Road to Reading: A Program for Preventing and Remediating Reading Difficulties / Edition 1

by Benita Blachman

Overview

It’s here! The highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling Road to the Code takes reading instruction to the next level.

This innovative literacy program for students in grades 1–3 is committed to helping all children develop accuracy and fluency in decoding. Ideal for students who can demonstrate beginning levels of phonemic awareness and who know some letter names and sounds, Road to Reading targets the next crucial skills, including word identification, oral reading, and dictation. The program can also be adapted for older struggling readers. The easy-to-follow teacher’s guide facilitates lesson planning for six levels of instruction that increase in complexity as students progress.

In tune with the demands on today’s educators, Road to Reading offers the best and most up-to-date methods. Teachers will

• feel confident knowing that the program is extensively tested and validated by recognized leaders in the field


• ensure administrative acceptance and support as the program meets all criteria for Reading First


• stay on the cutting edge with a plan that is grounded in the fast-growing and highly effective Response to Intervention model, which helps catch struggling readers before they fail


• enjoy flexibility and efficiency with a resource that is ideal for use with small groups or one-to-one, in as little as 30–40 minutes per day


• retain control and have options to use the plan with any core reading program or as the primary reading program for classes in which many students are experiencing reading difficulties

Plus, get more than 200 pages of supplementary materials including word cards, sound packs and assessment and lesson plan forms—everything needed to implement the program. (Available via digital download.)

Destined to join ranks with the most relied-upon literacy resources, Road to Reading will help teachers empower students with the skills they need to succeed and bring their struggling students up to grade level.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557669049
Publisher:	Brookes Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	468
Sales rank:	440,383
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Benita A. Blachman, Ph.D., is a professor in the Reading and Language Arts Department and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Learning Disabilities in the School of Education at Syracuse University. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department. She has a doctoral degree in educational psychology from the University of Connecticut and is a former special education teacher, reading specialist, and learning disabilities consultant. She has published extensively in the area of early literacy, focusing her research on early intervention to prevent reading failure and on the factors that predict reading achievement. Dr. Blachman is currently directing a project at Syracuse University (in collaboration with researchers at Yale Medical School and the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center) funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to investigate the influence of intensive reading intervention on patterns of brain activation in young children. Dr. Blachman has served on the professional advisory boards of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Dyslexia Research Foundation, and the Neuhaus Center. Her edited book Foundations of Reading Acquisition and Dyslexia: Implications for Early Intervention was published recently by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Darlene M. Tangel, Ph.D., is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Reading and Language Arts Department at Syracuse University. She has taught graduate courses in learning disabilities and in language disorders at Syracuse University and has been a reading specialist in the Oriskany Public Schools for more than 20 years, where she also serves as the Chair of Special Education and the Chair of Preschool Special Education. Her research interests include early reading acquisition and invented spelling, alternative reading curricula for children at risk for reading failure, and adult literacy. She has developed training materials for the American Federation of Teachers and has extensive experience conducting teacher training workshops. The focus of these workshops is translating research into practical application for classroom use. Her most recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Reading Behavior and Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Drs. Tangel and Blachman were awarded the Dina Feitelson Research Award by the International Reading Association for their research on invented spelling.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpted from the Introduction of Road to Reading: A Program for Preventing and Remediating Reading Difficulties, by Benita A. Blachman, Ph.D., & Darlene Tangel, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2008 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Two consensus panels (Snow et al., 1998; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000) provided a much needed blueprint for early reading practices proven to reduce the number of students who experience diffi culty learning to read. The practices include, among others, instruction in phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, and accurate and fluent word recognition, as well as frequent opportunities for text-based reading with corrective feedback to build motivation and comprehension strategies.

Road to Reading embraces these practices and provides a framework for providing both early intervention to prevent reading difficulties and remedial instruction for students who are struggling to learn to read

Goals of the Program

An important objective of this program is to help develop accurate and fluent word identification. The emphasis is on explicit, systematic, research–based instruction to help students understand the alphabetic principle (i.e., how individual letters and letter combinations represent spoken language sounds). The word recognition skills introduced provide the essential foundation and support for good reading comprehension.

Accurate and fluent word identification can be developed, in part, by learning the six basic syllable patterns. This program provides an overview of the structure of the English language by introducing the six syllable patterns and the most common phonetic elements. The six syllable patterns include the following:

• Closed syllables (as in hat and flag)


• Final "e" syllables (as in lake and slide)


• Open syllables (as in he and the first syllable of silent)


• Vowel team syllables (as in train, leaf, and clown)


• Vowel + r syllables (as in car, horn, and perch)


• Consonant + le (as in simple and tumble)

All of the syllable patterns will be learned as the students progress through the six levels of the program. These patterns will be practiced by the students when they read decodable texts and also reinforced as they read a wide variety of trade books and books representing various genres

The goal in teaching these patterns is for students to begin to read appropriate grade level texts fluently and with good comprehension as early as possible.

Is This a Complete Reading Program?

Although this is not a complete classroom reading program, it can be used in conjunction with any reading series. For example, although the program includes specifi c high frequency words (Fry & Kress, 2006), one could substitute high frequency words from any basal series or list. In addition, decodable books from any series can be substituted for the decodable books on our book charts. Likewise, basal anthologies and leveled books could be substituted for the trade books on our trade book list.

We have woven vocabulary throughout this program by highlighting words and encouraging teachers to use daily opportunities to extend vocabulary. We do not, however, include specific instructions for teaching vocabulary. Because teachers will be selecting books from various sources, choices about which vocabulary words to teach should be based on the needs of the students and the books the students are reading.

The program includes frequent opportunities to read and reread both narrative and expository text with corrective feedback to develop fluency, build comprehension strategies, and foster reading for information and pleasure. Although we encourage teachers to help students self–monitor text for understanding and to focus students' attention on meaning of text from their earliest reading experiences, we do not provide directions for the teacher regarding how to teach comprehension strategies. (For more specific information on how to provide early comprehension instruction, see, e.g., NICHD, 2000; Snow et al., 1998; and Stahl, 2004.)

Who Is This Program For?

This five–step research– based program has been used with groups of varying sizes in a variety of settings, such as general education classrooms, remedial reading programs, resource rooms, and one–to–one tutoring. If you are using this program during the English language arts block, the lessons should take about 30–40 minutes. We recommend that the group size not exceed six students.

This program has also been used with small groups of three to six students and with individual students (one–to–one) who are not meeting grade level benchmarks in their classroom reading program or on statewide assessments. These students have been taught by general education teachers, reading teachers, and special education teachers both in and out of the general classroom setting. In a recently reported tutoring study using this program (Blachman et al., 2004), lessons were expanded to 50 minutes to provide more sustained and intensive instruction for second–and third–grade struggling readers. This program can also be adapted for use with older students by adding more multisyllabic words at each level and by including age–appropriate trade books.

This program has proven to be flexible in a variety of settings and will allow the teacher to provide scientifically–based reading instruction to all students.

Pacing

A critical factor in the success of a young child learning to read is proper pacing of instruction. There are many pacing decisions (e.g., how many times a word needs to be reviewed, how many times a book needs to be reread to develop fluency) that only you will be able to make as you get to know your students. Teachers have often asked how long it takes to complete this program. There is not one right answer to this question. The speed with which students complete the program will depend on their initial skill level, their rate of learning, and whether this program is being used for early intervention with students in first grade in a general education classroom or as a remedial program with somewhat older students (Grades 2–4) who have already experienced difficulty learning to read.

As you use this program, you will become more skilled at knowing when your students are ready to move on and when they need more practice. If you have questions about your students' readiness to move on, adjust your lesson plan for the next day and include some of the more challenging material as a diagnostic tool to help you make your decision.

Progress Monitoring

Regular progress monitoring is a critically important component of instruction. The notes that you make on your daily lesson plans, as well as the more formal assessments used by your district, will help you evaluate the success of each student in your group on an ongoing basis. To help you get started with progress monitoring, we have created a brief assessment for each level. These assessments can be found on the accompanying CD–ROM .

Getting Ready to Use the Program

The Six Levels

The best way to get started is to familiarize yourself with the six levels of the program. Each level includes the following: A list of goals for that level Text that will guide your teaching Additional materials to help you plan your daily lessons

You will see that each of the six levels is color coded using the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple (we cheated a bit and collapsed indigo and violet—the last two colors in the "proper" rainbow—into purple).

Each level, starting with Red, increases in difficulty and builds on the previous level. In the Red Level, students begin the program by reviewing consonants, learning short vowels, and learning the first set of high frequency words.

The Five–Step Plan

The daily lesson for each level includes five steps. As students move through each level of the program, the Five–Step Plan remains the same. That is, the content of each daily lesson increases in difficulty, but the five steps used to teach the content will always be the same.

1. Review sound-symbol correspondences Review sound-symbol associations and introduce new sounds.
2. Teach or review new decoding skill Practice making words to develop a new decoding skill (e.g., building words with the final "e" pattern), reinforcing both phonemic awareness and phonics skills.
3. Review phonetically regular words (PRWs) and high frequency words (HFWs) Review previously learned phonetically regular words and high frequency words, with an emphasis on fl uency and opportunities to extend vocabulary.
4. Read orally in context Read orally narrative and expository text for fluency and comprehension.
5. Dictation Spell words from earlier steps in the lesson.

Lesson Plans and Materials Before you teach each lesson, you will need to prepare your lesson plan and gather the materials needed to teach each of the five steps.

Lesson Plan A blank lesson plan form (see sample provided) can be printed from the CD–ROM . The lesson plan is set up according to the five steps of the lesson. Each step on the plan has spaces for you to write exactly which letter sounds, words, sentences, and books you will be using in each lesson. Appendix A contains three sample lesson plans for each of the six levels. Each level of the program also includes lists and charts to assist you in preparing your lessons.

Table of Contents

CD-ROM Contents
About the Authors
Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

• Goals of the Program


• Is This a Complete Reading Program?


• Who Is This Program for?


• Pacing


• Progress Monitoring


• Getting Ready to Use the Program


• Prerequisite Skills for This Program?
Red Level


Goals for the Red Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Orange Level

Goals for the Orange Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Yellow Level

Goals for the Yellow Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Green Level

Goals for the Green Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Blue Level

Goals for the Blue Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Purple Level


Goals for the Purple Level

• Step 1: Review Sound"“Symbol Correspondences


• Step 2: Teach or Review New Decoding Skill


• Step 3: Review Phonetically Regular Words (PRWs) and High Frequency Words (HFWs)


• Step 4: Read Orally in Context


• Step 5: Dictation


• Additional Materials
Appendix A: Sample Lesson Plans
Appendix B: Trade Books
Appendix C: Frequently Asked Questions
References and Suggested Resources


CD Table of Contents

About This CD-ROM
Contents

Lesson Plan Forms


• Daily Lesson Plan


• Weekly Lesson Plan


• Daily Evaluation and Attendance Form
Assessment Forms


• Letter Name & Sound Assessment


• Levels Assessment


• High Frequency Word Assessments
Step 1 Materials


• Sound Pack Cards: Consonants


• Sound Pack Cards: Vowels


• Blank Sound Pack Cards
Step 2 Materials


• Directions for Making a Sound Board and Letter Cards


• Sound Board Consonants


• Sound Board Vowels


• Sound Board Digraphs


• Blank Letter Cards
Step 3 Materials


• Starter Set of Phonetically Regular Word (PRW) Cards


• Phonetically Regular Word (PRW) Cards


• High Frequency Word (HFW) Charts


• High Frequency Word (HFW) Cards


• Blank Word Cards
Syllable Reference Sheets


• Six Syllable Types


• Rules for Syllable Division

About the Authors
Software License Agreement

Editorial Reviews

"With the recent focus on response to intervention to remediate early literacy difficulties, this is a timely addition to the literature…An excellent resource for educators not skilled at creating remedial lessons for struggling students."

The School Adiminstrator

"A useful and much needed supplement for teachers who are searching for a systematic and explicit research-based curriculum…in phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, spelling, and fluency to add to a core or basal reading program."

IDA Perspectives on Language and Literacy

"Here are the follow-up lessons that we've all been waiting for . . . Road to Reading can be used in conjunction with any reading series to ensure that primary grade students build the fluency in word identification essential to comprehension."

Barbara Foorman

"An innovative literacy program that is a top pick for any school interested in bringing student up to grade level."

The Midwest Book Review - The Bookwatch

"With the recent focus on response to intervention to remediate early literacy difficulties, this is a timely addition to the literature."

The School Administrator

listed as curriculum resource on website

From the Publisher