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Instructional Decision-Making with Sound Search Books
by General
Sound Search Books are multi-layered reading experiences. They provide students with opportunities to build their letter-sound recognition skills, while building content knowledge, oral vocabulary, and a sense of sequence.
As you plan instruction with Sound Search Books, consider student needs along with the following potential supports:
Prior to exploring the book, review the Focus Letter Sounds and generate sample words that correspond to those sounds. Also, introduce unfamiliar illustrations and terms in the Sound Search section. Conduct multiple reads of the adult-read sentences. Repeat sentences as needed to emphasize a different
Focus Letter Sound each time. Assist students in identifying certain items within the scene. Featured illustrations range from basic vocabulary to more content-specific instances. Furthermore, while many of the featured illustrations are nouns, some adjectives, adverbs, or verbs beginning with the Focus Letter Sound(s) may also be featured in a scene. The amount of prompting needed will vary depending on students’ familiarity with the topic as well as the complexity of the words. As students grow in their independence, they may benefit from working in pairs to explore the books using the Sound Search section as a guide.
As you support students in exploring Sound Search Books, be strategic when correcting student errors.
Consider each student’s level of letter-sound knowledge and the areas of growth for each student. For example, if a student who can accurately identify letter names and sounds misidentifies a tortoise as a turtle, point out the naming error to support that student’s vocabulary development. But if a student who has been struggling with letter sounds identifies a tortoise as a turtle, the error may not need to be corrected during the first exploration of the book since the student correctly named an object with the Focus Letter Sound /t/. Correct vocabulary usage should be encouraged in all students, but consider the student’s primary area of need when determining which errors to correct immediately and which corrections to fold into later instruction. Because students may need support in multiple areas, try to balance error correction to maximize their productive struggle without overburdening their cognitive load.
For additional information on the design of Sound Search Books and sample teaching routines, see pages 25-26 of this teacher resource.
TARGETED SUPPORTS FOR ACCURACY
If students need a procedure reminder for the Sound Search Books, reread page 1 to highlight the featured
Focus Letter Sounds and set a purpose for engaging with the book. If students need support with identifying the Focus Letter name or sound, review the letter and its corresponding sound using materials from your foundational skills program. If students need support with finding objects that start with the Focus Letter Sound, encourage them to limit their search to one small section of a page at a time. Consider covering part of the page spread with a blank sheet of paper and incrementally pulling back the paper until the whole page spread is revealed. To determine where to focus students’ attention, consult the Sound Search section at the beginning of the book. Also, consider having students practice with one Focus Letter Sound at a time rather than multiple Focus Letter
Sounds that may be featured on a page spread.
If students are overwhelmed with searching for items that start with the range of featured Focus Letter
Sounds, consider scaffolding the search by having students search for items that match one Focus Letter
Sound at a time. After searching for items with one Focus Letter Sound across multiple pages, have students return to the beginning of the book and search for items with the next featured Focus Letter Sound.
Additionally, when students are asked to find both initial and final sounds, consider searching for items that begin with the Focus Letter Sound first and then fold in the search for the final sounds when students are ready for the added challenge. If students need support distinguishing among the multiple Focus Letter Sounds, provide a prompt, such as “I see a bird, a feather, and a toy on this page; which one begins with /b/?” If students identify items that do not contain the Focus Letter Sound(s), redirect students to the Focus Letter
Sound(s) listed on the page. Then provide a hint to an example in the illustration before asking students to return to their search. For example, on a page that features i, if students say scratch instead of itch, direct their attention to the Focus Letter Sound i encircled on the page and ask: “Can you find something that is like scratch that starts with the /ĭ/ sound?” If students correctly identify the Focus Letter Sound of an item but misname the item, affirm that the Focus
Letter Sound is correct and then tell students the correct name of the object. Have students point to the object again and repeat the correct name.
TARGETED SUPPORTS FOR BUILDING VOCABULARY
If students need support with building vocabulary around the topic, identify key text-specific words to introduce to students. Check the Book Notes for featured vocabulary words to discuss with students to orient them to the topic. Consider introducing or building content vocabulary knowledge by reading the About section of the book before students search for items with the Focus Letter Sound. Scan the Sound Search section and choose select words to introduce. Preview these words with students before books are distributed. Without having students look at the illustrations, say the word and then have students echo the word with emphasis on the Focus Letter Sound. Alternatively, introduce the words by using a routine from your foundational skills program that concentrates on initial sounds. If students need support with naming objects on a particular page spread, name several objects and then have students identify the object that starts with the Focus Letter Sound.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXTENSIONS
Sound Search Books offer many options for enriching students’ learning experiences beyond building letter-sound recognition skills.
Once the primary objective of naming objects with the Focus Letter Sounds has been met, students may also use the book illustrations to retell the event or scene sequence built into the Sound Search Books. See
Targeted Supports for Retelling above for additional tips on supporting students with retelling. In addition, the About section can be used as a guide to frame students’ retellings.
