1. S
Five Elements of
Balanced Literacy
Program
By: Jillian Wanex

2. Phonemic Awareness
Definition
S “Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and
manipulate the sounds letters represent, including
blending sounds to make words, creating rhyming
patterns, and counting phonemes (individual sounds)”
(McEwan, 2009).

3. Phonemic Awareness
Features/Facts
S Students can learn from their environment/ listening to
caregivers, word games, poems and nursery rhymes,
and teachers who teach is explicitly and systematically.
S Students must learn PA skills before you learn phonics
skills.
S PA is a critical factor when learning the alphabetic
principle.

4. Phonemic Awareness
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs
of diverse population (print-based): Print words on
cards so that the student is able to follow along with the
letter sounds as they read the word.
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs
of diverse population (non-print-based): Clapping and
tapping the syllables in the words.

5. Phonemic Awareness
Instructional Strategies
S Instruction must be differentiated, explicit, systematic,
supportive, intensive, and specialized:
S Explicit instruction: I do, We do, You do. Teacher will
model first, then all of the students do it, then the student
does it independently.
S Supportive Instruction: First graders will be given many
opportunities to practice sounds orally modeled by the
teacher while the teacher encourages the students to
stay on task.

6. Phonemic Awareness
Assessments
S 1. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
Assessment: this test can be given in k-2 to test students’
PA awareness skills.
S 2. Phonological Awareness Skills Test: this test can be
given to first graders to find out which PA skills they have
mastered and which skills they need more help with.

7. Phonics Definition
S “Phonics is an understanding of the alphabetic principle
(that letters either singly or in combination represent
various sounds) and the ability to apply this knowledge in
decoding of unfamiliar words.” (McEwan, 2009).

8. Phonics Features/Facts
S “The evidence for phonics instruction is most persuasive for
students who begin first grade with weaker PA skills.” (Foorman
et al., 1998)
S Systematic phonics programs helps students understand why
they are learning the relationships between letters and sounds.
S Synthetic phonics focuses on graphemes and phonemes.

9. Phonics
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs
of diverse population (print-based): First graders
should be provided with passages or books to be able to
decode the words.
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning
needs of diverse population (non-print-based): First
graders can use magnetic letters to help students
manipulate the words.

10. Phonics
S Instructional Strategy and an explanation of their
implementation and methodologies for specific grade level
S 1. Teachers should be flexible when making their groups.
Teachers want to create their groups depending on their
reading level and reading skills. First graders can be separated
into low, middle, and high groups.
S 2. Teachers should choose books for their first graders that are
on their correct reading level and then scaffolding the books to
higher levels.

11. Phonics Assessments
S 1. Use decodable books to see how the first graders are
able to decode the words in the passage.
S 2. Use a set list of decodable words to see how the first
graders figure out the word.

12. Fluency Definition
S Fluency is the ability to read so effortlessly and
automatically that working memory is available for the
ultimate purpose of reading – extracting and constructing
meaning from the text” (McEwan, 2009).

13. Fluency Features/Facts
S Sight word can be immediately retrieved from long-term
memory.
S Prosody is important with fluency (because it is reading
with expression that indicates that the reader fully
understands the meaning conveyed by the author, which
improves comprehension.)
S Fluency is the variation in speed which sight words are
processed.

14. Fluency
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs of
diverse population (print-based): Teachers should find text
that is on the students level so that they can practice sounding
fluent. (First graders can re-read independently to help with
fluency)
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs of
diverse population (non-print-based): Teacher can say a
sentence from the story and have the students repeat it. Use
flash cards with pictures and the word on it. The student will
hear the teacher read fluently and the flash cards will help with
the unfamiliar words.

15. Fluency: Instructional
Strategies
S Teacher will read the students the story as they follow along
S Students will echo read with the teacher
S Everyone will choral read the selection
S Teacher will break class into paired reading
S Student will independently read the story on their own.
S Repetition will help the first graders understand and listen to
how fluent reading should sound.

16. Fluency: Instructional
Strategies
S In small group, so that all the students are on the same reading
level, have students take turns reading a sentence from the
story.
S Teacher will write any missed words on the board and help
decode the decodable words.
S Students will read the story in pairs and then independently.
S This helps the first graders listen to each other and practice the
unfamiliar words so that they are prepared to read on their own.

17. Fluency Assessments
S Running record: a teacher can give a student a running
record by timing them read the passage and markng any
missed words.
S A teacher can use a Fluency scale to see how a student
performs while reading a passage.

18. Vocabulary Definition
S Vocabulary is the body of words.
S “Word Knowledge is knowing the meaning of words,
knowing about the relationships between words (word
schema), and having linguistic knowledge about words”
(McEwan, 2009).

19. Vocabulary Features/Facts
S Word knowledge is simply knowing the meaning of lots of
words.
S “Students need many exposures and experiences with
new words to fully understand them in new text or use
them in writing and speaking” (McEwan, 2009).
S Vocabulary can be learned by incidental learning.

20. Vocabulary
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs of
diverse population (print-based): Students can review
vocabulary words and then read them in a passage to see how
it relates to the story.
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs of
diverse population (non-print-based): Teachers can engage
students in discussions about what experiences they have had
with certain words.

21. Vocabulary: Instructional
Strategies
S Teacher will provide definitional and contextual
information about new words.
S First graders are eager to learn new words but a teacher
must really help them understand the new word.
S Teacher must provide definition, synonyms, antonyms,
sentences, etc.
S Students can relate other words to their experiences as
well.

22. Vocabulary: Instructional
Strategies
S Teacher can provide students with multiple opportunities
for cognitive processing.
S Students can write about the words.
S Students can create a story about the words.
S Students can act out their experiences with the words.
S This will help first graders make connections to the
words.

23. Vocabulary Assessments
S Teacher can have students write their own sentences using the
vocabulary words. This shows that they understand what the
word is and how it fits in a sentence. First graders would be
able to express their personal relevancy with these words.
S Teacher can ask the students to create a project (storybook,
poem, song, etc.) with these words to show that they
understand what they mean. This lets first grade choose what
activity they want while showing the teacher they understand
the vocabulary.

24. Comprehension Definition
S “Comprehension is the extraction or construction of
meaning from text using the seven cognitive strategies or
highly skilled readers as appropriate” (McEwan, 2009).

25. Comprehension
Features/Facts
S Activating helps a student to recall prior knowledge to
construct meaning.
S Inferring brings together what is written in text and what
is unwritten in text, and helps reader to construct
meaning.
S Visualizing helps the reader visualize a mental image to
construct meaning from the text.

26. Comprehension
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs
of diverse population (print-based): A first grader is
able to read a story independently and then answer
question to help understand the story.
S Instructional Resource that meets the learning needs
of diverse population (non-print-based): A first grader
can listen to the teacher read a story aloud, and then
verbally answer questions about the story.

27. Comprehension:
Instructional Strategies
S The teacher will directly and explicitly what the students
are expected to do during the lesson.
S The teacher will do a think aloud of how to think about
how one is reading both during and after the act of
reading.
S A first grader needs to be able to monitor his/her reading.
This is important for a student so that they are paying
attention to the details in the story and understanding
what they are reading.

28. Comprehension:
Instructional Strategies
S It is always important for a teacher to recap the lesson.
S The act of summarizing what has been learned is
important for first graders to hear so that they know it is
important and should be applied during their reading.

29. Comprehension Assessments
S A teacher can have a first graders independently read a
passage and answer questions about the text. This
allows the teacher to understand if the student
understood the story.
S The students can read a story and then write a summary
about the story. The teacher can use a scale to rate the
students summary of the story. This is important to see if
the student understood what the story was about and if
details were provided.

30. Resources:
S Delaware Department of Education (2009). Delaware literacy resource guide. Retrieved from
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/ci/content_areas/files/ela/DELiteracyResourcePDF.pdf
S Educational Leadership: Schools and Learning Communities: What is a Professional Learning
Community?. (n.d.). iCyte. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from
http://www.icyte.com/saved/www.ascd.org/697197?key=10d4140f70d94d8d8a071e7dcffec437b677ea03.
S Effective Strategies for Teaching Phonemic Awareness. (n.d.). Reading Worksheets Grammar
Comprehension Lesson Plans. Retrieved June 26, 2014, from http://www.k12reader.com/effective-
strategies-for-teaching-phonemic-awareness/
S Hasbrouck, J. (2006). For Students Who Are Not Yet Fluent, Silent Reading Is Not the Best Use of
Classroom Time. American Educator, Summer 2006, 30(2).
S McEwan, E. K. (2009). Teach them all to read: catching kids before they fall through the cracks (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.
S What is Wilson Fluency/Basics?. (n.d.). iCyte. Retrieved May 28, 2014, from
http://www.icyte.com/cytes/show/608060?key=15bd4cda992c584d6431f627699d0a4e418061bd