Massachusetts English Language Arts

*7.1: Demonstrate understanding of the forms and functions of written English:

• recognize that printed materials provide information or entertaining stories;

• know how to handle a book and turn the pages;

• identify the covers and title page of a book;

• recognize that, in English, print moves left to right across the page and from top to bottom;

• identify upper- and lower-case letters;

• recognize that written words are separated by spaces;

• recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.

*7.2: Demonstrate orally that phonemes exist and that they can be isolated and manipulated:

• understand that a sound is a phoneme, or one distinct sound;

• understand that words are made up of one or more syllables;

• recognize and produce rhyming words;

• identify the initial, medial, and final sounds of a word;

• blend sounds to make words.

*7.3: Use letter-sound knowledge to identify unfamiliar words in print and gain meaning:

• know that there is a link between letters and sounds;

• recognize letter-sound matches by naming and identifying each letter of the alphabet;

• understand that written words are composed of letters that represent sounds;

• use letter-sound matches to decode simple words.

Grades 1–2

(Continue to address earlier standards as needed and as they apply to more difficult texts.)

*7.4: Demonstrate understanding of the various features of written English:

• know the order of the letters in the alphabet;

• understand that spoken words are represented in written English by sequences of letters;

• match oral words to printed words;

• recognize that there are correct spellings for words;

• use correct spelling of appropriate high-frequency words, whether irregularly or regularly spelled;

• recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (capitalization, end punctuation) and a paragraph (indentation, spacing);

• identify the author and title of a book, and use a table of contents.

*7.5: Demonstrate orally that phonemes exist:

• generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns, including consonant blends, long- and short-vowel patterns, and onsets and rimes and combine these sounds into recognizable words;

• use knowledge of vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs, and r-controlled letter-sound associations (as in star) to read words.

*7.6: Recognize common irregularly spelled words by sight (have, said, where).

*7.7: Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English:

• decode accurately phonetically regular one-syllable and multi-syllable real words and nonsense words;

• read accurately many irregularly spelled words, special vowel spellings, and common word endings;

• apply knowledge of letter patterns to identify syllables;

• apply independently the most common letter-sound correspondences, including the sounds represented by single letters, consonant blends, consonant digraphs, and vowel digraphs and diphthongs;

• know and use more difficult word families (-ought) and known words to decode unknown words;

• read words with several syllables;

• read aloud with fluency and comprehension at grade level.

(Continue to address earlier standards as needed and as they apply to more difficult texts.)

*7.8: Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English.

7.9: Read grade-appropriate imaginative/literary and informational/expository text with comprehension (see General Standard 8).

*7.10: Read aloud grade-appropriate imaginative/literary and informational/expository text fluently, accurately, and with comprehension, using appropriate timing, change in voice, and expression.

• 7.2 Recognize and produce rhyming words.

• 7.3 Recognize letter-sound matches by naming and identifying each letter of the alphabet.

• 7.5 Use knowledge of r-controlled letter-sound associations to read words.

• 7.7 Apply independently the most common letter-sound correspondences; read aloud with fluency and comprehension at grade level.

“Me first,” chirps Burt.

“No, me first,” blurts Curt.

Mother perches on the nest.

She says, “You birds must take turns.”

She again reads the story and points to each word after asking students to clap their hands each time they hear the /ûr/ sound.

The teacher starts a three-column chart by writing her, bird, and turn on the board. She explains that /ûr/ can be spelled –er, –ir, and, -ur. One at a time, she holds up various /ûr/ words written on self-stick notes and asks the class to tell her which letters say /ûr/. A volunteer underlines the two letters in a word and places it in the appropriate column on the chart. For this exercise, the teacher starts with words from the bird story (perch, first, Burt) and then adds others that fit the /ûr/ pattern (nurse, fern, girl). (Learning Standard 7.5)

The class and the teacher then read the story aloud as the teacher points to the words. The next time she reads it aloud, she stops before saying each /ûr/ word in order to allow the students to chime in with the correct word. (Learning Standard 7.5)

The teacher reviews the steps in decoding words (read from left to right, look for letter combinations you know, put together the sounds, ask yourself if the word makes sense . . .).

For the phonics lessons in the next two or three days, the teacher continues to review /ûr/ words. She organizes activities such as sorting words into rhyming pairs (fur-her, hurt-shirt, curl-twirl) and posing riddles whose answers are /ûr/ words that have been written on the board (This word rhymes with “purse” and helps sick people—nurse). (Learning Standard 7.5)

Students continue to practice decoding /ûr/ words in decodable stories and leveled literary texts.