Session 8: Understanding the Design Principles of the
Skills Strand
Sequence of Sessions
Overarching Objectives of this May 2013 Network Team Institute

The purpose of this May 2013 Pilot Training/Network Team Institute is to provide a general understanding of CKLA-NY program and it’s
design, link CKLA-NY to the comprehensive model of language arts instruction, as discussed by the State, (i.e., the Three Pillar Model), and to
support participants in beginning to use the Listening and Learning strand of materials.
High-Level Purpose of this Session

The purpose of this session is to support participants in making connections between the idea of synthetic phonics and the instructional
design and key instructional features of CKLA’s Skills strand. Synthetic phonics is a systematic approach that emphasizes individual phonemes
and oral language skills as underlying strong decoding. Instructional features of CKLA are highlighted to illustrate four specific design
principles: 1. CKLA makes the complex relationship between sounds and spellings explicit. 2. CKLA teaches the most frequent and least
ambiguous sounds first. 3. CKLA gives intensive practice in distinguishing sounds that are auditorily similar. 4. CKLA gives intensive attention
to the oral language skills (blending/segmenting) which underlie strong reading and writing.
Related Learning Experiences

This training is the first in a series of trainings on the use of CKLA-NY. It provides background knowledge that will be relevant to upcoming
trainings on implementing the Skills strand to occur at a future date.
Session Outcomes
What do we want participants to be able to do as a result of this session?
1. Participants will be able to recognize and explain the four design principles
underlying Skills.
2. Participants will be able to connect aspects of the Skills lessons to the various
design principles.
How will we know that they are able to do this?
Participants will demonstrate knowledge and skills related to
the learning objectives through completed activities and insession discussions.
Session Overview
Prepared Resources
Section
Time
Overview
Facilitator
All handouts listed are within the .zip file Session 8:
Preparation
Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand –
Materials
Session 8: Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand
– PPT; slides 3-15
Design Principle 1:
CKLA makes the
complex relationship
between sounds and
spellings explicit.
Consider the “soundfirst” approach that
30 minutes
guides the CKLA Skills
strand.
Handouts:
Distinguishing Consonant Clusters and Digraphs
(24_session8_Distinguishing Consonant Clusters and
Digraphs.docx)
Sound vs. Spelling Focus in CKLA (25_session8_Sound versus
spelling focus inCKLA.docx)
Things You Hear and See
(26_session8_ThingsyouHearandSee.docx)
Design Principle 2:
Session 8: Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand
CLKA teachers children
Consider the rationale – PPT; slides 16-22
the most frequent and
guiding the scope and
least ambiguous
20 minutes sequence of spelling- Handouts:
sounds first.
sound patterns taught Basic Code Activity (27_session8_BasicCode.docx)
across K-2.
Student Code Sheets (28_session8_studentcodesheets.pdf)
Session 8: Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand
– PPT; slides 23-28
Design Principle 3.
Consider relevant
CKLA gives intensive
speech science concepts
Handouts:
practice in
and how this guides the
Minimal Pairs Lesson (29_session8_Minimalpairs.docx)
distinguishing sounds
20 minutes unit-by-unit
that are auditorily
organization of
Code Load Practice (30_session8_CodeLoadsWKST.docx)
similar.
spelling-sound patterns
taught.
Kindergarten Unit 7 Student Reader Sample
(31_session8_sethstories.pdf)
Prepared Resources
Section
Time
Design Principle 4.
CKLA gives intensive
attention to the oral
language skills
20 minutes
(blending/segmenting)
which underlie strong
reading and writing.
Overview
Consider tight link
between oral and
written language skills
and how these are
mutually reinforced in
the Skills strand.
Facilitator
All handouts listed are within the .zip file Session 8:
Preparation
Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand –
Materials
Session 8: Understanding the Design Principles of the Skills Strand
– PPT 29-35
Handouts:
Chaining Practice (32_session8_chaining.docx)
Session Roadmap
Section 1: Design Principle 1: CKLA makes the complex
relationship between sounds and spellings explicit
Time: 30 minutes
In this section, you will help participants consider the “sound-first”
approach that guides the CKLA Skills strand.
Materials used include:
 Powerpoint slides 3-15
 Distinguishing Consonant Clusters and Digraphs
(24_session8_Distinguishing Consonant Clusters and Digraphs.docx)
 Sound vs. Spelling Focus in CKLA (25_session8_Sound versus spelling
focus inCKLA.docx)
 Things You Hear and See (26_session8_ThingsyouHearandSee.docx)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
Script/ Activity directions (Please Note: Here we provide key ideas per
slide. A full script is provided within the power point slides. To see these,
select the “Notes” view).
GROUP
30
minutes
Slide 3
Key Point:
1. Introduction to the first design principle.
WG
Slide 4
Key Points:
1. These riddles illustrate the distinction between being focused on sounds-first
or letters-first.
2. Participants will complete and reflect on the riddles.
3. Riddles show how it can be challenging to take a ‘sound first’ approach to
words.
SG/WG
Riddle Answers:
1. Jacques Cousteau
2. Moby Dick
3. I love you
4. Dr. Suess
5. The Sound of Music
Slide 5
Key Point:
1. Practice the distinction of sounds and spellings. Work as a small group and
debrief as a whole group.
2. This part of the activity focuses on the distinctions within a cluster.
3. Note that for many this may be a shift as some programs do teach some of the
patterns we call ‘blends’ as single sounds.
Answers per CKLA program:
At = 2 sounds
Tip – 3 sounds
Cape = 3 sounds
Slip = 4 sounds
SG/WG
Slide 6
Key Point:
1. Practice the distinction of sounds and letters.
2. This introduces the idea of a digraph.
Answer:
Pluck = 4 sounds
Brush = 4 sounds
Thinner = 4 sounds
Slide 7
Key Points:
1. What we have been doing through the practices is essentially becoming sensitive
to clusters versus digraphs.
2. Clusters are two sounds, represented by two letters (one letter a sound). They
appear back-to-back but both sounds are said.
3. A digraph is a single sound, that is represented by two letters.
WG
Slide 8
Key Points:
1. Reinforce the difference between clusters and digraphs.
2. Note that the column on the right populates via animation.
3. This ‘categorization’ process is done as an individual activity and then group
debrief.
I
Handout:
Distinguishing Consonant Clusters and Digraphs (24_session8_Distinguishing Consonant
Clusters and Digraphs.docx)
Slide 9
Key Points:
1. This activity helps raise awareness to the distinctions in instructional language
that need to be kept clear when instructing in sounds and spellings as distinct
(though related) ideas.
2. This slide sets the focus for participants as they go into watching the following
demonstrations.
WG
Slide 10
Key Points:
1. Participants will focus on evidence of the sound/spelling focus within the
instructional language of the lesson.
2. The demonstration will be given to the whole group and time in small groups will
be given to consider the evidence.
Note: There will be a video link to this demonstration for turnkey purposes.
WG/SG
Slide 11
Key Point:
1. Debrief on key points regarding the language of instruction in this section of the
lesson.
WG
Slide 12
Key Points:
1. Participants will focus on evidence of the spelling-focus within the instructional
language of the lesson.
WG/SG
Note: There will be a video clip of this demonstration. If doing this demonstration live,
facilitators may want to use a large flip chart paper to illustrate aspects of the lesson.
Slide 13
Slide 14
Key Point:
1. Debrief on key points regarding the language of instruction in this section of the
lesson.
Key Points:
1. This can be done as a table or individual activity to help participants sum up key
ideas regarding instruction in sounds and spellings.
Handout:
Things You Hear and See (26_session8_ThingsyouHearandSee.docx)
Slide 15
Key Points:
1. Answers to the activity.
WG
SG/I
Section 2: Design Principle 2: CLKA teaches children the
most frequent and least ambiguous sounds first.
Time: 20 minutes
In this section, you will help participants consider the scope and sequence Materials used include:
of the CKLA Skills strand.
 Slides 16-22
 Basic Code Activity (27_session8_BasicCode.docx)
 Student Code Sheets (28_session8_studentcodesheets.pdf)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
Script/ Activity directions (Please Note: Here we provide key ideas
per slide. A full script is provided within the power point slides. To see
these, select the “Notes” view).
30
minutes
Slide 16
Key Points:
Transition
Slide 17
Key Points:
1. Definition of basic code.
GROUP
WG
Slide 18
Key Points:
1. Participants consider their own background knowledge and approach to the
code and use this to consider the vowels they would see as part of the ‘basic
code.’
2. Table activity.
SG
Handout
Basic Code Activity (27_session8_BasicCode.docx)
Slide 19
Key Points:
1. Debrief on the ‘basic code’ for CKLA.
2. The basic code teaches a single spelling pattern for each of the 18 distinct
vowel sounds in English.
Slide 20
Key Points:
1. Participants consider the rationale for how CKLA defines the basic code.
2. They examine the impact of teaching the least ambiguous, most frequent
spelling patterns first.
Slide 21
Key Point:
1. Activity debrief illustrating change in text over 9 weeks in Kindergarten and the
power of teaching the most frequent, least ambiguous spellings for every sound
of English in Kindergarten.
2. Optional slide.
WG
Slide 22
Key Point: Summary slide
1. Every relationship (between a sound and spelling) is made to be explicit and is
introduced gradually to help children achieve mastery in some spelling
patterns before others are introduced explicitly.
2. The sound becomes the anchor of instruction and this is what is meant by a
‘sound-first’ approach.
Section 3: Design Principle 3. CKLA gives intensive
practice in distinguishing sounds that are auditorily
similar
Time: 20 minutes
In this section, you will have participants consider the idea of minimal
pairs and how this idea guides the grouping of sound-spellings taught
within a unit.
Materials used include:
 Slides 23-28
 Minimal Pairs Lesson (29_session8_Minimalpairs.docx)
 Code Load Practice (30_session8_CodeLoadsWKST.docx)
 Kindergarten Unit 7 Student Reader Sample
(31_session8_sethstories.pdf)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
20
Minutes
Slide 23
Script/ Activity directions (Please Note: Here we provide key ideas
per slide. A full script is provided within the power point slides. To see
these, select the “Notes” view).
GROUP
WG
Key Point:
1. Definition of synthetic phonics and the organizing principles of CKLA.
Slide 24
Key Points:
1. Table activity to consider how and why these sounds may be easily confused by
children.
2. The ‘minimal pairs’ appear at the left. After the activity, you can bring the
reasons for why sounds listed may be confusing forward through animation.
3. Focus on the acoustic reasons these sounds are similar as this is important to
how CKLA teaches sounds/spellings.
SG
Slide 25
Key Points:
1. Consonants are tricky sounds to hear because of their acoustic properties.
2. Conduct an exercise to explore these acoustic properties.
WG
Slide 26
Key Points:
1. Place, manner, and voicing define sounds.
2. Sounds that only differ in voicing are called cognates. These are the trickiest
often for young children.
3. CKLA helps children distinguish these sounds, as well as make other fine
distinctions, through direct instruction and practice through reading and
writing activities.
4. The facilitator walks participants through an analysis of the place, manner,
voicing for each pair, mirroring language that is used with children in CKLA
materials.
WG
Slide 27
Key Points:
1. CKLA explicitly instructs children in making difficult distinctions between
minimal pairs.
2. Individual reflection on the language used in this section of the lesson.
3. There will be a short live demonstration.
4. Video will be available of this demonstration for turnkey.
I
Handout:
Minimal Pairs Lesson (29_session8_Minimalpairs.docx)
Slide 28
Key Points:
1. Consider how the readers support children’s learning of the code.
2. Examine the readers with a focus on understanding how they support practice
with minimal pairs.
Handout:
Code Load Practice (30_session8_CodeLoadsWKST.docx)
Kindergarten Unit 7 Student Reader Sample (31_session8_sethstories.pdf)
SG
Design Principle 4. CKLA gives intensive attention to the
oral language skills (blending/segmenting) which
underlie strong reading and writing
Time: 20 minutes
In this section, you will have participants consider the relationship
between blending/segmenting and reading/spelling and how CKLA
fosters this connection.
Materials used include:
 Slides 29-35
 Chaining Practice (32_session8_chaining.docx)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
20
Minutes
Slide 29
Script/ Activity directions (Please Note: Here we provide key ideas
per slide. A full script is provided within the power point slides. To see
these, select the “Notes” view).
GROUP
WG
Key Points:
1. This is the fourth design idea.
2. It represents another critical way that oral language and speech science is at
the heart of the instructional approach within CKLA.
Slide 30
Key Points:
1. Exercise where you ask participants to spell the word hydrocarbonaceous (the
word is not showing).
2. Bring up the word via animation and ask participants to consider their spelling
and the process the used to spell the word correctly of close to this answer.
3. At the heart of spelling is the oral language skill of segmenting.
WG
Slide 31
Key Points:
1. Blending is the oral language skill underlying reading.
2. Segmenting is the oral language skill underlying spelling.
3. Ask participants to discuss these ideas in their own words with a partner.
WG
Slide 32
Key Points
1. CKLA supports children’s oral language skills of blending and segmenting.
2. The demonstration of blending shows participants how CKLA supports oral
language skills of blending and segmenting in a multi-sensory way.
3. Video of this short demonstration will be available for turnkey.
WG
Slide 33
Key Points:
1. Chaining demonstration.
2. The words selected and the process of chaining encourage children to draw
upon the oral language skill of segmenting and encourage children to take a
sound-first approach to considering spellings.
I
Slide 34
Key Points:
• Have participants practice the chaining process, noting how the instructional
language is grounded in a firm base of oral language skills (e.g.,
blending/segmenting).
Handout:
Chaining Practice (32_session8_chaining.docx)
SG
Slide 35
Key Point:
1. Reflection on the design principles.
Use the following icons in the script to indicate different learning modes.
Video
Reflect on a prompt
Turnkey Materials Provided

Additional Suggested Resources

Active learning
Turn and talk