WIFORT Wisconsin Foundations of Reading Test (Currins 536) Flashcards
Accuracy (part of fluency)
Reading words in text with no errors.
Academically Engaged
Students are academically engaged when they are participating in activities/instructions in a meaningful way and understanding the tasks in which they are involved.
Affix
A general term that refers to prefixes and suffixes.
After-Reading Comprehension Strategies
Strategies that require the reader to actively transform key information in the text that has been read (e.g., summarizing, retelling).
Aligned Materials
Student materials (texts, activities, manipulatives, homework, etc.) that reinforce classroom instruction of specific skills in reading.
Alphabetic Principle
The concept that letters and letter combinations represent individual phonemes in written words.
Ample Opportunities for Student Practice
Students are asked to apply what they have been taught in order to accomplish specific reading tasks. Practice should follow in a logical relationship with what has just been taught. Once skills are internalized, students are provided with more opportunities to independently implement previously learned information.
Analogy
Comparing two sets of words to show some common similarity between the sets. When done as a vocabulary exercise this requires producing one of the words (e.g., cat is to kitten as dog is to ____?)
Antonym
A word opposite in meaning to another word.
Automaticity
Reading without conscious effort or attention to decoding.
Background Knowledge
The knowledge and understandings of the world that students have acquired through their everyday experiences - riding in cars or buses, playing and talking with other children and adults, that help them to make sense of the texts they read.
Base Word
A unit of meaning that can stand alone as a whole word (e.g., friend, pig). Also called a free morpheme.
Before-Reading Comprehension Strategies
Strategies employed to emphasize the importance of preparing students to read text (e.g., activate prior knowledge, set a purpose for reading).
Blending
The task of combining sounds rapidly, to accurately represent the word.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
A system for categorizing levels of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings. Includes the following competencies: (old verbs) knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. (new verbs) Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating.
Choral Reading/Chanting
Two or more individuals reading aloud from the same text-this can help students to develop oral reading fluency.
Chunked Text
Continuous text that has been separated into meaningful phrases often with the use of single and double slash marks (/ and //). The intent of using chunked text or chunking text is to give children an opportunity to practice reading phrases fluently.
Chunking
A decoding strategy for breaking words into manageable parts. (e.g., yes/ter/day). Chunking also refers to the process of dividing a sentence into smaller phrases where pauses might occur naturally (e.g., When the sun appeared after the storm, / the newly fallen snow. shimmered like diamonds).
Comprehension
Understanding what one is reading, the ultimate goal of all reading activity.
Comprehension Questions
Questions that address the meaning of text, ranging from literal to inferential to analytical.
Concepts About Print/Conventions of Print
The understanding an individual has about the rules or accepted practices that govern the use of print and the use of written language. For example concepts about print include: reading left to right, top to bottom, words are made of letters, use of spaces between words, use of uppercase letters, spelling patterns, punctuation, etc.
Concept Definition Mapping
Provides a visual framework for organizing conceptual information in the process of defining a word or concept. The framework contains the category, properties, and example of the word or concept.
Connected Text
Words that are lined (as opposed to words in a list) as in sentences, phrases, and paragraphs.
Consonant Blend
Two or more consecutive consonants which retain their individual sounds (e.g., bl in block; str in string).
Consonant Digraph
Two consecutive consonants that represent one phoneme, or sound (e.g., ch, sh).
Context/Context Cues
Information from the surrounding text that helps identify or gives meaning to a specific word or phrase i.e. “yesterday I read the book”. The words surrounding “read” help us know how to pronounce it.
Conventional Spelling
Spelling that is in the standard or correct form for written documents.
Cueing System
Any of the various sources of information that may aid identification of a word such as graphophonics, semantic, and syntactic information.
Decodable Text
Text in which a high proportion of words (80%-90%) comprise sound-symbol relationships that have already been taught. It is used for the purpose of providing practice with specific decoding skills and is a bridge between learning phonics and the application of phonics in independent writing.
Decodable Words
Words containing phonics elements that were previously taught.
Decoding
The ability to translate a word from print to speech, usually by employing knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences; also the act of deciphering a new word by sounding it out.
Derivational Affix
A prefix or suffix added to a root or stem to form another word (e.g., -ness in likeness, un- in unhappy).
Diagnostic
Diagnostic tests can be used to measure a variety of reading, language, or cognitive skills. Although they can be given as soon as a screening test indicates a child is behind in reading growth, they will usually be given only if a child fails to make adequate progress after being given extra help in learning to read. They are designed to provide a more precise and detailed picture of the full range of a child’s knowledge and skill so that instruction can be more precisely planned.
Differentiated Instruction
Matching instruction to meet the different needs of learners in a given classroom.
Digraphs
A group of two consecutive letters whose phonetic value is a single sound (e.g., ea in bread; ch in chart; ng in sing).
Diphthong
A vowel produced by the tongue shifting position during articulation; a vowel that feels as if it has two parts, especially the vowels spelled ow, oy, ou, and oi.
Direct Instruction
The teacher defines and teaches a concept, guides students through its application, and arranges for extended guided practice until mastery is achieved.
Discourse
How we combine sentences to communicate ideas
During-Reading Comprehension Strategies
Strategies that help students engage the meanings of a text (e.g., asking questions at critical junctures; modeling the thought process used to make inferences; constructing mental imagery).
Echo reading
Reading of a text where an adult or experienced reader reads a line of text, and the student repeats the line. A good technique for Emergent and Early Readers to build fluency and expression.
Elkonin Boxes
A framework used during phonemic awareness instruction. Elkonin Boxes are sometimes referred to as Sound Boxes. When working with words, the teacher can draw one box per sound for a target word. Students push a marker into one box as they segment each sound in the word.
Emergent Reader
A reader who is developing an association of print with meaning - the early stages of learning to read.
Empirical Research
Refers to scientifically based research that applies rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge. This includes research that: employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment; has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective and scientific review; involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn; relies on measures or observational methods that provide valid data across evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations; and can be generalized.
Etymology
The origin and history of a word.
Explicit Teaching
- Teacher Models and Explains. 2. Teacher provides Guided Practice- Students practice what the teacher modeled and the teacher provides prompts and feedback. 3. Teachers provided Supported Application - Students apply the skill as the teacher scaffolds instruction. 4. Independent practice.
Expository Text
Text that reports factual information (also referred to as informational text) and the relationships among ideas. Expository text tends to be more difficult for students than narrative text because of the density of long, difficult, and unknown words or word parts.
Five Components of Reading
Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary,and comprehension.
Flexible Grouping
Grouping students according to shared instructional needs and abilities and regrouping as their instructional needs change. Group size and allocated instructional time may vary among groups.
Floss Rule
Words of one syllable, ending in f, l, or s – after one vowel, usually ending in ff, ll, or ss (sounds /f/, /l/, /s/).
Fluency Probe
An assessment for measuring fluency, usually a timed oral reading passage at the student’s instructional reading level.
Fluency
Ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with proper expression. Fluency provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.
Frayer Model
An adaptation of the concept map. The framework of the Frayer Model includes: the concept word, the definition, characteristics of the concept word, examples of the concept word, and non-examples of the concept word. It is important to include both examples and non-examples, so students are able to identify what the concept word is and what the concept word is not.
Frustrational Reading Level
The level at which a reader reads at less than a 90% accuracy (i.e., one or more errors per 10 words read). Frustration level text is difficult text for the reader.
Grammar Conventions
The rules or accepted practices, that govern the use of grammar in written or spoken language.
Grapheme
A letter or letter combination that spells a phoneme, can be one, two, three, or four letters in English (e.g., e, ei, igh, eigh).
Graphic Organizers
A visual framework or structure for capturing the main points of what is being read, which may include concepts, ideas, events, vocabulary, or generalizations. Graphic organizers allow ideas in text and thinking processes to become external by showing the interrelatedness of ideas, thus facilitating understanding for the reader. The structure of a graphic organizer is determined by the structure of the kind of text being read.
Graphophonics (Phonics)
Referring to the relationship between the letters and the letter sounds of a language.
Graphophonemic Knowledge
Knowledge of the relationship between letters and phonemes.
Guided Practice
Students practice what the teacher modeled and the teacher provides prompts and feedback.
Guided or Supported Reading
A method by which an experienced reader provides structure and purpose, and models strategies in order to move beginning readers towards independence.
High Frequency Words
A small group of words (300-500) that account for a large percentage of the words in print and can be regular or irregular words. Often, they are referred to as “sight words” since automatic recognition of these words is required for fluent reading.
Homograph
Words that are spelled the same but have different origins and meanings. They may or may not be pronounced the same. (e.g. can as in a metal container/can as in able to).
Immediate Intensive Intervention
Instruction that may include more time, more opportunities for student practice, more teacher feedback, smaller group size, and different materials. Is is implemented as soon as assessment indicates that students are not making adequate progress in reading.
Implicit Instruction
The opposite of explicit instruction. Students discover skills and concepts instead of being explicitly taught. For example, the teacher writes a list of words on the board that begin with the lever “m” (mud, milk, meal, and mattress) and asks the students how the words are similar. The teacher elicits from the students that the letter m stands for the sound you hear at the beginning of the words.
Independent Reading Level
The level at which a reader can read text with 95% accuracy (i.e., no more than one error per 20 words read). Independent reading level is relatively easy text for the reader.
Independent-Instructional Reading Level Range
The reading range that spans instructional and independent reading levels or level of text that a student can read with 90% to 95% or above accuracy.
Inference
Drawing meaning from a combination of clues in the text without explicit reference to the text. “The sky was dark and cloudy so I took my umbrella.” We can infer that it might rain even though the text does not say that.
Inflectional Suffix
In English, a suffix that expresses plurality or possession when added to a noun, tense when added to a verb, and comparison when added to an adjective and some adverbs. A major difference between inflectional and derivational morphemes is that inflections added to verbs, nouns, or adjectives do not change the grammatical role or part of speech of the base words (-s, -es, -ing, -ed).
Informal Assessment
Does not follow prescribed rules for administration and scoring and has not undergone technical scrutiny for reliability and validity. Teacher-made tests, end-of-unit tests and running records are all examples of informal assessment.
Informational Text
Non-fiction books, also referred to as expository text, that contain facts and information.
Intervention
Highly skilled teachers in a small pupil-teacher ratio classroom provide explicit and systematic instruction that is tailored to meet the identified needs of struggling readers. Teachers will utilize assessment to guide accelerated instruction, use teacher modeling, and scaffolding with gradual release of responsibility to students, and provide extensive practice opportunities.
Intervention Program
Programs that provide instruction intended for flexible use as part of differentiated instruction and/or more intensive intervention to meet student learning needs in one or more of the specific areas of reading (phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). These programs are used to provide targeted, intensive intervention for small groups of struggling readers.
Invented Spelling
An attempt by beginning writers to spell a word when the standard spelling is unknown, using whatever knowledge of sounds or visual patterns the writer has.
Inversions
Reversal or “flipping” of letters either horizontally or vertically, i.e.: p-d, or b-d, m-w, u-n. Not unusual for Emergent writers or readers.
KWL Chart (Know, Want to know, learned)
A pre-reading or during reading activity to support understanding in which adult and child develop a chart organized in three columns: 1) things the child already Knows about a specific topic, 2) what the child Wants to know about the same topic, and 3) what the child Learns about the topic after reading about it.
Language Experience Approach
A method of teaching reading by using the reader’s own dictated language.
Language Structure
The organization of words (both spoken and written) into meaningful segments (phrases or sentences) using conventions of grammar and syntax.
Letter Combinations
Also referred to as digraphs, a group of consecutive letters that represents a particular sound(s) in the majority of words in which it appears (e.g., ai in maid; ch in chair; ar in car; kn in know; ng in ring;).
Letter Recognition
The identification of individual letters by name and/or sound in a variety of contexts.
Letter-Sound Correspondence
Making a connection between individual letters and the sounds they represent (graphophonics).
Linguistic Approach
A reading based on highly regular spelling patterns. Such as: Nat the cat sat on the mat.
Literal Comprehension
Understanding of the basic facts that the student has read.
Main idea
The central thought or message of a reading passage.
Miscue
Any substitution of a word in a text that a reader makes.
Miscue Analysis
An examination of reading errors or substitutions (miscues) as the basis for determining the strengths and weaknesses of students’ reading skills.
Modeled Reading
An experienced reader’s oral reading of a text to aid students in learning strategies, understanding intonation and expression, and the use of punctuation, among other aspects of reading.
Metacogntion
An awareness of one’s own thinking processes and how they work. The process of consciously thinking about one’s learning or reading while actually being engaged in learning or reading. Metacognitive strategies can be taught to students; good readers use metacognitive strategies to think about and have control over their reading.
Modeling
Teacher overtly demonstrates a strategy, skill, or concept that students will be learning.
Morpheme
The smallest meaningful unit of language.
Morphemic Analysis
An analysis of words formed by adding prefixes, suffixes, or other meaningful word units to a base word.
Morphology
The system of meaningful parts from which words may be created.
Multisyllabic Words
Words with more than one syllable. A systematic introduction of prefixes, suffixes, and multisyllabic words should occur throughout a reading program. The average number of syllables in the words students read should increase steadily throughout grades.
Narrative Text
Text that tells a story about fictional or real events.
Objectives
Measurable statements detailing the desired accomplishments of a program.
Oddities
Vowels that are pronounced differently from the expected pronunciation (e.g., the “o” in old is pronounced /ō/ instead of the expected /o/).
Onset and Rime
In a syllable, the onset is the initial consonant or consonants, and the rime is the vowel and any consonants that follow it. (e.g., the word sat, the onset is s and the rime is at. In the word flip, the onset is fl and the rime is ip).
Orthographic Units
The representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols.
Orthography
A writing system for representing language.
Pacing
The pace of a lesson should move briskly, but not so fast as to rush students beyond their ability to answer correctly. The purposes for a fast pace are to help students pay close attention to the material being presented, and provided students more practice time which increases the opportunity for greater student achievement, keeps students actively engaged, and reduces behavior management problems by keeping students on-task.
Partner/Peer Reading
Reading aloud taking turns with a partner who provides word identification help and feedback.
Pattern Story or Cumulative Story
A story that has many elements or language patterns repeated until the climax, a predictable text.
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound within our language system. A phoneme combines with other phonemes to make words.
Phoneme Isolation
Recognizing individual sounds in a word (e.g., /p/ is the first sound in pan).
Phoneme Manipulation
Adding, deleting, and substituting sounds in words (e.g.g, add /b/ to oat to make boat; delete /p/ in pan to make an; substitute /o/ for /a/ in a pat to make pot.
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to notice, think about, or manipulate the individual phonemes (sounds) in words. It is the ability to understand the sounds in spoken language work together to make words. This term is used to refer to the highest level of phonological awareness: awareness of individual phonemes in words.
Phonics
The study of the relationships between letters and the sounds they represent; also used to describe reading instructions that teaches sound-symbol correspondences.
Phonics Approach
Teaching reading and spelling in a way that stresses that connection between letters and the sounds they represent, teaches the dissection of words into parts and then blending the sounds together again. Phonics can be taught directly or can be incorporated in ongoing reading and writing.
Phonological Awareness
One’s sensitivity to, or explicit awareness of, the phonological structure of words in one’s language. This is an “umbrella” term that is used to refer to a student’s sensitivity to any aspect of phonological structure in language. It encompasses awareness of individual words in sentences syllables, and onset-rime segments, as well as awareness of individual phonemes.
Phonology
The speech-sound system.
Picture Cues
Use of images that accompany and reflect the content of a text to help readers figure out words and understand the meaning of text.
Picture Walk
A pre-reading strategy: an examination of the text looking at pictures to gain an understanding of the story and to illicit story related language in advance.
Pragmatics
A branch of linguistics concerned with the use of language in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language. You have invited your friend over for dinner. Your child sees your friend reach for some cookies and says, “Better not take those, or you’ll get even bigger.” You’re embarrassed that your child could speak so rudely. However, you should consider that your child may not know how to use language appropriately in social situations and did not mean harm by the comment. An individual may say words clearly and use long, complex sentences with correct grammar, but still have a communication problem - if he or she has not mastered the rules for social language known as pragmatics.
Prefix
A morpheme that precedes a root and that contributes to or modifies the meaning of a word as re-in reprint.
Pre-reading Strategies
Activities that take place just before reading, like reviewing a book cover or looking at the pictures, predicting, and formulating questions; these strategies provide students with valuable information about the text and prepare them for reading.
Print Conventions/Conventions of Print
The understanding an individual has about the rules or accepted practices that govern the use of print in the use of written language: for example concepts about print include: reading left to right, top to bottom, words are made of letters, use of spaces between words, use of uppercase letters, spelling patterns, punctuation, etc.
Prior Knowledge
Refers to schema, the knowledge and experience that readers bring to the text.
Progress Monitoring
Tests that keep the teacher informed about the child’s progress in learning to read during the school year. They are a quick sample of critical reading skills that will tell the teacher if the child is making adequate progress toward grade level reading ability at the end of the year.
Prosody
Reading with expression, proper intonation, and phrasing. This helps readers to sound as if they are speaking the part they are reading. It is also this element of fluency that sets it apart from automaticity.
Rate
The speed at which a person read.
Readability Level
Refers to independent, instructional, and frustrational levels of text reading.
Reading Centers
Special places organized in the classroom for students to work in small groups or pairs, either cooperatively or individually. Students work in centers while the teacher is conducting small group reading instruction. Each center contains meaningful, purposeful activities that are an extension and reinforcement of what has already been taught by the teacher in reading groups or in a large group. Reading centers offer students the opportunity to stay academically engaged as they apply the skills they have been learning. They are an excellent way for teachers to determine whether or not students know what they have been taught. It is important to develop a system and organize your classroom in such a way that you can provide feedback to students in a timely manner. Waiting until the end of the week to look at what students have worked on all week is not a productive use of instructional time, as students may have been practicing errors all week.
Examples of Reading Centers
Students practice phonics skills at the phonics center, sort word cards at the vocabulary center, and at the reading center, they read books, listen to taped books, record the reading of a book, and read in pairs. The reading center would contain a variety of books at various reading levels to meet the needs off all students. Other centers may consist of writing and spelling activities, pocket charts, white boards, magnetic letters to practice word building, sentence strips and word cards to create stories, sequencing activities with pictures, story boards, or sentence strips to retell a story that has been read. Some centers may be permanent; others will change according to the skills, books, and activities being currently addressed. It is recommended that teachers not bring in material from other content areas unless the activity from science or math, for example, specifically focuses on a skill that is being addressed in reading instruction. Reading centers require careful planning.
Reading Fluency Prorating Formulas
When students are asked to read connected text for more than one minute or less than one minute, their performance must be prorated to give a fluency rate per minute. The prorating formula for this is the following: words read correctly x 60 / by the number of seconds = Reading Fluency Score
Repeated Reading
Rereading of text until the reader is able to read at a predetermined rate to produce fluency.
Retelling
Recalling the content of what was read or heard.
Reversals
The result of reversing the order of letters in a word (tap/pat), or confusing similar letters such as d-b, or writing letters backwards. Not uncommon with Emergent readers and writers.
Rhyming
Words that have the same ending sound.
Root
A bound morpheme, usually of Latin origin, that cannot stand alone but is used to form a family of words with related meanings.
Scaffolded Instruction
The process of modeling and encouraging strategic, successful reading by providing structure, organization, question, clarification, summarizing, or tying information to what is known or what will be found out. Students are given all the support they need to arrive at the correct answer. For example, after an error occurs, the support or assistance a teacher offers may include cues, giving reminders or encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else so that students can arrive at the correct answer instead of the teacher giving the answer.
Schema
Refers to prior knowledge, the knowledge and experience that readers bring to the text.
Schwa
The vowel sound sometimes heard in an unstressed syllable and is most often sounded as ‘uh’ or as the short ‘u’ sound as in ‘cup.’
Scientifically Based Reading Research (SBRR)
Refers to empirical research that applies rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid knowledge. This includes research that: employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment; has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective and scientific review; involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to text the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn; relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data across evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations; and can be generalized.
Scope and Sequence
A “roadmap” or “blueprint” for teachers that provides an overall picture of an instructional program.
Screening
Test that provide the teacher a beginning assessment of the student’s preparation for grade level reading instruction. They are a “first alert that a child will need extra help to make adequate progress in reading during the year.
Segmenting
Separating the individual phonemes, or sounds, of a word into discrete units.
Self Monitoring
Paying attention to one’s own reading process while reading, and taking steps to reread or make corrections as needed to make sense of the text.
Semantics
The study of the meaning in language; the analysis of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.
Semantic Feature Analysis
Uses a grid to help explore how a set of things are related to one another. By analyzing the grid one can see connections, make predictions, and master important concepts.
Semantic Maps
Portray the schematic relations that compose a concept; a strategy for graphically representing concepts.
Shared Reading
When children are involved in reading a text with an adult in such a way that the adult models strategies and concepts such as predicting and noticing letter patterns. Helpful with very early readers in developing concepts about print such as “word” and directionality.
Sight Words
Words that are recognized immediately. Sometimes sight words are thought to be irregular, or high frequency (e.g., the Dolch and Fry lists). However, any word that is recognized automatically is a sight word. These words may be phonetically regular or irregular.
Sound(ing) Out
Using phonics to figure out words.
Sound to Symbol
Phonics instruction that matches phoneme to grapheme.
Spelling Patterns
Refers to digraphs, vowel pairs, word families, and vowel variant spellings.
Story Elements
Characters, problem, solutions, themes, setting, and plot.
Story Grammar
The general structure of stories that includes story elements.
Story Maps
A strategy used to unlock the plot and important elements of a story. These elements can be represented visually through various graphic organizations showing the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Answering the questions of who, where, when, what, and how or why, and listing the main events is also part of story mapping. These elements are also referred to as story grammar.
Story/Text Structure
A set of conventions that govern different kinds of texts such as characters, plot, settings, or in an information text, comparison and contrast.
Strategic Learners
Active learners. While reading they make predictions, organize information, and interact with the text. They think about what they are reading in terms of what they already know. They monitor their comprehension by employing strategies that facilitate their understanding.
Strategy
A means to enhance understanding of text.
Structural Analysis
A procedure for teaching students to read words formed with prefixes, suffixes, or other meaningful word parts.
Student Friendly Explanation
An explanation of the word’s meaning rather than a definition. 1. Characterizes the word and how it is typically used. 2. Explains the meaning in everyday language.
Suffix
An affix attached to the end ofa base, root, or stem that changes the meaning or grammatical function of the word, as -en in oxen.
Summarizing
Reducing large selections of text to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering.
Syllable
A segment of a word that contains one vowel sound. The vowel may or may not be preceded and/or followed by a consonant.
Syllable Types
There are six syllable types: 1. Closed: cat, cobweb. 2. Open: he, silo. 3. Vowel-consonant-e (VCE): like, milestone. 4. Consonant-l-e: candle, jungle (second syllable) 5. R-controlled: star, corner. 6: Vowel pairs: count, rainbow.
Symbol to Sound
Matching grapheme to phoneme.
Synonym
Words that have similar meanings.
Syntax
The pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases; the grammatical rules that govern language. Sentences have to follow certain structural rules in order to make sense. You can’t just throw any words together to make a sentence! Order words make sense need to…this doesn’t make sense! Words need order to make sense…Ahh! Much better! So what is the structure of a sentence? How do we know what is supposed to go where? The answer lies in syntax.
Systematic Instruction
A carefully planned sequence for instruction, similar to a builder’s blueprint for a house. A blueprint is carefully thought out and designed before building materials are gathered and construction begins. The plan for instruction that is systematic is carefully thought out, strategic, and designed before activities and lessons are planned. Instruction is clearly linked within, as well as across the five components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). For systematic instruction, lessons build on previously taught information, from simple to complex.
Systematic Phonics Instruction
Systematic phonics programs teach children an extensive, pre-specified set of letter-sound correspondences or phonograms.
Target Words
Words which are specifically addressed, analyzed, and/or studied in curriculum lessons, exercises, and independent activities.
The Writing Process
A view of teaching writing as an ongoing process involving several steps such as: planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing.
Timed Reading
Student reads appropriate text with a predetermined number of words to be read within a specific amount of time.
Trade Book
A book intended for general reading that is not a textbook.
Utility
Degree of usefullness
Variant Correspondences
Various corresponding spelling patterns for a specific sound or a variety of spelling patterns for one sound (e.g., long a spelled a, a_e, ai__, __ay).
Visual Information
Information that is accessed through visual means such as the size and shape of a word, format, pictures, diagrams, etc.
Vocabulary
Refers to all of the words of our language. One must know words to communicate effectively. Vocabulary is important to reading comprehension because readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. Vocabulary development refers to stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication. Four types of vocabulary include listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Vowel Digraph or Vowel Pair
Two vowels together that represent one phoneme, or sound (e.g., ae, ai, oa).
Word Analysis/Word Attack Strategies
The process of using strategies to figure out or decode unfamiliar words.
