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Literacy

We invite you to participate in our Literacy learning opportunities throughout the year.

Welcome

Learn more about Literacy Standards at all grade levels.

Welcome! This site provides resources for all areas of literacy. Please select a tab from the above list to find resources for instruction and assessment.

Irrc-effective literacy instruction module

science of reading defining guide

Literacy Contacts

Courtney Bentley

School Improvement Facilitator

E-Mailcbentley@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-447-0898School phone number of Courtney Bentley
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Courtney Bentley

Tracy Grimes

School Improvement Facilitator

E-Mailtgrimes@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-241-3088School phone number of Tracy Grimes
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Tracy Grimes

Lisa Andreasen

School Psychologist

E-Maillandreasen@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 319-214-0168School phone number of Lisa Andreasen
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Lisa Andreasen

Holly Fish

School Improvement Facilitator

E-Mailhfish@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-241-3813School phone number of Holly Fish
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Holly Fish

Annette Hyde

Administrator of Special Education Services

E-Mailahyde@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-447-0784School phone number of Annette Hyde
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Annette Hyde

Sherri Imoehl

School Improvement Facilitator

E-Mailsimoehl@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-241-3380School phone number of Sherri Imoehl
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Sherri Imoehl

Tesha Moser-Zimmerman

Administrator of Educational Services & Associate Administrator

E-Mailtmoser@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-214-9949School phone number of Tesha Moser-Zimmerman
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Tesha Moser-Zimmerman

Daniel Zaccaro

School Improvement Facilitator

E-Maildzaccaro@keystoneaea.orgemail

Mobile: 563-241-3279School phone number of Daniel Zaccaro
School: 800-632-5918Mobile phone number of Daniel Zaccaro

Phonemic Awareness

What is Phonological Awareness/Phonemic Awareness?

Phonological Awareness is a broad skill that includes the ability to hear, isolate, discriminate, and manipulate individual sounds or sound combinations. This includes identifying syllables, words, and onsets and rimes. Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. All children should receive phonemic awareness instruction within their early literacy core. Some students may require additional instruction regardless of age.

Difference between Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

~www.readingrockets.org~

Instructional Routines

Directly teach the following skills in a consistent routine (click links below):

Rhyming Lesson Routine

Counting Syllables video

Syllable Counting Routine

Blending Sounds Routine

Isolating Phonemes Routine

Deleting Phonemes Routine

Adding Phonemes video

Substituting Phonemes Routine

Onset Rime Routine

Sound Boxes video

Courtesy of Florida Reading Research Center and Wisconsin RTI Center.

Materials From Keystone Media Library

Data & Assessment

Classwide intervention should be considered when Universal Screening data indicates that ≤ 60% of the class is proficient in the following subtests:

FASTBridge: Onset Sounds, Letter Sounds, Word Segmenting
DIBELS 8th Edition: First Sound Fluency (FSF) and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)

Classwide Intervention Considerations

Were you consistent with implementing the classwide intervention?
Did you or how will you monitor student progress?
Did your class as a whole make progress on this skill?
Should you embed this intervention or routine into your core instruction?
Are there some students that continue to struggle? If so, read on…

Individual characteristics of students who struggle to do one or more of the following:

Rhyme
Identify syllables within a word
Segment words into parts (no text presented)
Identify the first, last and medial sounds they hear

Diagnostic Assessments to guide instructional planning

Diagnostic Tools – Coming Soon
Simple Phonemic Awareness Assessment (courtesy of Wendy Robinson-PDF version)

Considerations for intensifying:

The routines and instruction listed above can be intensified with these considerations:

Allow opportunities for practice over time (not just “one and done”)
Multi-sensory components will help solidify concepts (coins, claps, movement, pictures, etc.)
Increase time, decrease groups size
increase opportunities for reinforcement and feedback

It’s never too late to address PA. Sometimes older students need to learn these skills in order to build their reading skills!

Example of intensified lesson of combined skills (1:1)

How do you know it’s working for the students who received intensified instruction?

Student Can…

Orally produce rhyming sounds and words
Orally identify the first and last letter sounds in a spoken word
Orally identify the medial sound in a word
Blend sounds together to form a whole word? (e.g. /s/ /i/ /t/ becomes sit)
Orally segment words into individual phonemes? (eg. cat becomes /c/ /a/ /t/)
Can show sufficient skills on a phonemic awareness assessment or FASTBridge Early Reading assessments

Phonics

What is Phonics/Decoding?

Phonics is the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. Children’s reading development is dependent on their understanding of the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. (www.readingrockets.org)

Linda Farrell, M.Ed

~www.readingrockets.org~

Instructional Routines

Data & Assessment

Fluency/Syntax

What is Fluency/Syntax?

Fluency is the ability to read orally with accuracy, speed, and expression in order to demonstrate effortless reading.

Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences. Fluent reading of phrases and sentences is essential to the learning process. According to Wolf (2001), fluency directly contributes to three critical learning outcomes:

Retention: the ability to perform a skill or to recall knowledge long after formal learning/training has ended,
Stamina: the ability to maintain performance levels for extended periods of time, and
Generalization: the ability to combine and apply what has been learned to perform more complex tasks creatively and in new situations.

~www.readingrockets.org~

Instructional Routines

Provide opportunities for frequent practice and modeling of fluency skills (click links below)

Repeated Reading

Partner Reading

Choral Reading

Fluency Flags

Materials from keystone media

Data & Assessment

Classwide intervention should be considered when Universal Screening data indicates that ≤ 60% of the class is proficient in the following subtests:

FASTBridge: CBM-R (additional interventions can be found under training and resources)
DIBELS 8th Edition: DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
AIMsWEB: R-CBM

Classwide Intervention Considerations

Were you consistent with implementing the classwide intervention?
Did you or how will you monitor student progress?
Did your class as a whole make progress on this skill?
Should you embed this intervention or routine into your core instruction?
Are there some students that continue to struggle? If so, read on…

Individual characteristics of one or more of the following:

Is accurate (95% or better), but the rate is below expectation.
A diagnostic assessment reveals decoding sub-skills are intact and can be ruled out as a cause.
Most of the time, this is 3rd grade+

Diagnostic Assessments to guide instructional planning

Diagnostic Tools List: Coming Soon

Considerations for intensifying:

The routines and instruction listed above can be intensified with these considerations:

Allow opportunities for practice over time using varied text (poetry, literature, comics, readers theatre, etc.)
- Resource from Iowa Reading Research Center – Varied Practice Passages from 4th grade study
Increase time, decrease groups size
increase opportunities for reinforcement and feedback
Individual goal setting

How do we know the intensification is working?

Frequent progress monitoring would indicate the student’s rate of progress over time. In order to close the achievement gap, a student should progress at a rate that is greater than the grade level norms.

Progress Chart — Insufficient=Progress will not close the gap based on FastBridge NormsParallel=Typical growth rate based on FastBridge NormsAmbitious=Rate at which the student may close the gap based on FastBridge Norms

Fluent readers are better able to comprehend because they process information quickly (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974).

Comprehension

What is Comprehension?

Comprehension goes beyond reading the text on the page – it involves finding meaning in the text and being able to summarize, reiterate, and apply what has been read. Successful reading comprehension requires text comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and reading fluency. If the student cannot recognize and understand the individual words on a page, then he or she will struggle to make sense of the text as a whole. Students with well-developed comprehension skills are able to understand both the main idea and the details of any given text, and they are able to identify the different components of the text as well. Comprehension is an interactive process that occurs not only while a student is reading the text but afterwards, as well. It consists of the ability to make inferences from a passage and use critical thinking skills to answer questions related to the text. Comprehension skills must be taught and reinforced over an extended period of time to ensure that your child can master reading comprehension.

Comprehension Strategies research

Instructional Routines

Provide the frequent opportunities and modeling of following strategies:

Text Structures

Understanding how a text is structured helps students to better understand the purpose of the writing, understand the central ideas, and to comprehend details of the material when reading expository texts. Common text structure types include: description, sequence, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast. It is recommended that they are introduced and taught in that order. This strategy can be used in both large and small group instruction. Length of time needed for the strategy will vary depending on the students’ acquisition of the skills and the number of steps completed in a day.

Strategy Sheet

Summarization (Taken from Reading Rockets)

Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost any content area. Summarization can be used K-12 and with either large or small groups or 1:1. Time will depend on length of passage and quality of discussion.

Strategy Sheet

Canned Questions

Canned Questions offer a way for students to respond to questions at the various cognitive levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students, in partners or small groups, have the opportunity to work through questions that range from lower to higher levels of thinking. This can be done with any age of student, and would be considered a large-group general education strategy, or a supplemental routine in smaller group. This is not an intensive strategy.

Strategy Sheet

KWL

K-W-L+ can be modified to any content area or grade. It emphasizes what students know, what they want to know, and what they learned. This graphic organizer can be used with a whole class, small group, or an individual as a pre-, during-, and post-reading strategy. K-W-L+ generates background knowledge, sets a purpose for reading, and transforms information, writing, and talking.

Strategy Sheet

It Says – I Say – and So

Graphic organizer that helps locate information in a text and put it together with what you already know to arrive at a complete answer. Could be used in a large or small group.

Strategy Sheet

Question/Answer Relationship (QAR) (Taken from Reading Rockets)

The question–answer relationship (QAR) strategy helps students understand the different types of questions. By learning that the answers to some questions are “Right There” in the text, that some answers require a reader to “Think and Search,” and that some answers can only be answered “On My Own,” students recognize that they must first consider the question before developing an answer.

Strategy Sheet

Magnet Summaries

Magnet Summaries help students “rise above the details to construct meaningful summaries in their own words.” Students identify magnet words (key concepts/terms from their readings), attach appropriate details to each magnet, and then combine their ideas in writing. This strategy can be used with any grade level, K-12.

Strategy Sheet

Paragraph Shrinking

The paragraph shrinking strategy allows each student to take turns reading, pausing, and summarizing the main points of each paragraph. This strategy is designed to be used in pairs, and is applicable for grades K-8. This strategy will take approximately 6- 8 minutes to group students, assign tasks and complete the tasks.

Strategy Sheet

Round Table

The Round Table strategy is for the recall of information through student engagement of nonfiction text. It allows students to practice listening, recall, and writing skills. Dictated writing is applicable for all grade levels as a class wide strategy; time is variable depending on text size.

Strategy Sheet

Spider Web Discussion (Secondary level)

It is a whole class discussion guided only by the students with no input or direction from the teacher. The entire class gets the same grade (in the gradebook, but no count) based on pre-established criteria and post-discussion debriefing. What does the teacher do? Write all the students’ names on a paper and note where they are sitting, listen to the discussion, and draw lines from one speaker to the next.

Strategy Sheet

Data & Assessment

Classwide intervention should be considered when Universal Screening data indicates that ≤ 60% of the class is proficient in the following subtests:

FASTBridge: areading (additional interventions can be found under training and resources)
DIBELS 8th Edition: Maze
AIMsWEB: Maze

Classwide Intervention Considerations

Were you consistent with implementing the classwide intervention?
Did you or how will you monitor student progress?
Did your class as a whole make progress on this skill?
Should you embed this intervention or routine into your core instruction?
Are there some students that continue to struggle? If so, read on…

Individual characteristics of students who struggle to do one or more of the following…

May read fluently, but is unable to articulate what they read.
May read with high accuracy but cannot retell.

Diagnostic Assessments to guide instructional planning

Diagnostic Tools List: Coming Soon

Considerations for intensifying:

The routines and instruction listed above can be intensified with these considerations:

Allow opportunities for practice over time using varied text (poetry, literature, comics, readers theatre, etc.)
Increase time, decrease groups size
increase opportunities for reinforcement and feedback
Individual goal setting

How do we know the intensification is working?

Examples of progress monitoring tools you can use:

DIBELS 8th Edition: Maze
AIMsWEB: Maze
EasyCBM: Passages

Informal Observations such as:

Student can describe the main idea of a story
Student can predict what will happen next
Student can summarize or retell parts of the story
ETC.

Vocabulary

What is Vocabulary?

Vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person’s language, which usually develops with age. It serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Instruction to improve vocabulary should include meaning (morphology) and origin of the word.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

https://pubs.asha.org/journal/lshss

Irrc-frayer module (1st-5th grade)

Irrc- Frayer module (6th -12th Grade)

Instructional Routines

Provide the frequent opportunities and modeling of following strategies:

Frayer Model

The Frayer Model is a strategy that uses a graphic organizer for vocabulary building. This technique requires students to (1) define the target vocabulary words or concepts, and (2) apply this information by generating examples and non-examples. This information is placed on a chart that is divided into four sections to provide a visual representation for students.
This instructional strategy promotes critical thinking and helps students to identify and understand unfamiliar vocabulary. The Frayer Model can be used with the entire class, small groups, or for individual work. The Frayer Model draws on a student’s prior knowledge to build connections among new concepts and creates a visual reference by which students learn to compare attributes and examples.

Strategy Sheet

Vocabulary Analysis

This strategy teaches secondary students to take a multi-syllable words apart and use the meaning of the parts to determine the meaning of the word. It uses individual, group and partner work to come to a general understanding of the word. The strategy provides the students with lists of affixes and some root words and provides their definitions. It also provides a suggested way for the students to organize their notes (systematic procedure/routine). Time will depend on number of vocabulary words provided.

Strategy Sheet

tier two vocabulary

Data & Assessment

Typical improvement in vocabulary will be indicated by an increase in comprehension scores. Please click Comprehension to review Data and Assessment.

Writing

Writing is one of the most difficult tasks we do in school. It requires the adept integration of a number of skills. When students are first beginning to write, transcription, oral language, and basic reading skills are all necessary. Over time, while these skills still play a role, the higher level skills of self-regulation, critical thinking, and writing knowledge come into play.

Overview Document

36 Evidence Based Practices For Writing Instruction and the companion article from the CEEDAR Center.

Instructional Routines

Transcription

Transcription skills are needed to physically get thoughts down on paper. Learning the basic skills of letter formation and spelling to automaticity is what will free the brain to focus more on the meaning the writer wants to convey. While many associate these basic skills with early elementary school, research has shown that they continue to affect writing quality in the upper grades as well (Kent & Wanzek, 2016).

Handwriting/Keyboarding fluency
Spelling
Mechanics

Ways to improve to writing

follow link to download an article written by Steve Graham in the American Educator Winter 2009-2010.

https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2009-2010/graham

Instructional Routines to Support Transcription

Early writing:

developmental stages: Pre-strokes
Every Child is a Writer

Writing routines to encourage automaticity/fluency of writing

Primary Multi-sensory writing routines
Ways to Learn letters without using a pencil
Elementary Timed Writing Routine: Timed Writing to Increase Fluency Strategy Sheet

Keyboarding Fluency: Typing games

Spelling: Hearing Sounds Routine

Iowa reading research and writing: Fluency with writing mechanics

Considerations when a student struggles with Transcription:

Is it developmentally appropriate?

Does the student have the fine motor skills necessary?

Are there supports needed for the student to be successful?

Oral Language

Before a student can put a thought to paper, they need to be able to mentally compose what they want to say. In addition to being able to at least compose a simple sentence, they need to be able to revise and reword the sentence to make their meaning clearer. Having a strong vocabulary is especially important (Allen, Snow, Crossley, et al, 2014).

Grammar
Syntax
Vocabulary

Instructional Routines to Support Oral Language

Early Childhood: How to Improve Oral Language

6 Step Routine for Vocabulary Instruction

Explicit Vocabulary Instruction using The Frayer Model

For Primary Grades: Picture Word Inductive Model PWIM Strategy sheet

Sentence Expanding Routine from the Iowa Reading Research Center

Studies have shown that teaching grammar in isolation yields poor results, but grammar applied to the act of writing has a positive effect.

— W. Van Cleve, 2012

Structure

Much of writing follows common patterns. Learning these structures will not only help with comprehending others’ writing but in organizing your own writing. There are multiple layers of structures from an overall text structure to paragraph structures to sentence structures.

Text Structure
Paragraph Structure
Sentence Structure
Linking/transition words & phrases

Instructional Routines to Support Structure

Scaffolding Preschooler’s Early Writing Skills

The use of mentor text to improve student writing from the Iowa Reading Research Center

Reading Rockets Article

6+1 Writing Traits

Knowledge

Not only does a writer need to know common structures, but they need to have awareness of the social nature of writing and a strong background knowledge of their topic. The purpose of writing is to communicate. To do this successfully, you need to be aware of who you are writing to, what it is you want them to know and/or feel, and how their perspective might differ from yours. You also need to know a topic well enough to be able to have anything to share.

Background knowledge of the topic
The function and purpose of reading and writing
Knowing that readers and writers interact
Understanding audience and different perspectives

Instructional Routines to Support Knowledge

SECONDARY: Authentic Writing Strategy Sheet
The function and purpose of reading and writing
- Evidence Based Practices (short description of each component of writing)
- The Dos Of Writing Instruction
RAFT strategy: The purpose of writing and understanding the audience
Promoting Preschoolers Emergent Writing: NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children)

Self Regulation

To communicate effectively through writing, the writer must be aware of their purpose and monitor, plan, organize, and revise their efforts. They also need to maintain their motivation and persevere in the face of difficulties.

Planning
Organizing
Monitoring
Revising

Self Regulation: A Predictor of Academic Abilities

Instructional Routines to Support Self Regulation

SRSD Strategy Sheet

POW + TREE Strategy Sheet

Critical Thinking

Often the act of writing involves the transformation of knowledge. Writers synthesize information they have found from multiple sources. They compare and contrast. They make arguments and cite their reasons. In order to have quality content, students must first be able to engage in the thinking skills needed for the assignment.

Teaching Elementary Students to be Effective Writers

KEYSTONE reading comprehension site

Instructional Routines to Support Critical Thinking

Finding the most central idea
Cause/effect
Compare/contrast
Generalize from examples
Synthesize and integrate information
- Close Reading/Annotating/Writing
Tech Tools to Support

Early Childhood: Critical Thinking-Building a Key Foundation for Language and Literacy Success

Data & Assessment

Classwide intervention should be considered when Universal Screening data indicates that ≤ 60% of the class is proficient in the following writing subtests:

CBA (Curriculum Based Assessment)
AIMsWEB: CWS, TWW, WSC
Early Writing Measures

Classwide Intervention Considerations

Were you consistent with implementing the classwide intervention?
Did you or how will you monitor student progress?
Did your class as a whole make progress on this skill?
Should you embed this intervention or routine into your core instruction?
Are there some students that continue to struggle? If so, read on…

Diagnostic Assessments to guide instructional planning

Consider reviewing class wide writing samples to determine skills to be taught.
Use commercially made diagnostic tools such as: simple sentence rubrics, 6+ 1 Writing rubrics, Curriculum Based Assessments (CBA), etc.
Reading Rockets Writing Assessment resources

Intervention intensification strategies*Taken from Iowa Intervention System Guide (Appendix 17A)

Steve Graham: How to help struggling writers

Reading Rockets – Meet the Experts Series

Need for Accommodations or Assistive Technology?

First determine what tasks the student struggles most: Use The Planning and Collaborating Document to help
Then consider any accommodations that might be put in place:
- The rate of producing written work
- The volume of the work to be produced
- The complexity of the writing task
- The tools used to produce the written product: Download Graphic organizers
- The format of the product
Finally consider Assistive Technology options:

Assistive Technology Tools: Writing (Reading Rockets Site)

Article that list some helpful assistive technology tools from Understood.org