Children need to see lots and lots of texts to become proficient beginning readers. To increase text exposure to engaging, curriculum-based texts, we are a new program at TextProject: TextProject’s (TP) Decoding + Knowledge Program. Our aim is to give teachers, tutors, caregivers, and others easy access to texts that they can use to support children’s automatic and meaningful beginning reading.
Join us in creating a list of benchmark books.
Freddy adds contemporary benchmark books to those already identified by Jeanne Chall and the CCSS.
We need to do more than simply get students back on track in their academic learning. Yes, getting back on the page as readers and writers is critical. But at the same time, we as educators need to recognize that children, just as adults, need to feel the vibrancy of community and a sense of hope.
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.
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.
The Science of Reading shows research can be used to increase children’s reading proficiency.
Part 1 answers the question: Why is the orthography of English so important in learning to read (and critical for teachers of reading to understand)?
Part 2 provides insights from the science of reading on important aspects of a curriculum in reading acquisition.
Part 3 discusses how reading acquisition can be supported and what instructional activities can be delivered to a beginning reading class.
