Department of Education Pease address any responses you may have to: Ms Chintha Maharaj e-mai: Maharaj.c@doe.gov.za So Paatje House 123 Schoeman Stree

Teaching Reading in the Eary Grades A Teacher's Handbook January 2008

Department of Education Pease address any responses you may have to: Ms Chintha Maharaj e-mai: Maharaj.c@doe.gov.za So Paatje House 123 Schoeman Street Private Bag X895 Pretoria 0001 South Africa Te: +27 12 312 5911 Fax: +27 12 321 6770 120 Pein Street Private Bag X9023 Cape Town 8000 South Africa Te: +27 21 465 1701 Fax: +27 21 461 1810 http://www.education.gov.za 2007 Department of Education Design and ayout: Formeset Digita, Tshwane Te.: (012) 324 0607 Emai: denise@formesetgroup.co.za

Letter from the Director-Genera, Education Dear Teacher You have the exciting task of ensuring that a our chidren read. Fortunatey a broad consensus now exists regarding the essentia knowedge and skis that chidren need in order to read and on the basic components of reading instruction. Every teacher shoud be aware of these. Teaching Reading in the Eary Grades: A Teacher's Handbook, has therefore been deveoped to assist teachers in Grades R 6. It highights the importance of the core eements of teaching Reading and Writing incuding: Shared Reading and Writing Guided Reading and Writing Independent Reading and Writing Activities Word-Leve and Sentence-Leve Work These core eements are emphasized to remind you that adequate attention and time must be dedicated to the teaching of these eements which are the basis for the acquisition of basic Reading and Writing skis. A Reading and Writing Focus Time (a dedicated hour from your daiy aocated Literacy/ Languages Learning Programme) is essentia to ensure that these aspects are covered aongside Listening and Speaking Skis, the teaching of Handwriting, Expressive Writing and Teaching Additiona Languages. I trust that you wi give ife to the Handbook by vauing it and using it as a teaching resource. It wi have served its purpose if It heps you to become a better, more motivated teacher, and It heps our chidren to read better! I wish you everything of the best in this important work. MR DUNCAN HINDLE Director-Genera Date:

Acknowedgements The Department of Education (DoE) wishes to pace on record its sincere gratitude to: Dr Jean Pace, Principa Tutor Foundation Phase, University of the Witwatersrand Ms Haze Puwani, Research and Training Manager Moteno Ms Paua Gains, Research and Deveopment Manager Moteno Ms Deborah Botha, Materias Deveopment Manager, READ EDUCATIONAL TRUST Ms Nadia Bizos, Materias Deveoper, READ EDUCATIONAL TRUST Ms Deia Moris, Educator, Seaview Primary, Western Cape

Contents Unit 1 Introducing the Handbook 3 Unit 2 Teaching Reading 7 Unit 3 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 19 Unit 4 Support for Learners with Reading Difficuties 33 Unit 5 Assessing Reading 35 Unit 6 Support for Teachers 53 Bibiography 57

Unit 1 Unit 1: Introducing the Handbook This Teacher's Handbook wi hep you to teach reading and writing. The aim is for every one of your earners to become skied in reading and writing, and to enjoy being iterate. In this Unit you wi earn: What are the core eements (main aspects) of the Literacy and Languages Learning programmes for the Foundation Phase and the Intermediate Phase? How much time shoud be aocated for Literacy and Languages Learning programmes? What is the Reading and Writing Focus Time? How is anguage earning organized? In the Foundation Phase, the programme is caed the Literacy Learning Programme. The main focus here is to give chidren the foundations of reading, writing, and basic iteracy. In the Intermediate Phase, the programme is caed the Languages Learning Programme. The main focus here is to deveop the basic iteracy that chidren earned in the earier phase together with their thinking skis. The second phase buids on the first one. So the Languages Learning Programme (Intermediate Phase) cannot succeed uness the Literacy Learning Programme (Foundation Phase) has been covered correcty. Teachers of the two phases need to work together, and be aware of what teachers in the other phase are doing. That is why the two programmes are deat with together in this Handbook. A Teacher's Handbook 1 Introducing the Handbook

Unit 1 How much time shoud be aocated for Literacy and Languages Learning on the timetabe? The tabe beow shows the amount of cassroom time which shoud be aocated for the Literacy Learning Programme in the Foundation Phase, and the Languages Learning Programme in the Intermediate Phase: Tabe 1: Time aocation for Literacy/Language Learning Programme Grade Grades R to 2 Grade 3 Grades 4 to 6 Time aocation per day Foundation Phase 1 hour 50 minutes 2 hours Intermediate Phase 1 hour 30 minutes Tota per week 9 hours 10 minutes 10 hours 7 hours 30 minutes What are the core eements of the Literacy and Languages earning programmes? The main areas are the same in both the Literacy Learning Programme and the Languages Learning Programme. The diagram beow gives a ist of these main areas: Reading and Writing Focus Time, Listening and Speaking, Writing and Additiona Language. Together, they are the core eements of the programmes. The focus of this Handbook is the Reading and Writing Focus Time, which is dedicated to the deveopment of Reading and Writing skis. These eements wi enabe teachers to pan an effective Literacy/Languages Learning Programme. Diagram 1: The core eements of the Literacy/Languages-earning programme Literacy and Language Learning Programme Reading and Writing Focus Time Listening and Speaking Writing Additiona anguages Introducing the Handbook 2 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 1 What is the Reading and Writing Focus Time? The Reading and Writing Focus Time wi hep you to ensure that you are teaching basic iteracy skis, and reinforcing these skis reguary. Every day, you shoud dedicate one hour of the schoo day to the Reading and Writing Focus Time. It is suggested that the one hour shoud be taken from the Literacy/Languages Learning Programme. During this time, you systematicay teach the earners to become effective readers and writers. However, being abe to read fuenty depends on a number of different skis. There is a cose ink between deveoping reading skis and deveoping other anguage skis such as writing, speing and sentence work. You can use the Reading and Writing Focus Time to teach: Shared reading Shared writing activities Word-eve and sentence-eve work Guided reading and writing Independent reading and writing activities Diagram 2: Eements of the Reading and Writing Focus Time Teacher Guided Reading and Independent Reading 30 minutes 15 minutes Whoe cass Shared Reading and Writing Word Leve and/or Sentence Leve 15 minutes Let's ook at each activity in detai. These components are not taught in isoation but are combined or integrated. A Teacher's Handbook 3 Introducing the Handbook

Unit 1 Reading and Writing Focus Time Activities During these activities, you work with the whoe cass. You give your earners instructions, and you et them practise a range of anguage skis to deveop their reading. It is a good idea to ink the different activities in themes where possibe. For instance, Shared Writing can grow out of a Shared Reading text and it can provide the basis for another writing task. In Word-Leve and Sentence-Leve work, you wi focus on aspects of anguage that come up in the Shared Reading and Writing sessions. For exampe: Phonics Speing Vocabuary deveopment Grammar/sentence work Punctuation Guided Reading and Writing, and Independent Reading and Writing During this part of the Reading and Writing Focus Time, you can work with a sma group of earners, and guide them to deveop their reading and writing skis. Whie you work with the group, the rest of the cass can get on with Independent Reading and Writing activities. So sometimes there are whoe cass teaching and earning activities, and at other times work is organized in smaer groups. The tight structure and time aocated to Reading and Writing Focus Time ensures that each component is short, focused and interesting to the earners. We suggest that the Reading and Writing Focus Time is impemented across the schoo. Learners soon earn the routine, and they comfortaby adapt to the organisation of time. As earners advance from one grade to the next, they move into famiiar patterns of earning, which heps them to adjust to the next grade more easiy. The "new" teacher is free to focus on teaching and earning without having to estabish competey new routines each year. Listening and Speaking This Handbook focuses on the reading component of iteracy. However, in addition to reading, other skis which are part of iteracy are istening, speaking, and writing. Learners come to schoo aready abe to isten and speak. Listening and speaking are important communication skis in the deveopment of thinking, reading and writing. Sti, it is important aso to teach earners specificay how to isten and to speak. Introducing the Handbook 4 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 1 Listening and speaking pay an important roe in the Reading and Writing Strategy, both for Home Language and Additiona Languages. Writing and Handwriting Handwriting means the egibe formation of etters, words, and numbers. In the Foundation Phase, sighty more time is aocated to Handwriting, whist in the Intermediate Phase more time is given to Writing as an expressive, creative activity. Languages: Learning Outcomes (LOs) The Learning Outcomes of the Languages Learning Area underpin the Reading and Writing Focus time. The Learning Outcomes for both Home and Additiona Languages can be panned and taught effectivey in the Reading and Writing Focus Time. Tabe 2: Languages Learning Outcomes Learning Outcome 1(LO1) Learning Outcome 2(LO2) Learning Outcome 3(LO3) Learning Outcome 4(LO4) Learning Outcome 5(LO5) Learning Outcome 6(LO6) Listening Speaking Reading and Viewing Writing Thinking and Reasoning Language Structure and Use Concusion This Unit has given you an outine of the simiarities and differences between the Literacy programme and the Languages Learning programme. Both of these programmes dea with anguage deveopment, but in the Foundation Phase there is a greater emphasis on basic iteracy, and in the Intermediate Phase there is greater emphasis on Language Learning. This Unit has aso deat with the time aocated on the timetabe for the Literacy and Languages Learning programmes, the core components and the Languages Learning Outcomes. Reading and Writing Focus Time is especiay important. For this, set aside one hour each day to teach reading skis and reated anguage skis. A Teacher's Handbook 5 Introducing the Handbook

Unit 1 Introducing the Handbook 6 A Teacher's Handbook

INTRODUCTION In this Unit you wi know: Unit 2 Unit 2: Teaching Reading 1 How to pan for the Reading and Writing Focus Time? 2. What reading strategies do you teach your earners? 3. What are the stages of reading deveopment? 4. What are the components of reading? How to pan for the Reading and Writing Focus Time? When a earner enters schoo it is the teacher's roe and responsibiity to provide, pan and teach an effective reading programme that wi enabe the earner to become a skifu reader. Every teacher shoud strive to teach and mode these activities in the Reading and Writing Focus Time by: acting as a mode reader for the earners in Shared and Guided Reading Sessions teaching earners to appy reading strategies when they are not sure about the text (e.g. re-reading, reading ahead, using pictures) providing a rich and varied iteracy environment that incudes interesting reading materia, dispays and engaging mutimedia resources (e.g. audio, video and overheads) that refects the cutura diversity of the schoo and community providing opportunities for discussion, teamwork and other socia interaction that make reading interesting and fun using effective practices for engaging earners in arge groups (Whoe Cass Shared Reading and Writing Sessions), sma groups (Guided Reading and Writing Sessions) and individua instruction (Independent Reading) using refective practice, observation and a variety of assessment strategies to identify each earner's needs and provide differentiated instruction. What does a skifu reader do? Skifu readers make meaning when they read. To make meaning they need genera knowedge, knowedge of anguage, and knowedge of etters and etter sounds. They aso need to read fuenty enough so that they do not forget the beginning of a sentence when they get to the end of it, that is the way they can make meaning of the sentence. Skifu readers use different strategies when they read. Teachers can hep readers to deveop these skis by doing specific exercises. The tabe that foows suggests some reading processes that teachers shoud teach. A Teacher's Handbook 7 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Tabe 2: What reading processes are used by a skifu reader? Before reading Reads the tite; Looks at the contents page and index pages; Reads the sub-headings and chapter tites; Reads the short description of the contents, usuay printed on the back cover; Looks at the iustrations. The skifu reader uses this information to predict ("guess ahead") what the text is about. During reading Reads a range of words "on sight" without needing to break them into syabes and etters. Keeps checking that the meaning of the text is cear. Gets a genera idea of the meaning of an unfamiiar word by reading the sentence or paragraph where it is, or by breaking the word down into sounds or syabes. After reading Links the content of the text to his or her own ideas, experiences or opinions. Remembers new words and their meanings when seeing them again in other contexts. What are the stages of reading deveopment? Tabe 3 suggests that there are six stages of deveopment. Ideay, earners wi deveop their reading skis graduay from "pre-reader", Stage 1, and a the way to Stage 6 during the first two years of schoo. Teaching Reading 8 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 2 Tabe 3: The stages of reading deveopment Stage 1: The "pre-reader" Hods books and turns pages correcty; Recognises the beginning and end of book; Listens and responds to stories; Interprets pictures; Pretends to read; Knows some etters; Shows interest in print when they see it in the word around them. Stage 2: The emergent reader Uses pictures to te stories; Knows some sounds (phonemes) and the etters that make the sounds; Knows that the print for European and African anguages runs from eft to right and from top to bottom; Joins in with the teacher or reader when reading famiiar books; Recognises some words, e.g. their name; Reads some print in the environment; Reads famiiar books with word patterns. Stage 3: The eary reader Knows most etter sounds and names; Recognises some common words; Can rete an age-appropriate story; Uses pictures to make meaning; Can read 70% of words correcty in a famiiar text at their eve; Reads aoud when reading to sef; Sti reads word by word not yet fuent; Reads eary readers and picture books with pattern and repetition and rhyme in Home Language and Additiona Languages. A Teacher's Handbook 9 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Stage 4: The deveoping reader Uses pictures to make meaning; Uses knowedge of sentence structure; Uses phonics (makes oud sounds) to decode words; Combines words into phrases rather than reading word for word; Retes beginning, midde and end of story with some detais; Has basic sight word vocabuary of at east 50 words, and both recognizes the word and knows the meaning of the word; Begins to appy punctuation to reading; Begins to read sienty; Corrects sef after making an error; Reads onger books, as ong as the text is easy enough and the book has arge print. Stage 5: The eary fuent reader Uses different "cueing" systems, such as phonics (sounding out), anguage knowedge (famiiar sentence structures), and genera knowedge in order to make meaning; Recognises most famiiar words on sight (approximatey 200 words); Reads fuenty at east 60 words per minute Uses punctuation to enhance comprehension stops at a fu stops; Begins to understand impied meaning; Reads texts with onger, more compex sentence structures; Demonstrates a deveoping knowedge of story eements, such as the pot, the characters, and the resoution of a probem; Reads sienty for extended periods; Uses reference materias, with guidance; Reads books with chapters that have smaer print. Teaching Reading 10 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 2 Stage 6: The independent reader Uses "cueing" systems (phonic, anguage and genera knowedge) unconsciousy, having integrated them into his or her genera approach to new texts; Reads fuenty at east 60 or more words per minute Understands books with unfamiiar settings; Reads and understands impied meanings; Reads onger and more advanced books, books with chapters fiction and non-fiction; Uses reference books independenty. The usefuness of the stages of reading These stages given above provide practica guideines that you can appy when you want to see what stage your earners have reached in their reading deveopment, and what knowedge, skis and strategies they need to earn or practise. The stages are aso usefu in assessing the performance of individua earners so that a earner's reading skis can be further deveoped, without reference to grade eves. For exampe, strugging readers in Grade 5 may be at Stage 3, and strong readers in Grade 3 may be at Stage 5. But by the end of Grade 6 a earners shoud be Independent Readers. What are the five components of teaching reading? Most reading experts agree that there are five main components to the teaching of reading. They are: Component 1: Component 2: Component 3: Component 4: Component 5: Phonemic awareness Word recognition - Sight words - Phonics Comprehension Vocabuary Fuency Each of these components needs to be taught expicity, and practised in context on a daiy basis. Let's ook at these components in more detai: A Teacher's Handbook 11 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Component 1: Phonemic awareness Phonemic awareness is the abiity to notice, think about, and work with individua sounds in spoken words. Before chidren earn to read print, they need to become aware of how sounds in words work. They need to understand that words are made up of speech sounds or phonemes. Phonemes are the smaest parts of sound in a spoken word. For exampe in the word "hat", the etter h represents the sound huh. Learners instinctivey "know" about phonemes, otherwise they woud not be abe to speak or understand speech. When they earn to read and write, they need to become aware of these units of anguage they need to know the sounds (phonemes) within each word. They aso need to become aware that each sound can be written as a etter or group of etters. For exampe, they earn that the "buh" sound is written as "b". This ink between the sound and etter is caed phonics. What activities deveop phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness can be deveoped through the use of poems, songs and rhymes. The expicit "sounding out" of words can be practised during Word-eve and Sentence-eve time. You can teach your earners to manipuate phonemes (speech sounds) by engaging in activities such as this one: Listen I'm going to say the sounds in the word "jam- j-a-m. What is the word? jam Now ets write the sounds in jam: / j / write j; / a / write a; / m / write m jam You say the sounds in the word jam. Now we're going to read jam. j / a / m / Teaching Reading 12 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 2 Phonics Sight words Component 2: "Word recognition" Word recognition refers to the skis that readers need in order to read unknown words. The two main eements invoved in word recognition are phonics and sight words. Phonics Phonics means decoding a word by breaking it down into units (syabes and etters). Phonics instruction teaches chidren the reationship between the etters of written anguage and individua sounds of spoken anguage. Knowing this reationship between spoken sounds and etters teaches chidren to read and write words. The purpose of phonics instruction is to give the earner toos so that he or she can easiy decode the words. They may not understand the words they are 'reading', especiay if they are in an unfamiiar anguage. However, phonics instruction is an important buiding bock in the teaching of reading and writing which is making and understanding meaning. When you put together phonics (abiity to decode the words) and vocabuary (knowedge of what the words mean), then you are on your way to being abe to construct meaning. In indigenous African anguages, as we as Afrikaans, there is a neary direct correspondence between the aphabetica etters and the sounds they represent. The names and the sounds of the etters are generay the same, and etter sounds do not vary depending on what other etters are near it. Therefore, it is easier to teach phonemic awareness and phonics in these anguages than it is in the Engish anguage. In the Engish anguage, there are 26 etters of the aphabet, there are 44 phonemes (sounds) and 120 graphemes (etters and combinations of etters). These variations expain why the teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics takes so much onger in Engish than in African anguages. In Engish, for exampe, the sequence of etters "ough" can sound differenty depending on whether they are used in "ought" or "through" for exampe. This does not happen in African anguages or Afrikaans. In Engish, earners must understand that each etter has a name, but it may have a number of different sounds. For exampe, the a stands for different sounds in the words cat, car and cake. A Teacher's Handbook 13 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Sight words Sight words (or "ook and say" words) invove the earner in recognising a word by its shape, ength and other features. There is a strong argument for teaching sight words in Engish. Many of the most common words (sometimes known as "high-frequency words") have irreguar sound-to-etter reationships. Exampes ike this, because, you, me, and, was show that they cannot be decoded according to phonic rues or principes. For exampe, "was" reay sounds ike "wuz", and therefore just has to be recognized by sight it cannot be decoded. But according to experts, some 90% of Engish words can be totay or at east partiay decoded, so decoding is quite important. Component 3: Comprehension As a teacher of reading, you need to keep a cose check on whether earners are simpy "barking at print" or whether they are reay understanding and interpreting what they are reading. Comprehension (understanding) has to be deveoped from the very start. It cannot be eft unti the earners are abe to break words down into their components or unti they can read a certain number of sight words. Ways of deveoping comprehension Activate the reader's prior knowedge: In the Foundation Phase, you encourage the earner to activate his or her prior knowedge whenever they read a new text. Once earners reach the Intermediate Phase, they shoud be encouraged to activate prior knowedge for themseves. Read aoud to earners: A effective independent readers use their knowedge of the anguage and their own understanding of the word to make meaning from texts. Teachers shoud buid up this knowedge. Reading aoud to earners, and then discussing the meaning, the earners' impressions, having them guess ahead, are a good ways of doing this. Hep earners to use cues and iustrations in and around the text: These cues incude what is written on the cover, the paragraph or chapter headings, sub-headings and words in bod, the contents page, the index. Draw attention to the iustrations, photographs, tabes, graphs and cartoons that may appear on the page. These are usuay very important to hep the reader make meaning. Deveop the reader's decoding skis: Learners need to de-code unfamiiar or difficut words because most new texts contain new words. Encourage earners to sound out just the beginning part of the word to see if a famiiar word springs to mind. Teaching Reading 14 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 2 Deveop fuency: If they can read fuenty, earners can work out the meaning of a word by reading the whoe phrase or sentence, rather than painstakingy decoding, word by word. Fuent readers aso read quicky enough to remember the beginning of a sentence before they get to the end of it. Increase vocabuary: Learners deveop their vocabuary by reading and by istening to someone ese reading to them. The more words they know, the easier it is for them to work out the meanings of words from their contexts. Teachers can read aoud from a variety of texts such as stories, newspaper artices or information books. Deveop earners' abiity to appy high-order thinking skis ike anaysing, evauating and interpreting: The best way to deveop these skis in your earners is to ask the kind of questions that get them to think about and process information using these high-order skis. Even Grade R and Grade 1 earners are capabe of deveoping higher-order thinking skis. Here are some exampes of the kinds of questions that engage earners in high-order thinking: `If it didn't stop raining for three days what do you think woud happen.?' `Why do you think the gir was so brave when she met the monster?' jam `Do you think this story might make peope change their minds about?' The idea is to use the stories they read, te and isten to as the basis for thinking activities: expressing their own opinions, drawing concusions based on the information provided in the text, summarising the text, providing a different ending, etc. A Teacher's Handbook 15 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Component 4: Vocabuary To deveop as readers, earners need to have knowedge and understanding of a wide range of words. Knowing many words wi hep with fuency (see Component 5 beow) as we as the comprehension of text. Some vocabuary can be earned incidentay from the context of the text that the earner is reading, but there is aso a need to teach vocabuary in a panned, deiberate way. How do you teach vocabuary? Make sure your earners read reguary or isten to texts that interest them. This wi motivate them to try to work out meanings from contexts. If a chid is ucky enough to come from a home where reading happens often, that chid wi most probaby know many more words (that is, have a bigger vocabuary) than another chid who doesn't hear reading in the home. Read aoud to earners at east once a week for 30 minutes. Readers at a eves benefit from being read to. This introduces them to vocabuary they may not be abe to read on their own. Stop on odd or new words every now and then, and expain the words. Have a reguar independent reading time. If earners come across a word many times in different texts, they wi become famiiar with the word, and there is a greater chance that they wi remember it. Each time you have sessions on Reading Aoud, Shared and Guided Reading and Writing, you can expicity teach at east 6 to 8 new words from the text. For expicit vocabuary instruction, you need to: Expain or demonstrate the meaning of the word. This coud be a simpe definition, an action, a picture, or a transation; Give exampes of the word in a sentence; Encourage earners to use the word oray (by saying it aoud) in sentences of their own; Dispay the new words and the meanings of the words on a word wa or a chart; Give the new words to earners to take home to review for homework; Make sure that you foow up on this activity so that earners can practise using their new words. Arrange for each earner to have a persona wordbook. Each page of the wordbook is for a different etter of the aphabet. Every time a new word is taught, the earners write the word into their wordbook on the correct page. Learners can aso "coect" words as they read, after the teacher reads aoud to them or when they are writing. They may aso need to draw a tiny picture, or write a short sentence, expanation or transation to remind themseves of the meaning. As an independent writing activity towards the midde of the year, they can make a second coumn on the right and re-write their words in the right coumn, in aphabetica order. Teaching Reading 16 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 2 Component 5: Fuency Fuency in reading means the abiity to read texts smoothy, accuratey and with understanding. Fuency is a key indicator of comprehension. If the earners are reading just one word at a time, without fuency, it probaby means that they aso have probems in understanding the text. How can you hep earners to deveop fuency? Deciding whether or not a earner is a fuent reader is discussed ater in this Handbook. Basicay, the ony way for earners to become fuent readers is by reading a ot! The more they read, the more fuent they wi become. Here are some suggestions for deveoping fuency: Aow earners to re-read texts a few times. This is the most obvious way of enabing them to become famiiar with the text and to increase their fuency. From Grade 2 onwards, expain to the earners about fuency. Motivate them to practise reading so that they become fuent readers and wi be abe to read texts in other Learning Areas aso. Have as many reading materias as possibe in the cassroom. Have Independent Reading time each day as part of the Reading and Writing Focus Time. During Guided Group Reading and Independent Activity Time, aow the earners to choose a book that is famiiar or one that is suited to their reading eve. Expain the importance of sient reading. Demonstrate how you read sienty: whisper the words of the text and foow the words with your finger. Te earners that, when they are confident at "whisper reading", they can start to read without speaking, just "saying the words in their minds". If you think that earners are ready for sient reading, organise ots of opportunities for them to practise it. Textbooks of other earning areas are good source materias for reading activities. A Teacher's Handbook 17 Teaching Reading

Unit 2 Concusion This Unit has given an overview of the main components of teaching reading: the 'Big Five' of reading: phonemic awareness, word recognition (incuding phonics and sight words), comprehension, vocabuary and fuency. Panning for the Reading and Writing Focus Time, reading strategies and the stages of reading deveopment. Teaching Reading 18 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Shared Reading and Other and Reading Strategies INTRODUCTION In a Shared Reading session, the teacher reads with the cass or group, using a arge Story Book that has big, bod print. Learners foow the text, joining in when they are abe to do so. This method works we in mutiingua casses. The earners become highy motivated, earn more sight words, read with greater comprehension, and are better abe to repeat simpe anguage structures. Reading strategies are ways of soving probems that the earners may come across whie reading. For exampe, they might not know the meaning of a word, or they might find a section of the text difficut to understand. When these situations arise, earners shoud have a strategy for knowing what to do. During Shared Reading sessions, you may find it appropriate and convenient to mode a range of reading strategies for the earners, showing them what to do, for exampe, to decode unfamiiar words. In this Unit, you wi find out: What is Shared Reading? What are the other Reading Strategies? How to teach these Reading Strategies? How to manage your cass during the Reading and Writing focus time? What is Shared Reading? Shared Reading is usuay done with the whoe cass. In the Shared Reading esson, earners share the reading task with the teacher, and graduay take over the task of reading. This kind of esson shoud take pace in a reaxed earning environment. You shoud encourage guessing and risk-taking, accepting a attempts from earners and using their responses to promote further earning. The earners shoud see that errors hep us to buid on what we know. Praise earners for trying. A supportive earning environment heps the weaker members of the cass to operate as readers. This reading session exposes a earners to a range of reading strategies that they can use independenty in the future. Shared Reading essons need to be very carefuy panned and presented. A Teacher's Handbook 19 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 Shared Reading jam What are you teaching earners about reading? During Shared Reading, you are teaching earners the foowing: why we read certain kinds of texts; how we read this kind of text; the expression and intonation (tone of voice) suited to this text; how we respond to this text; the text eve, word-eve or sentence-eve features that are in this text. Shared Reading can be used for the foowing reasons: It can be used with any age or abiity group, grade eve; It aows for, but does not demand, active participation; It aows good iterature and rich anguage to be used in an eary-reading programme; It extends earners' sight and istening vocabuaries; It aows for direct instruction in short, ceary focused essons, incuding the teaching of many interesting things: rhyme (sounds that match, e.g. "Green beans"), rhythm ("music" of the words), aiteration (words using the same etter, e.g. "Lucky Lebo"), phonics (sounds). Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 20 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Shared Reading can be fun! Encourage your group to participate in the reading. They can cap, or dance, or stamp, or sing, or suggest other words. Here are some suggestions: Whie you are reading, choose a word and ask the group to think of any other words that rhyme. For exampe, if you read the word "mean", they can ca out words ike "ean" or "keen" or "bean". Ask the group to cap every time they hear the etter "L", e.g. "Livey Luu oves her oies". Ask them to suggest aiteration, e.g. "magic moments make me merry". Ask them to sing the "music" of words, e.g. "Does anyone know the tune of these words: "Jan Pierewiet, Jan Pierewiet, Jan Pierewiet, staan sti " "Bana ba sekoo, bana ba sekoo, etang sekoong, etang sekoong " "Imithi igoba kahe, ithi, ithi, Kwanyakaz'amahamvu, kanje, kanje Texts for Shared Reading Choose a text that is above the independent reading eve of the majority of earners in the cass. You wi hep earners to understand the text by reading it aoud, and then encouraging discussion. Here are some of the different kinds of texts that can be used: Big Books; Enarged texts of the foowing: stories earners' own writing magazines and newspapers poems songs non-fiction materias (factua texts) advertisements pamphets Copies of the same text are sometimes avaiabe. These can be used after the Shared Reading sessions. The text you choose shoud be cear enough for the whoe cass to see easiy. You can aso present materias on overhead projector transparencies, data projectors and interactive white boards. A Teacher's Handbook 21 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 How ong shoud a Shared Reading esson be? Lessons shoud ast between 15 and 20 minutes in the Foundation Phase. In the Intermediate Phase they can be as ong as 30 minutes, and these sessions can be timetabed every day. How do I pan Shared Reading Lessons? You can pan a Shared Reading esson by foowing these steps: Seect a text. Decide how many Shared Reading sessions there wi be, using this text. Often two, three or four sessions can be panned per text, depending on what you decide to do with each text. Seect a teaching focus. You coud focus on phonics, a anguage feature, a print "convention" (such as the use of speech bubbes), etc. These wi provide you with the teaching focus for sessions two and three in your series of essons. Pan your essons carefuy. Think of questions that wi focus earners' attention on key aspects of the text. Keep your essons short, we-paced (not too sow, and not too fast) and enjoyabe. What foows are four suggestions for a sequence of Shared Reading essons: Shared Reading Session One Seat your earners so that they can a see the text ceary. Motivate the earners by using a genera introduction reated to the content of the text. Ask them questions on what they aready know about the topic or context of the story. Examine the cover information on the book, pointing out the tite, the author's name, and any other usefu text (e.g. the "burb", which is promoting the text). Mode good ora reading for the earners, running the pointer under the text as you read. Pause and ask questions about the text. Invite your earners to predict what wi happen next. Accept a responses from the earners positivey. Praise the earners by making comments such as "I iked the way you used your voice to show that the giant was angry!"(refers to, "Jack and the Beanstak") If earners join in the reading, et them, but do not insist that they a do so. Sight pauses often encourage this participation. Some earners wi be at the istening eve of participation. At the end of the reading, invite persona responses to the text. Ask earners to comment on the story content, the story ending, or what they found to be the funniest or saddest part of the story. Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 22 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Shared Reading Session Two Use the same text as before. Read the text again. Invite the earners to join in where they can. Once again, run the pointer under the text. With earners who can read a bit, invite a earner to do this as you and the cass read together. Encourage further discussion of the iustrations or interesting phrases in the text by asking questions or pointing out features in the text. Invite earners to experiment with expression and intonation as they read; this means they wi change their voices to suit the text. Point out aspects within the text that you have chosen as the esson focus. These may incude: anaysis and discussion of the content through questioning and finding the text to support responses; discussing the iustrations; expaining and defining new words and ocating them in other parts of the text; checking on the meanings of words. Shared Reading Session Three For some earners, two readings may be sufficient for them to read the text independenty, but for others a further session may be needed. Foow the steps outined in Session Two above, and extend the focus to suit the needs of the cass or group. If possibe, make smaer versions of the text avaiabe for a the earners to use during independent reading time. Let them use pointers as we. Shared Reading Session Four You may wish to use the text even more by panning other activities based on it. Here are some suggestions: Dramatise the story. Let the earners act out the roes in the story, e.g. a cross person, a happy person. If you are good at drawing, you coud iustrate a favourite part of the story. Then add text to the iustration before dispaying it on the cassroom wa. In Grade R and Grade 1, make fashcards of key vocabuary and match cards to words in the enarged text. Make sentence strips of the text. Match these with sentences in the Shared Reading text used. Hand out sentence strips to earners and ask them to sequence them. Compete a story-frame summary of the text. Create a new story in the Shared Writing esson. Base it on the Shared Reading text and use the new text in Shared Reading sessions. A Teacher's Handbook 23 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 Here is a summary of what you can do in a Shared Reading Session Read to and with the whoe cass. Hep earners to use their own knowedge, reevant to the text being read, by engaging them in discussion. Demonstrate reading behaviour (especiay to Foundation Phase earners). Demonstrate by showing how to read expressivey, reading from eft to right, or deaing with unfamiiar words. Practise word recognition skis such as phonics, sight words, context cues and structura anaysis in the context of rea texts. Identify and discuss sentence structure and punctuation within the context of rea texts. Mode and teach a variety of reading strategies. Promote comprehension through differentiated questioning and discussion. How can I get more hep in using Shared Reading in my cassroom? Read the teaching manua that accompanies the reading scheme used at your schoo especiay if the scheme incudes Big Books. Pan a series of essons with a coeague. Where possibe, teach a series of Shared Reading with a coeague watching. After schoo, discuss your essons. Refect on your own teaching, and think about ways to improve your teaching. Spend some time teaching reading strategies (see page 25). These strategies wi hep to buid up the confidence of your earners and aow them to become independent readers as quicky as possibe. Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 24 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Other reading strategies Word Attack Skis (How to work out the meaning of an unfamiiar word) In the eary stages of earning to read, a simpe "five-finger" strategy wi assist earners in using a range of word-attack skis. Thumb: Leave the word out and read to the end of the sentence. First finger: Look at the pictures and headings. Second finger: Ask yoursef if there are any parts of the word that you recognize. jam Third finger: Sound the word out. Litte finger: Ask your teacher what the word means. A Teacher's Handbook 25 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 Now teach your earners to check the meaning they arrive at by asking the foowing questions: Does it sound right? Does it make sense? In order to dri reading strategies, use a particuar strategy for the day. Let the earners practise it during the Reading and Writing Focus Time, then choose another one to focus on the next day. Keep changing strategies unti your earners can confidenty use them in a fexibe way. Comprehension (How to make meaning) You can teach your earners to monitor their own understanding of a text. Here are the steps for earners to foow: When the text does not make sense, stop and re-read the sentence or paragraph. Try to ink the probem sentence to what you have aready read. Ask yoursef what you aready know about the topic. Think what the sentence coud mean. Read on, and check whether what you read now makes sense. Check the meanings of words by using a dictionary or ask for hep. Read Aoud In Read Aoud (s) the teacher reads to the whoe cass or to a sma group, using materia that is at the istening comprehension eve of the earners.the content may focus on a topic reated to a curricuum expectation in another earning area, such as Mathematics, Natura Sciences or Socia Sciences. Reading aoud to earners heps them to deveop a ove of good iterature, motivation to read on their own and famiiarity with a variety of genres, incuding non-fiction. It provides them with new vocabuary, exposes them to a variety of iterature and contributes to their ora and written anguage deveopment. Reading aoud shoud occur every day in the eary stage of reading instruction to stimuate the chidren's interest in books and reading. Group Guided Reading Group Guided Reading is a teacher directed activity. It invoves using carefuy seected books at the earner's instructiona eve for exampe the use of a Graded Reading Scheme. The teacher supports a sma group of earners as they tak, read and think their way through a text. Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 26 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Group Guided Reading Learners can be grouped for guided reading by reading abiity or specific needs for exampe earners having barriers to reading. The groups are fuid and changes according to the teacher's observations and assessments. Guided reading provides opportunities to integrate earner's growing knowedge of the conventions of print, etter-sound reationships and other foundationa skis in context. Through modeing and instruction, guided reading enabes teachers to extend the earner's vocabuary deveopment and knowedge and use of comprehension strategies. Guided reading gives the teacher the opportunity to observe reading behaviours, identify areas of need and aow earners to deveop more independence and confidence as they practice and consoidate reading behaviours and skis. Guided reading provides the bridge to independent reading. Independent Reading Independent reading is a purposefu panned activity. Learners choose their own books (Reading corner, 100 Storybooks, ibrary) according to their interest and abiity. Learners shoud be guided to choose texts that they can read with a high degree of success. A Teacher's Handbook 27 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 Emergent readers shoud be encouraged to use the independent reading time to practice reading short predictabe stories as we as books that have been read in the Shared and Guided Reading sessions. Independent reading shoud be foowed by discussion and diaogue with the teacher and peers. The teacher shoud aways be observing, istening and gathering information about earner's reading behaviour during independent reading sessions. Independent reading How do I manage my cass during the Reading and Writing Focus Time? During the Reading and Writing Focus Time, set aside haf an hour for Guided Reading and Independent Reading and Writing activities. You can work with one group of earners, whie the other groups work on independent tasks that have either a reading or a writing focus. These tasks need to be carefuy panned. Have a the materias ready before the esson begins. Managing the earners whie they work independenty It is important to estabish routines and codes of behaviour in your cassroom. Let the earners hep to make the rues you and the cass can write them during a Shared Writing session. Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 28 A Teacher's Handbook

Unit 3 Here are some tips for maintaining order and getting everyone into the cassroom routines required: Give each group a name. Charts dispaying the names of earners who wi be working together are aso usefu. Write the earners' names on fashcards so they can easiy be moved from one chart to the next, as the composition of the groups changes. Use task boards to hep manage a series of activities whie you are working with individua groups. Use a arge sheet of aminated cardboard, or a whiteboard or chakboard, as a task board. Make symbos for the activities to be competed and make sure a the earners understand what they mean. Give each group a number of tasks to do, either individuay or in groups. At the beginning of an independent activity time, 'read' the task board to the earners and check that a the earners know what their tasks are for the whoe thirty-minute session. Specimen: Task Board Yeow Group: Red Group: Bue Group: Green Group: Work with teacher Work with word puzzes Write daiy news and weather Write your own story beginning: "When my parents eft home for work I. What do the other earners do whie you work with a guided reading group? Throughout the week, earners shoud be engaged in a range of stimuating independent reading and writing activities. The ist of possibe activities is endess. You need to pan independent earning activities for the various abiity groups in the cass. To begin with, ook at the focus of the teaching each week. Pan activities that wi consoidate the skis and strategies taught in Reading and Writing Focus Time essons. Incude activities that promote recreationa reading. For exampe, you can combine two abiity groups, working together in 'study buddy' pairs for paired reading activities. Here are some more hints for panning and organising reading activities: Start with activities that are easy to prepare. See what works for you and your earners. Use the task board to hep earners move quicky from one activity to the next. Insist that groups eave the boxes neat and tidy. A Teacher's Handbook 29 Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies

Unit 3 Keep at east two trays or shaow boxes in the cassroom, one for finished work and one for unfinished work. Show earners how to store their work in them. A usefu organisationa strategy is to pan activities for the groups and store these in attractive boxes, ready for use, for exampe: A Word Power Box wi have phonic and word eve word games and activities in the box. An Author's and Iustrator's Box can contain simpe poems or stories for the earners to iustrate with their own drawings. This activity may ast a few weeks. Bookets containing a series of iustrations coud be used as a stimuus for independent writing of text for the given iustrations. A Readers' Theatre Box can contain scripts for a group to practise reading together. The fina activity coud be 'radio presentation' to the cass. A Readers' Treasure Box can have a range of reading materia from the 'rea word' with work-cards to guide earners through the activities. A Poetry Box can have a range of poems printed and attractivey iustrated for the earners to read. Let the earners copy favourite words, ines or stanzas, or whoe poems, into a persona poetry book. A Literature Circe Box can contain a range of books, comics, magazines etc. that can be read and discussed by the earners. A Theme Box can contain theme-reated activities from a variety of Learning Areas. A Listening Box can contain a read-aong tape and book with a tape recorder for a group to use. Note: In a the boxes, materia can be easiy changed to suit the eve of the group. Groups in your cass wi each have a turn to use the boxes you choose to use each week. Instructions for activities can be expained oray. Written instructions can aso be incuded in the boxes. Tips to motivate earners to read books Make a chart entited Bookworm's Menu of the Week. Divide the chart into three sections and abe these Starters, Main Course and Desserts. Laminate the chart. Make oose fashcards of the tites of books avaiabe in the Book Corner. Pace a number of these under the 'menu' headings. At the beginning of the week, discuss the books on the menu and ask your earners to read the books. At the end of the week, give comments to 'Bookworm' on his or her choices. Encourage earners to design book jackets for their favourite books. Dispay them in the Reading Corner, advertising books that are great reads Design 'booking' forms for earners to fi in and to reserve a time when they can read popuar books. Shared Reading and Other Reading Strategies 30 A Teacher's Handbook