ENHANCING READING INTERVENTION FOR AT RISK STUDENTS
University of Melbourne and Catholic Education Office Melbourne
SESSION OUTLINE - PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Two Syllable: First syllable with long vowel, second syllable de-stressed (Session 56 - 60)
Activity
Task Description
Time
Text Reading
(Shared Reading
Strategy)
Cue student(s) to think about the story from previous session
- the title, what they know about the topic, etc. Student(s) rereads a passage from previous session and briefly retells the
main story line.
5 mins
Rhyming activities
For the 2-syllable words, select words with a similar syllable.
Select 4 words, three from the same group and one different
(Oral Presentation) group word (eg. baker, farmer, partner and station). Say the
words and ask the student which one did not fit. Focusing on
the three words from the same group, ask the student to tell
what the words had in common.
3–6
mins
Ask the students to suggest other words that have the same
syllable.
Segmentation
Task
Teach the task by saying one of the target words then say
each syllable. Then segment each syllable into sounds. Use
the counters or boxes you used for the one syllable words.
(Oral Presentation)
3–6
mins
If the student makes an error segmenting a word into
syllables, cue the student by saying the first syllable and ask
them to say the second syllable, If they make an error with
segmenting one of the syllables, say the syllable and have
them say it after you, Then say the initial sound of the syllable
and ask them to give you the remaining rime unit.
If consistent errors occur provide additional scaffolding, say
more of the portion of each word the student needs to work
on and guide them to do more.
Blending Task
Teacher says the two syllables that make up a target word
with equal stress on the 2 syllables. Join them and say “If I
(Oral Presentation) join them as they are, it doesn’t sound like a word that you
know. If I say the second part quicker, it will make a word you
know”. (eg. bak-er)
1
3–6
mins
Blending Task
(continued)
Say the blended syllables with the second syllable destressed and then say the word. Have the student practise
on 3 or 4 words before beginning the trial words.
During the practice, stress the fact that these words have a
long-vowel sound in the first syllable and also the importance
of de-stressing the vowel in the second syllable.
Note: When breaking words into syllables (when there is a long
vowel sound in the first syllable) students may want to keep the ‘e’
in the first syllable. For example: bake – r. However, when
teaching de-stressing, you will need to break the word
orthographically as bak – er, so the ‘e’ is in the second syllable and
can be de-stressed. The student will see baker & say “bake” - “er”.
Reading Target
Words
Teacher presents the target words on flash cards. Remind
the child to say the second syllable ‘quickly’ (de-stressed)
(Use Word Cards)
Present the words in a random order.
If an error occurs, read the word for the student then present
the next word from the same group.
baker
Writing Target
Words
Teacher reads a target word. Then say each syllable.
Initially say the second syllable de-stressed. Then say “We
say it like this (say it de-stressed) but you need to write it so
that it says (say the second syllable with stress, so that the
child can hear the vowel). Cue the student to “stretch out the
word” as they write it.
3–6
mins
3 mins
Present the words in a random order. If an error occurs,
read the word in syllables for the student and student
attempts to write it. If errors continue, student copies word.
Reflection
Student(s) comment on 1. what they have learned
(knowledge / strategy), 2. what they know now that that they
didn’t know before and 3. how they can use what they have
learned in new tasks and contexts.
3 mins
Text Reading
Introduce the new story title. Discuss the topic and cue prior
knowledge. Read with students if difficulties noted.
7 - 10
mins
Student (s) reads new story. Cue student(s) that they will
have to retell the story. In a small group format, ask one
student to read one section with the other student reading the
next section.
After the reading, cue the student to indicate what the story
was about (ie. the main idea / theme) then ask them about
the sequence of story events.
30 - 45
mins
Total Session Time
2