As we also underlined in the “Grouping Students to Differentiate Instruction” section above, it’s important to anticipate that students will move between groups as the school year progresses. The initial groups you assign students to are not rigid arrangements that remain the same from fall to spring. Especially in kindergarten, there is a need for flexible grouping approaches. Some students will begin the year having had little exposure to instruction or informal play focused on letter names and sounds, but they will learn quickly. Others will begin the year having had ample exposure to instruction in letter names and sounds but have more difficulty retaining and organizing new learning in this area. Informal (e.g., content-aligned assessments integrated into a lesson) or formal progress-monitoring data can inform teachers’ decisions to move students to new groups.
Figure 1a.
KINDERGARTEN CODE-FOCUSED LESSON 1
Before the Lesson: • Use data to choose an appropriate decodable book. • Identify letter sounds and irregular words students need to know to read the book. • Create or select existing flashcards to teach the letter-sounds and irregular words that students do not already know or may need to review. • Choose three decodable words from the book and write them on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Lesson Materials: letter-sound cards, list of decodable words, irregular word cards, and decodable books Phonics (2 minutes) Show one letter-sound card. Tell students the name and sound of the letter. Ask students the sound of the letter. Repeat until all letter-sounds have been taught. Mix all letter-sound cards together, then show one card and ask for the sound. Repeat until students have read each sound one or two times. Decoding (5 minutes) Show students the list of three decodable words from the book. Model sounding out the first word by pointing to each letter and saying its sound, then sliding your finger under the word and reading the whole word. Instruct the students to sound out and read the first word with you. Instruct the students to sound out and read the first word without you. For the next two words, have students sound out and read each word without you. Provide corrective feedback and scaffold by modeling when appropriate. Irregular Words (3 minutes) Show one irregular word card. Tell students the word. (Note: You can point out any letter sounds in the word that your students already know.) Ask students the word. Repeat until all irregular words have been taught. Mix all irregular word cards together, then show one card and ask for the word. Repeat until students have read each word one or two times. Book Reading (10 minutes) Give each student a book. Tell students the name of the book. Instruct students to point to each word as they read it. Monitor and provide support as students read each page.
ALIGNING PRACTICE WITH RESEARCH TOPIC PAPER 17
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