Components of reading
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Phonological Awareness
The ability to hear, isolate and manipulate sounds in a spoken word is the essential foundation needed for reading success. Phonological awareness skills range from simple, like identifying words in a spoken sentence, to more complex, like isolating and manipulating single sounds in a word (phonemic awareness). Lexplore provides multisensory lessons for phonological awareness that include the full range of complexity.
Phonics
The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters represent sounds of speech and then translating the letters into sounds to read words accurately. Phonics is the set of rules for the correspondence between the letter, or letter combinations and the sounds. Lexplore provides phonics skill lessons in a systematic and multisensory way for whole group, small group and one on one targeted instruction. For a comprehensive whole school implementation, we recommend a structured, multi-sensory program, such as Phonics First®.
Fluency
Fluency develops over time with exposure and practice. Beginner readers learn to read words by identifying letter sounds and blending them together. With exposure, readers begin to recognize words automatically without needing to decode them. In addition to beginning word recognition, fluent readers recognize whole phrases and read with intonation. These fluency skills allow the reader to attend to the meaning of the text and comprehend what they are reading. In addition to Lexplore Intensive, these recommendation activities range in complexity and address various skills needed to develop fluency. Proficient fluency not only enhances comprehension skills but also fosters the love of reading.
Vocabulary
Readers benefit from explicit instruction in academic, content area and basic vocabulary words. Learning vocabulary happens directly with instruction and indirectly in conversations, discussions and life experiences. It is recommended to dive deeply into understanding the meaning of words by using graphic organizers and to provide students with ample opportunity to use the words in context in peer discussions, class discussions and writing.
Comprehension
Students benefit from explicit instruction in comprehension skills in a range of complexity. Beginner and emergent readers begin to learn to think actively as they read by using skills such as retells, summarizing, making connections and identifying clues that help to draw conclusions. More advanced comprehension skills include identifying evidence within the text that support claims or conclusions, analyzing theme, character development and how the story structure helps tell the story. These skills can be taught using different strategies such as graphic organizers to help readers visualize the concepts to gain a deeper understanding.