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"Scientific evidence has taught us that reading must be
taught-directly and systematically-and that children most at risk require the
most instruction with the best-prepared teachers."
Cathy Collins Block and Susan
Israel, Reading First and Beyond, 2005
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Upcoming
Events
February 10~
Maine Reading First Grant Intents to Apply Due
March 2~
Maine Reading First Statewide Conference: Exploring
Vocabulary and Comprehension Instruction in Grades K-3
March 6 and 7~
Maine Reading First DIBELS Informational Sessions
March 10~
Maine Reading First Grant Applications Due
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"Those who accept the responsibility for teaching children to
read understand that it includes a commitment to continually search for more
effective ways to help children gain competence in this very important skill."
Learning Point Associates, Reading
First: A Closer Look at the Five Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction,
2004
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Spotlight on.
DIBELS
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (or
DIBELS) refers to an assessment tool used to measure the critical skills
predictive of reading success. There
are 7 separate tasks within DIBELS which measure student progress in the 5
essential elements of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension). DIBELS
is based on the theory of automaticity so the DIBELS tasks are brief and
timed, but powerful. In addition to
understanding the critical skills predictive of efficient reading, students
should be able to apply these skills automatically and fluently which is what
DIBELS assesses.
The 7 tasks of DIBELS and the essential element of
reading which the task measures are listed in the table below:
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DIBELS Task
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Essential Element of Reading
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Initial
Sound Fluency (ISF)
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phonemic
awareness
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Letter
Naming Fluency (LNF)
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phonics
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Phoneme
Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
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phonemic
awareness
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Nonsense
Word Fluency (NWF)
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phonics
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Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
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fluency
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Retell
Fluency (RTF)
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comprehension
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Word
Use Fluency (WUF)
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vocabulary
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DIBELS is designed to be administered 3 times a year at
points referred to as 'benchmark assessments'. In addition to these benchmark periods,
DIBELS can also be used to measure progress at other times, especially for
students who may struggle in specific areas.
Additional materials are available for 'progress monitoring' as these
assessments may occur frequently for some students. The information gathered from either the
benchmark or progress monitoring DIBELS assessments should be used to inform
instruction.
There are recommended grade levels within the K-3 span
for when each of these tasks should be administered. Grade-appropriate materials have recently
become available for administering the Oral Reading Fluency and Retell
Fluency tasks with students in grades 4-6.
For a small fee, schools who administer the DIBELS
assessment can enter student data on the DIBELS website and then access the numerous
reports which illustrate student progress at the classroom, school, and
District levels.
Maine Reading First will be hosting informational
sessions on DIBELS on March 6 and 7, 2006.
Stay tuned to the February edition of Literacy Links for more details about these sessions.
Additional information about
DIBELS can be found at http://dibels.uoregon.edu. DIBELS materials can be ordered from Sopris
West at http://www.sopriswest.com
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Description of Instructional Idea.
Bingo
A grid (similar to the one
below) can be created as a bingo board and used to teach and reinforce a wide
variety of literacy concepts.
Bingo boards can be filled in
with letters, word family chunks, vowel patterns, high frequency words, or
vocabulary words depending on the focus of the lesson and the needs of the
students. After modeling by the
teacher and opportunities for guided practice, bingo games can be used as
literacy centers for students to practice independently.
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Summary of Professional Literacy Text.
Reading First
and Beyond:
The Complete Guide for Teachers
and Literacy Coaches
Cathy Collins Block and Susan
Israel collaborated to author this professional resource for teachers. Reading First and Beyond: The Complete
Guide for Teachers and Literacy Coaches shares details of the scientific
research for each of the essential elements of reading and translates what
this research looks like for classroom instruction. In addition to including an explanation of
the research and ideas for lessons within each chapter, suggestions for
working with students who struggle, excel, or are learning English also
appear. The authors have also included
chapters on oral language, independent reading and shared reading, writing,
metacognition, and ways to include parents.
Corwin Press published Reading
First and Beyond in 2005 and the ISBN is 1-4129-1497-3.
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Children's Literature Title.
AA is for Aardvark:
Double the Letters!
Double the Fun!
written by Mark Shulman and
illustrated by Tamara Petrosino
This uniquely fun alphabet book shows
children how many words have double letters.
In addition to identifying the words with double letters for each
letter of the alphabet, children will also be delighted in trying to discover
all of the words tucked in the illustrations which have the target double
letter. Did you know that "FF is for
fluffy waffles" and "LL is for a frilly yellow pillow"? Share this new book with your students and
learn many other words with double letters.
AA is for Aardvark was published by Sterling
Publishing Company in 2005. The ISBN
is 1-4027-2871-9.
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News from Maine
Reading First.
The Request for Proposals (RFP)
for the third round of Maine Reading First sub-grants has been released. The list of eligible LEAs and the RFP with
its accompanying materials can be accessed at the Maine Reading First website
at http://www.maine.gov/education/rf/homepage.htm
Maine Reading First is planning
a statewide conference which will focus on comprehension and vocabulary
instruction in Grades K-3. This event
with Karen Burke, a former assistant superintendent from Maine and now a consultant with
Scholastic, Inc., will be held on Thursday, March 2, 2006 at the Waterville
Elks Lodge. More information and the
registration form for this conference is attached to this edition of Literacy Links.
Check it out.
There is an interactive and fun
website which engages readers in the joys of reading. http://www.starfall.com
includes reading materials sorted for different levels of readers, from those
just beginning to explore print up to those who read independently. Users can request that the site reads the
materials to them or they can read it themselves. A wide variety of materials is available on
this site including nonfiction, books which focus on word family chunks, and
reader's theater scripts.
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