The texts selected for instruction, which the students will be able to read largely by themselves, include:
- several sentences per page;
- illustrations that extend the meaning but do not exactly match the words;
- frequent use of dialogue;
- some variety of sentence types;
- some irregular past-tense verbs;
- a range of punctuation features;
- some variety of text types, text forms, and text layout;
- simple storylines and familiar contexts.
It is expected that students will be reading at Green in the Ready to Read series after one year of instruction.
Students can orally read age-appropriate seen texts with accuracy, fluency and expression.
A Good Idea by Bill Nagelkerke,
Ready to Read, Green
As they read, students build on their expertise and demonstrate that they:
- have all concepts about print under control and use appropriate language about books, e.g., the terms title, author, and illustration;
- automatically recognise many (100–200) high-frequency words in their instructional texts;
- can identify all letters by name and produce an associated sound for each letter;
- use their developing phonemic awareness to aurally identify and distinguish individual phonemes within words (that is, they can blend and segment phonemes, e.g., man is m/a/n/, seat is s/ea/t/);
- use their developing knowledge of high-frequency words and phoneme-grapheme relationships to work out words, which includes
- knowing that there can be different ways of representing the same sound (e.g., said/circle; keep/cat)
- applying their knowledge of letter–sound relationships to accurately decode words
- using some knowledge of morphology (e.g., the word endings -s, -ing, and -ed) to decode words
- using visual memory;
- apply their knowledge of oral vocabulary to understand words as they decode them and to make meaning from text;
- understand the purpose of an increasing range of punctuation features (e.g., speech marks and exclamation marks);
- monitor their own reading and self-correct when necessary by applying fix-up strategies, e.g., adjusting reading pace, reading on, or checking other sources of information;
- can answer questions about facts, using information that is explicit in the text;
- can make simple inferences when reading stories (e.g., inferences about motive, character, and theme) and when reading information texts (if there is little or no competing information);
- use a variety of comprehension strategies to interpret and respond to a range of age-appropriate texts (including those read to them as well as those they read independently).
As they write, students build on their expertise and demonstrate that they:
- use talk or pictures to develop ideas before writing and to turn some ideas into sentences;
- can retain more than one idea in the head long enough to write them down, reread what they write as they are writing, and retell the written text to themselves or others;
- can write and revise two or more simple sentences on a single topic or idea, using known high-frequency words and words from their oral vocabulary;
- have a depth of vocabulary that enables them to engage in word play and to expand their understanding of the meanings of familiar words;
- can use their developing knowledge of high-frequency words and phoneme–grapheme relationships to work out words when writing, which includes
- knowing that there can be different ways of representing the same sound (e.g., said/circle; keep/cat)
- knowing sound–letter relationships and applying this knowledge in order to encode simple, regularly spelled words such as band and ship
- being able to hear the parts of multisyllabic words (e.g., to-mo-ro in tomorrow) and to record the known parts (e.g., to-mro)
- using some knowledge of morphology (e.g., the word endings -s, -ing, and -ed) to encode words
- using visual memory;
- use strategies to support their spelling (e.g., by referring to classroom print such as wallcharts, books, or a picture dictionary or by asking others);
- use strategies to generate more text, e.g., by using a repeated sentence pattern (“I went to …”) or by reading back over the writing so far;
- can innovate on a text, using salient features such as a sentence pattern, a repetitive or cumulative plot, or the same characters (in a different situation);
- can reread what they’ve written, talk about it, and respond to feedback by making changes to their writing (e.g., by adding or deleting detail or by changing surface features);
- write most letters and numerals legibly.
The writing that students do in classroom contexts, largely by themselves, will:
- include more than one sentence;
- convey a simple idea or response;
- use conjunctions such as and to join simple sentences;
- include some key personal words;
- include a variety of simple text types and forms (e.g., personal recounts and simple descriptions).
Teachers need to observe students reading and writing continuous texts in the context of familiar classroom activities, not in isolation.
Students should be drawing on oral language and attempting to transfer words encountered in talk and reading to their writing. Students will understand that we read and write to communicate ideas, information, and feelings.
