Patricia Cunningham Word Study/Vocab

1. Patricia CunninghamWord Study/Vocab By Lindsay Rains and Emma Needham

2. Patricia Cunningham • Former public school teacher and administrator currently working at Wake Forest University. • Known for the Four Blocks framework she created with Dr. Dorothy Hall and Margaret DeFee. • Also known for Making Words activity.

3. The Four Blocks Framework • The words block, the guided reading block, the writing block, and the self-selected reading block. Each have their own allotted time. • Words block: decoding and spelling, transfers to reading and writing. • Guided reading block: includes before and after reading activities • Writing block: minilessons before the writing block, teacher has conferences with students • Self-selected reading block: lets students pick, teacher has daily conferences with students • Instruction heavy

4. Making Words • “A group guided invented spelling instructional strategy.” • It is recommended to be used with other writing activities “to increase the likelihood that children will develop decoding ability.” • Involves “children mak[ing] 12-15 words, beginning with two-letter words,” and then making larger words. • Has a profound effect on building students’ phonemic awareness and the students enjoy the activities.

5. Onsets and Rimes • “Based on a hierarchical model of the structure of the spoken syllable.” • Example: Hop; h= onset, -op= rime. • Words with the same rime include shop, top, flop, etc. • Study done that found “onset-rime-decodable real words have high construct validity as decoding test items, and greater construct validity than onset-rime-decodable non-words.”

6. Four Major Approaches • Children learn in different ways. • Four approaches include basal, phonics, literature, and writing. These four approaches are the blocks found in the Four Block strategy. • Study found that children tend to do better in certain approaches, and combination approaches are best for the entire class.

7. Lesson SOLs • Language Arts SOL 1.4: Students will a.) Create rhyming words. b.) Blend sounds to make one-syllable words. • Language Arts SOL 1.8: Students will b.) Develop vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts. c.) Ask for the meaning of unknown words and make connections to familiar words. d.) Use text clues such as words or pictures to discern meanings of unknown words.

8. Lesson 1.) Begin by reading Dr. Seuss’s “Hop on Pop” to students using shared reading techniques. After reading the story, reread one of the pages and have students discuss what they notice about the words and what they had in common. 2.) Underline words with the –op rime and have students list what other words they know end with –op. Write the words on a big chart.

9. Lesson 3.) Present large sentence strips to the class that have blanks where the –op rimes should be. Tell the students that as you read aloud, every time you come to a blank, students must say –op, and then, as a class, add the letter before the blank to –op in order to read the correct word. 4.) Reread the first four pages of the book, which have the rimes –up. Present more sentence strips and have the students decode the blanks by using –up rimes.

10. Lesson • In order for students to practice on their own, have them practice using an Internet game (The link is http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/construct/). Here, students pick a word ending and then have to match a certain number of beginning words.

11. Bibliography • Cunningham, P. M. (2006). Struggling readers: High-poverty schools that beat the odds. Reading Teacher, 60(4), 382-385. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=2&sid=150125b9-7ab6-4257-b0da-7a6cb8760625@sessionmgr198&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ== • Cunningham, P. M.& Cunningham J. W. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection. Reading Teacher, 46(2), 106-116. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/eds/detail?vid=5&sid=150125b9-7ab6-4257-b0da-7a6cb8760625@sessionmgr198&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==

12. Bibliography Continued • Cunningham, P. M., Hall, D. P., &Defee, M. (1998). Nonability-grouped, multilevel instruction: Eight years later. Reading Teacher, 51(8), 652-665. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/eds/detail?vid=7&sid=150125b9-7ab6-4257-b0da-7a6cb8760625@sessionmgr198&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ== • Cunningham, J. W., Erickson, K. A., Koppenhaver, D. A., Cunningham, P. M., Yoder, D. E., & McKenna, M. C. (1999). Assessing decoding from an onset-rime perspective. Journal of Literacy Research, 31(4), 391-414. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/eds/detail?vid=9&sid=150125b9-7ab6-4257-b0da-7a6cb8760625@sessionmgr198&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==

13. Bibliography Continued • Cunningham, P. M. (1999). Non-ability-grouped, multilevel instruction: A year in a first-grade classroom. Reading Teacher, 44(8), 566-571. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=81edffbb-4203-4f83-aa22-7691a5342791@sessionmgr4004&hid=4111&