Intervention Strategies for Struggling Readers

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Intervention Strategies for Struggling Readers

• Nicole Pearson

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Main Thrust

• The purpose of this presentation is to provide
  educators a comprehensive source of research
  based intervention strategies that help
  struggling readers reach their full potential.

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Defining Struggling Readers

• For the purpose of this presentation, we will
  define struggling readers as students who are
  lacking skills in one of the five essential areas
  of literacy. This deficit negatively affects
  their academic performance, and they would
  benefit from remediated instruction or extra
  practice in an identified area of weakness.

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Why do they struggle?

• There are many different theories of why certain
  student struggle to learn to read.
• The following are four common causes for
  underachievement in reading according to Linda
  Campbell Ph.D. and Crystal Kelly MA.Ed., authors
  of Helping Struggling Readers
• Reading role models and life experiences.
• Acquisition of reading skills, specifically
  phonics and comprehension
• Visual processing
• Learning disabilities

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What are the essential skills for reading success?
The Fab 5

• Phonological Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Vocabulary

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How do we fix the problems of struggling
readers?

• Many districts are implementing Response to
  Intervention (RtI) programs, where a team of
  professionals work to improve the essential skill
  for reading success, so that each child can reach
  their fullest potential.
• Now, lets examine specific strategies to improve
  identified areas of weakness in the primary
  grades.

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Phonological Awareness

• Phonological awareness is ones sensitivity to,
  or awareness of the phonological structure of
  words. This is considered an umbrella term
  which encompasses many aspects of sound
  identification and manipulation of language.
  Intervention strategies can be applied at any
  stage of the skill process.

http//www.classroomclipart.com
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Phonological Awareness

• In Kindergarten and first grade, phonological
  awareness can be examined by looking at six
  critical skills rhyme, alliteration, sentence
  segmentation, syllables, onset and rimes, and
  phonemes.
• In second and third grade, phonological awareness
  is separated into phoneme matching, phoneme
  isolating, phoneme blending, phoneme segmenting,
  and phoneme manipulating.

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Phonological Awareness Intervention Strategies

• Kindergarten and First Grade

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What are the necessary skills for kindergarten
and first grade?

• Rhyme is words that are similar in sound,
  especially with respect to the last syllable
  "hat and cat rhyme.
• Alliteration is repetition of usually initial
  consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words
  or syllables (as wild and woolly).
• Sentence segmentation is breaking down sentences
  into individual words.
• Syllables are units of spoken language.
• Onset is the part of the syllable that precedes
  the vowel of the syllable and rime is the part of
  a syllable which consists of its vowel and any
  consonant sounds that come after it.
• Phonemes are the smallest contrastive unit in the
  sound system of a language .

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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Rhyme

• Rhyme-Oh!
• Students practice working with rhymes by matching
  rhyming picture cards to pictures on a game board
  until they fill the card.

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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Alliteration

• Tongue Twisters
• At a listening center, students listen to taped
  tongue twisters.
• After listening to one sentence, the student
  pauses the tape and repeats the sentence to a
  partner, who then repeats it back to them.
• Students continue to practice saying sentences
  that use alliteration.

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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Sentence Segmentation

• Crinkle Creepers
• In this activity, students are segmenting
  sentences into individual words. First, students
  count the number of words in a sentence that is
  printed on a sentence strip.
• After counting, students fold the paper in half
  and put it into a cup with the corresponding
  number of words labeled on front.

The boy ran home.
Mom and Dad ate pizza.
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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Syllables

• Syllable Hopscotch
• Create a hopscotch board on the floor.
• Students select a picture card, says the word
  pictured, segments the word, and then counts the
  number of syllables by tapping their fingers.
• Students then hop the corresponding number of
  syllables on the hopscotch board.

Di-no-saur Hop 3!
https//www.tstshop.co.uk/images/hop-scotch.jpg
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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Onset and Rime

• Onset and Rime Picture Puzzles
• In this activity, students are practicing saying
  the onset and rime of a word.
• Students will match picture parts and say the
  pictured word by blending the onset and rime to
  say the whole word.
• Ex. /sn/ /ake/ snake!
• Ex. /d/ /og/ dog!

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K-1 Phonological Awareness- Phonemes

• Hoop it!
• This activity can be used to practice any
  targeted sound. Choose a targeted, or troublesome
  sound and go from there.
• Students will select basketballs with a picture
  card on the front.
• If the card contains the targeted sound, they put
  it in the basket with a picture of that sound. If
  it does not contain the target sound, they put it
  in the no basket.

http//www.hoopsvibe.com
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Phonological Awareness Intervention Strategies

• Second and Third Grade

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What are the necessary skills for second and
third grade?

• Phonemes are the smallest contrastive unit in the
  sound system of a language .
• Therefore
• Phoneme matching is matching the sound.
• Phoneme isolating is finding a particular sound
  in a word.
• Phoneme blending is combining multiple sounds.
• Phoneme segmenting is breaking down words into
  individual sounds.
• Phoneme manipulating is changing particular
  sounds within a word.

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2-3 Phoneme Matching

• Initial Phoneme Picture Match
• Students will sort cards and place in the column
  under the appropriate initial sound.
• p b t

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2-3 Phoneme Isolation

• Photo Scavenger Hunt
• Students will follow a list of directions to mark
  pictures that end with a targeted final sound.
• This activity can be used as remediation for
  students that have not mastered a crucial phoneme
  or need additional practice with a particular
  phoneme.
• Ex. Circle all the pictures that end in /ch/.

Touch!
Branch!
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2-3 Phoneme Blending

• Whats My Word?
• Students will listen to a tape or reader saying a
  segmented word. They then blend the word together
  and mark the matching picture.
• Ex. Put a 1 by /c/ /a/ /t/. Put a 2 by the /d/
  /a/ /r/ /t/.

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2-3 Phoneme Segmenting

• Phoneme Sort
• Students will sort picture cards by saying the
  word, segmenting the word into phonemes, and
  tapping their finger for each phoneme. Students
  then place the picture under the corresponding
  number.
• 3 4 5

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2-3 Phoneme Manipulating

• Phoneme Position Sort
• Students will sort cards showing a change of the
  initial, middle, or final phoneme under part of a
  segmented picture.

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Phonics

• Phonics is defined as the study of the
  relationship between letters and the sounds they
  represent. The goal is for children to use the
  sound-symbol relationship to read and write
  words.
• It is important to note that phonics skills
  progress in difficulty and may require
  intervention at any stage.

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Phonics

• In Kindergarten and first grade, phonics includes
  six critical skills letter-recognition,
  letter-sound correspondence, onset and rime, word
  study, syllable patterns, morpheme structures.
• In second and third grade, phonics is separated
  into letter-sound correspondence, high frequency
  words, variant correspondences, syllable
  patterns, and morpheme structures.

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Phonics Intervention Strategies

• Kindergarten and First Grade

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What are the necessary skills for kindergarten
and first grade?

• Letter-recognition is the identification of
  individual letters by name and/or sound in a
  variety of contexts.
• Letter-sound correspondence is making a
  connection between individual letters and the
  sounds they represent (graphophonics).
• Onset is the part of the syllable that precedes
  the vowel of the syllable and rime is the part of
  a syllable which consists of its vowel and any
  consonant sounds that come after it.
• Word study is the process of using strategies to
  figure out or decode unfamiliar words.
• Syllable patterns are common or repeated units of
  speech.
• Morpheme structures are the smallest meaningful
  unit in the grammar of a language.

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K-1 Phonics- Letter Recognition

• Alphabet Arc
• Students choose a letter from a container.
  Students say the letter and match it to the
  letter shown in the alphabet arc.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
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K-1 Phonics- Letter-Sound Correspondence

• Touchable Letters and Picture Match
• Students will first put a set of tactile letters
  (sandpaper, clay, felt, etc.) in alphabetical
  order, saying the name of the letter as they
  touch it.
• Students will then match pictures showing the
  initial sound with each letter.

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K-1 Phonics- Onset and Rime

• Onset and Rime Slide
• Students slide a piece of paper with different
  onset sounds through a window that matches them
  with the same rime. Students say the word and
  then write it on the paper.
• d h r t br gr sl sw im

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K-1 Phonics- Word Study

• Ex. Silent E Changes (Blending)
• Students will draw strips of paper, write it on
  the short vowel side, and then add a final e
  and change it to a long vowel sound.
• Short vowel sound Long vowel sound
• man mane
• plan plane
• cub

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K-1 Phonics- Syllable Patterns

• Word Syllable Game
• Using any game board and game pieces, students
  first draw a word card. Students say the word,
  count the syllables, check with a peer, and then
  move the same number of spaces as there were
  syllables in the word.
• Playgroundmove 2!

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K-1 Phonics- Morpheme Structures

• Compound Word Memory
• Students turn a set of cards upside down. They
  select two cards and try to match the pictures
  and words to form a compound word. If it is a
  match, the students says the compound word and
  keeps the cards.

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Phonics Intervention Strategies

• Second and Third Grade

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What are the necessary skills for second and
third grade?

• Letter-sound correspondence is making a
  connection between individual letters and the
  sounds they represent (graphophonics).
• High frequency words are the most commonly used
  words in reading and writing.
• Variant correspondences are letters that have
  multiple sounds that can be represented by that
  letter.
• Syllable patterns are common or repeated units of
  speech.
• Morpheme structures are the smallest meaningful
  unit in the grammar of a language.

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2-3 Letter-Sound Correspondence

• Initial Sound Memory
• Students will shuffle and place cards upside
  down. Students work to match a picture with the
  letter that creates the initial sound.
• m t
• p f

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2-3 High Frequency Words

• WORDO
• Play this game like BINGO! Chose a targeted set
  of 24 high frequency words and have students
  write them randomly on a blank card. Put a free
  space in the middle. A student called selects
  words from cards until a student gets WORDO!

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2-3 Variant Correspondences

• Long and Short Sort
• Students work with a partner to sort a set of
  words into a long vowel category and short vowel
  using the same letter.
• back snake
• fan paper
• mat shade

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2-3 Syllable Patterns

• Add-a-Car
• Students will sort words to add to a train engine
  showing the correct number of syllables. Students
  are to say the word, tap the syllables, and then
  place the card by the number of syllables.
• dinosaur measurement
• dictionary luminescent

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2-3 Morpheme Structures

• Compound Word Concentration
• Students turn a set of cards upside down. They
  select two cards and try to match simple words to
  form a compound word. If it is a match, the
  students says the compound word and keeps the
  cards.
• light
• moon
• Moonlight!

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Fluency

• Fluency is the ability to read text quickly,
  accurately, and with appropriate expression.
• This stage is seen as the bridge between word
  recognition and comprehension.

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Fluency

• In kindergarten and first grade, there are four
  critical skills in developing fluency letter
  recognition, letter-sound correspondence, high
  frequency words, and oral reading.
• In second and third grade, there are six skills
  that contribute to fluency letter sound
  correspondence, word parts, words, phrases,
  chunked text, and connected text.

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Fluency Intervention Strategies

• Kindergarten and First Grade

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What are the necessary skills in kindergarten and
first grade?

• Letter-recognition is the identification of
  individual letters by name and/or sound in a
  variety of contexts.
• Letter-sound correspondence is making a
  connection between individual letters and the
  sounds they represent (graphophonics).
• High frequency words are the most commonly used
  words in reading and writing.
• Oral reading is students reading a selection
  aloud.

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K-1 Fluency- Letter Recognition

• Racing Alphabet Arc
• Using an Alphabet Arc, students try to beat their
  previous time for pulling a letter, saying the
  letter name, and matching it to its spot on the
  arc.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
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K-1 Fluency- Letter-Sound Correspondence

• Fluency Letter Wheel
• Students take turns timing one another for a set
  period of time. During the time period, students
  spin the wheel, say the letter and the partner
  places a counter into a cup if the correct letter
  is said. Students then switch roles and try to
  improve the number of chips each time or graph
  their results.

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K-1 Fluency- High Frequency Words

• Reading Rally
• Students race the clock to read as many of 50
  chosen target words during a minute as possible.
  Students record each try on a reading rally log.
• Reading Rally!
• 1st try ______ words
• 2nd try ______ words
• 3rd try ______ words

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K-1 Fluency- Oral Reading

• Techno Reading
• Students listen to a story either on the
  computer, CD player, or MP3 player. The goal is
  to listen for intonation and phrasing. At the end
  of each page, the student is to pause the
  recording and read it aloud themselves.

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Fluency Intervention Strategies

• Second and Third Grade

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What are the necessary skills in second and third
grade?

• Letter-sound correspondence is making a
  connection between individual letters and the
  sounds they represent (graphophonics).
• Word parts are common non-word syllables patterns
  as well as affixes.
• Words are high frequency words as well as word
  families.
• Phrasing is reading text naturally, pausing
  appropriately with intonation.
• Chunked text is text broken into natural groups
  of words.
• Connected text is reading text in a smooth,
  connected way.

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2-3 Letter-Sound Correspondence

• Letter Sound Speed Race
• Students will work with a partner or teacher to
  say as many sounds correctly in one minute as
  possible when looking at a sheet of out of order
  letters. Progress is recorded and the activity is
  repeated at a later time.
• Letter Sound Speed Race
• d b w I p e a t h g
• n v x q r u p l k d

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2-3 Word Parts

• Syllable Spring
• Students will work with a partner or teacher to
  go through as many cards in a stack of common
  non-word syllables. If the student pronounces
  the syllable correctly, they keep the card and
  try to accumulate as many cards as possible in
  one minute.
• Students record their progress each time to chart
  improvement with practice.

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2-3 Words

• Pass-Word
• Students work in a small group, sitting in a
  circle with a stack of cards in the middle. The
  first student picks a card, says the word if they
  can and then discards it. If they are unable to
  say the word or say it incorrectly, they pass it
  to the next person, who either says it or passes
  it on. The circle continues until all the cards
  have been used.

www.greenstreetdesign.net
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2-3 Phrases

• Add-a-Few
• Students work in small groups, each student reads
  a sentence that progresses by adding a few words
  each time. After reading the complete sentence,
  choral read the complete sentence together.

My Dad, My Dad, who is a pilot, My Dad, who is a
pilot, goes to the airport My Dad, who is a
pilot, goes to the airport to fly the
plane. Choral Read- My Dad, who is a pilot, goes
to the airport to fly the plane.
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2-3 Chunked Text

• Students work with a more fluent peer, who first
  reads a text aloud to them. The text is marked
  with slashes where students pause to chunk the
  text.
• After listening to the fluent peer read the text,
  the student then reads it back, chunking like
  their peer.

www.pbotoday.com
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2-3 Connected Text

• Partner Read
• Students can read a self selected or teacher
  selected text with a partner.
• Students alternate who reads each sentence,
  helping each other with words or phrasing as
  necessary.

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Comprehension

• Comprehension is the skills necessary to
  understand and extract meaning from written and
  spoken language. The goal of comprehension
  strategies is for students to be able to better
  understand text that they read on their own.

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Comprehension

• In kindergarten and first grade, comprehension
  can be improved by focusing on these key skills
  sentence structure and meaning, story structure,
  monitoring for meaning, and main
  idea/summarizing.
• In second and third grade, comprehension includes
  narrative text structure, expository text
  structure, text analysis, and monitoring for
  understanding.

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Comprehension Intervention Strategies

• Kindergarten and First Grade

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What are the necessary skills in kindergarten and
first grade?

• Sentence structure and meaning is the students
  ability to identify sentences and extract meaning
  from the text.
• Story structure is a set of conventions that
  govern different kinds of texts such as
  characters, plot, settings, or in an
  informational text, comparison and contrast.
• Monitoring for meaning is the metacognitive
  process of checking to see if one is
  understanding the reading and meaning of words
  and adjusting reading rate or rereading if
  necessary.
• Main idea/summarizing is the key events that tell
  what most of the story is about.

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K-1 Comprehension- Sentence Structure and Meaning

• Name that Story
• Students take turns selecting a sentence strip
  and matching it to a Nursery Rhyme or story shown
  on a chart, putting the event in the correct
  order.
• Build it up with wood and clay.
• Jack and Jill Little Bo Peep
• Three Blind Mice Twinkle, Twinkle

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K-1 Comprehension- Story Structure

• Character Map
• Students choose a character from a readable text
  and writes words on each of the lines to describe
  the character.
• Peter Pan

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K-1 Comprehension- Monitoring for Meaning

• Make-and-Check a Prediction
• Teacher or students place sticky notes throughout
  a text. Before reading, students fill out the I
  think column. They then read until the stick
  note and fill out I found out. The process
  repeats between each sticky note.
• I THINK I FOUND OUT

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K-1 Comprehension- Main Idea/Summarizing

• Story Hand
• Students trace their hand and cut it out on
  construction paper. Students then write or
  illustrate the title and author on their thumb,
  main idea on the palm, and a story detail in
  sequential order on each of the four fingers.

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Comprehension Intervention Strategies

• Second and Third Grade

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What are the necessary skills in second and third
grade?

• Narrative text structure is the common features
  of text that is written like a story. Narrative
  text has a plot, characters, and setting.
• Expository text structure is the features of a
  text that is written to inform or describe. It
  may use description, cause and effect, or
  comparison and contrast.
• Text analysis is process of extracting semantics
  and other information from text
• Monitoring for understanding is the metacognitive
  process of checking to see if one is
  understanding the reading and adjusting reading
  rate or rereading if necessary.

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2-3 Narrative Text Structure

• Character Captain
• Students choose a character from a narrative text
  and complete a a character sketch.

Name
What they did
Character Trait
Character Trait
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2-3 Expository Text Structure

• Book Scavenger Hunt
• Students will complete a scavenger hunt using
  an expository text with a partner. Students will
  have to locate and extract information from the
  table of contents, index, glossary, diagrams or
  tables, and captions.

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2-3 Text Analysis

• Fact and Opinion Game
• Students play a sorting game by reading a
  statement and determining whether it is a fact or
  an opinion. Students then place the card in the
  appropriate pile. Students may check their
  answers by looking on the back of the card.

Opinion
Fact
It snows in Pennsylvania in the winter.
Winter is the best season.
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2-3 Monitoring for Understanding

• Question Cube
• Students will pause occasionally during reading
  to answer whatever question they roll on the
  question cube.
• Questions include
• Do you understand what youve read so far? What
  parts were confusing?
• Summarize what you just read.
• Can you make any connections between what you
  read and your life?
• Predict what may happen next.
• Discuss any words you did not know.
• After reading this much, do you have any
  questions youd like to explore further?

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Vocabulary

• Vocabulary is often examined as oral or reading
  vocabulary. This refers to a students ability
  to find the meaning and pronunciation of a word
  necessary for communication.

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Vocabulary

• In kindergarten and first grade, vocabulary can
  be separated into four main areas word
  identification/words in context, words that
  describe/word meaning, word categorization/word
  knowledge, and word structure/word analysis.
• In second and third grade, vocabulary can be
  improved by examining word knowledge, morphemic
  elements, word meaning, word analysis, and words
  in context.

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Vocabulary Intervention Strategies

• Kindergarten and First Grade

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What are the necessary skills in kindergarten and
first grade?

• Word identification/words in context is the
  process of determining the pronunciation and some
  degree of meaning of an unknown word.
• Words that describe/word meaning is the logical
  connotation of a word or phrase.
• Word categorization/word knowledge is putting
  words into logically divided groups.
• Word structure/word analysis is the process of
  using strategies to figure out or decode
  unfamiliar words.

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K-1 Vocabulary- Word Identification/Words in
Context

• Sentence Sticks
• Students will choose one stick out of each cup
  labeled Who, What, and Where. These sticks will
  contain targeted vocabulary words. They will
  then use these words and additional words written
  on cards to create a sentence. Peers will
  evaluate if the sentence makes sense.
• Who? What? Where?

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K-1 Vocabulary- Words that Describe/Word Meaning

• About Me
• Students select words from a pile until they find
  three to complete the sentence I am ______,
  ________, and _______. They then illustrate it
  with a self portrait.
• I am fun, adventurous, and kind.

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K-1 Vocabulary- Word Categorization/Word Knowledge

• Multiple Meaning Train
• Students will select and write a word with
  multiple meaning on the train engine, on each of
  the next two cards, they are to write a
  definition for the two definitions of the word.

78
K-1 Vocabulary- Word Structure/Word Analysis

• Add-a-Part
• Students will work with a partner to brainstorm
  words by adding a part (-ed, -es, -s, etc.).
  Student selects a base word card and a suffix
  card. If it is a word, students list it, if not
  the other student gets a turn.
• toy -es fish -ed
• Toyes? No, your turn. Fished. Yes!

79
Vocabulary Intervention Strategies

• Second and Third Grade

80
What are the necessary skills in second and third
grade?

• Word knowledge is the pool of words students
  bring to a text with them.
• Morphemic elements are the meaningful linguistic
  unit consisting of a word, ex. man cannot be
  divided into a smaller meaningful part.
• Word meaning is the logical connotation of a word
  or phrase.
• Word analysis is the process of using strategies
  to figure out or decode unfamiliar words.
• Words in context is the process of determining
  the pronunciation and some degree of meaning of
  an unknown word using clues from the surrounding
  words.

81
2-3 Word Knowledge

• Synonym or Antonym BINGO
• Students will write pre-selected words on their
  BINGO card. When the caller reads a word,
  students cover a synonym for the word on their
  card. The game can also be played with antonyms.

82
2-3 Morphemic Elements

• Build-a-Word
• Students start with a base list of words. They
  then take turns selecting an affix and trying it
  with the base word. If it is a word, they list it
  and move on. Students try to make as many words
  as possible.
• peace
• arm -ful PEACEFUL!
• patient
• loud

83
2-3 Word Meaning

• Word Watchers
• Students keep a laminated book mark and wipe-off
  marker in their desk. When reading, students
  note interesting, unknown, funny, or confusing
  words and the page number.
• When meeting as a group or with the teacher,
  students can discuss these words and how this
  improved or hindered their enjoyment of reading
  the story.

84
2-3 Word Analysis

• Categories
• Students work with a group to come up with
  several categories for words. Once the categories
  are determined, students must find three words
  that fit the category. Check with peer
  evaluation.

animals things in your desk relatives lunches
dog pencil aunt
sandwich tiger papers father
85
2-3 Words in Context

• Erase-a-Word
• Students will write several descriptive sentences
  about their day. Before switching with the
  partner, students will erase one crucial word in
  each sentence. After switching with a partner,
  students try to use context clues to insert a
  word that makes sense in the context of the
  sentence.
• Charles was _____ the day his dog died.
• sad?

86
Best Practices in Reading Instruction

• These classroom practices will help all students,
  in addition to struggling readers.
• Differentiated Instruction
• Changing your pace, level, and kind of
  instruction in response to the learners needs,
  styles, or interests.
• Flexible Grouping
• Creating instructional groups and prescribing
  specific activities that respond to students
  learning needs.

87
References

• Bank Street College of Education. 2 December
  2008. tml.
• Heacox, Diane. Differentiating Instruction in the
  Regular Classroom. Minnesota Free Spirit
  Publishing, 2002.
• Merriam-Webster Online. 22 November 2008.
  .
• Nebraska Department of Education. 3 December
  2008. lossary/general_u-z.html.
• New Horizons for Learning 5 November 2008.
  hing/kelly.htm.
• Routman, Regie. Reading Essentials-The Specifics
  You Need to Teach Reading Well. New Hampshire
  Heinemann, 2003.
• SIL International. 25 November 2008.
  icTerms/.
• Utah Education Network. 3 December 2008.
  .
  
• WordNet- A Lexical Database for the English
  Language 22 November 2008. http//wordnet.princet
  on.edu.
• All images, unless cited are from Microsoft
  Office PowerPoint clip art or Google Images.