Spring 2006 Newsletter

Volume 7, Issue 1

Inside This Issue

• New Phonemic Awareness Activities
• Discover Intensive Phonics and DIBELS Correlation
• Miracles Happen when the Gift of Reading is Given
• Research Project Conducted by Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
• Adult Learners Receive the Gift of Reading from Volunteers at the New York Public Library
• The Gift of Literacy Available at Local Teen Challenge Training Center

New Phonemic Awareness Activities

New Phonemic Awareness activities have just made the best phonics supplement available even better!

Phonemic Awareness: The ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words.

Current research indicates Phonemic Awareness is the strongest predictor of reading success, even at High School level. Training in phoneme identification, manipulation, and substitution is essential for students to become successful readers.

The newly revised Discover Intensive Phonics elementary materials contain seven phonemic awareness lessons for both the student software and teacher direct instruction material. The software also includes a complete student assessment of phoneme awareness incorporating many concepts from the DIBELS assessment published by the University of Oregon.

The new Phonemic Awareness activities preface Lesson One in the teacher manual and Lesson Two in the computer software and cover the following:

• Rhyming
• Syllable identification and manipulation
• Identification of initial, final, and medial phonemes
• Placement, manipulation and substitution of initial, medial, and final phonemes in single syllable words
• Identification of individual words within a sentence

In addition to a comprehensive glossary of terminologies, the material includes many ideas for phoneme manipulations such as: phoneme elimination, blending, sound isolation, phoneme sequencing, phoneme count, phoneme deletion, syllable deletion, and sound to word matches.

For a limited time you can download, absolutely free, our 30-page Phonemic Awareness supplement. The free download includes lessons on rhyme, syllable identification, oral segmentation, and oral blending. Plus all new, phoneme manipulation and identification of words in sentences, activities and assessments. So visit www.readinghorizons.com today and download your way to Phonemic Awareness!

Discover Intensive Phonics and DIBELS Correlation

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. DIBELS are used to monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. Below is a list of DIBELS components and the Discover Intensive Phonics solution that can help you meet these requirements.

Initial Sound Fluency (ISF)

Students are assessed in initial sound identification in the Progress Assessment, in the Phonemic Awareness segment, then practice initial sound identification in Phonemic Awareness Activities. The computer teaches the name of the picture and the initial phoneme sound, the student uses the mouse to identify the picture that begins with that sound. Initial Sound Fluency is reinforced throughout the computer lessons with introduction of each letter-sound.

Ending and middle sounds are also identified in the Progress Assessment/ Phonemic Awareness segment and Phonemic Awareness Activities.

Results are recorded in a progress report.

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)

In Phonemic Awareness Activities the computer says a word (picture) focusing on the phonemes in the word. The student is asked to identify how many phonemes are in the word by “pulling down” graphics to correspond with the number of individual phonemes in the word (picture).

The Progress Assessment/Phonemic Awareness segment, the computer pronounces a word and asks the student to identify how many phonemes are in the word. The administrator acknowledges the response on the computer by pressing Y (yes) or N (no). Results are recorded in a progress report.

Assessed in Interim Test 1. Computer narrator says a word, student must type the letters of the sounds heard.

Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)

Nonsense Words are assessed in Progress Assessment/Word Recognition- Nonsense Word segment. A teacher or aide administers the test to students. The computer displays a word and the student is given one attempt to say the correct pronunciation. The administrator records their response on the computer. If a sound is incorrect, the computer will “ask” for the sound to be identified and the results are recorded in a report. Nonsense words are also assessed in Interim tests and recorded to a report. The concept is taught throughout entire program in computer lessons and teacher direct instruction (manuals).

Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)

Identify individual consonants and vowels are taught. The concept of sliding sounds together (initial consonant to vowel) is also taught in Lesson Summary 1 and in Lessons 2-30.

Identifying the letter name is assessed in Interim Test 1.

Computer says the name of the letter (referring to uppercase and lowercase) and student identifies the letter with the mouse.

“Rewarded” for correct response.

Oral Reading Fluency (DORF)

Stories with controlled vocabulary are incorporated (Little Books). These stories correlate with the phonic skills that are systematically taught in each section.

Retell Fluency (RTF)

Comprehension and recall (literal and inferential) questions are asked at the end of each of the Little Books.

High frequency words are listed with each story.

Word Use Fluency (WUF)

Alluded to: when introducing a new word, a definition is given and the word is used in oral context on the computer program.

Discover Intensive Phonics provides additional assessments in Word Recognition to determine the grade level for readability in students.

Miracles Happen when the Gift of Reading is Given

Miracles are happening at the St. Vincent’s Learning Lab. Just speak to Sister Rosella who can tell you about the students she works with and how learning to read has brought miracles into their lives.

One miracle is Jose*. When Jose came to St. Vincent’s for help, his low level of education made him so nervous it caused him to shake. According to Sister Rosella, “[Jose] wanted so very much to learn to read, so he could get a better job. He needed a lot of help to begin with, but now he comes in before class, sits at the computer and never budges until it is class time. [He has done so well] his confidence and self-esteem have increased, he walks straighter and he looks you in the eye. It is phenomenal!”

Jose is just one of the 70 students that frequent the center, at any given time, hoping to improve their ability to read. He credits his excellent teacher and a reading program designed specifically for adults called Reading Horizons for his success. The Reading Horizons program at the computer also enthralls other students.

With a generous grant, St. Vincent’s Learning Lab was recently able to upgrade their Reading Horizons software and add two more stations to their site, bringing the total to six. “The students are doing extremely well on the program,” according to Sister Rosella and Fred Leinhauser, a former educator and principal who helps at the Lab. “We are extremely pleased and thrilled to see the changes in our students. We want to help the students in any way we can.” For more information about the St. Vincent’s Learning Lab, contact Sister Rosella Lacovitch at (215) 849-9416. For more information about Reading Horizons, log onto www.readinghorizons.com.

* name has been changed

Research Project Conducted by Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

In a collaborative effort, Temple University’s Center For Research In Human Development And Education, MAR*TEC (Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology Education Center) and HEC Reading Horizons trained Temple University instructors in the Discover Intensive Phonics method and helped them implement Reading Horizons in their classrooms. Hoping to help older students and adults who are struggling readers, the program is now in its third year.

Data collected from the students during the first two years of the program have shown success in providing tools for these students to improve their reading scores. Out of a total of 21 students participating in the program over the two years, only one did not show any significant grade level gain in their reading ability. During the first year of implementation, the highest grade level gain made by a student was two grade levels, last year it was five!

As the instructors involved their students in the Reading Horizons program, they found the multisensory involvement engaged students in a way that helped them use their individual learning style. Students were able to learn independently using Reading Horizons courseware, and the Mastery, Drill and Practice section of the software helped to internalize the decoding skills. They enjoyed using direct instruction to help the student be an active participant which, in turn, improved the students’ confidence and independence.

One student commented: “It’s helped me. I work at KFC, and when I started to work at KFC, I used to just cook chicken, and now I do everything inside there now. And that comes from the help of my school. I do the register and all that. When I started there I couldn’t do none of that, I’d just be looking at the register and not know what to do. Now I’m training to be a manager.”

Adult Learners Receive the Gift of Reading from Volunteers at the New York Public Library

New York City Public Library has been taken over by an army. Not the kind of army found on a battlefield, but an army ready to donate their time to give adult learners the gift of the ability to read. Seventy-five to 100 tutors meet with over 600 students two times a week who need help in understanding how the English language works.

According to Ken English, Director of the Centers for Reading and Writing at the New York Public Library, the instruction the students get from the tutors is making a difference in the lives of those who struggle with reading and/or understanding English. “I could tell one student from Jamaica was using word attack skills and the decoding strategies he has learned by the way he was forming his words with his mouth as he was reading,” English explains. This student continues to make great progress in reading and pronouncing English.

“Many of the [ESOL] students do much better with their words and pronunciation when they have been tutored with a program we have here on site called Reading Horizons,” he continues. “Their systematic approach to phonics gives these students a much better foundation to start with.”

In addition to the 20 hours of training for the tutors in the program, English also encourages his tutors to take the Reading Horizons course so they can become familiar with it themselves, and better help the students they are working with. Tutors then encourage their students to use the program in between tutoring sessions, and, according to English, “[the tutors] can really tell the difference when their students have used the program in addition to their tutoring time.”

To find out more about the New York Public Library Centers for Reading and Writing, log onto www.nypl.org. To find out more about the Reading Horizons program, log onto www.readinghorizons.com.

The Gift of Literacy Available at Local Teen Challenge Training Center

Being able to read this article is something that you probably take for granted. And remembering how you learned to read so you could teach another to read would be difficult. That is how tutors often feel when they first come to the Teen Challenge Training Center, which serves both teens and adults. “Quite frankly, I could not remember how I learned to read,” one tutor says. “It’s a skill that has been there so long that I simply take reading for granted. I was struck by the enormous task of teaching an adult to do something that I could not break down into parts.”

The tutors at the center are trained to use Reading Horizons, the program they use to help teens and adults who are struggling to learn to read. They appreciate the program’s simple, systematic approach that make learning to read an attainable goal. They have found Reading Horizons to be friendly, understandable and effective, and they have seen much success with their students.

One successful student at the Teen Challenge Center was a 40- year-old man who could spell his name, but could not use the letters in his name to spell other words. “The letters were just shapes that had no meaning,” his tutor says. “I had no idea how to help him. The only thing I could think of was to see if Reading Horizons could help. So we started together; letter—sound; letter—sound; letter—sound.” The student was encouraged to work hard, and the tutor promised to be there for him every step of the way. Now it brings tears to the tutor’s eyes when he remembers the first time this student read a list of words. The man was able to read simple sentences by the time he left the center’s eight-month program.

One challenge had been overcome, but there are still many more to face. The gift of literacy, facilitated by the tutors at the center, is priceless for those whose lives it has changed. The program and help for those who need it continue at the Teen Challenge Training Center, where overcoming the challenge of illiteracy has been transformed from a dream into an everyday reality.