Argues that flashcards can help beginning and struggling readers to identify high-frequency, irregularly spelled words. Describes various ways flashcards can be used to help make a poor reader a better reader. Argues that the key to success is to use flashcards sensibly, in small doses, for fun, and with pizzazz. (SR)

Determines the nature and role of knowledge constructed by the child at the very beginning of his or her contact with printed words, i.e., during the logographic phase. Indicates that the letters in a word serve as its identifying visual properties as long as, for the child, the sole function of the written language is to encode meaning. (SG)

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students could read at or above grade level by the end of grade 3. The program promotes practices recommended by the National Reading Panel for early reading instruction, highlighting essential components of reading instruction. As required by the…

Although visual art is considered a subject deemed by the federal government as part of the core curriculum, many elementary schools do not include this subject into the current core curriculum of studies. This review of literature provides insight through current qualitative and quantitative studies on the effectiveness of including visual art…

This paper investigates the processes that predict reading acquisition. Associations between (a) scaffolding errors (e.g., "torn" misread as "town" or "tarn"), other reading errors, and later reading and (b) vowel and rime inferences and later reading were explored. To assess both of these issues, 50 6-year-old children were shown a number of CVC…

Beginning reading software programs may be one way to provide at-risk readers the additional instruction and practice they need to attain grade-level expectations. Criteria such as interface design, instructional design, and beginning reading content (phonological awareness and alphabetic understanding) are all important considerations when…

One of the most important skills for children to develop in the kindergarten year is the recognition that letters and sounds are related. It is often called "the alphabetic principle"--the notion that speech sounds can be connected to letters in a predictable way. To grasp the alphabetic principle, children need to understand that: (1) letters…

A large body of research (Clay 1991; National Reading Panel 2000; Pressley 2000; Courtney & Abodeeb 2001) on young readers reveals that most children do not know how to check their understanding as they read, nor do educators give them the strategies to do so. Comprehension is the process of constructing meaning while interacting with text.…

Extensive literature has reiterated the reading difficulties of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Building and expanding upon the work of B. J. Trezek and K. W. Malmgren (2005), this study demonstrated that given 1 year of instruction from a phonics-based reading curriculum supplemented by Visual Phonics, kindergarten and first-grade…

Metacognition provides insights into the internal information processing of an individual. Studies around metacognition and reading have demonstrated that metacognitive thinking during reading reveals an individual's knowledge of the reading process. In examining adult literacy students, metacognitive descriptions can provide insight into…

Based on the idea that word identification is a group of strategies that children develop as they learn to read, not a single letter-sound by letter-sound pathway to pronunciation, this book invites teachers to support readers as they develop and use many different world identification strategies. Chapters in the book are: (1) Using the Alphabetic…

Compares two major methods for teaching phonics. (RB)

A follow-up study examined the long-term effects associated with receiving formal reading instruction in kindergarten. Subjects, 3,959 high school seniors from 24 school districts in 10 states, were part of the Beginning Reading Program (BRP) during the 1973-74 school year. The BRP originally included over 200 elementary schools and over 5,000…

William S. Gray, first president of the International Reading Association, is the focus of this booklet. Sections are devoted to "The Person," which includes Gray's family background, early schooling and teaching jobs, and his further education at Illinois State University, the University of Chicago, and Teachers College (Columbia…