Early Reader:
Pre K – Middle Grade 1
Name(s) of Word Recognition Stage:
Emergent/Prealphabetic/Prephonetic /Logographic
Assessments: PALS, Wright Group Phonological Awareness Assessment,
P.A.S.S.
Developmental and reading characteristics observed:
 Uses logographic cues – does not understand alphabetic principle.
 During this stage, develops aural phonological awareness-rhyming
alliteration, segmenting/blending at sentence, syllable, onsetrime, phonemic level
 No connection between letters and sounds
 Aware that words not pictures represent “reading”
 Develops sense of left to right directionality
 Hear + identify sounds + patterns pretend reading/writing
 Visually identify letters + numbers as letters + numbers
Spelling/writing characteristics:
Stages: Scribble, letter-like forms, random letters, in late stage
maybe a correct sound out of order Example: V = elevator
Over this stage begin “writing” left to right.
No connection between sounds + symbols until very end of stage
Know difference between drawing + writing.
In late emergent stage may “use but confuse” consonant sounds
Core understandings and processes to master at this stage:
 Phonological Awareness—this is done orally (Rhyming, segment
sentences into words, segment words into syllables, segment words
into onset – rimes, segment words into sounds + blend sounds back
into words.)
 Print awareness, directionality
 Hear differences in sounds at beginning and end of words
 Vocabulary + concept growth
 Concepts of print –understand terms “sentence, word, letter,
number”
 By end of the stage know all letter names + sounds (consonant,
short vowel sounds)
 By end of stage understand alphabetic principle; one-to-one letter
sound correspondence
Language to explain and scaffold core processes and understandings:
Explicit instruction in rhyming, segmenting, print concepts, sounds
“Break word into parts” “Sounds like”
“Stretch out the sound”
“Rhyme means sounds the same at the end”
“/F-f-f/ is the sound at the beginning of fffoot”
“I’ll put the dog picture under /d/.
Logographic word identification: “look” is a word with two eyes in
the middle.
“Let’s pull a chip for each sound.”
“I see a word that starts with /b/. Listen for the /b/ sound.
Berry, bush, bear. Can you think of another word that starts with
this sound?”
Yes, _____ has # letters. Can you name the letters? (Late stage)
Explicit distinction between letter, word, sentence (reverse).
Instructional activities:
Big Books/sentence strips
Play with speech + language Ex: Jingles, poems, rhythm games, Hink –
Pink
Think alouds
Story retelling
Oral segmenting games with words, syllables, onset-rimes, Ex: “Be the
Sentence”
Alphabet activities
Picture sorts: Beginning and rhyming sounds
Move it + say it, Elkonin boxes without letters
“Journaling” “reading”
Daily News
Identify # of letters # of sounds in words
Language Experience Stories: Interactive, Shared reading + writing “
Share the Pen”
Humpty-Dumpty names
Movement to track syllable/segmentation
substitution
play with sounds
segment/blend
Rich language/experience immersion
Characteristics of and possible adaptations for struggling readers:
 Lack of progress through stages
 Limited alphabetic principle knowledge
 Assess where reader is in this stage
 Offer consistent instruction + activities to address each core
process in stage from most basic/simple to more complex.
 May need more explicit instruction, modeling, practice/repetition.
For example, intense move-it, say it Example: Road to the
code (Blachman + Ball)
 One-on-one instruction
 Small group
 Resource teacher help
 Further diagnosis
Literature/reading material to support literacy at this stage:
Nursery rhymes
Big books
Rich vocabulary literature
Simple
predictable books
Poetry, songs
Word play,
rhyming
Concept books
Children’s own
books
Beginning Reader:
Kindergarten to mid–second grade
Name(s) of Word Recognition Stage:
Beginning /Phonetic (Partial Alphabetic)Reader/Letter Name Alphabetic
(Speller)
Assessments: *Dr. Seuss Words (other assessments broader), Power
Pattern, Names Test, TOWRE,
Developmental and reading characteristics observed:
Uses alphabetic principle
40-60 WPM
Recognizes letters/sounds
Low comprehension (because of
Word-by-word reading
attention to decoding)
Read aloud to selves
SOUND BY SOUND READING
Concept of word, sentence
Uses most prominent sound
Corresponding spelling/writing stage and characteristics:
Uses alphabetic principle
Letter names used to represent sounds (UR GRAT) at beginning
Semi phonetic, consonants at beginning
Middle – final consonants, common short vowels, some blends, digraphs
Late – same as middle, use but confuse some long vowels, pre
consonantal nasals
Uses beginning/most prominent sound at beginning of stage, represent
all sounds by end
Spelling – hold students responsible for sounds covered
Core understandings and processes to master at this stage:
Phoneme/grapheme correspondence
Can decode beginning + final
Words are chain of sounds-can segment consonants
+ blend
Short vowels, blends, digraphs
Each syllable has vowel, vowels +
Preconsonantal nasals, lump
consonants
VC CVC, CCVC, CCVCC patterns
Sight vocabulary (200)
Full analysis of words for
Phonic generalizations through
accuracy
explicit instruction, word sorts,
modeling language
Closed/short vowel word families
Language to explain and scaffold core processes and understandings:
Stretch it out, blend back together
“one little vowel squished in
Does it make sense?
the middle”
Do you see a part you know?
terminology consonants /
Think alouds – modeling
vowels
Explicit instruction
“cut it off”
count the sounds
Instructional activities:
-*Explicit instruction
-vocabulary building
-coupon sorter,
-rime family (pocket
Wide reading /
letter
charts)
writing
tray, tiles,
-making words
Dictation + reread
blocks,
-word sorts
stories
magnetic letters
-Elkonin boxes, Say-it
Group experience
Letter land™
Move It
stories
-Word banks, See It, Say
It, spell It
Characteristics of and Possible adaptations for struggling readers:
Do not reach same benchmarks (core understandings) on master
processes
More intense, frequent, focused, individualized instruction with same
techniques
Literature/reading material to support literacy at this stage:
Alphabet Books (more complex
*Book levels for read alouds
concepts)
should be 4 years above child’s
Rich vocabulary
reading level
Decodable Text for guided /
independent reading
High frequency controlled readers
Predictable books for one-to-one
word correspond
Transitional Reader:
Late First – Early Fourth Grade
Stages of Word Learning: Characteristics, Processes, and Instruction
Name(s) of Word Recognition Stage: Within Word Pattern Stage
(Confirmation & Fluency, Orthographic, consolidated Alphabetic,
Automatic Word Recogntion)
Assessments:
Previously named assessments plus Phonics Patterns
(Fry), El Paso Phonics Survey or Up-And-Out (Fry), 10 Minute Write
(Clay), Gentry Spelling, Bear Spelling Inventory, sight word lists,
San Diego Quick Assessment, Running Record, QRI-4
Developmental and reading characteristics observed:
 Reading more independently and more silently
 Phrase-by-phrase reading with greater expression
 Able to decode single syllable words with greater ease
Corresponding spelling/writing stage characteristics:
 Movement from letter-sound units into patterns or chunks (single
syllable)
 Regular patterns are internalized (phonograms)
 Increased sight word recognition
 Writing speed increases significantly because less attentional
resources are devoted to spelling and the physical act of forming
letters
Core understanding and processes to master at this stage:
 Decoding for polysyllabic words
 More complex vowel study (in sequential order)
 Visual memory for orthographies
 Metacognitive strategies for self-checking
 Continued fluency with high-frequency words
Language to explain and scaffold core processes and understandings:
“If I can (read/spell) ___, then I can (read/spell) ___.”
(Cunningham)
“I see the beginning is gl- and the vowel pattern says –ad. Let’s put
that together. gl- ad. Glad.” (onset-rime manipulation) “What looks
‘right’?”
Instructional activities:
 discussion and response, small group instruction
 increased independent reading time
 reading aloud more complex books with opportunities to model
fluency
 word study notebooks
 teach patterns over “rules” and exceptions “oddballs”
 more complex making words activities
 word sorts by sight and sound
 introduce “key words” or “helping hand words”
 “Give it a Try” invented spelling
Characteristics of and adaptations for delayed readers at this stage:
 still “use but confuse” (especially vowels) far longer than other
students
 difficulty w/digraphs & blends, long vowel patterns
 small bank of sight words, “forget” previously learned sight
words
 require systematic, sequential word study
 scaffold, model, & encourage
 use more closed sorts than open sorts (require more guidance)
 explicitly teach words for sorting (must be able to read the
words)
 useful tools such as word banks, personal word walls, sound
board, etc.
 repeated reading (Samuels)
Literature/reading material to support literacy at this stage:
 “leveled” materials
 longer patterned or predictable text, poems
 reader’s theater scripts
 chapter books and genre exposure
 informational text