Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Learning to Read - Basle Readers?

I saw some interesting research recently on how kids learn to read in terms of what system is being used in the classroom. I'll try to find it. The choices as I remember were between:
- using and following strictly a self-contained basle reader
- generally following and supplementing a basle reader
- not following a basle reader and using lots of supplementary books.

It is in this context that I'm looking at how popular the Reading Street Word Lists for grades 1-5 are on SpellingCity. Are they part of a basle reader program or an alternative?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Building Vocabulary to Read Better

I jsut leanred a great d3eal from lookign at the Reading Sklls Pyramid.  I was tyring to understand how vocabulary contributes to reading skills.

Building Vocabulary Words

The definitions from the Report of the National Reading Panel (2000):

•Phonemic Awareness - the ability to hear and identify sounds in spoken words.

•Phonics - the relationship between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language.

•Fluency - the capacity to read text accurately and quickly.

•Comprehension - the ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.

•Vocabulary - the words students must know to communicate effectively.
Techniques for Building Vocabulary Words - Reading & Other Media

The best method for building vocabulary is to be an active reader. But, there are differences between skilled active readers and less skilled passive ones (see reading comprehension) Students should learn to decode vocabulary words thru a vocabulary building techniques such as context clues and word roots. Word roorts means that students should learn to define words by learning the meanings of root words, prefixes and suffixes. Knowing the basics of the Latin and Greek word roots in English is useful and helps students get insight into how the English language vocabulary words derived and are structured. The use of media greatly affects the building of vocabulary. Some television programs use a large and rich vcoabulary, others are mostly explosions. Whereas many contemporary and classcial films (especially the musicals) had great conversations and rich vocabulary, many others are noticable for their poor quality of conversation (the Power Ranger might stand out as having the most limited vocabulary. Whole episodes consist of a dialogue such as "Lets do it" and "Watch out!", not exactly a sound track to build vocabulary. In interactive media, there are games where the entire sound track is explosions, there are interactive systems with rich vocabulary building, such as Time4Learning.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Writing Great Paragraphs for Standardized Tests

Now that standardized tests often include writing samples, many families are working to build their students writing skills. So many parents get confused however when faced with instructions like: "Avoid unnecessary details." 

What does that mean? Who is to say what is necessary or not? I had an "aha" moment where I better understood this when I saw this table put together by the Time4Writing people about the secrets of writing successful paragraphs.

Writing paragraphs is the foundation of all essay writing, whether you’re writing in the expository, persuasive, narrative, or creative form. In order to write a good paragraph, you need to understand the four essential elements of paragraph writing and how each element contributes to the whole. At Time4Writing, we help students build writing skills by focusing on the fundamentals. And nothing is more fundamental than writing a paragraph.

The following example illustrates the importance of the elements of unity, order, coherency, and completeness in paragraph writing, all of which are reinforced in writing courses taught by Time4Writing. 
Definitely click through to see their table!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Vocabulary Practice for Test Prep

Test preparation, from GMAT test prep down to K12 standardized tests, is a big challenge for so many people. There are so many ways to practice and develop your vocabulary strength.  Some people use GMAT tutors:

Doing well on the GMAT, or Graduate Management Admission Test, is essential for getting into the graduate school that you’d like to attend. Graduate schools often use the GMAT to help determine whether an applicant will be successful at pursuing their graduate degree. Using a GMAT tutor, or tutoring site, can considerably improve your score on the test. has all the essentials to prepare you for the verbal part of the exam. Vocabulary is Fun can help you organize for the GMAT vocabulary section and rapidly increase your score. We have a broad selection of free online vocabulary games, test-taking strategies, and other valuable tools. With as your GMAT tutor, you’ll be at graduate school in no time!

The GMAT vocabulary section is a basic test of mastery of correct English usage and facility with using context clues and logic requiring strong English language mastery.