Knowing your learners is essential for literacy instruction. Teachers should understand students' developmental levels, interests, and backgrounds. Pre-assessments provide data to differentiate instruction for emergent and beginning literacy learners. When selecting texts, teachers should use a matrix to evaluate text complexity and make sure materials are appropriate based on readability, length, structure, and other factors. The five pillars of reading - phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension - form the foundation of effective literacy lessons. Noncognitive skills like motivation and self-confidence also impact literacy development.

2. Reading Success of Literacy
Learners at the PreK-3 levels
0 Know your learners.
0 Pre-assessments
0 Select appropriate text.
0 Lesson planning that meets the
developmental level of
students
0 The Five Pillars
0Strategic instructional plan
0 Did it work?
0 Reflect, Reflect, reflect! What
worked and what did not
work? Reflect on both and
adjust your plan.

3. Know your learners.
 Taking the time from day one to get to know your
students will be a win-win for both the teacher and the
student. Do I, unknowingly, “draw a line at the door of
my classroom” asking the children to meet me where I
stand, instead of me meeting them, (J. Almasi 2014).
 Know the “whole” child and meet them where they are.
Thoughtful systematic, research based instruction will
illicit positive results.
 Developing relationships with your students so they feel
safe and trustful of you.
 This can be done as simply as creating get-to-know you
activities at the beginning of the year, and periodically
throughout the year to check how much student
interest has changes.

4. Know your learners.
Knowing your learner is also knowing the developmental
process of children at different stages.
The Emergent Literacy Learner: At this stage oral language and
listening comprehension are evolving. (Bear, Donald 2014) .
Areas of focus for instruction:
 Concepts of print, specifically recognition of individual words
 Letter recognition
 Letter-sound recognition
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014i) Developmental word
Knowledge [video file]. Baltimore, MD: author

5. Know your learners
The Beginning Literacy Learner. At this stage students are
beginning to articulate their thoughts and make connections.
The “squiggles on a page now have meaning and letters have
specific sounds.
Areas of focus for instruction:
 Phonics instruction is intrical and is a powerful predictor of
reading achievement (NELP, 2008)
 Beginning to decoding unknown words on their own
 Instruction includes word patterns, word families, sight
words.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014cThe beginning reader [video
file] Baltimore, MD: author.

6. Reflection
I look at how I get to know my students with more depth
than I’ve done in the past. It is the non-cognitive aspect of
connecting with my students that has had the greater
impact for me.
Prior to this class, I thought it was enough to have get to
know you activities at the beginning of the school year. Now
I see that the literacy learner must derive a sense of
confidence and self. Being aware of what motivates a
student and what their attitude towards learning is will
make all the difference in the ability to become readers,
writers, and life long learners.
Janice Almasi (Laureate Education, 2012a)

7. Pre-Assessments
 Pre-assessment is critical in order to differentiate
instruction. By doing so, I gain an understanding of what
my students know, understand and can do.
 Pre-assessment gives me a snapshot of how prepared my
students are for learning.
 Pre-assessments directs me how to devise curriculum goals.
(Heacox, 2009).
 Pre-assessments provides important data driven
information for thoughtful instructional decisions about
student strengths and needs.
 Assessments must be analyzed and acted upon for
effectiveness. Differentiate lessons: Emergent and
Beginning Literacy learner do not have the same needs.
Consider all students when designing lessons.
www.fcpsteach.org

9. Assessment Strategies
 Formative assessments are an important part of
the instructional process. Teachers are able to
quickly can gather information about their
students and make adjustments to instruction.
 Students benefit from immediate feedback.
They are able to learn from being a part of the
process which helps their own metacognition.
 At the beginning, middle and end of the year,
many schools administer the Dibels assessment.
This tool offers a quick way of gathering Oral
Language fluency as well as comprehension
through retell. Students are also Progress
Monitored throughout the year.

10. Informal Assessment Strategies
http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Pre-Assessment
Observations
· Conversations
· Directed questions
· Pre-assessment webs
· Walkabouts
· Knowledge bar graphs
I often use post-it notes for informal assessments. Students
write their answer to a question on the post-it, hide it from the
table partners and on my signal stick it to the white board. I
can immediately see who understood the lesson and who
needs RTI.
Observations
· Conversations
· Directed questions
· Pre-assessment
webs
· Walkabouts
· Check-in slips
· Visual organizers
· KWI

11. Reflection
Testing can be such a drudgery for teachers. Thankfully, I do
not have as many testing commitments as the upper-
elementary. After reflecting on what we have learned about
assessments in this class, I’ve developed a different attitude
towards my Friday test days. I now feel strongly that we
teachers need to be dedicated to this process. There’s so
much information to be gained. The new school year has
started and I am not only testing but digging into the data
and setting up individual learning plans for my students.

12. Selecting Text
Using a matrix, such as the one listed on the
next slide is an easy way to determine the text
complexity of a book.
Locating the text within the quadrant according
to informational, narrative, linguistic or
semiotic properties of the text will help
determine whether a text is appropriate for my
student's.
(Laureate Education, Inc. 2014)

13. Selecting Appropriate Text
The Literacy Matrix (Laureate Education, 2014a)
Linguistic
Informational
Narrative
Semiotic

14. Selecting Text
Considerations For Selecting Text
 Readability
 Text length
 Text Structure
 Size of Print
 Visual Support
 Variety of genre
 Variety of text styles Almare, Janice (2014a)
Hartman, Douglas (2014a)
Ruetzel & Cooter (2016)

15. The matrix used for assessing text is an incredibly useful tool. I have
already shared this with my grade level team and started to use it in my
classroom. Dr. Morrow and Dr. Neuman (Laureate Education, 2014a)
I have also started to incorporate more informational text as well as
other genres. When students have the opportunity to make choices
because they have GOOD books to choose from, their interests sky rock.
We are starting to do more thematic units and the matrix has really
come in handy.
Reflection

16. The Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson
 Use of visuals like graphic organizers for recording
prior knowledge and topic information helps
emergent learners
 Picture walk – predicting from what we see in
illustrations
 Answer and learn to ask Who, Where, What, Why,
When and How questions.
 Begin to look for key details in text.
 Visualize (picture in your head) to help understand
 Make connections between student’s world and text
(informational text)

17. The Beginning Literacy
Learner Lesson
 Use describing words to make connections in text and your world
 Know and apply grade level phonics
 Use decoding skills
 Students show an understanding of text by being able to enter into meaningful
conversations with their peers, virtual imagery

18. The Five Pillars
of Reading Instruction
(The key components of a quality reading program)
Phonemic
Awareness
Phonics and
Concepts
about Print
Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

19. 0 This oral manipulation of sounds,
syllables, rhymes, words and sentences.
0 The best way to describe this is it can
be done “in the dark”. Students don’t
need to see print or letters in order to
do this.
0 There is a “window of opportunity” for
this skill. It needs to be firmly in place
by the end of second grade. Many kids
who lack it have great difficulty
“catching up”.
Phonemic Awareness
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Five Pillars

20. 0 Phonics is the sound/symbol
relationship of letters and the
combination of letters to make
particular sounds.
0 Phonics is important to be taught
sequentially and in a developmentally
appropriate manner.
0 Concepts about Print deals with “book
knowledge”. Students need to know
directionality, print contains the
message, where to begin on the page.
Phonics and
Concepts about Print
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Five Pillars

21. Fluency is the ability to read with
proper phrasing and expression.
Research shows that fluent readers are
GENERALLY better readers.
Lack of fluency affects comprehension.
Fluency
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Five Pillars

22. 0 Vocabulary is important in being
able to understand the words
that have been decoded or
“sounded out”.
0 If you can read the word but
don’t understand it’s meaning,
you have a meaningless word!
Vocabulary
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Five Pillars

23. 0 Comprehension is the ability to
understand the story or text
read. Also, students must be able
to make connections, infer,
predict, and analyze what they
read.
Comprehension
http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Five Pillars

24. Reflection
I consider the Five Pillars of Reading Instruction a gift. What a difference
this has made in my instruction. I am dedicated to it and was pleased
that my new principal pushes this with the other teachers.

25. Noncognitive Factors
of Literacy Learning

26. Cognitive Factors
of Literacy Learning
Reading
Comprehension
• Language Comprehension
• Linguistic Knowledge/
Background Knowledge
• Decoding
• Cipher Knowledge/
Lexical Knowledge
Phonology
Syntax
Semantics
Letter Knowledge
Alphabetic Principal
Concepts about
print
Phonemic
Awareness

28. References
Wren, Litke, Jinkins, Paynter, Watts, & Alanis, 2013
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014b). Assessing word knowledge [Video file]. Baltimore,
MD: author.
Tompkin, Gail E., Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (6th Edition
Jeffrey A. Rosen, Elizabeth J. Glennie, Ben W. Dalton, Jean M. Lennon, and Robert N. Bozick,
Non-cognitive Skills in the Classroom: New Perspectives on Educational Research, RTI
Press September 2010
Schrock, K. (2014, May 20). Digital storytelling. Retrieved
from http://www.schrockguide.net/digital-storytelling.html
Dr. Janice Almasi (Laureate Education, 2014a) notes that difficulty of text is determined by
readability that pertains to sentence length, number of syllables, and concept density.
Dr. Hartman (Laureate Education, 2014a) notes that teachers must consider text, goals,
and students when selecting texts.