Chapters 5 & 6

"As children read books with others, they begin to notice some basic conventions about written language. We call these early understandings concepts of print." p.82

All primary teachers(Pre-K,K) should be teaching the basic conventions about books. They should be emphasizing the concepts of print during shared read alouds and guided reading. Unfortunately not all students come to school with these early understandings of the written language. A great assessment piece I have used with my early primary students is Marie Clay's Concepts of Print. This is quite similiar to the concepts about print interview on p.83

"As young children watch TV and go out to eat with their families, they begin to read signs based on distinctive features like the M in McDonald's." p.82

I have seen this happen with my own children and it is quite exciting to see them make connections in everyday life. When my oldest son, Michael, was about to turn four he made the remarkable discovery that the M on the big sign at the gas station (MOBIL) was the same as in his name. He loved going to that gas station and I quickly made a game of hunting for other signs that had the letter M in them. This was just one strategy I used to strengthen his knowledge of the alphabet at a young age.

"Another assessment for this stage of literacy is to find out how children understand a story." p.89

When I administer QRI'S to my students I find the story retelling piece of the assessment to be most important. This is the piece where you are able to see if the student is constructing meaning from the text and how much. If needed, I generally prompt the students with: what is the main idea?, what is the problem?, what is the setting?, who are the main characters?. The results of the storytelling combined with other appropriate assessments give the teacher a great snapshot of where the child reads instructionally and what reading strategies they need to work on.

"Another way to assess strategy awareness and use is by using a self-report." p.93

I have never used this strategy with my students but will include the self-report in the future. It is a great review of all the strategies they should be using to construct meaning while reading. This strategy self report also helps the teacher to realize who needs help with a specific strategy.

"Futhermore, studies indicate that when teacher-generated questions are posed prior to reading, comprehension narrows because students read to answer those specific questions rather than to construct meaning." p.113

I can see how some students would only focus on what the teacher is looking for. I think this practice can be eliminated by having the students make their own predictions of the book based on the title and cover of the book. If needed, the teacher can model her predictions by looking at the cover. The teacher can also give the students prompts, if necessary, such as: this cover reminds me of when ....., I think ......, This author generally writes about ........