Say It , Move It- Sentence Segmenting

*** Phonological Awareness Instruction is auditory 

and does not involve print. ***

Say It, Move It Mats

These work mats are use for sentence segmenting. These are actually copied from the SRA Phonemic Awareness book used in kindergarten to teach the first step on our phonological continuum.

Lesson

Give the students the sheets and chips or colored blocks (colors signify first, middle, and last word in the sentence). Best to start with simple two word sentences. Give them two chips and say “We run.” “We eat.”   “We play.”

You say it

The kids say it with you

They say it by themselves

You move your chips while you say it, they watch

Then they say it and move one chip for each word to the line with the arrow.

Build to examples such as “We like recess.” “He runs fast.” and so on, building to longer sentences. “The flower is blue.”

Have the children count the words in each sentence after they’ve moved their chips correctly in time with saying the words. Say it, move it!

Over Coming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz

Over Coming Dyslexia

A new and complete science- based program for reading problems at any level

By Sally Shaywitz, M. D. 2003

I read this book five years ago while obtaining my Masters degree in Brain Based Teaching. Since then I have come to realize how wide spread the misunderstanding of dyslexia is among parents and educators. I have had many parents come to me with concerns that their kindergartener may have dyslexia when they see their child writing and making a common mistake that we call reversals. The most common ones seen in children’s writing are: b/d, u/n, p/q, M/W, or 6/9 and even 12/21. These reversals are not indicators of dyslexia.

As Shaywitz explains there are two components in the reading process, decoding which results in word identification and comprehension which relates to meaning. Dyslexia is a problem in the ability to decode. Dyslexic readers cannot readily convert the alphabetic characters into a linguistic code or phonetic code. You see speaking is natural, it is in our genes. Reading on the other hand is not a natural human trait, it is an acquired act, an invention of man that must be learned, Shaywitz explains.

Shaywitz goes on to say the very first discovery a child makes on his way to reading is that words have parts, phoneme segmentation. These smaller units of speech phonemes then can be attached to a letter or letters making the code. This is the alphabetic principle.

In readers with dyslexia there is a glitch at the phonological level and it impedes their phonemic awareness and their ability to segment the spoken words into sounds. As a result the ability to break the reading code is not easily attainable. The phonemes are less sharply defined. The deficit in phonological processing interferes with decoding and prevents word identification.

        Dyslexia has no ties to a child’s mental capacity. Many times people with dyslexia have very high intelligence that allows them cover their impairment by using the knowledge of other words in the context or picture clues to make meaning of the print they can’t actually read.

Although reversals are not necessarily a sign of dyslexia in emergent readers there are the following signs to watch for to evaluate whether a child should be tested or not: Insensitivity to rhyme, difficulty in rote memorization, and incorrect retrieval of words with similar phonemes. For example humidity may be retrieved as humanity. Misnaming is not a lack of knowledge but rather confusion in sounds of spoken language.

This is an excellent book I need to go back and read cover to cover. It encapsulates both the phonological lessons in the purple book we use in kindergarten as well as the Imagine program. It’s reconfirmed of the fact that we are on the right path to improving our instruction of reading in our counties.

English-Language Learners’ and standardized testing

The Cultural Divide of Discourse: Understanding How English-Language Learners’ Primary Discourse Influences Acquisition of Literacy

Definition of discourse- generally refers to "written or spoken communication"

In the humanities and sometimes the social sciences, 'discourse' refers to a formalized way of thinking that can be manifested through language, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic

     While I was reading the article The Cultural Divide of Discourse: Understanding How English-Language Learners’ Primary Discourse Influences Acquisition of Literacy I thought of Juan from the article as one of my ELL students. I have seen how their shyness can sometimes be interpreted as functioning on a lower level. This book and this lesson format help them to develop the language skills necessary to communicate mathematical ideas. I know the standardized tests do not truly measure these children’s capabilities because their lives are lived in the context of a different culture. The more we can assist our ELL students to build confidence, as well as language, the more apt they are to succeed in the standardized testing in American schools.

     I bought this unbelievable book May 2010 at the International Reading Association convention in Chicago. The book is a wonderful guide for beginning math skills, communicating mathematically and differentiation. It helps all kids developing the vocabulary needed for mathematical problem solving. One of the things I like about it the most is my little learners are all able to get turns going up to the board and count using one to one correspondence. There are the simplest tasks for your lower kids so they can feel successful and build confidence, then you can easily move your higher ones along to  doing addition or multiplication, thinking and talking themselves through it. THEY DO that’s the main thing. They’re engaged by the brightly colored graphics and we just think and talk, no one distracted by their inability to hold a pencil or hindered by newly acquired writing skills.

Kindergarten Math Lesson

Objective: In this lesson we will use the illustration/ transparency from the book Math Talk to develop mathematical language development and foundational skills such as number sense.

Materials:

Math Talk –Teaching Concepts and Building Skills Through Illustrations and Stories written by Char Forsten & Torri Richards

Overhead projector

GPS

MKP3. Students will communicate mathematically.

a. Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication.

b. Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others.

c. Analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others.

d. Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.

 MKN1. Students will connect numerals to the quantities they represent.

a. Count a number of objects up to 30.

e. Compare two or more sets of objects (1-10) and identify which set is equal to, more than, or less than the other.

MKN2. Students will use representations to model addition and subtraction.

a. Use counting strategies to find out how many items are in two sets when they are combined, separated, or compared.

c. Use objects, pictures, numbers, or words to create, solve and explain story problems (combining, separating, or comparing) for two numbers that are each less than 10.

MKP1. Students will solve problems (using appropriate technology).

a. Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving.

b. Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.

c. Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems.

d. Monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.

MKP2. Students will reason and evaluate mathematical arguments.

a.   Recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics.

Lesson:

1)           Prior to this lesson the children were learning the color word blue and had been reciting the nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue.

2)          Set up the projector and start asking students questions. Give them several minutes to think about the answer pick one child to go to the board and point and count for the solution. If they miss something get a little help from a friend.

3)          Beginning Questions:

·        What do you see in this illustration? ( they speak you point)

·        Can you point to little boy blue?

·        Can you point to his horn?

·        How many legs does the cow have?

·        How many legs does the sheep have?

·        What other things do you see that we could count?(mice, cats, butterflies, birds, ears of corn , corn stalks, clouds)

Intermediate Questions:

·        How many corn stalks have mice climbing on them?

·        How many butterflies have landed on flowers?

·        How many butterflies are flying in the air?

Advanced Questions:

·        How many legs does a bird have?

·        How many legs do 3 birds have?

·        How many mice are to the left of the cow? The right?

·        If 4 sheep wonder back to little boy blue how many sheep will there be altogether?

·        If the cat chases one mouse away how many mice will be left?

·        Can you think of your own math story?