January 2021

Results May Vary: Do First-Grade Reading Curriculum and Instruction Need to Be Adapted?

January 25, 2021

Elfrieda H. Hiebert & Alia Pugh

Beginning readers have different levels of proficiency, but many may follow a similar path as they learn new words and orthographic patterns. This may not be the case for those with the lowest levels of ability, so curriculum and instruction should take into account the needs of those who depend most on their in-school literacy experiences.

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Feature Presentation: How Familiarity and Concreteness Can Help Beginning Readers Learn New Words

January 5, 2021

Elfrieda H. Hiebert

Teachers can help beginning readers master more than half of the 2,500 most frequently occurring word families by focusing on words they have already acquired in oral language and words with high concreteness ratings.

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