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Strategies and Lessons for Improving Basic Early Literacy Skills
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Strategies and Lessons for Improving Basic Early Literacy Skills



May 2008 | 232 pages | Corwin
This practical, hands-on guide shows teachers how to use research-proven strategies and structured lessons to teach basic early reading skills. The authors provide an extensive array of lessons, strategies, tips, and supplementary materials to help educators strengthen students' skills in areas identified by the popular assessment system DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills).

Elementary school teachers can use DIBELS to quickly assess the critical skills underlying early reading success:

Letter naming fluency

Initial sound fluency

Phoneme segmentation fluency

Nonsense word fluency

Oral reading fluency

The materials are designed for students with any type of reading difficulty, including students with learning disabilities, but are equally appropriate for students of any ability level.

 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
1. Introduction
Organizational Framework

 
Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

 
Incorporating Basic Early Literacy Skills (BELS) Into the Literacy Block

 
Teaching Effectively

 
Early Literacy Instruction in Perspective

 
Building Early Literacy Skills

 
 
2. Letter Naming Fluency
Activity 1: Distinguishing Between Letters and Non-Letters

 
Activity 2a: Distinguishing Letter Forms (Tall Letters)

 
Activity 2b: Distinguishing Letter Forms (Short Circular Letters)

 
Activity 2c: Distinguishing Letter Forms (Short Stick Letters)

 
Activity 2d: Distinguishing Letter Forms (Short Hump Letters)

 
Activity 2e: Distinguishing Letter Forms (Hanging Letters)

 
Activity 3: Distinguishing Same and Different Letters

 
Activity 4a: Distinguishing Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

 
Activity 4b: Distinguishing Uppercase and Lowercase Letters (Using American Sign Language)

 
Activity 4c: Distinguishing Uppercase and Lowercase Letters (Using Sense of Touch)

 
Activity 5: Distinguishing Letters/Sounds (Using Sense of Touch)

 
 
3. Initial Sound Fluency
Activity 6a: Silly Sentence s—Part 1

 
Activity 6b: Silly Sentences—Part 2

 
Activity 7: Picture/Sound Charts

 
Activity 8a: Letter/Sound Books—Part 1

 
Activity 8b: Letter/Sound Books—Part 2

 
Activity 9: Sound Collages

 
Activity 10: Sound Identification Game

 
Activity 11: Picture/Sound Identification Game

 
 
4. Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
Activity 12: “Stretching” Sounds in Words

 
Activity 13a: Elkonin Boxes—Identifying Sounds with Fingers

 
Activity 13b: Elkonin Boxes—Pushing Sounds

 
Activity 13c: Elkonin Boxes—Sound Boxes

 
Activity 13d: Elkonin Boxes—Transition Boxes

 
Activity 13e: Elkonin Boxes—Letter Boxes

 
 
5. Nonsense Word Fluency
Activity 14: Distinguishing Letters/Sounds (Using Sense of Touch)

 
Activity 15a: Sound/Letter BINGO

 
Activity 15b: Letter/Sound BINGO

 
Activity 16: Sound Identification Game

 
Activity 17: Making and Breaking using Magnetic Letters

 
Activity 18a: Blending (VC)

 
Activity 18b: Blending (CVC)

 
Activity 19: Sorting Beginning Consonant Sounds

 
Activity 20: Sound Line

 
Activity 21: Word Wheels

 
Activity 22: Flip Books

 
Activity 23: Slide-a-Word

 
Activity 24: Word Scramble

 
Activity 25: Word Maker

 
Activity 26: Roll The Dice

 
Activity 27: Match!

 
Activity 28: Ringo!

 
Activity 29: Go Fish

 
 
6. Oral Reading Fluency
Activity 30a: Reading Punctuation

 
Activity 30b: Reading Punctuation: Period, Exclamation Point, Question Mark

 
Activity 31: Reading Text in Phrases to Promote Fluency

 
Activity 32: Reading Fine and Bold Printed Text as Author Intended

 
Activity 3: Reading fine and bold printed text as author intended

 
Activity 33: Reading Dialogue

 
 
References and Resources
 
Index

"The lessons build on one another and are clearly sequenced from teacher-led instruction to group instruction to independent practice. This is a great resource for schools that use DIBELS as their assessment, because it is so closely aligned with the same targeted skills. Readers will find suggested accountability and differentiated instruction ideas right at their fingertips. It is hard to find books targeted to the early grades, and this one covers many areas important to the K-3 educator."

Tanya Phaturos, Reading Specialist
Park Elementary School, Holbrook, AZ

"Emphasizes practical activities presented in a consistent format that can be used with students to enhance their literacy development."

Wanda Mangum, Language Arts Instructional Coach
Gwinnett County Public Schools, GA

"A teacher could pick up this book and immediately use the activities to help children improve. There is differentiation for each activity, ensuring that this book can be used successfully in the classroom."

Jessie Fries-Kraemer, Literacy Teacher
Eubank Elementary School, Albuquerque, NM

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction


For instructors

Please contact your Academic Consultant to check inspection copy availability for your course.

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ISBN: 9781412952866
£33.99