Correlating sounds and letters What children learn when undergoing the literacy program with learning how to read it is called "The alphabetic principle" this is the idea that letters in words usually stand for specific sounds. They are usually represented as a single letter or combinations of letters. My learner would have been introduce this when starting prep; and now being in grade one the learning process has began. My learner could sound out the word ‘frog’ because it was easy to sound out the letters and then the word came together. As my learner did struggle with the words caterpillars, as the sounds 'ar' blended together making it harder to say and sound out the letters.
Reading Comphrehension There are visual diagrams at the end of the book – arrows and pictures showing the life cycles of each animal. This helped with her understanding as the book was a little difficult to follow as you were reading about four animals at once. This gave my learner a better understanding of what the book was about, and how the 'life cycle works'. When I asked my learner to draw me a picture about the book this is what she drew for me:
This drawing shows a 'life cycle' of a butterfly. My learner used colours and arrows just like the book to show how small and big the butterflies get when they grow. She later drew extra drawings of the other animals in the book. Like caterpillers turning into butterflies and chickens.
Interpretive Questions When asking my learner interpretive questions (so that I knew that my learner had to think about what they have read) I ask her these questions:
Why do you think that caterpillars come from eggs but dogs come from inside their mother? My learner quickly respond:
"because caterpillars are too big to come out of their mum’s" Or why can tadpoles survive without their mother’s help but chickens need their mothers to feed them? Once again my learner did not take much time to respond
"Because it’s easier to find food in water, or it’s safer in the water."
Though my learner did not take too much time to think about the interpretive questions I gave her, she had given a good understanding about what she had learnt in the book. She showed good complex and exclusion that were within the book. My learner can now tell you the life cycles of animals such as chickens, frogs, caterpillers, and butterflies.
Literal Questions These questions prompt the reader to recall literal imformation that is written in the book(text). Literal questions help determine how much the learner has gathered through out the text. Questions that I asked my learner was:
Which animals comes from eggs?
"Chickens and Caterpillers"
From this response my learner has engaged imformation about the book 'Life Cycles'. With the correction answer to my literal question my learner has the ability to gather imformation on any text given to her.
Inferential Questions This question prompts the reader to think beyond the text to synthesise information and then provide a critical or a creative response. This means that the reader has to link the meaning of the text to their own experiences and then the learner usually can make a judgment about the text. This question was hard for me to think of. A question a asked my learner was:
What is the tadpole going to turn into?
A frog
Victorian Essential Learning Standards(VELS) According the VELS(2007) English Level 2 is what students at this stage should be up to. The VELS standard at Level 2 should demonstrate, naming off all uppercase and lowercase in the alphabet. Identification of common sounds and letters. Moderate accuracy and fluency with reading text. Retelling of what the learner has read using text as a prompt. Having the understanding of differences of real and imaginative texts. After observing my learner and asking all the questions above, my learner is at the requirment at English Level 2 in the VELS(2007). As my learner can read accuracy and fluently. She was able to retell of what the story was about after reading the text. She is able to sound out the letters of words that are harder to say. When I gave my learner the book 'Life Cycles' I asked her to look at the front cover and tell me what she thinks the text is going to be about. She gave an answer that it could be about animals and how they live.
Correlating sounds and letters
What children learn when undergoing the literacy program with learning how to read it is called "The alphabetic principle" this is the idea that letters in words usually stand for specific sounds. They are usually represented as a single letter or combinations of letters. My learner would have been introduce this when starting prep; and now being in grade one the learning process has began. My learner could sound out the word ‘frog’ because it was easy to sound out the letters and then the word came together. As my learner did struggle with the words caterpillars, as the sounds 'ar' blended together making it harder to say and sound out the letters.
Reading Comphrehension
There are visual diagrams at the end of the book – arrows and pictures showing the life cycles of each animal. This helped with her understanding as the book was a little difficult to follow as you were reading about four animals at once. This gave my learner a better understanding of what the book was about, and how the 'life cycle works'. When I asked my learner to draw me a picture about the book this is what she drew for me:
This drawing shows a 'life cycle' of a butterfly. My learner used colours and arrows just like the book to show how small and big the butterflies get when they grow. She later drew extra drawings of the other animals in the book. Like caterpillers turning into butterflies and chickens.
Interpretive Questions
When asking my learner interpretive questions (so that I knew that my learner had to think about what they have read) I ask her these questions:
Why do you think that caterpillars come from eggs but dogs come from inside their mother?
My learner quickly respond:
"because caterpillars are too big to come out of their mum’s"
Or why can tadpoles survive without their mother’s help but chickens need their mothers to feed them?
Once again my learner did not take much time to respond
"Because it’s easier to find food in water, or it’s safer in the water."
Though my learner did not take too much time to think about the interpretive questions I gave her, she had given a good understanding about what she had learnt in the book. She showed good complex and exclusion that were within the book. My learner can now tell you the life cycles of animals such as chickens, frogs, caterpillers, and butterflies.
Literal Questions
These questions prompt the reader to recall literal imformation that is written in the book(text). Literal questions help determine how much the learner has gathered through out the text. Questions that I asked my learner was:
Which animals comes from eggs?
"Chickens and Caterpillers"
From this response my learner has engaged imformation about the book 'Life Cycles'. With the correction answer to my literal question my learner has the ability to gather imformation on any text given to her.
Inferential Questions
This question prompts the reader to think beyond the text to synthesise information and then provide a critical or a creative response. This means that the reader has to link the meaning of the text to their own experiences and then the learner usually can make a judgment about the text. This question was hard for me to think of. A question a asked my learner was:
What is the tadpole going to turn into?
A frog
Victorian Essential Learning Standards(VELS)
According the VELS(2007) English Level 2 is what students at this stage should be up to. The VELS standard at Level 2 should demonstrate, naming off all uppercase and lowercase in the alphabet. Identification of common sounds and letters. Moderate accuracy and fluency with reading text. Retelling of what the learner has read using text as a prompt. Having the understanding of differences of real and imaginative texts. After observing my learner and asking all the questions above, my learner is at the requirment at English Level 2 in the VELS(2007). As my learner can read accuracy and fluently. She was able to retell of what the story was about after reading the text. She is able to sound out the letters of words that are harder to say. When I gave my learner the book 'Life Cycles' I asked her to look at the front cover and tell me what she thinks the text is going to be about. She gave an answer that it could be about animals and how they live.