Analysis of how I teach PreK-3 literacy learners.

1. Literate Environment Analysis
Presentation
By: Janci Nardini
Walden University
August 10, 2016
Read 6706 – Literate Development PreK-3
Professor: Cindee Easton

2. Literate Environment Analysis
▪ Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning Literacy
Learners
▪ Selecting Texts
▪ Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson
▪ Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson
▪ References
▪ Reflection

3. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning
Literacy Learners (Part 1)
▪ Reading is an important skill that children must learn and learn well in
order to function in today’s society. Therefore, it is vital that children
receive high-quality early literacy education to ensure children’s long
term success.
▪ In order for teachers to support and enhance literacy development, it is
important for teachers to do the following:
– Get to know their literacy learners
– Obtain and/or have background information on their literacy learners
as this information will help teachers to engage and connect with
their students
– Assess students’ cognitive and noncognitive levels as this information
will help to assist teachers in differentiating their instruction.
Ongoing assessment is necessary to discover each child’s reading
instruction needs, (Wren, 2015).

4. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning
Literacy Learners (Part 2)
▪ Assessments conducted with Emergent Learner:
▪ Metalinguistic Interview:
– This was used to assess the literacy learner’s concept of print.
– Research supports that children’s early literacy concepts about print have
a positive influence on language development, writing, phonemic awareness
and phonics, (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016).
▪ Reading Interest Survey:
– This survey was used to determine the literacy learner’s personal
interests.
– Knowing and using students’ interests to help plan reading instruction can
positively influence student reading, (Afflerbach, 2012).

5. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning
Literacy Learners (Part 3)
▪ Assessments conducted with Beginning Learner:
▪ My Feelings About Reading Survey:
▪ This survey was used to assess for motivation and self-esteem. I wanted to
know what motivated the learner to read. This information is useful because
it could help assist with locating materials for instruction as well as to
select books for my classroom library.
▪ Mariotti (n.d.) stated that motivated readers become better readers.
▪ Running Record:
▪ A running record was used to assess the learner’s comprehension and
phonics skills.
▪ A running record is an effective tool for assessing a student’s reading level
and is a fundamental instrument for recording what the child does while
reading, (Mounla, Bahous & Nablani, 2011).

6. Getting to Know Emergent and Beginning
Literacy Learners (Part 4)
▪ It is important for teachers to continually assess their
students in order to develop and design instruction that will
support and enhance their literacy development.
▪ Assessment informs instruction. According to Reutzel and
Cooter (2016), effective teaching cannot possibly begin until
we first discover where children are in their reading
development.
▪ Assessment data provides specific information that a
teacher can use to provide instruction that will appeal to
students and help them grow as readers.

7. Selecting Texts (Part 1)
▪ It is important for teachers to carefully select and analyze texts for
instruction that will help support and enhance literacy development.
▪ Children tend to read more about topics that interest them rather than on
topics that do not interest them.
▪ It is important for children to practice reading on a daily basis as reading
supports writing development and writing development supports reading
development.
▪ When selecting texts, teachers must consider the following:
– Text Types – children need to be exposed to and learn from a variety of texts (
narrative, informational and digital texts).
– Levels of Difficulty
– Student Interest
– Distribution or Balance of text types (Literacy Matrix)

8. Selecting Texts (Part 2)
▪ The Literacy Matrix is a tool that teachers can use to
analyze and select reading texts for instruction, (Laureate
Education, 2014a).
▪ According to Dr. Douglas Hartman (2014a), teachers can use
this tool to ensure that they are using a balance of text
types:
▪ Narrative (fiction)
▪ Informational (Nonfiction)
▪ Linguistic (Words)
▪ Semiotic (Pictures)

9. Selecting Texts (Part 3)
Literacy Matrix

10. Selecting Texts (Part 4)
▪ Children could face the “FourthGrade Slump” if they are not
provided with more informational texts in the primary grades.
▪ Spending too much time on narrative texts can result in a lack of
background knowledge, content, and text complexity that can be
gained through informational texts.
▪ “Incorporating informational texts in the early years of school has the
potential to increase student motivation, build important
comprehension skills and lay the groundwork for students to grow
into confident, purposeful readers,” (Correia, 2011, p. 104).

11. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 1)
Characteristics of Environment
▪ Classroom environment should be rich in print to show
children the value of reading and writing.
▪ Direct instruction should be limited as children need ample
time to construct their own meaning.
▪ Dr. Sue Bredekamp (2014f) suggested reading to children in
small groups as this will provide more opportunities for
children to talk about the text and connect the text to their
own experiences.
▪ Teachers need to focus more on the following:
– Expanding oral language and vocabulary
– Letter and sounds
– Concepts of Print

12. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 2)
Lesson Overview
▪ I was able to apply my new knowledge of emergent literacy learners,
assessments and selecting texts to design a lesson tailored to the
specific needs of my emergent literacy learner.
▪ The pre-assessments indicated that my learner has some literacy
development delays due to his speech disorder. My learner needs
continued support in oral language development and vocabulary.
▪ I chose the following texts to help support my learner’s
developmental needs:
– I’m Fast! – by: Kate and Kim McMullan
– Locomotive – by: Brian Floca
– Digital Text: http://www.hmhco.com/products/iread/instructional-focus/#/common-core

13. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 3)
Lesson Overview Continued
▪ Lesson Goal: To help strengthen my learner’s oral language
development and vocabulary knowledge.
▪ In order to meet my lesson’s goal and objectives, I chose to
read the story, I’m Fast, as a read aloud.
▪ Dr. Katherine Stahl (2014r) discussed the importance of
selecting texts for real alouds that are more interesting but
yet challenging for the student.
▪ Lesson Objectives:
– Student will engage in oral discussions about trains and the text
– Student will retell the story by illustrating a picture.

14. Emergent Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 4)
Lesson Summary
▪ The lesson begin with assessing the learner’s prior knowledge
about trains. I used a KWL chart to record what the learner knew
about trains and what he wanted to know about trains. I
introduced the fiction story, “I’m Fast!” Before I begin the read
aloud, I went over the parts of a book with the learner as well as
engaged the learner in a brief picture walk to talk about the
pictures and what was happening at the beginning, middle and
end of the story. After the read aloud, I had the student practice
the skill of retelling a story by having him draw a picture of
something he remembered from the story. After the learner drew
his picture, he was encouraged to retell the story in his own
words. In conclusion, the KWL chart was revisited to record what
the student learned about trains from the read aloud.

15. Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 1)
Lesson Overview
▪ I was able to apply my new knowledge of beginning literacy
learners, assessments and selecting texts to design a lesson
tailored to the specific needs of my beginning literacy
learner.
▪ The pre-assessments indicated that my literacy learner
needs additional support in vocabulary and fluency.
▪ I chose the following texts to help support my learner’s
developmental needs:
– Junie B. Jones, Aloha – Ha – Ha! – by: Barbara Park
– Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle – by: Claire A. Nivola
– Digital Text: http://www.hmhco.com/products/iread/instructional-focus/#/common-core

16. Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 2)
Lesson Overview Continued
▪ Lesson Goal: To help strengthen the learner’s vocabulary knowledge in
order to increase her fluency.
▪ In order to meet the lesson’s goal and objectives, I chose to read the
story, Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, as a
read aloud.
▪ “Providing readers with appropriately challenging reading materials for
reading practice is essential for developing fluency,” (Reutzel & Cooter,
2016, p. 228).
▪ Lesson Objectives:
– The student will develop context-specific vocabulary by listening to a text and
identifying words during the read aloud.
– The student will demonstrate an understanding of the content-specific vocabulary
presented in the informational text by participating in a discussion and writing
activity.
– The student will learn to use clues in the text to help determine the meaning of an
unfamiliar word.

17. Beginning Literacy Learner Lesson (Part 3)
Lesson Summary
▪ The lesson began with activating the learner’s prior knowledge
of the ocean by asking her what she knew about the ocean and
writing down a list of words that related to the topic. After
this pre-write activity, I introduced the picture book and
asked several questions that lead the learner to identify
vocabulary words that I have chose from the text. I recorded
each vocabulary word on a Word Web. After listing words, I
explained that good readers use clues while reading in order to
find the meaning of unfamiliar words. I modeled this strategy
throughout the read aloud. I also engaged the learner in
discussions about the text and the new vocabulary words
throughout the read aloud. After the read aloud, I directed
the learner’s attention back to the word web and we added
new vocabulary words learned from the text to the word web.
I had the learner practice the new vocabulary words learned
from the text by using the Alphabet Organizer app to make an
alphabet chart.

18. Reflection
Similarities and Differences between Emergent and
Beginning Literacy Learners
Emergent
Learner
- Oral language
development
- Phonemic awareness
- Learning alphabet
- Able to share what
they know in non print
ways
- Scribbling, drawing
pictures
Similarities
- Print-rich
environment
- Balanced literacy
instruction
- Read alouds, choral
reading
- Conversations
Beginning
Learner
- Learning to become
automatic
- Reading whole words,
matching sounds and
looking for patterns
- Learn an abundance
of sight and vocabulary
words
- Can write phrases or
short sentences
- Guided reading

19. References
▪ Afflerbach, P. (2012). Understanding and using reading assessments K–12. Copyright 2012 by the International Reading
Association. Reprinted by permission of the International Reading Association via the copyright Clearance Center.
▪ Correia, M. P. (2011). Fiction vs. informational texts: Which will kindergarteners choose? Retrieved from
http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201111/Correia_Fiction_vs_Informational_Texts_Online%201111.pdf
▪ Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a). Analyzing and selecting texts [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
▪ Laureate Education (Producer). (2014f). Developing language and literacy [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
▪ Laureate Education (Producer). (2014r). Shared reading [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
▪ Mariotti, A. P. (n. d.). Using interest inventories with struggling and unmotivated readers. Retrieved from
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415802093/news-updates/Interest-Inventories.pdf
▪ Mounla, G., Bahous, R., & Nabhani, M. (2011). “I am in grade one and I can read!” The reader’s workshop. Reading Matrix:
An International Online Journal. 11(3), 279-291. Retrieved from Walden library databases.
▪ Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. (2016). Strategies for reading assessment and instruction: Helping every child succeed
(5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
▪ Wren, S., Litke, B., Jinkins, D., Paynter, S., Watts, J. & Alanis, I. (2015). The cognitive foundations of learning to read: A
framework. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework/