...17 Review Domains and Skills...19 Put the Data in Perspective...20 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs Look Ahead Screen...23 Diagnose Students Strengths and Weaknesses to Inform Instruction...24 Group and Regroup Students...26 Monitor Progress...27 Identify At-Risk Students...29 See the Whole Picture...30 Connect STAR Early Literacy with STAR Reading...33 Next Steps...33 Resources...34 Appendix Instructions for Common Software Tasks...37 Sample Reports...40 Testing Checklist...47 Skills Assessed by STAR Early Literacy...48 Benchmarks...51 Power Lessons...53 Frequently Asked Questions...82 Index...85 iii

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7 Introduction Congratulations! You have purchased one of the most effective software tools for assessing early literacy skills STAR Early Literacy. As with all tools, the results you and your students achieve with STAR Early Literacy depend on how you use it. This guide offers suggestions for finding the best fit for STAR Early Literacy in your classroom. We begin with the purpose of STAR Early Literacy and basic information about how students use the program. We then consider issues connected with testing, including the student experience. After that, we discuss the data you ll receive from the program, and how to put it in perspective. Finally, we cover basic uses of STAR Early Literacy in the classroom, along with reports that may support your intended use. The appendix includes step-by-step instructions for the most common software tasks, sample reports, a testing checklist, definitions of the skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy, sample Power Lessons, and frequently asked questions. We hope what you find here will help you succeed with STAR Early Literacy. Bear in mind, however, that this is only an introduction. To learn more about professional development opportunities, visit our website: 1

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9 Learn the Basics

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11 Learn the Basics The Purpose of STAR Early Literacy It s the first day of school! Students arrive, excited to explore the classroom and look at the new books and activities. As their teacher, you ask them to gather in the reading area. The students hurry over, giggling and whispering, and eventually begin to quiet down as they get settled. Finally, it s silent, and you take a look around all eyes are on you. Now comes the difficult part. What s next? What do these students already know? How do you begin teaching them early literacy skills? Can they recognize the letters of the alphabet? Can they identify vowel sounds? Are some already reading? This is where STAR Early Literacy comes in. It helps you figure out what students already know, determine how to proceed with instruction, and gauge how students are progressing. It takes a lot of guesswork out of your hands in a short amount of time. Of course, STAR Early Literacy doesn t replace your expertise and judgment, but it does offer a reliable and efficient way to assess early literacy skills. STAR Early Literacy reports meaningful data, such as: Levels of proficiency in seven early literacy domains, involving 41 different sets of skills or concepts. Emergent, transitional, and probable reader classifications. Identification of students who may be at risk for reading failure. Criterion-referenced scores that can support planning instruction and monitoring progress. STAR Early Literacy s regular, immediate feedback helps you make decisions, and those decisions ultimately improve student learning. An Overview of the Assessment STAR Early Literacy was especially designed for use with emergent readers and includes the following features: Computer-administered. Students wear headphones to listen to the assessment, enabling most students to test independently. Computer-adaptive. Because questions are tailored to each student (based on the sequence of previous responses), STAR Early Literacy minimizes student frustration, and allows students to test at their individual levels. Brief. Each test takes about 10 minutes for students to complete. Standardized. STAR Early Literacy is delivered in a standardized fashion, ensuring comparable student results and minimizing test administrator error. 5

12 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide When students take an assessment, they wear headphones while sitting at a computer, and enter responses using a keyboard or mouse. The assessment is individualized since the pattern of questions for each student is determined by their responses: incorrect responses are followed by less difficult questions and correct response are followed by more difficult questions. In about 10 minutes, students will have answered 25 questions, and you ll have immediate results. Consult the data to see how the students performed and to determine how to guide the development of skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy. Who Takes STAR Early Literacy Assessments? STAR Early Literacy is widely used with pre-k 3 students who cannot read independently. In many cases, it will be suitable for beginning readers of any age or grade level (or any student who needs early literacy skills assessed). However, because graphics and presentation are geared toward a younger audience, make sure to explain to older students why they are taking a STAR Early Literacy assessment. What Can STAR Early Literacy Do For You? Teacher Tip To help older students understand the purpose of STAR Early Literacy, explain: Reading is like a puzzle, and we need to figure out which pieces you need to complete the picture. Below are some common uses of STAR Early Literacy. For more information about using assessment data, see Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs starting on page 23. Beginning of the school year. Determine the initial focus of instruction, identify those in need of special help, form small groups around specific skills, and get a general sense of all students early literacy skills. During the school year. Monitor student progress, adjust current instruction or plan additional instruction, and confirm or change student groupings. End of school year. Review summaries of class performance. When deciding how to use STAR Early Literacy with your students, consider: What kind of data do you need about your students early literacy skills? Does STAR Early Literacy provide some or all of this data? When and how will you use the data? The many possibilities for using STAR Early Literacy data will be defined by your purpose for testing. For example, if collecting class data for administrators, you might test four times a year and submit Summary Reports. Or, if gauging student progress, you d likely test more frequently and view Progress Monitoring Reports. 6

13 Get Started

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15 Get Started Consider the Student Experience What do students encounter when they test? We outline the basics below, but the best way to understand the student experience is to create a fictional student, log in, and take an assessment. Answer the questions the way a student might: struggle with the practice test, allow questions to time out, answer some test items incorrectly and others correctly, and repeat the instructions for a question. This way, you ll become familiar with the test from a student s perspective. Student testing To take a STAR Early Literacy test, students put on headphones and log in to the program while sitting at a computer. After logging in, students perform the steps listed below to complete the assessment. Steps 1 3 ensure that students understand the instructions and know how to enter answers before the actual test begins. 1. Demonstration video. A video clip shows how to use the keyboard or mouse, what the questions will look like, and how to select an answer. 2. Hands-on exercise. Students demonstrate correct use of the chosen input method (keyboard or mouse). 3. Practice test. Students must answer three out of five practice test questions correctly to proceed to the actual test. 4. Actual test. Students complete 25 items independently. These questions are similar to the practice questions in format, but are targeted at each student s ability level. Teacher Tip If students will enter responses using the keyboard, put differently colored dot stickers on the 1, 2, and 3 keys to help students locate them. Refer to the Instructions for Common Software Tasks on pages to learn how to set preferences for the demonstration video and hands-on exercise. 9

16 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Student interface (using a keyboard to respond) Anthony is using the keyboard to enter his responses. Students press the <L> key to hear the question again. Notice the numbers 1, 2, and 3 appear under the response choices. Students can select a response when they see the hand icon. The student hears audio instructions: Listen carefully to what I say. Doctor. Pick the picture whose name I say. Doctor. The student presses the <1>, <2>, or <3> key to choose a response, and a square appears around the answer choice. The student presses the <Enter> key, and the answer appears on the blank line. The test proceeds to the next question. In the Renaissance Place edition of STAR Early Literacy, the purple dot shows where the mouse pointer is located. Student interface (using a mouse to respond) Anthony is using the mouse to enter his responses. Students click Listen to hear the question again. Students can select a response when they see the hand icon. The student hears audio instructions: Listen carefully to what I say. Doctor. Pick the picture whose name I say. Doctor. The student uses the mouse to click an answer, and a square appears around the answer choice. The answer appears on the blank line, and the test proceeds to the next question. 10

17 Get Started Additional testing information Audio Instructions Time Limits Monitor Password Stop a Student Test When audio instructions are first given, an ear icon is displayed to indicate that students should listen carefully. Students cannot select an answer while they see the ear icon. After the instructions, a chime sounds and the ear icon changes to a hand icon. Students can then select an answer. Testing time does not affect student scores. However, time limits on questions keep the test moving: 35 seconds for hands-on exercise questions, 60 seconds for practice test questions, and 90 seconds for actual test questions. If time runs out for a hands-on exercise or practice test question, the program notifies the student to ask the teacher for help. If time runs out for an actual test question, the program goes on to the next question and the unanswered question is treated as incorrect. A warning clock flashes in the upper right corner of the screen for the last 15 seconds of each question. If the preference is set in the software, enter the monitor password after students log in to take a test. You ll also enter the monitor password to stop a test (see below). The default monitor password is admin; refer to the Instructions for Common Software Tasks on pages to learn how to set password preferences. Stop a test at any time by pressing the <Ctrl> and <A> keys together (Windows) or the <control> and <A> keys together (Macintosh). You ll be asked to enter the monitor password to confirm this action. Data from unfinished tests is not used to calculate test scores. Create Testing Guidelines How often will students test? Testing frequency will depend on your purpose for using STAR Early Literacy. For example, some schools administer STAR Early Literacy as follows: Number of Times Administered a Year When Why One Beginning Screen or place students Two Three Four to six Beginning and end Beginning, middle, and end At the end of each marking period Use a pre/post design to evaluate programs or gauge growth Add a mid-year progress check to the pre/post design Align progress checks with school year benchmarks Once a month Monthly Monitor progress frequently Be sure to plan a testing schedule that suits your needs. For example, some schools test all of their students four times a year, but students who fall below a designated benchmark will be tested more frequently up to once a month to monitor progress. 11

18 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Can students really test once a month? Yes. The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring (NCSPM) found STAR Early Literacy meets its standards for monthly assessments. Therefore, you could test students monthly for progress-monitoring purposes. However, if testing monthly, consider the following: One month does not allow much time for students to acquire and practice new skills. Therefore, it is more difficult to see actual growth in Scaled Scores on a month-to-month basis. Students are not always consistent in taking tests. They may have peak performances in one month, but not the next month. Due to these realities, combined with the nature of standardized tests, STAR Early Literacy scores may decline from one test to the next even if the student is making good progress in classroom instruction. If individual student scores decline, be sure to also compare average scores for the whole class. If the average scores are increasing over time, then decreases in individual student scores are not a cause for concern. Chances are that students with declining scores will show score increases the next time the test is given. For more information, see the frequently asked question about this issue on pages Where will students test? In your classroom? In the computer lab? Regardless of the location you choose, check for adequate computer equipment (including quality headphones) and the potential for minimal distractions. Teacher Tip Don t try to take all students to the lab at once for their first test. If available, ask an assistant to take small groups of 4 5 students at a time. After the first test, students will be more familiar with testing procedures, and may test as a larger group. Will all students test at the same time? The number of computers in the testing location might limit whole-group student testing. If so, consider what non-testing students will do while a small group of students tests. Also, ensure that all students test within a one-week window to make their results comparable with one another. Prepare Yourself and Your Students Are your students ready to take STAR Early Literacy assessments? Are you prepared to being testing? After you ve determined your testing guidelines (how often, where, and how many students at once), consider the following: Teacher Tip Make sure students are wearing the headphones connected to their computers. They might accidentally pick up headphones for an adjacent computer, and then they ll be listening to the wrong test! Instructions for Common Software Tasks. Have you reviewed these instructions, starting on page 37, to help you navigate the software? 12

19 Get Started Input method. Will students use a keyboard or mouse to select answers? Have you set this preference in the software? Headphones. Do the headphones work properly on the computers that students will use? Take a student test. Did you a take a STAR Early Literacy test as a student? Did you test in the same location that your students will, using the same input method? Student enrollment. Are your students enrolled in the STAR Early Literacy program? Are their grade levels indicated? Student login. Do your students know how to log in to the software? If using the Renaissance Place edition, did you print the Student Information Report, which includes students user names and passwords? Begin Student Testing You ve prepared yourself and your students. Now, you re ready to begin! Whether your students will test in a computer lab or the classroom, consider the following: Monitor password. If this preference is set in the software, enter the monitor password for students after they log in so they can begin testing. Student testing routine. Are your students wearing headphones connected to the correct computer? Do they know what to do when finished testing? Testing atmosphere. Have you reduced noise and other distractions? Non-testing students. Are non-testing students engaged in activities that won t distract the testing students? Consult the Testing Checklist The checklist on the right summarizes the preparation and testing steps discussed in the previous sections. You might not get to everything on the checklist right away, instead choosing to focus on just some of the steps to get started. As you become more experienced with STAR Early Literacy testing, review the checklist again to add important elements to your testing routine. A full-size copy of the checklist is on page

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21 Understand the Data

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23 Understand the Data Learn about STAR Early Literacy Scores STAR Early Literacy reports Scaled Scores and Domain Scores, and categorizes each of the Skill Scores into one of four categories: 0 25, 26 50, 51 75, and It also reports an Estimated Oral Reading Fluency score (Est. ORF), which can make it easier for you to gauge fluency. To help you understand what these scores mean, we briefly describe them below. Scaled Scores Scaled Scores are the fundamental scores used to summarize students performance on STAR Early Literacy assessments. Of the scores that STAR Early Literacy reports, Scaled Scores provide the best indication of students overall levels of early literacy development. They are useful for measuring student ability over time and across grades or ages. The Scaled Score is based on the difficulty of all questions answered by the student, and how many of those questions the student answered correctly. Ranging from , Scaled Scores are used to place students in literacy classifications (emergent reader, transitional reader, and probable reader) and risk categories (at risk, some risk, low risk). Literacy Classifications Emergent readers ( ) Early emergent readers ( ) Students are beginning to understand that printed text has meaning. They re learning that reading involves printed words and sentences, and that print flows from left to right and from the top to the bottom of the page. Early emergent readers are also beginning to identify colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. Late emergent readers ( ) Students can identify most of the letters of the alphabet and can match most of the letters to their sounds. They re beginning to read picture books and familiar words around the home. Through repeated reading of favorite books with an adult, late emergent readers are building their vocabularies, listening skills, and understandings of print. Transitional readers ( ) Students have mastered alphabet skills and letter-sound relationships. They can identify many beginning and ending consonant sounds and long and short vowel sounds, and are probably able to blend sounds and word parts to read simple words. Transitional readers are likely using a variety of strategies to figure out words, such as pictures, story patterns, and phonics. 17

24 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Probable readers ( ) Students are becoming proficient at recognizing many words, both in and out of context. They re spending less time identifying and sounding out words, and more time understanding what was read. Probable readers start to blend sounds and word parts to read words and sentences more quickly, smoothly, and independently than they could previously. Criterion-referenced scores Criterion-referenced scores describe student performance relative to a content domain or standard. You might be familiar with this type of score since it occurs often in the classroom. For example, imagine a student scores 70% correct on a math test. That means the student understands 70% (student performance) of the math content on the test (content domain). Keep in mind: Criterion-referenced scores do not compare a student s score with other students scores. Domain Scores Domain Scores are criterion-referenced scores, and reveal how much students understand the literacy skill content assessed by STAR Early Literacy. They range from 0 100, and reflect the percentage of all items a student would be expected to answer correctly within a domain. For example, if a student s General Readiness Domain Score is 87, the student would be expected to answer 87% of all the General Readiness items correctly. Keep in mind: Domain Scores are not percentile rankings; rather, they are proficiency estimates. They estimate the percentage of items a student would answer correctly if he answered all the items within the domain or skill. They do not compare a student s performance with that of other students. Skill Score ranges On STAR Early Literacy reports, Skill Scores are categorized into four ranges: 0 25, 26 50, 51 75, and These ranges help you identify a student s level of proficiency for a specific skill. For example, if a student s Skill Score for the General Readiness skill of Differentiating letters falls within the range, the student likely has mastered this skill. Estimated Oral Reading Fluency Estimated Oral Reading Fluency (Est. ORF) is an estimate of a student s ability to read words quickly and accurately in order to comprehend text efficiently. Students with oral reading fluency demonstrate accurate decoding, automatic word recognition, and appropriate use of the rhythmic aspects of language, such as intonation, phrasing, pitch, and emphasis. After students take a STAR Early Literacy assessment, review the Student Diagnostic, Growth, or Summary Report to locate the Est. ORF score. (Reports include a placeholder for the Est. ORF score; data will be available in fall 2008 for grades 1-3.) Estimated Oral Reading Fluency is reported in correct words per minute and is based on research correlating STAR Early Literacy scores to student performance on oral reading fluency measures. 18

25 Understand the Data Review Domains and Skills STAR Early Literacy assesses student proficiency in seven early literacy domains involving 41 sets of skills. The seven domains are listed below; a list of complete descriptions of the 41 early literacy skills starts on page 48. General Readiness (GR) Assesses a student s ability to identify shapes, numbers, colors, and patterns; explore word length and word pairs; differentiate words from letters; and examine oral and print numbers. Graphophonemic Knowledge (GK) Assesses a student s ability to relate letters to corresponding sounds. Becoming aware of the symbols that represent the sounds of spoken language prepares students to understand the alphabetic principle. Graphophonemic Knowledge addresses skills and concepts such as matching uppercase and lowercase letters, recognizing the alphabet, naming letters, recognizing letter sounds, and knowing alphabetical order. Phonemic Awareness (PA) Measures a student s ability to detect and identify individual sounds within spoken words. This understanding is essential for learning to read an alphabetic language because it is these elementary sounds, or phonemes, that letters represent. Phonemic Awareness addresses skills and concepts such as rhyming words; blending word parts and phonemes; discriminating between beginning, medial, and ending sounds; understanding word length; and identifying missing sounds. Comprehension (CO) Assesses a student s ability to understand what has been read aloud, understand word meaning, and read text with correctness. Comprehension addresses skills and concepts such as identifying and understanding words, selecting the word that best completes a sentence, and answering questions about stories. Phonics (PH) Assesses a student s ability to read words using the sounds of letters, letter groups, and syllables. Phonics addresses skills and concepts such as identifying short and long vowels, beginning and ending consonants, and consonant blends and digraphs; recognizing word families; and using strategies such as consonant and vowel replacements. Vocabulary (VO) Addresses skills and concepts such as: identifying highfrequency words, matching pictures with synonyms, matching words with phrases, matching stories with words, identifying opposites, matching pictures with opposite word meaning, and identifying opposite word meanings. Structural Analysis (SA) Measures a student s ability to understand the structure of words and word parts. Structural Analysis addresses skills and concepts such as finding words; adding beginning or ending letters or syllables to a word; building words; and identifying compound words. 19

26 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Put the Data in Perspective Are all scores important to consider? Is every domain and skill applicable? Well, that depends on your curriculum and your students. Look at the data through a lens that will make it meaningful for you. For example, you might decide to focus on literacy domains currently at the center of your instruction, or you might only look at scores for skills your students should have already mastered. Below are some suggestions for putting the data in perspective. Define expectations for students As you look at the data, think about your district s expectations for a student in your grade at any one point in time in the school year. This will help you evaluate student scores against a standard. Also, keep in mind students various stages of development, along with other factors that may affect test results, such as native language, prior knowledge, and testing skills. Focus on what matters When you administer STAR Early Literacy, it reports scores for all 41 skills within the seven literacy domains. However, all of this information may not be applicable to all of your students. Focus on the skills appropriate for your students grade and ages, along with those related to the curriculum. If you identify meaningful gaps in students early literacy skills, first target the less difficult skills to help students progress toward mastery of more difficult skills. Determine if low scores indicate a weakness Keep in mind that low scores do not necessarily indicate a weakness. Has the student encountered or practiced the skill yet? The interpretation of scores depends on many factors, such as the student s stage of development, your curriculum, and the skills the student has already learned. Focus on scores for skills you ve already taught, along with prerequisite skills that students will need for future lessons. 20

27 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs

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29 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs STAR Early Literacy provides you with meaningful information. You take the next step by making decisions about what to do with that information. To support you in this process, some general uses of STAR Early Literacy data are listed on the following pages. Review the uses, and consider how STAR Early Literacy might best align with your needs. Screen At the beginning of the school year, gauge students early literacy skill development to establish a baseline for monitoring progress. After all students test, print a Summary Report to view the students Scaled Scores and literacy classifications (emergent reader, transitional reader, or probable reader). If some students fall below your designated benchmark, you might decide to test these students monthly to see if they re making progress. Benchmarks Renaissance Learning benchmarks serve as guidelines for identifying students who may require special help with developing the skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy. These benchmarks should not be used alone to make determinations about student development; rather, teachers should rely on them for guidance only and use them as one of several tools when evaluating students. The benchmarks are listed on page 51. If using the Renaissance Place edition of STAR Early Literacy, you can also find them in the Resources section of the software. Grade Month Scaled Score Range of Student Group At Risk Some Risk Low Risk K September January May < 430 < 478 < > 555 > 615 > September January May < 568 < 640 < > 705 > 766 > September January May < 715 < 744 < > 823 > 837 > September January May < 777 < 791 < > 853 > 861 > 868 In May, kindergarten students with Scaled Scores of less than 533 may be at risk of reading failure. 23

30 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Diagnose Students Strengths and Weaknesses to Inform Instruction Many teachers use STAR Early Literacy data to drive their instruction in different ways: to plan individual instruction, create small groups around specific skills, or find a focus for whole-group instruction. After identifying your use and reviewing the applicable reports, you could find yourself in the following situations: Student Diagnostic Report I know which skills I need to target. Reports provided enough information to plan instruction. You ve identified weaknesses for the whole class, or perhaps found specific gaps for individual students. I know something, but I need to find out more. Reports provided some information, but you need to dig deeper. For example, you discovered that your students need help with identifying initial consonants. Next, you ll perform your own assessment to discover which consonants you should target. I know how to proceed with some students, but am unsure about others. Some students data is not clear enough for you to make instructional decisions. For example, one student has Skill Scores in the range for skills you re currently covering in class. You decide to give the student some time to develop these skills. You ll check his scores after the next assessment. This report helps teachers identify strengths and weaknesses for a particular student by categorizing Domain and Skill Scores into one of four ranges: 0 25, 26 50, 51 75, and View the data against your curriculum, find the gaps, and determine which gaps should be prioritized. Estimated Oral Reading Fluency data will be available in fall 2008 for grades 1-3. Robert s teacher uses this information to target specific skills. Mastering less difficult skills will help Robert build a foundation for learning more difficult skills. 24

31 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs Score Distribution Report The Score Distribution Report gives the range of scores for the whole class, making it easy for you to see which skill weaknesses are in the majority. For these skills, plan whole-group instruction so all students will benefit from the reinforcement and practice. Keep in mind that this report includes 41 skills; however, all 41 skills may not apply to your students at any one point in time. Because 10 out of 15 students are within the range for this skill, the teacher will work on identifying rhyming words with the whole class. Power Lessons Now that you ve identified skills to target, you ll need to deliver lessons that address those skills. You could consult your curricular materials, create new lessons, or rely on Power Lessons developed by Renaissance Learning. Power Lessons can help you deliver the right amount of focused instruction, and each lesson includes opportunities for students to practice the featured skill. Power Lessons may be similar to lessons you currently deliver: they re brief, they deal with a single objective, and they re integrated with books that students are working with in the classroom. Renaissance Learning offers a wide range of Power Lessons, including lessons designed for students who might be taking STAR Early Literacy assessments, such as emergent readers and students in grades K 3. The appendix includes several Power Lessons for your use, starting on page 54. To order complete sets of Power Lessons, visit our website: 25

32 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Group and Regroup Students Some teachers choose to work with small groups on early literacy skill development. Using STAR Early Literacy data, identify small groups of 3-5 students who need to work on a particular skill. Deliver supplemental lessons and practice connected with your curricular materials, or use Power Lessons to address the skill. Class Diagnostic Report (available in the Renaissance Place edition) The Class Diagnostic Report is especially helpful for grouping because it categorizes students according to Skill Score range for each skill. View this report to look for skill weaknesses according to your curriculum and the time of the school year. If some students are lacking proficiency in certain skills, work with those students in a small group. After students learn and practice skills, administer an assessment to confirm the groups, make any necessary changes, and/or form new groups. Keep in mind: STAR Early Literacy does not target specific skills when it is administered. Therefore, learning a new skill will not directly impact a student s related Skill Score. Instead, as students develop early literacy skills, their Scaled Scores increase, causing their Domain and Skill Scores to increase as well. In a small group, you ll likely target a specific skill. Administer an independent assessment to see if the students have indeed learned the skill, and focus on growth in the Scaled Score when viewing STAR Early Literacy data. 26

33 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs The teacher will form small groups with these students to reinforce matching and recognizing vowel sounds. Monitor Progress Teachers can administer STAR Early Literacy on a frequent basis to monitor student and class growth in early literacy skill development. If you choose to monitor progress, view the Progress Monitoring Report (available in the Renaissance Place edition) or the Growth Report (available in the Renaissance Place and desktop editions) to view student results. The Progress Monitoring Report graphs scores for every test taken during the year for either an individual student or the whole class. These scores can be plotted against literacy classifications (emergent reader, transitional reader, probable reader) or risk categories (low risk, some risk, at risk). The sample report on page 28 shows literacy classifications. See the Identify At-Risk Students section on page 29 for a sample report that shows risk categories. The Growth Report also allows you to view growth over time, but the scores are not graphed, and are limited to two testing ranges at a time. 27

34 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Progress Monitoring Report (literacy classifications) Mrs. Rowley s kindergarten students are almost transitional readers, on average, at the end of the school year. 28

35 Align STAR Early Literacy with Your Needs Identify At-Risk Students Also use the Progress Monitoring Report to identify students who may be at risk for reading failure. Graph student scores against risk categories to easily see which students may require additional help with learning the skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy. Keep in mind: The risk categories should not be used alone to make determinations about student development; rather, teachers should rely on them for guidance only and use them as one of several tools when evaluating students. Progress Monitoring Report (risk categories) With a Scaled Score of 696 in June, Maria is at low risk for reading failure. 29

36 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide See the Whole Picture Summary Report Ever wonder how all of your students are doing on a regular basis? Don t have the time to check in with each student individually? STAR Early Literacy can provide you with a status of your students early literacy skill development after each assessment. Below is an example of the Summary Report, which includes an overview of assessment data for a whole class. After each test, consult the Summary Report for your students scores and literacy classifications (emergent reader, transitional reader, probable reader). Probable readers may be ready to take a STAR Reading assessment. See the Connect STAR Early Literacy with STAR Reading section on page 33 for more information. Two students are probable readers and may be ready to take a STAR Reading assessment. Estimated Oral Reading Fluency data will be available in fall 2008 for grades

37 Look Ahead

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39 Look Ahead Connect STAR Early Literacy with STAR Reading Next Steps When STAR Early Literacy identifies students as Probable Readers, they likely have the 100-word reading vocabulary necessary to take a STAR Reading assessment. However, also consider your judgment and other determining factors before advancing students to STAR Reading assessments. Remember, when students move on to STAR Reading, they don t have to stop taking STAR Early Literacy assessments. The two assessments often go hand-in-hand in the classroom. For example, you could use both assessments with students if they: Need to have skill weaknesses identified. STAR Reading does not provide diagnostic information, making it difficult to identify skills that students haven t mastered. Are reading, but still need to master early literacy skills. For example, some students might struggle with phonics skills, and have primarily relied on learning words by sight. Identifying and focusing on this early literacy skill gap could help the students succeed on future assessments. Reflect on your testing goals. If necessary, fine-tune or redevelop your goals to make the greatest impact on student learning. Develop lessons to strengthen student skills. After you ve identified which skills to target, develop lessons around those skills that include opportunities for students to practice. Create your own lessons, refer to your curricular materials, or take advantage of Power Lessons developed by Renaissance Learning (examples start on page 54). Connect with parents. Use the Parent Report to facilitate discussions at parent/teacher conferences. A Spanish version of the Parent Report is available in the Renaissance Place edition of STAR Early Literacy. Improve communication with administrators. Refer to reports that align with your testing purpose to help inform decisions about student learning. Talk with other teachers who use STAR Early Literacy. Discuss report interpretation, instructional techniques, or intervention strategies with your colleagues. 33

40 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Resources Manuals If using the Renaissance Place edition of STAR Early Literacy, click Resources under the STAR Early Literacy tab on the Home page to access the manuals. Desktop edition users can find the manuals in the folder that contains the STAR Early Literacy program on their computers. Software manual. General information about the software, and step-by-step instructions for performing every function. Technical manual. Psychometric information about STAR Early Literacy s development, reliability, and validity. Additional resources in Renaissance Place Click Resources under the STAR Early Literacy tab on the Home page to access the resources listed below. Benchmarks. Guidelines for identifying students who may require special help with developing the early literacy skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy. The benchmarks can also be found on page 51. Definitions. Brief explanation of STAR Early Literacy test scores and other definitions. Software tips. Helpful hints to get you started using the program. Power Lessons Power Lessons help you deliver just the right amount of instruction for a reading skill, and include opportunities for students to practice the featured skill. The appendix includes several Power Lessons for your use. To order complete sets of Power Lessons, visit our website: Online knowledge base Search the Renaissance Learning Knowledge Base on the Web at for technical support information. Other teachers Often, other teachers who use STAR Early Literacy become valuable resources when you re beginning to implement the program. Be sure to identify teachers in your school who use STAR Early Literacy, and consult them if possible. As a group, begin to develop a mentor program or support team for your school. 34

41 Appendix

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43 Instructions for Common Software Tasks Renaissance Place Version Identify Students User Names and Passwords 1. Click Reports in the STAR Early Literacy task list on the Home page. 2. Under Other Reports, select Student Information. 3. Select options and click View Report. 4. STAR Early Literacy will generate the report. Use the icons above the report to save or print the report. Set Testing Option Preferences 1. Click Preferences in the STAR Early Literacy task list on the Home page. 2. Click Testing Options. 3. Click Once, Never or Always to determine when the demonstration video will be shown to students. 4. Click Until Passed, Never, or Always to determine when the hands-on exercise will be presented to the students before the test. 5. Click Keyboard or Mouse to determine if students will use the keyboard or the mouse to enter test answers. 6. Click Save. Set Monitor Password Preference 1. Click Preferences in the STAR Early Literacy task list on the Home page. 2. Click Testing Password. 3. Check the Monitor box if you want the test monitor to enter a password before a student can start a test. 4. If requiring a password, you can replace the default password with one of your choice. 5. Click Save Selection. Stop a Student Test 1. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or control+a (Macintosh). 2. Click Yes to confirm stopping the test. 3. Enter the monitor password and click OK. Log in to STAR Early Literacy as a Student and Take a Test 1. On the Welcome page, click Student. 2. Enter a user name and password. 3. Under STAR Early Literacy, click Take a Test. 4. Stop the test by pressing Ctrl+A (Windows) or control+a (Macintosh). View or Print Reports 1. Click Reports in the STAR Early Literacy task list on the Home page. 2. Click the name of the report you wish to view or print. 3. Select options and click View Report. 4. STAR Early Literacy will generate the report. Use the icons above the report to save or print the report. 37

44 Instructions for Common Software Tasks Desktop Version Log in to the STAR Early Literacy Management Application 1. Open the management application. 2. Enter your password and click OK. Identify Students User Names and Passwords 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Reports. 2. Click Student Detail. 3. Click Custom to launch the Report Wizard or Assistant. Be sure to check the Show Password box when completing the Report Wizard or Assistant instructions. 4. Click Finish. 5. Click Preview or Print. Stop a Student Test 1. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or control+a (Macintosh). 2. Click Yes to confirm stopping the test. 3. Enter the monitor password and click OK. View or Print Reports 1. Begin at the School screen, click Reports, and select a report. 2. Click Custom to launch the Report Wizard or Assistant, and complete the instructions to customize the report. 3. Click Finish. 4. Click Preview or Print. Log in with an administrator password to perform the following tasks. Add Classes 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Classes. 2. Click Add. 3. Enter the class name and password. 4. Click Assign Teacher to assign a teacher to the class. 5. Select a teacher from the list or click New to add a new teacher. 6. Click OK. Add Students 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Students. 2. Click Add. 3. Enter the first and last name, grade, date of birth, and password (other information is optional). 4. Click the Characteristics tab to select optional characteristics. (To add characteristics, go to Preferences, double-click Student Characteristics, and type characteristic names.) 5. Click OK. 38

45 Instructions for Common Software Tasks Enroll Students If enrolling students in your class, you do not need to log in with an administrator password. 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Classes. 2. Select the class in which to enroll students. 3. Click Enroll. 4. Select students to enroll in the class. Click Add >> to add individual students or Add All >> to add all students. 5. Click OK. Set Preference for Monitor Password 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Preferences. 2. Double-click Testing Password to set password preferences. 3. Click OK. Set Preference for Student Answer Input 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Preferences. 2. Double-click Student Answer Input to set preference for mouse or keyboard. 3. Click OK. Set Preference for Pretest Instructions and Keyboard or Mouse Training 1. Begin at the School screen, and click Preferences. 2. Double-click Pretest Instructions and Keyboard or Mouse Training to set preferences. 3. Click OK. 39

46 Student Diagnostic Report Printed June 10, :32 AM School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/4/2007 6/13/2008 ( School Year) Report Options Group By: Class Sort By: ID Robert Estada ID: ROESTADA Domain Score Range Grade: K Domain Class: Mrs. Rowley s Class General Readiness x Teacher: Rowley, Cheri Graphophonemic Knowledge x Student s Age (yrs): 6.3 Phonemic Awareness x Test Date: 06/09/2008 Comprehension x Scaled Score: 533 Phonics x Literacy Classification: Emergent Reader Vocabulary x Est. ORFa: Structural Analysis x Skill Sets within Each Literacy Domain Skill Score Range Skill Score Range General Readiness Phonics Comparing word length (written) x Matching and recognizing long x Recognizing position words x vowel sounds Differentiating letters x Matching and recognizing short x Differentiating words from letters x vowel sounds Matching numbers and objects x Identifying beginning consonant x Differentiating word pairs x sounds Identifying word boundaries x Identifying ending consonant x Differentiating shapes x sounds Completing sequences x Replacing beginning and ending x consonants Graphophonemic Knowledge Replacing vowels x Matching upper- and lowercase x Identifying medial short vowels x letters Identifying medial long vowels x Recognizing alphabetic x Matching sounds within word x sequence families Naming letters x Identifying consonant blends x Recognizing letter sounds x Identifying consonant digraphs x Using alphabetical order x Substituting consonant sounds x Phonemic Awareness Vocabulary Identifying rhyming words x Matching words and pictures x Blending word parts x Recognizing synonyms x Blending phonemes x Recognizing antonyms x Discriminating beginning and x ending sounds Structural Analysis Comparing word length (oral) x Finding words x Identifying missing sounds x Building words x Comprehension Reading and understanding words Reading and completing sentences Reading and understanding paragraphs x x x Identifying compound words x aest. ORF: Estimated Oral Reading Fluency. Correlation study in progress. No data currently available. 40

47 Score Distribution Report Printed June 10, :20 AM 1 of 1 School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/4/2007 6/13/2008 ( School Year) Class: Mrs. Rowley s Class Teacher: Rowley, Cheri Domain Scores Domain Score Range Domain General Readiness Graphophonemic Knowledge Phonemic Awareness Comprehension Phonics Vocabulary Structural Analysis Skill Sets within Each Literacy Domain Skill Score Range Skill Score Range General Readiness Phonics Comparing word length (written) Matching and recognizing long Recognizing position words vowel sounds Differentiating letters Matching and recognizing short Differentiating words from letters vowel sounds Matching numbers and objects Identifying beginning consonant Differentiating word pairs sounds Identifying word boundaries Identifying ending consonant Differentiating shapes sounds Completing sequences Replacing beginning and ending consonants Graphophonemic Knowledge Replacing vowels Matching upper- and lowercase Identifying medial short vowels letters Identifying medial long vowels Recognizing alphabetic Matching sounds within word sequence families Naming letters Identifying consonant blends Recognizing letter sounds Identifying consonant digraphs Using alphabetical order Substituting consonant sounds Phonemic Awareness Vocabulary Identifying rhyming words Matching words and pictures Blending word parts Recognizing synonyms Blending phonemes Recognizing antonyms Discriminating beginning and ending sounds Structural Analysis Comparing word length (oral) Finding words Identifying missing sounds Building words Comprehension Reading and understanding words Reading and completing sentences Reading and understanding paragraphs Identifying compound words This report shows the number of students whose scores fall within each Domain or Skill Score Range. 41

48 Class Diagnostic Report Printed June 10, :40 AM 1 of 7 School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/4/2007 6/13/2008 ( School Year) Report Options Range By: Weaknesses and Strengths Class: Mrs. Rowley s Class Teacher: Rowley, Cheri Domain Scores Domain Score Range Domain General Readiness Graphophonemic Knowledge Phonemic Awareness Comprehension Phonics Vocabulary Structural Analysis Skill Sets within Each Literacy Domain General Readiness Skills Skill Score Range Number of Students Comparing word length (written) Recognizing position words Differentiating letters Student Donahue, Ashley; Estada, Robert; Jones, Tom; Kruegar, Brendan; North, Stephanie; Armstrong, Evan; Brunner, Kathy; Garcia, Maria; Hill, Jeffrey; Miller, Lynn; Morales, Rebecca; Pulido, Luis; Schumann, Pamela; Smith, Debra; Turner, Kenneth; Kruegar, Brendan; Donahue, Ashley; Armstrong, Evan; Estada, Robert; Jones, Tom; North, Stephanie; Smith, Debra; Brunner, Kathy; Garcia, Maria; Hill, Jeffrey; Miller, Lynn; Morales, Rebecca; Pulido, Luis; Schumann, Pamela; Turner, Kenneth; Differentiating words from letters Donahue, Ashley; Jones, Tom; Kruegar, Brendan; North, Stephanie; Armstrong, Evan; Brunner, Kathy; Estada, Robert; Garcia, Maria; Hill, Jeffrey; Miller, Lynn; Morales, Rebecca; Pulido, Luis; Schumann, Pamela; Smith, Debra; Turner, Kenneth; Donahue, Ashley; Kruegar, Brendan; Miller, Lynn; Armstrong, Evan; Brunner, Kathy; Estada, Robert; Garcia, Maria; Hill, Jeffrey; Jones, Tom; Morales, Rebecca; North, Stephanie; Pulido, Luis; Schumann, Pamela; Smith, Debra; Turner, Kenneth; 42

49 Progress Monitoring Report Printed Monday, June 16, :14:02AM School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/04/2007-6/13/2008 Report Options Reporting Parameter Group: All Demographics [Default] Group by: Class Comparison: Literacy Skills Classification Class: Mrs. Rowley's K1 Grade: K Teacher: Mrs. Rowley of Probable Reader Scaled Score Transitional Reader Late Emergent Reader 400 Early Emergent Reader 300 Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 School Year Diamonds (blue) show scores for each STAR assessment in the school year. For two or more scores, a trend line (black) is displayed. Literacy Skills Classification levels are shown: Early Emergent, Late Emergent, Transitional, and Proabable Reader. For additional information, see STAR Early Literacy Technical Manual, found in the software. Number of Scaled Literacy Domain Scores Test Date Range Students GP Score GR GK PA CO PH VO SA 1 9/13/07-9/17/ /14/07-11/16/ /11/08-3/13/ /6/08-6/10/ GP: Grade Placement GR: General Readiness GK: Graphophonemic Knowledge PA: Phonemic Awareness CO: Comprehension PH: Phonics VO: Vocabulary SA: Structural Analysis 43

50 Progress Monitoring Report Printed Monday, June 16, :14:02AM School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/04/2007-6/13/2008 Report Options Group by: Student Comparison: Risk Categories 1 of 1 Maria Garcia Grade: K ID: MGARCIA Teacher: Mrs. Rowley Class: Mrs. Rowley's K Scaled Score Sep-07 Oct-07 Nov-07 Dec-07 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 School Year Diamonds (blue) show scores for each STAR assessment in the school year. For two or more scores, a trend line (black) is displayed. The graph is separated into At Risk, Some Risk, and Low Risk for acquiring reading skills. For additional information, see STAR Early Literacy Technical Manual, found in the software. Literacy Domain Scores Test Test Date GP Age Scaled Score GR GK PA CO PH VO SA 1 09/13/ /15/ /12/ /09/ GP: Grade Placement GR: General Readiness GK: Graphophonemic Knowledge PA: Phonemic Awareness CO: Comprehension PH: Phonics VO: Vocabulary SA: Structural Analysis

51 Summary Report Printed June 10, :14 AM School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/4/2007-6/13/2008 ( School Year) Report Options Reporting Parameter Group: All Demographics [Default] Group By: Class Sort By: Last Name 1 of 2 Class: Mrs. Rowley s Class Student Age (yrs) Test Date GP SS Est. Literacy Domain Scores ORFa GR GK PA CO PH VO SA Literacy Classification Armstrong, Evan 6.0 6/9/ Transitional Reader Brunner, Kathy 6.3 6/9/ Transitional Reader Donahue, Ashley 5.9 6/9/ Emergent Reader Estada, Robert 6.3 6/9/ Emergent Reader Garcia, Maria 6.4 6/9/ Transitional Reader Hill, Jeffrey 6.5 6/9/ Probable Reader Jones, Tom 5.9 6/9/ Emergent Reader Kruegar, Brendan 6.1 6/9/ Emergent Reader Miller, Lynn 6.2 6/9/ Emergent Reader Morales, Rebecca 6.5 6/9/ Transitional Reader North, Stephanie 6.2 6/9/ Emergent Reader Pulido, Luis 6.7 6/9/ Emergent Reader Schumann, Pamela 6.0 6/9/ Probable Reader Smith, Debra 5.9 6/9/ Emergent Reader Turner, Kenneth 6.1 6/9/ Transitional Reader Score Definitions GP: Grade Placement GR: General Readiness PH: Phonics Emergent Reader: SS SS: Scaled Score GK: Graphophonemic Knowledge VO: Vocabulary Transitional Reader: SS Est. ORF: Estimated Oral PA: Phonemic Awareness SA: Structural Analysis Probable Reader: SS Reading Fluency CO: Comprehension aest. ORF: Estimated Oral Reading Fluency. Correlation study in progress. No data currently available. Historical data included. 45

52 Summary Report Printed June 10, :14 AM School: Oakwood Elementary School Reporting Period: 9/4/2007-6/13/2008 ( School Year) 2 of 2 Class: Mrs. Rowley s Class Literacy Domain Score Distribution Domain Number of Students % of Total Number of Students % of Total Number of Students % of Total Number of Students GR GK PA CO PH VO SA % of Total Summary Scaled Score Literacy Classification Number of Students % of Total Emergent Reader Transitional Reader Probable Reader Number of Students: 15 Score Definitions GP: Grade Placement GR: General Readiness PH: Phonics Emergent Reader: SS SS: Scaled Score GK: Graphophonemic Knowledge VO: Vocabulary Transitional Reader: SS Est. ORF: Estimated Oral PA: Phonemic Awareness SA: Structural Analysis Probable Reader: SS Reading Fluency CO: Comprehension aest. ORF: Estimated Oral Reading Fluency. Correlation study in progress. No data currently available. Historical data included. 46

53 Testing Checklist 47

54 Skills Assessed by STAR Early Literacy General Readiness Domain Word length (written): Ability to identify the longest or shortest word in a set of written words. Position words: Ability to interpret spoken locator words (over, beside, under, in, first, last, etc.). Differentiating letters: Ability to identify, in a set of written letters, which letter is different from the others. Differentiating words from letters: Ability to identify, in a set of letters and words, which is a letter or which is a word. Numbers (oral and print): Ability to count objects, recognize numerals, understand ordinal numbers, and differentiate between numbers and letters. Word pairs: Ability to identify, in a set of two or three written words, whether the two words are the same or different, or which word out of three is different from the others. Word boundaries: Ability to differentiate between words and punctuation or white space in written sentences, and to identify the number of words in the sentence. Differentiating shapes: Ability to identify, in a set of geometric shapes, which shape is different from the others, and to identify simple shapes by name (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, etc.). Completing sequences: Given a simple sequence of objects that forms a pattern, ability to identify the object that comes next in the pattern. Graphophonemic Knowledge Domain Matching upper and lower case letters: Ability to match an upper case letter to a lower case letter, or a lower case letter to an upper case letter. Recognizing alphabetic sequence: Given an alphabetic sequence of two letters, the ability to identify the letter that comes either before or after them in the alphabet. Naming letters: Ability to identify a letter by name. Recognizing letter sounds: Ability to identify a letter by the sound it makes. Using alphabetical order: Ability to identify which word comes first or last in alphabetical order. 48

55 Skills Assessed by STAR Early Literacy Phonemic Awareness Domain Identifying rhyming words: Ability to match two words that rhyme through named pictures, named words, and unnamed words. Blending word parts: Ability to identify the word made by combining spoken parts of one-, two-, and three-syllable words, such as /ta/ and /ble/ to make table. Blending phonemes: Ability to identify the word made by combining individual phonemes (units of sound in the English language), such as /sh/ and /oo/ to make shoe. Discriminating beginning, medial, and ending sounds: Ability to identify, in a set of two or three named pictures, whether the two pictures have the same or different beginning, medial or ending sound, or which picture out of three has a different beginning, medial, or ending sound than the others. Comparing word length (oral): Ability to identify, in a set of three named pictures, which word (picture name) is the longest or shortest. Identifying missing sounds: Ability to listen to two spoken words and then click on the letter that was left out of the first word to make the second word, such as the n in barn versus bar. Comprehension Domain Reading and understanding words: Ability to read words alone and in context, or to listen to a story and identify the word(s) that answer a comprehension question about the story. Reading and completing sentences: Ability to read sentences and to select the word that makes sense in the sentence, or listen to a story and identify the sentence that answers a comprehension question about the story. Reading and understanding paragraphs: Ability to read a paragraph and identify a word or sentence that answers a comprehension question about the paragraph. Phonics Domain Matching and recognizing long vowel sounds: Ability to identify the picture or word that has the same long vowel sound as the target word or, given a long vowel sound, the ability to identify a word that has that sound. Matching and recognizing short vowel sounds: Ability to identify the picture or word that has the same short vowel sound as the target word or, given a short vowel sound, the ability to identify a word that has that sound. Identifying beginning consonant sounds: Ability to identify the picture or word that has the same beginning consonant sound as the target word or, given a consonant sound, the ability to identify a word that begins with that sound. Identifying ending consonant sounds: Ability to identify the picture or word that has the same ending consonant sound as the target word or, given a consonant sound, the ability to identify a word that ends with that sound. 49

56 STAR Early Literacy Teacher s Guide Replacing beginning and ending consonants: Given a named picture or word, the ability to change the first or last letter or letter sound and identify the new word that is made. Replacing vowels: Given a named picture or word, the ability to change the vowel letter or sound and identify the new word that is made. Identifying medial short vowels: Ability to identify the vowel letter in a spoken short vowel sound word. Identifying medial long vowels: Ability to identify the vowel letter in a spoken long vowel sound word. Matching sounds within word families: Given an onset or rhyme sound, the ability to identify a picture or word that contains that sound, such as /wh/ in whale and / ing/ in king. Identifying consonant blends: Ability to identify a picture or word that contains the target consonant blend, such as /sp/ in spoon, or given a word with a consonant blend, the ability to identify the letters that make up the consonant blend sound, such as the sw in swim. Identifying consonant digraphs: Ability to identify a picture or word that contains the target consonant digraph, such as /ch/ in chip, or given a word with a consonant digraph sound, the ability to identify the correct spelling of the word. Substituting consonant sounds: Using named pictures, unnamed pictures, named words, and unnamed words, the ability to substitute beginning or ending consonant sounds in words and identify the new word that is made, such as sounds like skill but ends with /n/ (skin). Vocabulary Domain Matching words and pictures: Ability to match a picture with a spoken highfrequency word, such as door. Recognizing synonyms: Ability to identify the picture or word that means about the same as the target word given alone or in-context within a story. Recognizing antonyms: Ability to identify the picture or word that means the opposite of the target word given alone or in context within a story. Structural Analysis Domain Finding words: Ability to create a new word by combining a word plus another beginning, medial or ending letter, such as ask + m = mask. Building words: Given a rhyme group, such as ape, the ability to identify a word that can be made from that rhyme, such as cape. Identifying compound words: Ability to create or identify the compound word made from two smaller words. 50

57 Grade Month Benchmarks Scaled Score Range of Student Group At Risk Some Risk Low Risk K September January May < 430 < 478 < > 555 > 615 > September January May < 568 < 640 < > 705 > 766 > September January May < 715 < 744 < > 823 > 837 > September January May < 777 < 791 < > 853 > 861 > 868 Benchmarks provide guidelines for identifying students who may require special help with developing the skills assessed by STAR Early Literacy. Benchmarks should not be used alone to make determinations; rather, teachers should rely on them for guidance only and use them as one of several tools when evaluating students. 51

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59 Power Lessons This section includes the following Power Lessons: Power Lesson Literacy Domain Book Recognizing directionality General Emergent Reading Skills (Book 1) Completing sequences Readiness Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Recognizing letter sounds Graphophonemic Emergent Reading Skills (Book 1) Matching upper- and lowercase letters Knowledge Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Identifying rhyming words Discriminating beginning and ending sounds Drawing conclusions Summarizing Matching and recognizing short vowel sounds Beginning, middle, and ending consonants Phonemic Awareness Comprehension Phonics Emergent Reading Skills (Book 1) Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Kindergarten Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Grade 1 Recognizing high-frequency words Emergent Reading Skills (Book 1) Vocabulary Recognizing synonyms Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Finding words Structural Emergent Reading Skills (Book 2) Endings: plurals Analysis Grade 1 Power Lessons for emergent readers span two books: Book 1 is designed for students who have had little literacy experience, and Book 2 moves students with some literacy background from letter recognition and phonemic awareness to letter/sound relationships. The lessons in both books are correlated to the domains and skills assessed in STAR Early Literacy. Additional early literacy and reading skill lessons are included in Power Lesson books for kindergarten and grade 1. Reading skill lessons are available in Power Lesson books for grades 2 8. You may wish to adapt lessons from another level or grade to suit the needs of your students. Also, although Power Lessons may give examples from specific books, you can easily use other books with equal success. 53

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61 Bridge to Writing Place rolled masking tape on the back of students name cards and distribute the cards to students. Create a predictable chart in which the sentences begin with students names. Ask questions to encourage students contributions to the chart, such as, What is your favorite food? Model your own response by placing your name card in the top left corner of the chart and recording the rest of the sentence, for example: Ms. Riley likes raspberries. As students contribute their responses, help them place their nametags in the proper position at the left of the page to begin each new sentence and read from left to right to complete the sentence, for example: Ms. Riley Andrew likes raspberries. likes pizza. Tamora likes vanilla ice cream. Additional Teaching Strategies As you read individually with students, use your hand to guide their finger along the text you are reading. When students seem comfortable with the movement, gently remove your hand and allow them to continue following the text on their own. If students hesitate or stray from the appropriate movement, go back to assisting them without comment so that the movement becomes automatic as quickly as possible. Make duplicate word cards for the words in a key sentence from a current read-aloud book or shared writing. Model reconstructing the sentence, beginning at the left side of a pocket chart. Have volunteers use the duplicate cards to reconstruct a second sentence by matching words, again beginning at the left side of the chart. If students are having difficulty following the sweep from the end of one line to the beginning of another, make a marker by cutting a window in an index card as shown. Draw a bright arrow at the left of the window. As you read a page of text aloud, move the card down the page so that it marks the line of text you are currently reading. Jack and Jill went up the hill

62 Completing Sequences Objective Materials Lesson To help students complete sequences A Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle or other book containing a clear sequence of events; word cards for the days of the week; picture cards with labels for the following words: apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, chocolate cake, ice cream, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, watermelon, leaf; pocket chart 1. Tell students that they are going to play a game about remembering. Place three picture cards in a row in a pocket chart or along a chalk tray. Have students identify the pictures in order from left to right. Have students close their eyes as you take away one picture. Ask, Which picture did I take away? Repeat the procedure several times using different series of pictures. 2. Next, place three pictures in a row, and have students identify the pictures in order. When students are familiar with the order, take away all three pictures. Tell students, Now let s see if we can remember the order the pictures were in. Which picture came first? Which one came next? Which one was last? Repeat in the same manner using different series of pictures. 3. Introduce your chosen book, for example, A Very Hungry Caterpillar. Read through the book once, and briefly discuss the story. Then say, I m going to read the book again. As I m reading, think about and try to remember what the hungry caterpillar eats each day. 4. Hold up the word cards for the days of the week. Ask, On what day does the story start? (Monday) Place the card for Monday in the pocket chart. Then ask, What day comes after Monday? Continue until you have placed the days of the week in order on the chart. 5. Place the picture cards where all students can see them. Ask, Who can remember what the hungry caterpillar ate on Monday? (an apple) Ask a volunteer to find the picture card for apple and place it under the word Monday. Then read the page in the book that confirms the student s choice. Continue the procedure until all of the picture cards have been placed in order under the correct day of the week. 6. Tell students that they can use the words and pictures to retell the story of the very hungry caterpillar. Encourage students to use the pattern, On, he ate, but he was still hungry to retell the story in order. 7. Tell students that paying attention to the order in which they see and hear things will help them as they learn to read

63 Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: What happened first in this story? What happened next? What happened last? Listen while I say this word. What sound do you hear first? What sound do you hear next? What sound do you hear last? (Point out or write two words with the same letters in a different order, such as ten and net.) Look at these two words? Are the letters in the same order? Have students write stories following the sequence of your chosen book. For example, if you are reading A Very Hungry Caterpillar, students might use themselves or choose a different animal as a main character. If your book has repetitive text, have students follow the pattern, for example: On Monday, Manuel ate one taco, but he was still hungry. On Tuesday, Manuel ate two pizzas, but he was still hungry. On Wednesday, Manuel ate three bowls of ice cream, but he was still hungry. Have students illustrate the pages of their stories to create books to share. Additional Teaching Strategies Use a xylophone or keyboard to play a series of three notes. Tell students to listen carefully and try to remember the notes as you repeat the series. Tell students, Now I m going to play some more notes. Tell me if the order of the notes I play is the same as or different from the order I played before. (If you don t have a keyboard available, you may use series of loud and soft claps or drum beats instead.) Teach students hand rhymes or songs that require them to remember a sequence. The song Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, (sung to the tune of There Is a Tavern in the Town ), for example, challenges students not only to remember the words in order, but also to touch each part of the body as they name it. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes. And eyes and ears and mouth and nose. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes

64 Recognizing Letter Sounds Objective Materials Lesson Bridge to Reading To help students associate sounds with letters in the initial position Letter card for the letter whose sound you are introducing; three objects or picture cards showing objects whose names begin with the featured sound; one object or picture card showing an object whose name begins with a different sound 1. Teach one letter sound at a time, beginning with easier consonant sounds, such as s, m, t, d, and p. If you have a student whose name begins with the featured letter sound, say, I m thinking of someone s name. Can you figure out whose name I m about to say? Say only the initial consonant sound, for example, m-m-m-m-m. If you do not have a student whose name begins with the targeted sound, show several picture cards and ask students to figure out which picture name begins with the featured sound. 2. Hold up the letter card for the featured sound, for example, Mm. Ask, What is the name of this letter? Then tell students, I m thinking of someone whose name begins with this letter. Can you figure out whose name it is? If more than one student have names that begin with the featured sound, accept all correct responses. 3. Display four objects or picture cards where all students can see them. Make sure that the names of three of the objects begin with the featured letter sound, for example, mouse, moon, and monkey, and one begins with a different sound, for example, sun. Review the names of the objects with students. 4. Hold up the letter card again and ask, Who can find a picture whose name begins with the letter m? Confirm students choices by saying, Yes, m-m-m-ouse begins with the letter m. 5. Write mouse, moon, and monkey on the board or chart paper. Repeat the words, emphasizing the initial /m/ sound. Circle the m in each word. Tell students, The letter m stands for the /m/ sound at the beginning of each of these words. 6. Ask students to suggest other words that begin with the /m/ sound. Write the words on the board and circle the letter m. Tell students, Knowing the sounds that letters stand for will help you learn to read and write new words. To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: Can you find any words that begin with the letter m? What sound does the letter m stand for? Can you think of any other words that begin with the letter m? 58 44

65 Bridge to Writing Encourage students to make up collaborative tongue twisters. Read aloud Dr. Suess s ABC or another book that contains alliterative phrases or tongue twisters. On the board or chart paper, write a phrase from the book that contains the featured letter, for example: M any m umbling m ice are m aking m idnight m usic in the m oonlight. Circle the initial m in each word, and point out that the sentences or phrases in the book contain lots of words that begin with the same letter sound. Have students brainstorm a list of other words that begin with the letter m. Then help students use the words to create silly tongue twisters. Record the tongue twisters on chart paper and reread the list with students regularly. Additional Teaching Strategies Read aloud an alphabet book that contains several words beginning with your featured letter, such as Alligator Arrived with Apples: A Potluck Alphabet Feast by Crescent Dragonwing. Encourage students to search through the book for words beginning with the targeted letter. If students point out words in which the targeted letter is part of a digraph, such as shark for the letter s, congratulate students on recognizing the letter and explain that some letters make different sounds when they are combined with other letters. When students have learned two or more letter-sound correspondences, provide them with two sets of picture cards, half of which show objects whose names begin with one letter sound, and half of which show objects whose names begin with a different letter sound. Write the letters on the tops of two large clothespins or clips. Encourage students to sort the picture cards by beginning letter sounds and clip them together with the appropriate clothespin. Print a large M (or other targeted letter) on a beanbag or rubber ball. Have students sit in a small circle. Tell students that you are going to roll the M ball to one of them. As soon as that student catches the ball, he or she is to say a word that begins with the letter m. Then that student rolls the ball to another student. Continue the game until each student has had a chance to catch the ball and give a word

66 Matching Upper- and Lowercase Letters Objective Materials Lesson To help students recognize and match upper- and lowercase letters Any book that contains illustrations showing upper- and lowercase letters in environmental print, such as I Read Signs by Tana Hoban; two large stop signs cut from poster board or construction paper, one with STOP printed in uppercase letters, the other with stop printed in lowercase letters; letter cards for upper- and lowercase letters 1. Invite students to play a movement game with you. Tell them, When I say go, I want you to jump up and down as fast as you can. Keep jumping until I hold up this sign. As soon as you see the sign, freeze. Shout Go! and allow students to jump for a few seconds. Then hold up the sign with STOP printed in uppercase letters. Repeat the activity several times. Then, without mentioning the change to students, hold up the sign with stop printed in lowercase letters instead of the one with uppercase letters. STOP stop 2. If students notice the change in signs, confirm their observation. Hold up each sign and ask, Does this sign say stop? Does this one? Yes, both signs say stop. 3. Hold up the sign with the uppercase letters. Have students join in as you point to and name each letter, for example, S... t... o... p... stop. Repeat the procedure with the sign showing lowercase letters. Point to each lowercase letter again, and have volunteers point to the corresponding uppercase letters on the other sign. 4. Place the letter cards for s, t, o, p, and several other lowercase letters in a pocket chart or along a chalk tray. Introduce I Read Signs. Then turn to the page showing the stop sign. Ask, Can you find the lowercase letters that match the letters you see in this sign? Have volunteers point out and name the letters in order. 5. Repeat the procedure, using other words found on signs in the book, such as EXIT, TAXI, or DANGER. Use the same procedure to have students match upper- and lowercase letters in words found around the classroom or in students names

67 Bridge to Reading To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: (Point to a letter, for example, A.) This is an uppercase (or capital) a. Can you find another a on this page? Is that a an uppercase (capital) a or a lowercase (small) a? What letter does your name start with? Can you find any of those letters on this page? Do the lowercase a and the uppercase A look the same or different? How are they different? Bridge to Writing Have students make labels and signs to post around the room, such as reading corner or Please keep the door closed. As they make their signs, reinforce letter names and compliment students on their letter formations. (Note, however, that most students writing in the emergent writing stage will include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. It is not necessary to correct students use of different cases at this point.) When appropriate, you may also wish to discuss basic conventions for using upper- and lowercase letters, for example: We always begin a sentence with a capital letter, so let s start the word Please with a capital P. I see you used a capital G at the beginning of George the Gerbil s name. Good job. You remembered that the names of people and pets start with a capital letter. Nicely done! You remembered which way the tail swings on a small g! Additional Teaching Strategies Make sure that each letter of the alphabet is represented in signs, labels, or other print around the room. Give small groups of students 5 x 5 grids with uppercase letters written in each square. (If most of the environmental print in your room is in uppercase letters, use lowercase letters in the grid.) Have the groups search the room to find words that contain each letter, and write the words in the appropriate squares. Use nail polish or a Sharpie pen to print the uppercase forms of letters on a large cookie sheet. Provide lowercase magnetic letters and have students match the lower- and uppercase letters

68 Identifying Rhyming Words Objective Materials Lesson To help students recognize rhyming words Down by the Bay by Raffi, or the words to the song Down by the Bay (see below) printed on chart paper; picture cards for the rhyming words in the version of the song you are using, for example, moose, goose, fly, tie. (If you are using the book Down by the Bay, you may choose to use illustrations from the book in place of picture cards.) 1. If you do not have a copy of Down by the Bay, print the following words to the song on chart paper. You may choose to substitute verses containing rhyming words that are particularly appropriate for your class. Down by the bay where the watermelon grow Back to my home I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, Did you ever see a goose kissing a moose? Down by the bay. Down by the bay where the watermelon grow Back to my home I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, Did you ever see a fly wearing a tie? Down by the bay. Down by the bay where the watermelon grow Back to my home I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, Did you ever see a whale with a polka-dot tail? Down by the bay. Down by the bay where the watermelon grow Back to my home I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, Did you ever see a bear combing his hair? Down by the bay. 2. Repeat the song several times. As you come to each rhyming word, point out the illustration in the book or hold up the appropriate picture card, and encourage students to chime in with the rhyming word. 3. Hold up picture cards for two rhyming words, for example, fly and tie. Ask students to listen as you say the words slowly. Tell students, When two words, like fly and tie, have the same sound at the end, we say that the words rhyme. Can you think of any other words that rhyme with fly and tie? (bye, cry, die, hi, lie, my, pie, sky, why) 62 24

69 4. Tell students, I m going to use some of these words to make up a new verse for our song. Repeat a verse of the song, using two of the words that students have listed, for example, Down by the bay where the watermelon grow Back to my home I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, Did you ever see a pie way up in the sky? Down by the bay. 5. Ask, Can you think of some other silly rhymes for our song? Record students suggestions on chart paper, and encourage students to sing along with you as you incorporate the new rhyming phrases into the song. 6. Tell students that listening for rhymes in stories and songs will make them more fun to read and listen to. Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: (Read aloud a section of a story or poem that contains rhyming text.) Listen while I read a bit of this story aloud. Did you hear any rhyming words? What were they? Do you know any other words that rhyme with these words? What are they? (Point to a picture, such as a cat.) What is this? What are some other words that rhyme with cat? As students dictate new verses to Down by the Bay record their suggestions on sheets of drawing paper. Have students illustrate their verses. Then bind the sheets together to create a class big book. Additional Teaching Strategies Reread the following line from Down by the Bay, emphasizing the two rhyming words: Did you ever see a moose kissing a goose? Replace the word moose with a different animal name, such as dog, and challenge students to complete the rhyme. Accept all suggestions that rhyme, no matter how silly the sentence becomes (the silliness is part of the fun). Continue the procedure, using different rhyming words, for example: Did you ever see a dog kissing a? (hog, log) Did you ever see a pig kissing a? (fig, twig, wig) Did you ever see a cat kissing a? (bat, hat, mat, rat) Say the word head and have students put their hands on their heads. Tell students, I m going to say some words. If you hear a word that rhymes with head, put your hands on your head. If the word does not rhyme with head, leave your hands in your lap. Some possible rhyming words include: bed led bread red dead shed fed spread You may wish to repeat the activity, using words that rhyme with knee or eye. Have students point to the appropriate body parts each time they hear a rhyming word

70 Discriminating Beginning and Ending Sounds Objective Materials Lesson To help students discriminate between beginning and ending sounds The Hungry Monster by Phyllis Root; large cardboard box, scissors, and markers; several objects or pictures whose names begin with the featured sound, such as toothbrush, a top, a toy truck, and tape; several objects whose names do not begin with the featured sound, such as a penny, a comb, a spoon, and a ball 1. Before the lesson, use an empty cardboard box to create a Hungry Monster. Tape the top of the box closed, and cut a large hole in the top for the monster s mouth. Use markers to draw the rest of the face. 2. Teach initial sounds and ending sounds separately. Choose one consonant sound to teach at a time, for example, the sound for /t/. Place the objects or picture cards where all students can see them. 3. Read aloud The Hungry Monster. When you have finished the book, briefly discuss the various things the monster tried to eat and his response ( Yuck! or Yum! Yum! Yum! ) Ask, What would you do if you found a hungry monster right in this room? 4. Introduce your Hungry Monster. Tell students, This hungry monster is a little different from the one in the book. This monster will only eat things that begin with the /t/ sound. 5. Point out the objects or picture cards and identify each one. Hold up an item whose name begins with the /t/ sound, for example, a toothbrush. Ask, Do you think the Hungry Monster would like to eat a t-t-t-toothbrush? Let s try it and see! Drop the toothbrush into the monster s mouth on the box. Then, in your best monster voice, shout, Yum! Yum! Yum! 6. Next, choose an object whose name does not begin with t, such as a penny. Say, Maybe the Hungry Monster would like to eat a p-p-ppenny. As you begin to put the penny in the monster s mouth, shout Yuck! Take the penny back out and say, Whoops. I forgot. The Hungry Monster only likes things that begin with the /t/ sound! 7. Have students take turns choosing objects or pictures to feed the monster. Encourage the rest of the class to respond with Yum! Yum! Yum! for each correct food and Yuck for each food that does not begin with the sound of /t/. 8. When students are comfortable distinguishing between initial consonant sounds, follow the same procedure using objects or pictures whose names end with the same consonant sound, such as cat, boot, kite, and 64 20

71 Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing Additional Teaching Strategies nut. To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: (Read aloud a sentence containing a word that begins with the featured sound.) Did you hear a word that begins with the /t/ sound? Which word? What sound does your name begin with? Can you think of any other words that begin with the same sound? What are they? Do you hear the /t/ sound at the beginning or at the end of this word? Have students help you write a patterned story about a hungry monster. Begin the story by writing: The Hungry Monster only ate things that began like tea. He ate tacos, but he would not eat burritos. He ate trucks, but he would not eat cars. He ate televisions, but he would not radios. Encourage students to contribute sentences to the story. After you have read through and discussed the completed story, you may wish to make word or picture cards for several of the underlined words. Suggest that students sort the cards to make a group showing words or pictures whose names begin with the /t/ sound. Have students cut pictures from magazines and paste them on a paper plate to make a dinner of foods that the monster would like. Remind students to include only items that begin (or end) with the featured sound. Play a cumulative memory game. Have students sit in a circle. Begin the game by saying, My hungry monster likes to eat tomatoes. Then have the first student repeat the item and add another that begins with the /t/ sound, for example, My hungry monster likes to eat tomatoes and tires. The next student might add, My hungry monster likes to eat tomatoes, tires, and tennis balls. Continue until students run out of appropriate suggestions

72 Drawing Conclusions Objective Materials Lesson To help students increase their comprehension by drawing conclusions Any picture book, such as Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy Shaw; a large photograph or magazine illustration that shows emotion 1. Show students the picture you selected. Ask, How do you think the person (group) is feeling in this picture? Why do you think the person in the picture is feeling that way? Encourage students to draw as many conclusions as they can. Then say, I didn t tell you how this person is feeling. There are no words that tell you what the person was feeling. You used clues from the picture and your own thinking to tell me about this picture. 2. Tell students that authors do not always tell readers everything they need to know in the words. Sometimes readers need to read the words, look at clues in the pictures, and use their own thinking to figure out what is happening. 3. Read your chosen story aloud until you come to a part in which readers must examine the illustrations in order to draw conclusions. For example, if reading Sheep Take a Hike you might pause when you come to this text: Sheep stomp into a swamp. Moosh! Goosh! Boggy tracks! Yuck! Muck! Soggy backs! Blub! Blub! Sloppy packs! Glub! Glub! Gloppy snacks! Ask, Are the sheep having fun swimming in this swamp? Are they happy to be cooling off? (No, they are surprised, frustrated, and frightened.) 4. Then ask, How do you know how the sheep are feeling? Possible student responses might be: I looked at the pictures. (The sheep aren t looking as they land in the swamp. Their faces show confusion and emotion.) This has happened to me before. (I ve been lost. I ve walked into a mucky area.) The author uses words like yuck and gloppy snacks. 5. Remind students that the author did not say, The sheep were frustrated and unhappy. Say, You figured that out by looking at the pictures, listening to the words, and thinking about what you know. 6. Continue reading, pausing to have students draw conclusions when appropriate. Tell them this is a strategy that all good readers use to make sense of what they are reading

73 Bridge to Reading To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: What just happened in this story? How do you think the characters feel? The author didn t tell you that. How did you figure it out? Bridge to Writing Tell students that writers know that showing how a character feels instead of telling how a character feels makes a far more interesting story. Demonstrate the difference for students. Write Sara was sad on the blackboard. Say, I am telling how a character feels. Now I will show you how the character feels. Write: Sara s shoulders drooped. She kneeled down to pick up the broken balloon. A tear trickled from her eye. Point out that you didn t tell them how Sara is feeling, but they know. Provide practice in showing not telling. Write Sara was happy on the board. Have students give you sentences that describe Sara as happy. As you record students suggestions, remind them that showing their readers how happy Sara is rather than just telling them that she is happy makes their writing more interesting and fun to read. Additional Teaching Strategies Use wordless picture books or comic strips to give students practice in drawing conclusions. Ask, What is happening? How is the character feeling? How do you know? Write two or three sentences that indicate something happened. For example: The window was open. There was water on the windowsill. What happened? In some instances, there may be more than one good conclusion drawn. For example, It rained or The lawn sprinkler was on outside the window would both be logical conclusions. Let students know that good readers use what they know to make good predictions even though the predictions may not be right every time

74 Summarizing Objective Materials Lesson To help students retell story events Any story with a simple, straightforward plot that can be read in one sitting, such as No, No, Titus! by Shari Halpern (1.5) 1. Ask students to recall a familiar nursery tale, for example, The Three Little Pigs. Have one or two volunteers retell the story in their own words. Point out the important information each student includes in each retelling, for example: The names of the characters The characters problem What the characters did to solve their problem 2. Read aloud your chosen book, for example, No, No, Titus! Ask, What is this book about? (a dog who tries to figure out what his job is on a farm) 3. Ask questions that lead students to add specific information to their retelling, for example: Who is the story about? (Titus, the dog) Titus has a problem. What is it? (He doesn t know what his job is.) What does Titus do to solve his problem? (He tries lots of different jobs.) How does Titus solve his problem? (He chases a fox away from the henhouse.) 4. Draw three boxes on the board as shown. Tell students that you are going to draw a picture of what happens in the story. As students retell the story, draw simple pictures to record the story events in the appropriate boxes. BEGINNING MIDDLE END 68 38

75 5. Tell students that thinking about story events and retelling stories will help them remember and enjoy the stories they hear and read. Status of the Class Follow-Up Added Practice Use the following questions to discuss books that students have read or have had read to them. As you take the Status of the Class, ask, What is this story about? Who is the story about? Does the character in the story have a problem? What is it? How does the character try to solve the problem? What happens at the end of the story? Draw or copy pictures of the main characters in a recent Read To book. Glue the pictures to cardboard, cut them out, and tape them onto craft sticks to make puppets. Encourage students to use the puppets to act out the story. Whenever you speak with a student about a picture he has drawn, ask, What s the story of this picture? Ask questions such as the ones suggested in this lesson to encourage students to tell a complete story. Have students draw pictures showing what happens in a favorite book that they would like to recommend to others. Encourage students to share their pictures and retellings of the stories with their classmates

76 Matching and Recognizing Short Vowel Sounds Objective Materials Lesson To help students recognize and match short vowel sounds Any book that features words with the short vowel sound you wish to teach, such as An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni; an object whose name begins with the featured sound (preferably one related in some way to the theme of the book), such as a hard-boiled egg for the short / ĕ / sound 1. Read aloud and briefly discuss your chosen book. Then hold up the related object, for example, an egg, and ask, What is this? Confirm students responses by repeating the object s name, emphasizing the beginning vowel sound: Yes, it s an e-e-e-egg. 2. Have students repeat the word e-e-e-egg as they pass the egg to each other. Ask, What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word egg? (/ ĕ /) Can you think of any other words that begin with the same sound? If necessary, give students hints to spark their thinking, for example, I know a word. It s the name of something that has a long trunk. (elephant) Record students suggestions on the board. 3. Draw a large egg on the board. Print the word egg inside the outline and read the word aloud. Underline the letter e in egg. Tell students, The letter e stands for the / ĕ / sound in egg. Have volunteers underline the letter e in the other words on the board. egg 4. Tell students that the / ĕ / sound at the beginning of egg is called the short e sound. Explain that the / ĕ / sound can be found in the middle of words as well as the beginning. Have students listen to and repeat a list of words, such as get, men, tell, went, bed. 5. Tell students, I m going to write some words in my egg, but I m only going to write words that have the / ĕ / sound. Listen while I say two words. Raise your hand if you can tell me which word has the / ĕ / sound. Repeat the following pairs of words and record appropriate responses inside the egg outline on the board. Then ask volunteers to underline the e in each word in the egg. get/got white/wet bed/bad pet/pit man/men sled/slide bug/beg step/stop 6. Tell students that knowing the sounds that letters stand for will help them read and write new words

77 Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: Can you find any words that have the / ă / sound in them? (Point to a CVC word with the featured vowel sound.) Let s say these words together. What sound do you hear in the middle of these words? What letter makes that sound in this word? Create a predictable chart that features words with the targeted short vowel sound. Tell students, Let s pretend we have an extraordinary egg. It s extraordinary because the only things that can come out of it are things whose names have the / ĕ / sound in them. What kinds of things might be in my egg? As you record students responses on chart paper, underline their suggested words and trace the featured vowels in a different color, for example: My extraordinary egg has an elephant inside. My extraordinary egg has a hen inside. My extraordinary egg has a nest inside. My extraordinary egg has an elevator inside. Additional Teaching Strategies Use a variation of the singing game One Elephant to reinforce short vowel sounds. Have students stand in a circle. Give one student the elephant a letter card for the featured letter and have him or her stand in the middle of the circle. Teach students the following song: One elephant went out to play Upon a spider s web one day. He had such enormous fun That he called for another short e to come. The elephant chooses another student, who must say a word with the / ĕ / sound before joining the first elephant in the circle. Repeat the verse, this time having the second elephant choose a student to join them. Hold a Name That Egg contest. Have students suggest names that begin with the short / ĕ / sound. Record students suggestions, and then have them vote their preference by writing the name on a slip of paper. Use the slips to create a name graph as shown. Emily Emily Ed Egbert Emily Elvira Esmerelda Ed 35 71

78 Objective Materials Lesson Beginning, Middle, and Ending Consonants To help students associate consonants with their sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions Any book you have recently read to students that contains words with the consonant you wish to teach, such as The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall (1.9) 1. Choose one consonant to teach at a time. Play a game of I Spy with students. Say, I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the /p/ sound. Have students look around the room and suggest objects whose names begin with the /p/ sound. Repeat the game, using initial (paint), medial, (computer), and final (map) consonant sounds. 2. Write on the board and read aloud a sentence from your Read To book containing words with your chosen consonant, for example this one from The Apple Pie Tree: Mom and Dad help us peel the apples, cut them up, and pile them into a pie shell. 3. Underline the words beginning with the letter p. Have students help you read the words aloud and ask, What sound do you hear at the beginning of each of these words? (/p/) Point out that the letter p stands for the /p/ sound at the beginning of each word. 4. Repeat the same procedure, using words that end with p and that have p in the middle, for example, up and apple. Write the words on the board and ask, Where do you hear the sound /p/ in this word? What letter stands for that sound? 5. On the board, draw a large picture of an item that represents the letter you are teaching. If possible, choose an item that relates to the subject of your Read To book. For example, if you are teaching the letter p and reading The Apple Pie Tree, you might choose a pie for beginning p words or an apple for medial p. Write the name of the item inside the graphic and ask students to brainstorm other words in which the consonant appears in the same position in the word. happy open apple Papa appear 6. Tell students that they can use the sounds of 72 68

79 the letters they see at the beginning, the middle, and end of words to help them read new words. Status of the Class Follow-Up Added Practice Use the following questions to discuss books that students have read or have had read to them. As you take the Status of the Class, ask: Can you find any words that have the letter p (or other consonant) in them? What sound does the letter p make? Where is the letter p in each of these words? Can you think of any other words that have p at the beginning (or middle or end) of them? Challenge students to a Consonant Caterpillar game. Students can play this game using beginning, medial, or ending consonants. Place large circles of construction paper in a path on the floor. On the first sheet, draw the head of a caterpillar. On each of the other circles, write a consonant that your class has been studying. Each player throws a die, hops that many circles, and says a word that begins with the letter shown on the circle. If a player cannot think of an appropriate word, he or she loses a turn. The first player to reach the end of the caterpillar wins. Post on the bulletin board an art print or photograph that contains a variety of objects. Have students list as many objects as they can find that contain the consonant they are currently studying. Give students a chart like the one shown below. Have students look through books they have recently heard or read to find words that have the consonant in the appropriate position. p b d l m s r n t BEGINNING pie bird MIDDLE happy END up 69 73

80 Recognizing High-Frequency Words Objective Materials Lesson To help students build a reading vocabulary of high-frequency words Any big book containing repeated examples of high-frequency words (see suggested list on page 97), such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.; name-card necklace for each student (see below); pocket chart and word cards for a sentence from the book containing the highfrequency word you wish to introduce; extra blank word cards 1. Make a name-tag necklace for each student by lacing string through holes in the top of large name cards. Distribute the necklaces and have students place them around their necks. Ben 2. Ask one student to come to the front and face the class. Point to the name card and ask, Who can tell me what this word says? Repeat the procedure several times, using different students names, and praising the class for recognizing the words written on the cards. 3. Choose a student s name that you think most of the class will recognize, and write the name on the board or chart paper. Again ask, Who can tell me what this word says? Repeat the procedure several times, and then exclaim, Wow! You can read a lot of words! 4. Point out to students that their names are easy to read because they see and use them all the time. Explain, The more you see and use words, the easier it is to remember them. 5. Introduce and read through your chosen book. Place the word cards in order in the pocket chart to make a sentence from the book, for example, this sentence from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see Read the sentence aloud, pointing to each word as you say it. Then repeat the procedure several times, encouraging students to join in with you as you read

81 6. Read the sentence again and ask a volunteer to point to the word what. Hold up the word card for what and ask, Can anyone think of another sentence that uses the word what? Write the suggested sentence on the board, and ask a volunteer to point to the word. 7. After you have introduced a word, you may wish to place it on a Word Wall or display it in the writing center or near the computer. When students come across the word again either in shared reading or writing, point out the word, and remind them where and when they have seen it before. Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: Do you know any words on this page? Which ones? (Point to a word you have introduced in class.) This word is what. Do you remember seeing this word somewhere else? Where? (Point to a word you have displayed elsewhere in the classroom.) Can you find this word on our Word Wall? Let me see you point to it. Create a predictable class book, using a sentence pattern that contains the targeted high-frequency word. For example, for the word what, you might use students names to continue the following pattern from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? Mr. Lopez, Mr. Lopez, what do you see? Samantha, Samantha, what do you see? Write the sentence,,, what do you see? at the bottom of a sheet of paper, and make a copy for each student. Suggest that students use the page to draw a picture of an animal that they would like to see. As you help students write their names in the blanks, encourage them to read the sentence aloud with you and point to the word what. When students are finished with their drawings, bind the pages into a class book titled, What do we see? Additional Teaching Strategies In a zip-lock bag, place a book that contains several examples of a targeted high-frequency word along with a word card for the word. As an independent activity, have students look through the book to find examples of the word shown on the word card. Create posters that use visual clues to help students associate highfrequency words with concrete ideas. For example, for the word what, you might make a poster showing an alien from outer space labeled, What is it? or the word of, you might draw a slice of pizza

82 Recognizing Synonyms Objective Materials Lesson To help students recognize words that have the same meaning (synonyms) A Teeny Tiny Baby by Amy Schwartz, or other book containing words for which there are several synonyms; self-stick tags; word cards; chart paper 1. Before the lesson, cover the words Teeny and Tiny on the cover of the book. Introduce the book by asking students, Do any of you know any babies? What are they like? Tell students that you are going to read a story about a baby. 2. Show students the cover of the book. Read aloud the words in the title that are showing. Then say, I ve covered up a couple of words in this title. They are words that describe the baby. What words do you think they might be? Record students suggestions on chart paper. Students suggestions might include: little noisy sleepy cute soft wet hungry tiny messy crying loud sweet 3. Uncover the word Teeny. Discuss the meaning of the word, for example, Who knows what the word teeny means? Yes, it means very small. Is that a good way to describe a baby? 4. Point to the second covered word. Say, This word means the same as teeny. Can you figure out what it is? Review the meanings of the words on the students list. Cross out any words that do not mean very small. 5. If the word tiny is on the list, uncover the word on the cover a letter at a time until students figure out the word. If the word is not on the list, write the word a letter at a time. 6. Tell students, Thinking about different words that mean the same thing can help you figure out words as you read. Sometimes you can figure out a word you don t know by thinking about words that would make sense in the sentence. Then you can look at the letters and figure out if one of those words has the same letter sounds

83 Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: (Point to a word that has a common synonym.) Can you think of another word that means the same as this one? What is it? Can you think of a word that would make sense in this sentence? Can you think of another word? Does either word begin with this letter? Show students a picture or object that is impressive for its color, shape, or size. Ask, What words would you use to tell about this object? Have students take turns suggesting words that describe the object. Record the responses on chart paper. When students run out of obvious descriptors, encourage them to use synonyms for words that have already been suggested, for example, Let s see. Someone already said big. Can you think of another word that means big? Additional Teaching Strategies Play What s My Word? Tell students that you are thinking of a word, and that you are going to say some words that mean the same thing as your secret word. Challenge students to figure out the secret word. Cut out a familiar comic strip character who is showing an extreme emotion, such as anger or glee. Mount the picture on a sheet of poster board and draw speech balloons around the character s head. Inside each balloon, write, I am so! Have students suggest words to complete the character s statement. Discuss the responses, pointing out synonyms such as angry, mad, and furious

84 Finding Words Objective Materials Lesson To help students find words within context Any big book with a repetitive pattern, such as My Friends by Taro Gomi; word cards for the repetitive sentence; labeled picture cards for key vocabulary (key vocabulary for My Friends: cat, dog, monkey, rooster, crocodile, butterfly, rabbit, ant, gorilla, owl, birds, books, teachers, friends); pocket chart 1. Read aloud and discuss your chosen book. As you read the story a second time, pause briefly before each animal s name at the end of each sentence so that students can provide the word. 2. Place the picture cards where everyone can see them, and review the words on the cards. Use word cards to make a sentence from the book that follows the repetitive pattern. For example, if you are using My Friends, you might make the following sentence: I learned to walk from my friend the cat. Have students join in as you read each word. Ask, Who can point to the word cat? 3. Replace the word walk with jump and take away the word cat. Have students read aloud the new sentence: I learned to jump from my friend the. 4. Ask, Who taught the little girl to jump? Can you find the picture that shows the word that belongs at the end of this sentence? Have a volunteer find the picture card for dog and place it at the end of the sentence. Repeat the procedure, using other sentences from the story. 5. Take the picture cards away and replace them with word cards for the verbs from the story, such as walk, jump, climb, run, march, nap, hide, and kick. Make the first sentence again, leaving a space for the word walk. I learned to from my friend the cat

85 6. Read aloud the sentence, skipping over the blank. Ask, What did the little girl learn to do from the cat? Can you find the word that tells what she learned to do? If necessary, give hints to help students find the word, for example: It begins with the letter w. It ends with the letter k. It has four letters. 7. Tell students, Sometimes you can figure out a word just by thinking about what makes sense in the sentence. At other times, you need to use what you know about the letters in the word to help you figure it out. Have students complete other sentences in the same manner. Bridge to Reading Bridge to Writing To help students use this strategy while reading or looking at books, ask: Can you point to the word walk (for example) in this sentence? How do you know the word is walk? What do you think the next word is? Why do you think that? Write an animal name from the story, such as crocodile, in the center circle of a concept web. Ask students, What might you learn from your friend the crocodile? Write students responses in circles on the web. Have students choose an animal and make a web of their own showing what they might learn from their animal friend. swim snap nap crocodile smile crawl Additional Teaching Strategies Give students copies of your class or school newsletter. Make a list on the board of words such as students names, special events, or highfrequency words they have recently learned. Have students find and circle the words in the newsletter. Divide the class into small groups. Give each group a familiar book and a list of words to find. Have each group record their findings on a graph showing the number of times each word appears in the story

86 Endings: Plurals Objective Materials Lesson To help students recognize s and es as plural endings Any book related to your theme of study, such as Lobster Fishing at Dawn by Robert Newell (1.5); a bag filled with pairs of items, such as two pens, two toy cars, two blocks. Be sure to include at least one pair of items whose names end in s, ss, ch, x, or z, such as two small boxes or doll s dresses. 1. Say, I wonder what s in this bag. Open the bag and pull out one item, such as a pen. Write the name of the item on the board. Then pull out a different item, such as a box, and write the name on the board. Keep going until you ve shown one example of each object in your bag. 2. Now pull out a duplicate and say, Whoops, I have another pen. How can I change this word on the board to show that I have more than one of these? (add an s) Pull out the other objects, one at a time, and change the names to plurals. 3. When you come to an item whose name ends in s, ss, ch, x, or z, tell students that an es must be added to the word to make it mean more than one. Say the words boxes, classes, lunches, and have students clap when they hear the es sound. 4. Reread a passage from your Read To book that contains words with plural endings. Have students raise their hands when they hear a word with a plural ending. For example, students listening to Lobster Fishing at Dawn would raise their hands when they hear the words lobsters, boots, rocks, claws, and traps. Write the words on the board and have volunteers circle the s or es endings: lobsters boots rocks claws traps 5. If there are no words with es endings in your book, point to a picture that illustrates an appropriate word, such as the bunch of seaweed in Lobster Fishing at Dawn. Write the word on the board. Ask, What if you had more than one bunch? How would you change the word? (add es) 6. Tell students that recognizing the s and es endings will help them read words that name more than one

87 Status of the Class Follow-Up Added Practice Use the following questions to discuss books that students have read or have had read to them. As you take the Status of the Class, ask: Have you found any words in this book that have the s or es ending? (Point to a plural word.) What is this word? Does it name one or more than one? How can you tell? (Cover the s or es ending of a word with your finger.) What is this word? How does adding the s (or es) change the meaning of the word? Students can take turns filling the bag with pairs of objects and pulling them out together. As students pull out two or more similar objects, ask classmates to give the plural name for the items. Ask, Would that name be spelled with an s or es? Suggest that students search and cut out plural words from newspapers, magazine ads, and food packages. Make a word collage using the plurals students found

88 Frequently Asked Questions What is the difference between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced testing? The principal difference relates not so much to the tests themselves as to the interpretation of test scores. In criterion-referenced testing, the score is interpreted in terms of an unchanging criterion. Often the criterion-referenced test score interpretation addresses a performance-related question. For example, has the student attained mastery of specific curriculum objectives? Does the student meet or exceed a specific performance standard? What proportion of the questions that measure knowledge of a specific content domain can the student answer correctly? Norm-referenced score interpretations express the student s standing relative to the members of a specific reference group, such as his or her peers in the nationwide population of students in the same grade. A norm-referenced score is related to a changing criterion: changes in the definition of the reference group will be accompanied by changes in the norm-referenced scores. Is STAR Early Literacy a criterion-referenced or a norm-referenced test? STAR Early Literacy is a criterion-referenced test. Its test items were written in accordance with pre-kindergarten through grade 3 curriculum standards to reflect emergent reading skills that are characteristic of those grade levels. Teachers can use STAR Early Literacy s criterion-referenced scores to estimate a student s proficiency in reading skills. Why doesn t STAR Early Literacy report ZPDs? The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) defines the reading level range from which the student should select books in order to achieve optimal growth in reading skills without experiencing frustration. ZPDs are useful for helping students find books for use with the Accelerated Reader program. The ZPD is derived from a student s demonstrated Grade Equivalent score in STAR Reading. Many of the students eligible to take a STAR Early Literacy assessment are not yet reading, and STAR Early Literacy does not provide Grade Equivalent scores, so it would not be appropriate for STAR Early Literacy to report a ZPD score. However, refer to Table 51 in the STAR Early Technical Manual to see how STAR Early Literacy scores relate to STAR Reading scores. This table includes the ZPD, where applicable, for STAR Early Literacy Scaled Score ranges. Once a student reaches the Probable Reader stage in STAR Early Literacy, he or she most likely has the 100-word reading vocabulary necessary to take a STAR Reading test. ZPDs for Probable Readers can therefore be obtained in STAR Reading. 82

89 Frequently Asked Questions How can STAR Early Literacy determine a child s proficiency in early literacy skills in just 10 minutes? Short test times are possible because STAR Early Literacy is a computer-adaptive test. It tests a student at his or her level of proficiency by basing questions on the student s previous responses. Because STAR Early Literacy adjusts to the student with virtually every question, it is more efficient than conventional pencil-and-paper or orally administered tests, and acquires more information about a student s early literacy skills in less time. How many items does STAR Early Literacy have at each grade level? The STAR Early Literacy item bank contains almost 2,400 items spanning the seven literacy domains and 41 component skills. STAR Early Literacy has enough items at each grade level that students can be tested 10 times per year or more without seeing the same question twice within any 30-day time period. How will students with a fear of testing do with STAR Early Literacy? Students who have a fear of tests should be less disadvantaged by STAR Early Literacy than they are in the case of conventional tests. The initial questions a student sees will be very easy so the student experiences immediate success with the assessment. Once the student has had an opportunity to gain some confidence with the relatively easy material, STAR Early Literacy moves into more challenging material in order to assess proficiency in early literacy skills. Most students will be able to answer about 75 percent of STAR Early Literacy questions correctly. In addition, most students find it fun to take STAR Early Literacy tests on the computer, which helps relieve test anxiety. Is there any way for a teacher to see exactly which items a student answered correctly and which he or she answered incorrectly? No. This was done for two reasons. First, in computer-adaptive testing, the student s performance on individual items is not as meaningful as the pattern of responses to the entire test. The student s pattern of performance on all items taken together forms the basis of the scores STAR Early Literacy reports. Second, for purposes of test security, we decided to do everything possible to protect STAR Early Literacy test items from compromise and overexposure. What evidence do we have that STAR Early Literacy will perform as claimed? This evidence comes in two forms. First, we have demonstrated internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates that are very good. Second, the correlation of STAR Early Literacy results with those of other standardized tests is also quite impressive. (See the STAR Early Literacy Technical Manual, or the STAR Early Literacy Understanding Reliability and Validity booklet, for reliability and validity data.) Why do we see a significant number of our students performing at a lower level now than they were nine weeks ago? All psychometric instruments, including STAR Early Literacy, have some level of measurement error associated with them. Measurement error causes students scores to fluctuate around their true scores. About half of all observed scores are smaller 83

90 STAR Early Literacy Teacher's Guide than the students true scores; the result is that some students capabilities are underestimated to some extent. If a group of students were to take a test twice on the same day, without repeating any items, about half of their scores would increase on the second test, while the other half would decline; the size of the individual score variations is an indicator of measurement error. Although measurement error affects all scores to some degree, the average scores on the two tests would be very similar to one another. Scores on a second test taken after a longer time interval will tend to increase as a result of growth; however, if the amount of growth is small relative to the amount of measurement error, an appreciable percentage of students may show score declines, even though the majority of scores increase. 84

91 Index Accelerated Reader, 82 at-risk students identifying, 5, 17, 23, 27, 29, 44, 51 audio instructions, 10, 11 benchmarks, 23, 51 Class Diagnostic Report, 26-27, 42 computer-adaptive, 5, 6, 83 criterion-referenced scores, 5, 18, 82 data, 6 domain scores, 17, 18, 24, 26 ear icon, 11 emergent readers, 17 Estimated Oral Reading Fluency (Est. ORF), 17, 18, 24, 30 Growth Report, 27 hand icon, 10, 11 headphones, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13 keyboard, 6, 9, 10, 13 listen button, 10 literacy classifications, 5, 17, 23, 27, 28, 30 literacy domains, 5, 19, 25, 48-50, 52, 83 monitor password, 11, 13 mouse, 6, 9, 10, 13 norm-referenced scores, 82 older students, 6 practice test, 9 probable reader, 18, 33, 82 Progress Monitoring Report, 6, 27-28, 29, 43, 44 purple dot, 10 Scaled Scores, 12, 17, 23, 26, 51, 82 Score Distribution Report, 25, 41 scores, interpreting, 20 Skill Scores, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26 STAR Early Literacy audience, 6 definition, 5 purpose, 5, 6, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33 Software Manual, 34 Technical Manual, 34, 82, 83 test items, 9, 83 STAR Reading, 30, 33, 82 Student Diagnostic Report, 24, 40 Student Information Report, 13 Summary Report, 6, 23, 30, testing anxiety, 83 checklist, 13, 47 declining scores, 12, environment, 12, 13 frequency, from student s perspective, 9, 13 stopping, 11 time limits, 11 transitional readers, 17 warning clock, 11 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), 82 Parent Report, 33 Power Lessons, 25-26, 33, 34, 53,

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94 About Renaissance Learning Renaissance Learning is the world s leading provider of computer-based assessment technology for pre-k 12 schools. Adopted by more than 73,000 North American schools, Renaissance Learning s tools provide daily formative assessment and periodic progress-monitoring technology to enhance the curriculum, support differentiated instruction, and personalize practice in reading, writing, and math. Renaissance Learning products help educators make the practice component of their existing curriculum more effective by providing tools to personalize practice and easily manage the daily activities for students of all levels. As a result, teachers using Renaissance Learning products accelerate learning, get more satisfaction from teaching, and achieve higher test scores on state and national tests. (800) $ MD.500 R41641