Bookworms FAQs
Assessment
DIBELS
1. What is more important, growth or proficiency on DORF?
Growth is always most important for an individual child. Proficiency tells us
when to stop monitoring growth.
2. Why shouldn't we use the DIBELS composite score?
The composite score includes retell fluency, for which psychometric data are not
as strong as oral reading fluency. In our problem solving model, we are asking
whether a student is fluent or not.
3. Would you suggest assigning a grade for DORF in our gradebook?
I would. It doesn't translate into a grade. You might consider sharing status and
growth data with parents, though.
Informal Decoding Inventory (IDI)
1. Is there an alternative assessment to the IDI at the beginning of kindergarten?
Testing letter names and sounds in isolation informally is the precursor to the
first subtest. We will have a test that includes all letters in our new
Differentiation book, coming out this spring from Guilford Press. But any
informal test will do.
2. What is your preference between the IDI and IPI?
We prefer the IDI now. We wrote it as an entry test into our differentiation
lessons.
3. Is there an app for IDI?
Not yet! Good idea though.
4. In first grade, is it reasonable to expect 4-5 different groups based on the IDI?
Rarely, I'd say, unless your distinctions among the top students are too fine. We
think all students who are past vowel teams form one fluency and
comprehension group. If there are outliers aside from the top students, consider
collaborating across classrooms.
Lexile Measure
1. Would you recommend using any assessment other than SRI for Lexile scores?
Many assessments report Lexile scores. All are commercial. We favor the
Reading Inventory because of the item format and number of items, and
because it does not test anything besides inferential comprehension.
2. What does it mean that 450L is the expectation for beginning of second grade?
The original Appendix to the CCSS used 450 as the lower bound of the grade 2-3
band.
3. How do I find books that are age-appropriate for students with high Lexile scores
in the upper elementary grades?
Appropriateness is about more than difficulty. Consider novelty and interest.
Biographies, information texts of all kids, and high fantasies can be novel for
students, allowing them to build knowledge, even at the same level of difficulty
by Lexile standards.
4. What are your suggestions for improving students' Lexile scores?
First ensure that the underlying skills (word recognition and fluency) are strong.
Then maximize access to new vocabulary and background knowledge through
careful use of instructional time. Finally, maximize text volume, with and
without teacher support.
Bookworms Lessons
Differentiated Instruction
1. As a new teacher, what's the first step in using the differentiation lessons?
Establish rituals and routines that allow you to meet with a group for 15 minutes
without interruption. Take the time to do this, planning seatwork tasks that are
meaningful and engaging. Practice the rotation before you practice the
instruction. When you are ready, teach just one group with our lessons, for at
least a week, and then add another when you are comfortable.
2. Would you recommend using the differentiation lessons for pre-kindergarten
students who are high achievers?
Absolutely not. There are so many other things that would be better to do with
them. Build their knowledge and their language. Support emergent writing.
3. Should every kindergartener start on basic alphabetic knowledge lessons?
No. First test letter names and sounds. If they know those, they can start with
Using Letter Sounds.
4. If kindergarteners master basic alphabetic knowledge, letter sounds, and letter
patterns, do we move on to blends and digraphs or remain in dictated sentences
for the remainder of the year?
We really came to see that writing is more important for those kindergarteners.
If dictated sentences run their course, then consider additional composition
instruction rather than additional phonics instruction.
5. When should kindergartners start the differentiation lessons, and how many
lessons should they receive per week?
In order to ensure that all children are comfortable in school and able to work
away from the teacher, we recommend that the actual lessons start at the
second 9 weeks, and be provided every day to every group.
6. Can you show me how to do the sentence dictation lesson for kindergartners?
Sorry -- but here's a tell instead. Have a brief discussion about a substantive
topic. Close it with the dictated sentence as a summary statement. Repeat the
sentence over and over with the children until they have memorized it. If
necessary, write blanks on a piece of paper to represent the words in the
sentence. Ask the children to find the sounds and write them down. Collect the
papers. Bring closure by writing the words yourself on a white board, and have
the children read chorally from your copy.
7. It takes my students 10-15 minutes to complete the multisyllabic decoding at the
beginning of fluency and comprehension lessons. What should I do?
Review the scripts and your procedures. They are designed to take only 2-3
minutes. You read the intro. Ask students to mark vowels and divide on their
own lists. Then read chorally, segmenting the syllables and then blending (rubric, rubric).
8. How do I integrate new students into fluency & comprehension and vocabulary
& comprehension differentiation groups during the middle of a book?
Try to avoid doing that. If necessary, suspend the instruction for one day and ask
the students to engage with you in describing what has happened so far.
9. Do you have a template for tracking which lessons a student completes yearly?
It's a good idea to keep a spreadsheet with a class roster and a label for group
type every time you change. I don't think it's worthwhile to be more technical
than that.
10. How many times should students receive the differentiation lessons before
moving on to another intervention?
In kindergarten, if they are in Basic Alphabet Knowledge, I would not substitute
another intervention for the entire year. For other types of lessons and other
grade levels, we have always recommended that teachers repeat the entire
sequence of lessons twice, then ask another teacher to provide the instruction,
and if that doesn't work, move to a different intervention. The different
intervention has to be more intensive than the original one in order for that to
make sense.
11. Where are the decodable texts in the new differentiation lessons?
They are currently on our Bookworms lesson site. They will be coming out in a
second edition of How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction from Guilford
Press.
12. Are there new differentiation lessons for fluency & comprehension and
vocabulary & comprehension differentiation groups?
No. We really mean those lessons to be planned by teachers and to use existing
text resources.
13. Should we throw out the old differentiation lessons and only use the new ones?
You should consider the effectiveness of the original lessons for you, and also
review the changes and then decide.
14. Should the differentiation lessons be used for Tier 3 intervention?
We did not intend for them to be used this way, but if they are the most explicit
materials you have, they could be used. Know, though, that there are many
more explicit interventions available.
15. My students have difficult staying on task during the differentiation lessons. Do
you have any suggestions for keeping students engaged in small groups?
Teach the lessons as quickly as possible. The pace is important. Young children
can only maintain attention in a direct instruction treatment for a brief time.
Kindergarten
1. If all children have mastered concepts of print, can the nursery rhyme be
dropped or replaced with decodable text?
I would not use decodable text with kindergarten. Consider the rhymes as
language development opportunities and use them more quickly.
2. Should we do shared reading in kindergarten?
We define shared reading differently in kindergarten, to include dialogic reading,
word study, phonological language work in a poem and concepts of print in a
nursery rhyme.
3. What should be taught in independent centers in kindergarten?
Nothing can actually be taught in an independent center. Things can be
practiced, though. Children can practice handwriting. They can engage in
emergent reading. They can engage in emergent writing.
4. How does reading the same book every day for five days help kindergartners?
What if they get bored with a book in the middle of the week?
Our work with big books is not really reading the same book. It is all about
discussion. Dialogic reading is about oral language development more than
reading. That said, if you find a book that doesn't foster dialogue, don't use it
the next year.
5. When developing big book lessons for kindergarten, should the completion
questions all have a blank at the end of the statement?
The "blank" in a completion question can come anywhere in a sentence. Make
sure it is not the actual words of the book, but some sort of inference or
commentary on meaning.
6. Can you model how to implement Bookworms lessons in kindergarten?
Please see the videos on comprehensivereadingsolutions.com under the heading
"Exploring the Bookworms Lessons." In the end, though, it is much more
important to collaborate with colleagues and decide how you interpret the
lessons rather than how I do.
Shared Reading/Interactive Read Aloud
1. How do you recommend assessing students' understanding of the books they
read during shared reading and interactive read aloud?
I recommend that you consider the quality of discussion and review the daily
written responses for evidence of comprehension.
2. How and when do you assess vocabulary during shared reading?
In second grade, super sentences assess meaning vocabulary. Beginning after
the first nine weeks of third grade, word study tests should assess both spelling
and meaning. For me, the only valid assessments of meaning are whether a
student can use the word in context correctly.
3. I am having trouble fitting in time for the written responses after shared reading
and interactive read aloud. Do you have any suggestions?
We never intended the written responses to be done during shared reading or
interactive read aloud blocks. They are seatwork for differentiation.
4. Can discussion questions in Shared Reading be typed up for students to work in
groups to answer by writing complete sentences before coming back to discuss?
We really meant them to be instructional opportunities, requiring much
scaffolding from the teacher.
5. How can we incorporate "fun" activities to go along with our book during the
reading block? It takes all of our block for interactive and shared reading.
In many classrooms, what's fun about reading is reading interesting books.
6. Can shared reading lessons be done in small groups?
They could, but we designed them as a tier 1 curriculum. You wouldn't be able
to finish more than one group in 45 minutes. They would have to be
substantially altered.
7. Why is guided reading not a component of Bookworms?
We designed Bookworms to employ the text complexity bands in the new
standards rather than instructional level texts and to teach skills directly instead
of embedded in teachable moments. In terms of philosophy and design,
Bookworms and guided reading are incompatible. We designed Bookworms as
an alternative for schools where neither instructional level work nor commercial
core programs were producing strong achievement.
Writing
1. Where does process writing fit in with the Bookworms lessons?
We provided only 90 days of interactive read aloud lessons to allow for that
block to be used for process writing. In addition, when interactives and sentence
composing don't take the entire block, there will often be a daily 15-minute
segment.
2. How long should the block be for process writing?
There is no research on the exact amount of time.
3. Is process writing separate from the response to literature in shared reading?
Those responses can form a basis for process writing, because they are a series
of drafts. However, teachers would need to structure the rest of the process
4. I feel like my students are assessed on writing without being taught how to
write. Are the new lessons going to help with this?
We will be writing process writing lessons in the next revision of Bookworms.
Comprehension
1. What are your thoughts on assessing reading comprehension using reading
passages and questions based on standards?
Be cautious. Those controlled environments can only give a glimpse of the
standard. They are too limited to be valid and reliable indicators of mastery of
standards. You can continue to check this statement by correlating students'
averages on these tasks with their state-level outcome scores.
2. Do students need to read independently in order to assess reading
comprehension in the early primary grades?
The standards themselves do not use this type of language. They say "with
support" until second grade.
3. How do you suggest improving students' comprehension? Interventions for
foundational reading skills work, but students still struggle with comprehension.
Students will continue to struggle with comprehension whenever their
background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge are inconsistent with the
assumptions of the author. So all time used in read alouds, readings, and
content area instruction that builds background knowledge and vocabulary is
time well spent in improving reading comprehension.
4. If students have difficulty with comprehension and it's not due to a decoding or
fluency problem, should we assume it is a vocabulary problem?
I do. Or it could also be a problem with motivation to and persistence -- or all
three of those.
5. How early should we begin assessing students' comprehension?
I don't think it makes much sense to spend a lot of resources (including teacher
time) on assessing reading comprehension before the middle of second grade.
Curriculum
1. What is the best basal program that experts suggest for school adoption?
You might look at EdReports.org, a nonprofit that uses a panel approach to assessing
the content of commercial programs. There is also a new rubric for evaluating reading
materials K-5 published by IES and REL Southwest. The title is Rubric for Evaluating
Reading/Language Arts Instructional Materials for Kindergarten to Grade 5.
2. If you are stuck with a basal program that doesn't generate student improvement, how
can you make the program work?
Add what you can in terms of read alouds and shared reading texts. Consider whether
you can use the core program on an accelerated calendar. Do it in 4.5 weeks instead of
9, and use the last 4.5 weeks to add challenging materials. Alternatively, do the core in
18 weeks and use 18 weeks with more challenging, authentic texts.
English Language Learners
1. Has the effectiveness of Bookworms been tested with English language learners?
The effectiveness of Bookworms has not been definitively established with any
populations. That can only happen in a true experiment. We have a number of longterm case studies with promising data. Some of those include large populations of
students learning English. The largest populations are in Colquitt County, GA.
Fluency
1. What is the best way to improve fluency for readers who are below grade-level?
Repeated reading is validated consistently with experimental research as a way to build
oral reading fluency. It is both simple and effective, and as a bonus it influences
comprehension.
2. How often do you suggest giving a fluency passage for practice?
In our approach, we only use actual books. We use them in shared reading at grade
level, and in differentiated instruction just below grade level. Chapters in a book are
likely to be more interesting as a venue for fluency building. If you know that a student
needs fluency building, it makes sense to do it every day until fluency reaches gradelevel benchmarks.
3. Where do you suggest getting normed passages and resources for fluency practice?
Again, while there are many open-access resources of passages such as ReadWorks and
Newsela, I suggest that that you check your book room.
4. Should I aim to improve students' reading rate if they have good comprehension?
That's a very hard question to answer. It depends. First, it depends how you know that
they have good comprehension. You have to be really certain before you ignore
foundational skills, and it is difficult to get really good measures of reading
comprehension. Second, it depends what grade they are in. For children in grades 1-3, I
probably would continue to support fluency growth until the benchmark. In grades 4
and 5, if there have been repeated attempts to build fluency, I might consider stopping
if I had very good evidence of strong reading comprehension.
Grading
1. Would you recommend assigning traditional grades or standards-based report cards?
I don't think the type of report card matters. What matters is whether the information
communicated to parents is actually consistent with the standards. In either case,
teachers might have a tendency to over report mastery, and then surprise parents with
poor outcomes in later grades or on outcome assessments. Report cards should help
parents know the extent to which their children are meeting grade level standards.
2. How should we assign reading grades within the Bookworms curriculum aside from the
weekly spelling and vocabulary tests?
In the Bookworms manuals, we recommend that teachers meet together in grade level
teams and look ahead at written responses to shared reading, selecting the one that
they see as best representing the standards. Each of these is a comprehension task not
included in the modeling or the discussion questions. They will see that all written
responses use standards-based language. They can then have student write that
response as usual, and then give them time during the writing block to edit and revise it.
It can be graded once for evidence of the standard, and then once for conventions. In
addition, writing grades should come from full process projects at least once per 9
weeks.
3. Would you recommend grading one written response per week?
We think you should read and respond informally, with supportive comments, to all
written responses. Grading one each week might not be worth the extra effort.
4. Should we assign grades for the assessments in the differentiated lessons?
We never intended for work from differentiation to be graded. However, student status
in differentiation can be used to show parents where children are currently functioning
in foundational skills compared to the requirements of the standards. For example, a
student in first grade who needs our Using Letter Sounds work is working on
kindergarten foundational skills; a second grader in any Word Recognition and Fluency
group is well below grade level.
Grammar
1. How can we incorporate grammar lessons into the reading block?
We use sentence composing tasks (combining, imitating, unscrambling, and expanding)
for developing students' abilities to use grammar consistent with the standards in their
writing. There is no evidence that traditional out-of-context grammar instruction builds
writing quality.
Handwriting
1. When is handwriting taught in the Bookworms curriculum?
In kindergarten, as students learn their letter sounds in word study.
2. What recommendations do you have for teaching letter formations in Kindergarten?
We made handwriting worksheets with directional arrows. They are all on the
Bookworms Kindergarten website.
Implementation
1. How can I fit all of the Bookworms components into my schedule (e.g.,
departmentalized 4th and 5th grade classes, 90-minute ELA/reading block) given all of
the other mandated requirements in my school?
Bookworms is a curriculum that requires 3 45-minute blocks. We do not recommend
that is used in schools without that much time for reading, writing, and RTI. It is
important that schools make curriculum choices that fit into their instructional schedule.
2. If I don't have enough time for all of the Bookworms components, where would you
recommend making cuts to fit it into our schedule?
Again, we cannot recommend an alternative schedule. However, since the lessons are
open access, teachers and schools are free to modify them as they see fit.
3. What would you recommend for money to be spent on if classroom texts for
Bookworms have already been purchased?
If schools don't have high-quality classroom libraries and texts sets for differentiated
instruction in fluency and comprehension or in vocabulary and comprehension, that
could be a good use of funds. In addition, sending books home for summer reading may
encourage students to read over the summer.
4. To what extent should teachers be trained before implementing Bookworms?
We have seen schools where the online resources at
comprehensivereadingsolutions.com are sufficient for strong initial implementation.
Part of the answer to that question actually probably taps school climate, the quality
and quantity of grade-level collaboration, and leadership support.
5. What should teachers do if Bookworms is only being used at some grade-levels?
We meant Bookworms to be implemented at all grade levels, because the lessons build
across time. However, that is a school and district choice. If schools have different
curricula at different grade levels, it is important to assess the extent to which they are
vertically articulated, with each grade level adding value.
6. How would you suggest turning Bookworms into a workshop model?
Bookworms is not consistent with reading workshop. There is far more emphasis on
grade-level reading.
7. Can you briefly describe the three components of Bookworms?
Bookworms has three components, each requiring 45 minutes. Shared reading includes
word study, choral and partner reading of a new segment of a trade book for a specific
purpose and with comprehension strategy modeling from the teacher, a text-based
discussion, updating of a class anchor chart, and assignment of a text-based written
response. Interactive read aloud and process writing each take half the days in a second
45-minute block. Interactive read aloud employs another trade book, read aloud by the
teacher with extensive modeling, questioning, discussion, and vocabulary instruction. It
ends with teacher-led grammar instruction in the form of sentence composing. A
written response is assigned. For half of the school year, this time is used for process
writing in whatever form the school chooses. The differentiation block is the final 45minute segment. For students receiving tier 3 interventions, they get them during this
block. For most students, there is a rotation of 3 15-minute segments: work with the
teachers on skills revealed by the IDI and Fluency assessment, work on written
responses, and then free reading when responses are finished.
8. Will there be new books and materials added to the Bookworms curriculum to align
with new science and social studies standards?
We used national science and social studies topics at each grade level to choose texts.
We did not align with any one state, nor will we.
9. What is the best way to utilize support staff (e.g., paraprofessional) with Bookworms?
There is considerable variability in the use of support staff, and probably no "best way."
In kindergarten, staff may be used to work with a small group listening to dialogic
reading and interactive read aloud and allowing the small group to answer to staff
member, allowing two parallel discussions to maximize interaction, and then teach
handwriting during the small group rotation. At other grade levels, staff might
substitute the partner reading with a second choral reading for a group needing more
support. Staff can support the composition of super sentences and written responses.
10. Teachers are concerned that students read three different books at the same time
between shared reading, interactive read aloud, and fluency or vocabulary lessons. How
do you help students keep track of three different texts at the same time?
Because there is support for comprehension over time with anchor charts, and because
the books themselves are so interesting, we have not seen students confuse characters
or events.
11. What are some good resources for student centers during rotations while the teacher is
working with the differentiation groups?
We have simplified our own notion of centers to writing in response to reading and
reading from a classroom library. A center that allows students to learn and practice
keyboarding might add value.
12. Do teachers need to read the scripted Bookworms lessons verbatim?
The skills lessons in differentiation time should be read verbatim. The others need not,
as long as the time and structure are maintained. In interactive read alouds, we
encourage teachers to add as much additional interaction as they wish in the time
allowed. For shared reading, this is more difficult to do without planning additional
time.
Interventions
1. If a kindergartner is not passing the basic alphabet knowledge assessment, should the
teacher provide more interventions, such as Orton-Gillingham?
We would tend not to use an intensive decoding intervention until first grade, but that is
a district decision.
2. Can you suggest a more intensive intervention for students that struggle with decoding
after doing the differentiation lessons more than once?
In kindergarten, the options are few. Road to the Code is inexpensive and reasonable to
implement. Note, though, that it teaches only 8 letters. Wilson Fundations can be used
in kindergarten, but again the pacing is very slow. There are a growing number of
computer-based decoding interventions, but we have seen struggling kindergarten and
first grade students struggle to answer the prompts correctly because they don't always
understand the tasks as described.
3. What are your thoughts about Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS)?
We use PALS extensively in middle school and high school. Once student achievement is
more consistent with the standards, we would use it in grade 4 and 5 as well.
4. How do you feel about other reading interventions (e.g., Orton-Gillingham, Wilson
Foundations), and can you suggest any reading intervention programs?
These (and other) intensive interventions have their place in a tiered curriculum.
Keyboarding
1. How can we provide keyboarding practice given limited access to technology?
Providing some keyboarding practice in the classroom seems essential. I would set up
keyboarding practice on a daily rotation, either as a task during differentiation time or
as an option for morning work. Weekly practice during a special is unlikely to be enough.
2. Should we teach keyboarding skills in the early primary grades? If so, how?
There are many keyboarding programs that teach the home keys and use speed drills as
a form of motivation.
3. What program would you suggest for keyboarding skills?
There is no way for us to recommend one over another.
4. What is your opinion on students in early primary taking computer-based assessments?
I do not think assessments of oral reading fluency can be done without a teacher
listening to a student read. Also, there are many times when students struggle to
understand the computerized task. There are limits to the validity and reliability of ALL
assessments, whether given one on one, whole class, or on a computer.
Language
1. How can we address language standards aside from spelling patterns in Bookworms?
The spelling patterns in Bookworms do not address language standards. They are
foundational skills work in grades K-2 and vocabulary work in 3-5. Language standards
are addressed during sentence composing and in revising and editing of writing.
Phonics
1. How do I provide deep, meaningful, and targeted phonics lessons?
We see phonics as a low-level foundational skill, so we address it with direct instruction
that is fast and repetitive and mastery oriented rather than deep and meaningful. What
is deep and meaningful is the application of phonics in the building of a wide sight
vocabulary that allows access to great texts and the ability to compose.
2. Would you recommend any supplemental resources for extra phonics instruction?
In a tiered curriculum, you would have tier 3 programs for students who are not
successful after multiple trials with the tier 2 curriculum. These programs are typically
used in special education.
3. Do you think phonics instruction is most effective when sounds are taught in isolation or
through writing words on charts and discussing sounds and phonics rules?
We choose a direct instruction route to building word recognition because it is faster
and easier, and does not require all teachers to be equally expert in orthographic
development. What you have described in your question would be embedded phonics
instruction, more consistent with whole language practices. There is insufficient
evidence to recommend this as regular practice.
Phonological Awareness
1. What approach do you recommend for teaching phonemic awareness?
We recommend that work with syllables and rhymes be embedded in language play
through repeated experiences with poems and songs. For direct instruction, we focus
on oral segmenting and blending, first with only initial sounds and then with three
sounds.
2. What strategies do you suggest for students who struggle to remember letter names
and letter sounds in second grade?
Students who have had access to instruction and intervention and still do not know
letter sounds in second grade should be evaluated by an educational psychologist to
fully understand their needs. They are likely to need access to intensive tier 3 programs
and fully accommodations for tier 1.
3. Do students need to master one area of phonological awareness before moving on to
the next one (e.g., rhyming before syllables and onset-rime).
No. Rhyming has always been a challenging phonological task, and it tends to be related
to first language and to vocabulary breadth. We have come to realize that there are
some students who can never master rhyme production but can demonstrate full
phonemic segmentation and blending.
Special Education
1. What are your recommendations for reading interventions or programs for students
receiving special education services?
There is no way for us to recommend one tier 3 curriculum over another. Each setting
has to work towards a tiered curriculum, with interventions successively more targeted
and intensive.
2. What do you believe is the best way to differentiate for students receiving special
education services in an inclusion class?
It depends what the tier 1 curriculum is and the needs of the students as identified in
IEPs. For special education to be special, no strategies can be "best" for all.
Spelling
1. In which grades do you suggest assigning a weekly spelling text?
Beginning in first grade. By third grade, it is really a vocabulary and spelling test.
2. Should spelling tests include the exact words in the Bookworms books or different
words that follow the same pattern?
If the patterns for the week do not sound the same, then a few transfer words can be
very helpful. If the patterns have the same sound, though, you can't do that.
3. What is the importance of a weekly spelling test?
It is simply a way to track student progress in word study. In our curriculum, word study
is whole group and provides some evidence that students are building foundational
skills consistent with grade level standards.
Standards
1. Are all of the standards addressed in Bookworms?
We do not include all of the writing standards, because we have not designed process
writing lessons. All of our writing is text based. All reading narrative and reading
information text standards are addressed. Language standards are addressed in
sentence composing.
2. How do you identify focus standards each day?
Teachers should be sure to read the standards for their grade level and then the lessons
for a nine-week period. They can easily map them. We address many standards each
day rather than one a week.
Teacher Accountability
1. What would be a good goal for teacher accountability measures? For example: Students
will show a __% growth in ______.
This is a hard question. It depends where students begin. If entering kindergarten
students know 12 letter names, I would expect them all to learn 26. The same with
sounds. Then you can do the math. For fluency, I would expect 75% of students to be
fluent at the end of the year. % growth in fluency can only be tracked based on
beginning scores.
Vocabulary
1. How do you suggest teaching vocabulary?
We have modules on comprehensivereadingsolutions.com about teaching vocabulary,
and we have identified a very small set of instructional routines with strong research
pedigrees both in the Bookworms manuals and in our lesson plans. For those not using
2.
3.
4.
5.
our curricula, please see the vocabulary modules at the website. In general, using more
techniques is not better. More repetition of the words in meaningful contexts is.
How much time should be spent on vocabulary instruction?
At least half of every instructional period should be spent with students either reading
or writing or participating actively in read alouds. That limits the time for vocabulary
instruction.
How can I improve my students' vocabulary in addition to the Bookworms lessons?
Engaging children in rich language interactions in school and in wide reading also builds
vocabulary.
Are there visuals for vocabulary words aside from the SMART Board files?
We don't have any, but visuals do increase vocabulary learning. Consider posting words
and visuals in the classroom to increase access and facilitate review.
How would you suggest increasing the frequency of using Tier 2 words in addition to
what is done during interactive read aloud lessons?
If they are posted, teachers can celebrate their use in discussion or in writing. Once that
happens, students will likely look for chances to use them.
Word Recognition
1. What strategies do you suggest for students who can identify sounds but can't blend
them together to decode words?
We do have lessons for them called "Using Letter Sounds," because this is a very
common stage. If those lessons do not work, we recommend the strategy called
forward blending described by Rolanda O'Connor in Teaching Word Recognition. You
can buy that book from Guilford Press.
2. What strategies do you suggest for students who can decode words in isolation but is
unable to read words in a book?
This tends to happen at the very beginning of the "beginning reading" stage, typically
early in first grade. Supported choral reading and repeated reading, with finger
pointing, help them to make the transition. It is not immediate, though.
3. Can you demonstrate how to do "sounding and blending"?
We have videos for this on the comprehensivereadingsolutions website. The
differentiation lesson videos, using letter sounds and blends and digraphs have
sounding and blending segments. In our design, sounding and blending is phoneme by
phoneme. b-l-e-n-d blend
4. When should we start teaching sight words/high frequency words in kindergarten?
There are very few required in the new standards. Try to avoid setting a large number
for these, because it communicates to children that all words have to be spelled
correctly at the same time that invented spellings are so powerful. We recommend that
they are taught as a part of differentiation beginning the second nine weeks. If pushed,
we would set 30 as a goal for end of kindergarten. Many more are possible, but they
distract from oral language and writing.
Writing
1. Do you think a school should have a specific writing program in K-5 or K-8?
Yes, but it should not be a commercial curriculum. The writing standards are different
now and only require three types of writing, most of which is text based. Setting a
calendar for when to teach each type of writing, and a particular approach to the writing
process, would help teachers to make goals. More is not necessary.
2. What recommendations do you have for writing interventions?
There are a host of writing interventions in the research literature, and all come under
the umbrella "SRSD," Self-Regulated Strategy Development. See ThinkSRSD.com for
examples.
3. My school gives a writing assessment each marking period on the same topic. Should
students write on a different topic each marking period?
That's an interesting question. Using the same prompt allows for tracking of growth
over time but also may decrease student engagement. It also limits the type of writing
assessed to one, while standards require three. Consider using the same prompts at the
end of each grade level (end of first, end of second, end of third) rather than across the
same year. On the other hand, if students are maintaining engagement, this could be a
good indicator of growth within a year.
4. How do you recommend improving student engagement for writing?
Teacher feedback does much to increase engagement and quality. So do strong,
positive relationships with teachers and systematic peer editing procedures.
5. How much time should be dedicated to writing in early primary grades?
David Coker and Kristen Ritchey recommend 30 minutes per day.