How the Brain Learns to Read- Chapter 2

Here are some of my notes and thoughts after reading chapter two from How the Brain Learns to Read.

Chapter 2- Learning to Read

• Learning to read connects the spoken language networks to visual recognition circuits
• "Speaking is a normal, genetically hardwired capability; reading is not." p. 35
• Phonological awareness- "recognition that oral language can be divided into smaller components, such as sentences into words, words into syllables, and ultimately, syllables into individual phonemes." -p.37
• Phonemic awareness- "understanding that words are made up of individual sounds and that these sounds can be manipulated to create new words." p. 38
• Phonics- "instructional approach for teachng reading and spelling that emphasizes sound-symbol relationships." p.39

Phonemic awareness in kindergarten is a strong predictor of reading success. Early instruction in letter-sound association is important. This statement reassures me to keep working on the letter-sound association work I am doing with my kindergarten students. 

"By grade 3, morphological awareness begins to surpass phonemic awareness in the development of decoding skills." p. 45  This makes sense when I noticed that phonemic awareness activities have dropped from the Challenge SIPPS lessons. Morphological awareness is an important component of the SIPPS Challenge system. This reminds me that I need to be more explicit when I am teaching the morphology component. 

Where are my students in their reading development?

Kindergarten- letter sound

1st grade- full alphabetic

2nd grade- chunking

3rd and 4th- morphology