Daddy…

Flanigan, Kevin. “Daddy, Where Did the Words Go?” How Teachers Can Help Emergent Readers Develop a Concept of Word in Text. Reading Improvement. Project Innovation. 43.1 Spring 2006.

• What role does finger-pointing play in developing concept of word and phonemic awareness?

Finger-pointing is an essential step in a child’s ability to understand the meaning of what a word is. Children use their fingers to point at each individual word, they match their knowledge of letter sounds to the words that they have memorized. After connecting the letter sound to a word and having an understanding of the spacing that is involved in placing words on a page, a child develops an understanding of what a word is, which expands their reading abilities.

• Describe the 4-stage model of early literacy.

Beginning readers use letter sound knowledge to see what the first letter of the word is. After some experience children will come to understand the match between spoken and written words by the sound of the first letter of each word. Children develop an understanding of what is being spoken, and the written word. When youngsters are able to understand beginning letter sounds and spacing they can progress to identifying the last letter of a word. With an understanding of beginning and ending consonants, finger-reading can be used to track the words in the text and the central elements of a word are discovered. When a reader can separate a word into it’s phonemes they have reached the final stage of the 4- Stage model of Literacy.

• Describe what this means: “It is not in the telling, but it is in the very act of reading that Jack will actually learn how to read.” p. 10

It means that if Jack is going to read, his father cannot simply tell him how. Jack will have to be able to read it himself.

• What instruction helps develop beginning readers’ awareness of words and phonemes?

Beginning sound awareness and a concept of a word in text are the key components to a reader’s awareness of words and phonemes. Methods of instruction to assist children learn these concepts include, modeling, finger point reading, partner reading, and choral reading.