Language Arts and Reading

Question 1

What is literacy?

Answer 1

the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, compute, and communicate using visual, audible, and digital materials across disciplines in any context

Question 2

What is emergent literacy?

Answer 2

-aspects of literacy that develop before formal instruction
-includes reading, writing, and speaking behaviors, interest in print and visuals, and motivation to communicate

Question 3

What are ways to foster emergent literacy?

Answer 3

-concept of print
-alphabetic principle (understanding there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds; 26 letters and ~44 phonemes, but no 1:1 correspondence)
-oral language (speaking and listening)
-phonological awareness (umbrella term; an overarching skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language, incl. idea that spoken words make up sentences and that these sounds and words communicate a message)

Question 4

What are the 4 phonological skills from simplest to most complex?

Answer 4

-word awareness (4-5 y/o)
-responsiveness to rhyme and alliteration (4-6 y/o)
-syllable awareness (5 y/o)
-onset and rime manipulation (5-6 y/o)

Question 5

What is phonemic awareness?

Answer 5

-understanding that words we say are made up of sounds as well as the ability to work with those sounds
-ability to recognize, isolate, blend, segment, and substitute sounds in a word

Question 6

What is vocabulary?

Answer 6

-words needed to communicate
-most learned indirectly

Question 7

What are the 3 tiers of vocabulary?

Answer 7

1: common, basic words children typically know as they enter school
2: content words; process words (e.g., assess, determine)
3: content-/domain-specific words needed for deeper understanding

Question 8

What is narrative discourse?

Answer 8

-ability to communicate an experience that includes past, present, and future events or a cause and effect
-one speaker conveying all info

Question 9

What are the 4 cueing systems developed during the emergent literacy stage?

Answer 9

-semantic (study of meaning in words and texts)
-syntactic
-graphophonic (ability to sound out words)
-pragmatic (background knowledge and expectations)

Question 10

What is the difference between denotation and connotation?

Answer 10

-denotation: literal and basic definition of a word
-connotation: meaning of word within context or meaning that is conveyed by the word

Question 11

What is an onset?

Answer 11

-initial phonological unit of a syllable (e.g., c in cat)
-always a consonant or a cluster of consonants (not all words have onset; e.g., axe)

Question 12

What is environmental print?

Answer 12

signs or logos for common brands or concepts that are familiar to children (e.g., McDonald’s, Walmart)

Question 13

What are the 5 components of letter writing?

Answer 13

-formation
-slant
-spacing
-size
-alignment

Question 14

What are 2 approaches for developing early literacy skills?

Answer 14

-part-to-whole: teaching sounds, letters, then words
-whole-to-part: looking at a word and breaking it into parts or sounds

Question 15

What is encoding?

Answer 15

converting spoken words into print (construct language)

Question 16

How to develop reading skills?

Answer 16

-develop academic language skills, including use of inferencing, narrative language, and vocab
-foster awareness of the segments of sound in speech and how they link to letters
-teach to decode words, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words
-ensure reading connected text every day

Question 17

What is writing?

Answer 17

complex activity integrating the mental functions of the writing process, attention, memory, language, visual process, and higher-order thinking skills

Question 18

What are some appropriate emergent and early literacy activities?

Answer 18

-letters and sight word games
-dramatic play (supports literacy and language development)
-story reading and read alouds
-blocks, legos, lincoln logs, and puzzles

Question 19

What are the different instructional methods?

Answer 19

-systematic
-explicit (modeling, think alouds, scaffolding, guided practice, learner involvement, direct instruction)
-whole group
-small group

Question 20

What are the components of a literacy-rich environment?

Answer 20

-print materials
-tools (pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, paint brushes)
-centers/work stations

Question 21

What is a balanced literacy program?

Answer 21

-uses whole language and phonics and aims to include the strongest elements of each
-incorporates six common features: time, talk, teach, texts, tasks, and testing

Question 22

What is word study?

Answer 22

a way to teach spelling and words through a focus on patterns and rules

Question 23

What is the difference between interactive writing and shared writing?

Answer 23

-interactive writing: teacher writing, modeling, and allowing students to “share the pen”
-shared writing: teacher writing down what is said while asking questions, summarizing, and helping teach/reinforce conventions

Question 24

What is information literacy?

Answer 24

basic competencies of accessing, analysing, evaluating, and communicating info (e.g., reading labels, signs, and newspapers)

Question 25

What are ways to teach information literacy skills?

Answer 25

-plan research or pose a question
-develop a way to search for the answer
-find resources
-evaluating resources and thinking critically about them (e.g., author’s purpose, publisher, text features)
-expressing info learned in meaningful ways

Question 26

What are thematic units?

Answer 26

built around multiple content areas

Question 27

What are some ways to motivate students to engage in academic and personal reading?

Answer 27

-student interest
-opportunities to read at school
-self-selection and managed choice
-reading goals

Question 28

What is connected text?

Answer 28

text that has multiple related sentences (students need a lot of this daily)

Question 29

What are the 2 primary genres of literature? What are their subgenres?

Answer 29

-fiction (imagined or made up): realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, folklore, fables, fairy tales, tall tales, legends, mythology, drama
-nonfiction (informational; info based on fact presented in story format): essay, biography, autobiography

Question 30

What are some instructional methods and strategies to support comprehension?

Answer 30

-graphic organizers (KWL charts, semantic maps)
-directed reading-thinking activity (DRTA) (discussion format focused on making predictions)
-visualization
-activating background knowledge
-summarizing
-peer teaching

Question 31

What are the 4 stages of word recognition for early readers?

Answer 31

1: pseudo-reading - pretend or pre-reading stage; memorizes book and pretends to read it while recalling details from memory
2: logographic-visual - uses illustrations or letters in word to understand text without really knowing that the letters stand for
3: alphabetic-phonemic - visually represent words in diff format from other objects/symbols; develops concept of letter/sound relationships; decoding unfamiliar words
4: orthographic-morphemic - recognizes words automatically and understand their meaning

Question 32

What are the 4 components of reading fluency?

Answer 32

-accuracy
-automaticity
-prosody
-rate

Question 33

What are some instructional strategies for developing critical-thinking skills?

Answer 33

-model
-ask a lot of questions/brainstorm
-model making connections
-don’t provide immediate answers
-provide opportunities to play and explore
-help learn how to make inferences

Question 34

What are some instructional methods for developing reading fluency?

Answer 34

-repeated readings
-reader’s theater
-pre-teach vocab
-record students reading
-provide opportunities to read aloud

Question 35

What are some reading strategies to comprehend complex literature and informational texts?

Answer 35

-monitoring comprehension
-metacognitive thinking
-graphic and semantic organizers
-understanding text structure
-summarizing
-answering questions

Question 36

What are the developmental stages of writing?

Answer 36

1: pre-literate - random scribbling (15m-2.5), controlled scribbling (2-3), symbolic stage (3-5)
2: emergent (3-5.5) - write strings of random letters, label pics, practice environmental print
3: transitional (4-6) - adults can begin to decipher
4: fluency (5-6, but often not fully developed until later) - word and phrase writing, sentence writing,

Question 37

What are the 4 stages of writing?

Answer 37

-prewriting and brainstorming
-revising
-editing (organization, conventions)
-publishing

Question 38

What are the 4 modes of writing?

Answer 38

-narrative
-expository
-persuasive
-descriptive (also expository writing, but focus on 5 senses)

Question 39

What does SLANT stand for?

Answer 39

Sit up
Lean forward
Ask and answer questions
Nod your head
Track the speaker
(for active listening)

Question 40

What are effective strategies for collaboration (and comprehension)?

Answer 40

-conversation
-oral story-telling
-LAPS (listen, ask, picture, summarize)
-think pair share
-RAP (read, ask, put)
-literature circles
-inquiry circles (read and discuss an informational text to enhance and extend their comprehension of the topic)

Question 41

What can be explicitly taught to help students understand more complex conventions of English?

Answer 41

-prepositions
-personal possessive pronouns (mine, yours, ours)
-compound sentences
-complex sentences

Question 42

What are some methods for assessing individual student progress in reading and writing?

Answer 42

-conferencing
-rubrics
-fluency probes/checks
-running records (individually conducted formative assessment to assess student’s reading behaviors, strategies, and word attack skills)
-writing portfolios