Ability Grouping
Grouping of children with similar needs for instructional purposes. They do not remain constant throughout the year but change as the
... [Show More] children's needs within them change.
Phoneme
The smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word different from another word.
Independent Reading Level
The level at which a student can read a text on his/her own as indicated by a 95% accuracy rate.
Grapheme
Unit of writing that represents a single phoneme-can be a letter or group of letters.
Morpheme
Smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of language (e.g., in, come, -ing, forming incoming ).
Instructional Level
The level at which students can read with the assistace of a teacher as indicated by an 85-95% accuracy rate.
Action Research
Teacher research that is carried out by a teacher practitioner in the classroom to help a teacher evaluate his/her performance in the classroom
Frustration Level
The level at which students shouldn't read and indicates an accuracy rate below 85%.
Adams, Marilyn Jager
A theorist in early reading (emergent reading) who has identified five tasks for phonemic awareness: Task 1- Ability to hear rhymes and alliteration. Task 2- Ability to do oddity tasks (recognize the member of a set that is different.) Task 3 -The ability to orally blend words and split syllables. Task 4 -The ability to orally segment word. Task 5- The ability to do phonics manipulation tasks.
Allington, Richard
Matching Text to Readers. Research has included reading and learning disabilities, and effective instruction in classroom settings.
Alliteration
Occurs when words begin with the same consonant sound, as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Alphabetic Principle
The idea that written spellings represent spoken words. Also known as graphophenemic awareness.
Anchor Book
A balanced literacy term for a book that is purposely read repeatedly and used as part of both the reading and writing workshop. It is a good idea to use certain books that become the children's familiar and cherished favorites for both reading and inspiring children's writing.
Assonance
Repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words with different end consonants. "Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese".
Atwell, Nancy
Author of "In The Middle: Writing, Reading and Learning With Adolescents". She believes that students become better writers if they are given ownership of what they are writing and long uninterrupted blocks of time to write. Rejects lectures, assignments, tests and worksheets. Mini-lessons are good to address topics as needed. [Show Less]