Welcome!

• Land Acknowledgement
• Introductions and special guest
• Recording will be free
• Q & A
• Chat: share resources & documents; report issues
• Certificates of Attendance and Prizes

Structured Literacy in Kindergarten

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5 Changes That Made All My Students Readers

Kate Winn

Teacher & Education Writer

Agenda

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• Introduction
• My 5 Key Changes
• Bonus 6th Focus
• Wrap-up
• Questions

Introduction

• Who am I?
• My structured literacy learning/advocacy work
• What do I mean when I say all my kids are “reading”?
• Demographics of my school/class

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Who Am I?/My Structured Literacy Learning

• Teaching 22 years, various divisions/subjects, last 6 years in K
• Books, podcasts, conferences, webinars, networking
• Informal mentoring
• Acadience training (K-6 Essential & Data Interpretation)
• Enrolled in Introduction to Structured Literacy/Top Ten Tools
• IDA Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction Course
• Free training, courses e.g,. Really Great Reading

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My Advocacy Work

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• Presentations to Minister Lecce & members of Ministry team (January & July)
• Presentation to opposition critic MPP Marit Stiles (NDP)
• Presentation to 100+ OCSOA members (Ontario Catholic Supervisory Officers Association; directors and superintendents)
• Presentation to reps from teachers’ federation staff
• Presentation at Right to Read Symposium (approx. 1900 attendees)
• Set of articles for Today’s Parent magazine
• Morning Show segment: Debunking 6 Reading Myths For Parents
• Led Science of Reading Book Study for PVNC (55 participants)
• Right2Read Initiative webinars x 2
• Member of PVNC Right to Read Implementation Committee

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What does “all kids reading” mean?

Acadience Screening Data (Apr/June)

Demographics

of my class?

Shift # 1

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Intentional focus on Phonological/Phonemic Awareness and Sounds

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• Daily PA work (a few min)
• Used Heggerty (Pre-K) & modified
• Start phonics lessons with sounds, articulation
• Change from word wall to sound wall

Tools4Reading

T4R Value Pack

Sound/Letter Lessons

by Ashley Sherf

Shift # 2

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Revamped Phonics Approach

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• Taught it myself
• From “letter of the week” to 3 sounds per week
• Embedded mnemonics as scaffold
• Large group = efficiency
• Constant review/assessment
• Reading/writing words with sounds taught
• Heart words

Idea from Deb Glaser’s “Morphemes are Mesmerizing” presentation

“Make your bed!”

Roll It, Read It

CVC Words

Shift # 3

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From Levelled/Predictable Books to Decodable Texts

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• Key difference between balanced & structured literacy
• We want READING, not GUESSING
• Start with words/sentences
• Decodable stories from Ashley Sherf, sent those home
• Primary Phonics, SyllaSense
• Free online decodable books
• BOB books for families
• Partner reading
• Assessment

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I have two eyes.

I have one mouth.

I have two ears.

I have one nose.

It is hot. Gus the cat sits on a mat. Gus naps in the hot sun.

Which text is decodable in kindergarten?

Flyleaf, Primary Phonics, BOB Books, SyllaSense

Shift # 4

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Connected Writing

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(Decoding/Encoding: two sides of a coin!)

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• Printing practice same day as sound/letter lesson
• Nip bad habits
• Dictations, from sounds to words to sentences (whole group whiteboard)
• Word chains
• Spelling “test”
• Constant use of sound wall
• Expect accuracy in sounds/letters & heart words taught, “estimated spelling” for the rest

The Grammar Project/

The

Syntax Project

Shift # 5

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Screening & Targeted Small Group Instruction

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• Past year: Heggerty PA assessment, letter names, sounds, end of year Acadience
• Coming year: Acadience from the start w progress monitoring
• Small groups to target areas of need (whole group if majority of class shares a need)
• All kids continue to get “Tier 1”
• No one slips through cracks

Kindergarten student scored 32 on @acadience Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, benchmark is 40.

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2 weeks of intervention (5 min a day with me, also supported at home).

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Today PSF score is 57 (above benchmark) which brings their composite score to benchmark as well.

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I data.

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BONUS

# 6

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Vocabulary/knowledge building

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• Not measured by my reading assessments, long-term investment
• Was a strong part of program already but took to next level
• Chapter book read-alouds
• Explicit vocabulary instruction (Text Talk, Malala’s Magic Pencil, Shi-shi-etko)
• Content focus (e.g., Five Senses and Plants from CKLA)

Birthday Book tradition

Connections to Right to Read Recommendations

• # 27: Require explicit, systematic and direct instruction in foundational reading skills (PA, phonics)
• # 30: Remove references to balanced literacy, guessing strategies, running records
• # 37: Replace levelled readers with decodable texts
• # 60: Require 2x year universal screening
• “Although the focus of this report is on word reading, the science of reading addresses other areas such as the importance of early vocabulary instruction.”

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Final Notes

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Twitter

@thismomloves

Instagram

@katethismomloves

Website

www.thismomloves.ca

Email

katewinn77@yahoo.ca

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• Still lots of time for play
• Reading buddies - ramped up this year (stay tuned)
• Volunteers (fine motor)
• Fostering love of reading - they love it when they can do it
• Please share/reach out!

Thank You

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&

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Questions

Coming up at IDA Ontario…

• Grade 1 - 90 Minute Structured Literacy Block by Martha Kovack, M.Ed., OCT.

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• Literacy Leaders series, “Rethinking Assessment: Using Universal Screening Data to Inform Reading Instruction” - Aug. 31, Oct. 26, and Nov. 30: 7:30-9:00 p.m.

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• Save the Date! The Right to Read Inquiry: Responding to Opposition - September 21, 2022 at 7:30-9:00 pm (Registration will be posted soon.)