A practical, self-paced tutorial on the phonics, phonemic awareness, and word analysis topics students need to know to succeed on teacher certification or competency tests. A classic in the field, written by two highly respected authorities. KEY TOPICS: Recognizing Words: Helping Children Develop Word Analysis Strategies; The Early Stages: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness; Phonics: Onset, Rime, and Consonant Patterns; Phonics: Vowel Patterns; Context; Sight Words; Morphemic Analysis; Chunking Words into Smaller Units: Syllabication and Structural Analysis; The Dictionary and Word Analysis; Developmental Spelling Patterns: Insights into the Development of Word Analysis Skills MARKET: Pre- and in-service teachers preparing for the state reading exams now required in many states, and those who are taking teacher certification or competency tests.

This volume is designed to prevent and correct most word-level reading difficulties. It trains phonemic awareness and promotes sight vocabulary acquisition, and therefore reading fluency.

Revised and updated, this invaluable resource includes ready-made lessons, extensive word lists, quick assessments, and so much more to help struggling readers develop the skills they need to successfully decode.

"Pamela Koutrakos breaks it down for the novice and streamlines word study for the old pro." – Jeff Anderson, author of Patterns of Power Take word learning to the next level in your classroom Hungry for lively and engaging ways to augment word study? Looking for ways to empower your students and give voice to their ideas? In Word Study That Sticks, teacher and literacy consultant Pamela Koutrakos provides a step-by-step approach that makes word learning jubilant and fun – and encourages students to take ownership of word learning. This hands-on guide connects research with experience to deliver challenging, discovery-based instructional practices that can support all learners in any subject area. You’ll learn how to Set up the physical classroom, prioritize materials, and launch activities Instill curiosity and a self-starting attitude toward vocabulary development Devise routines that highlight phonemic awareness, phonics, meaning, and spelling Differentiate and personalize word study activities Embed word study into all content areas for transfer of learning Word Study That Sticks can be used alone or in conjunction with another program to help you take word learning to the next level. Lesson ideas, word study routines, charts, photos, key practices, and special advice for beginning teachers make word study instruction accessible for educators working at every experience level.

Phonemic awareness--the understanding that words are made up of sounds--is essential to a child's early reading success. With this book, children gain this awareness through activities that are easy to teach and engaging. Children play with sounds through songs, rhymes, poetry, picture games, and other exercises. The activities cover the five basic levels of phonemic awareness: * the ability to hear rhymes and alliteration; * to do oddity tasks; * to orally blend word and split syllables; * to orally segment words; * to do phonemic manipulation tasks. Blends critical reading skills with joyful word play. For use with Grades K-2.

Practical, effective, evidence-based reading interventions that change students' lives Essentials of Understanding and Assessing Reading Difficulties is a practical, accessible, in-depth guide to reading assessment and intervention. It provides a detailed discussion of the nature and causes of reading difficulties, which will help develop the knowledge and confidence needed to accurately assess why a student is struggling. Readers will learn a framework for organizing testing results from current assessment batteries such as the WJ-IV, KTEA-3, and CTOPP-2. Case studies illustrate each of the concepts covered. A thorough discussion is provided on the assessment of phonics skills, phonological awareness, word recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Formatted for easy reading as well as quick reference, the text includes bullet points, icons, callout boxes, and other design elements to call attention to important information. Although a substantial amount of research has shown that most reading difficulties can be prevented or corrected, standard reading remediation efforts have proven largely ineffective. School psychologists are routinely called upon to evaluate students with reading difficulties and to make recommendations to address such difficulties. This book provides an overview of the best assessment and intervention techniques, backed by the most current research findings. Bridge the gap between research and practice Accurately assess the reason(s) why a student struggles in reading Improve reading skills using the most highly effective evidence-based techniques Reading may well be the most important thing students are taught during their school careers. It is a skill they will use every day of their lives; one that will dictate, in part, later life success. Struggling students need help now, and Essentials of Understanding and Assessing Reading Difficulties shows how to get these students on track.

Richardson and Dufresne, powerhouses in guided reading instruction, provide guidance in planning short, developmentally appropriate word study and phonics lessons as part of guided reading. You'll find all the support you need to teach letters, sounds, and words effectively, including 260 lessons for readers at every stage, from pre-A to fluent; assessment tools; and printable books at levels A-C.