Mercer County
Educational Service Center
540 East Market Street
Celina, OH 45822
(419) 586-6628
Providing high quality cooperative services that positively impact the diverse educational needs of students, staff, and community.
We believe everyone
is valued
can learn and grow
will become successful and independent
Structured Literacy
Vocabulary
Vocabulary size and word-meaning strategies predict comprehension.
Note: according to the Simple View of Reading, Vocabulary falls under the Language Comprehension domain
If a student has limited background knowledge and needs to build their academic vocabulary on a given topic...
Text sets: intentionally grouped sets of texts and media resources focused on a specific topic designed to help all learners build background knowledge and vocabulary through a volume of reading on science, social studies, and other high-interest topics.
Semantic Gradients: using a text students are familiar with, choose a target word (example below: large). Then, create a vocabulary list related to the target word. Read the vocabulary list with students. Then, have them work in pairs or groups in order to analyze the words - students will place the words in order in a continuum. See video below for activity demonstration.
Incorporate visual representations of morphemes when introducing new affixes into your phonics instruction. Also, teach students how to code (box for morphology/meaning) words containing affixes.
See below:
Help students understand the difference between derivational and inflectional morphology. Use word matrices to build understanding of new vocabulary (resource below).
Additional Support
If you are looking for more support/resources please fill out the Google Form linked above.
References
Achieve the Core. The Power of Text Sets. https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Text%20Set%20Guidance.pdf
Gibbons, E. (2016). 44 Decodable Stories. Emily Gibbons, 18, 20. Heggerty. Elkonin Boxes. Retrieved from https://heggerty.org/downloads/elkonin-box-download/
Institute of Education Sciences. Video 36: Choral Reading [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQFlnAukEFs
Institute of Education Sciences. Video 37: Echo Reading [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gRXca5G-Ow
Learning At The Primary Pond. 5 Tips for Teaching Letter Sounds to Kindergarten Students [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZOga43qK9E
Learning At The Primary Pond. 5 Secrets for Teaching Beginning Readers to Blend Sounds [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCxzvprqDY
Lee, K., (2020). MSLE Training Teacher Resources. Kara Lee, 9-14.
Lee, K., (2023). Phonological Processing: Phonemes, Syllables, & Stress. Kara Lee, 1-18.
MsDWLearns. 2020, July 6. Fundations Drill Sounds Warm Up (Letter-Keyword-Sound Cards) [Video]. SchoolTube. https://www.schooltube.com/media/Fundations+Drill+Sounds+Warm+Up+%28Letter-Keyword-Sound+Cards%29/0_fla5ojm1/171825242
National Center on Improving Literacy. Big 5 in Under 5: Phonemic Awareness [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLsCodzmJ6U
PRIDE Reading Program. DIY Tactile Letter Cards [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O34LJNCzO7I
Reading Rockets. Comprehension. https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/comprehension
Reading A-Z. Comprehension Skill Packs - Short Passages to Model and Practice Comprehension Skills. https://www.readinga-z.com/comprehension/comprehension-skill-packs/
Reading Rockets. "Elkonin Boxes". Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes
Reading Rockets. Learning ‘b’ and ‘d’ and Reading Short Vowel Words with Aiko, Second Grader [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apQ2-dwu4AE
Reading Rockets. Semantic Gradients [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTaYuYw8GNc&t=168s
Rowland, J., (2022). Building strong alphabet skills. Jennifer Rowland, 1-3.
The Dyslexia Classroom. 2022, April 29. How Does Scooping Phrases Help Fluency [Video]. https://www.thedyslexiaclassroom.com/blog/how-does-scooping-phrases-help-fluency
The Dyslexia Classroom. 2022, March 11. Understanding Reversals in Literacy Instruction [Video]. https://www.thedyslexiaclassroom.com/blog/is-there-a-link-between-reversals-and-dyslexia
University of Florida Learning Institute. https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/ Accessed 27 June 2023.