Nonsense Word Fluency Part 1: Why Nonsense Words?

Many benchmark screeners and curriculums require teachers to administer nonsense word fluency (NWF) tests to their students.  I often hear, "Why do they have to read these silly words---I want them to be reading REAL words!"  Or kids will say, "I would do better if these words were real!"   I must admit...I WAS one of those teachers.  BUT, that was before I understood the purpose behind these assessments and what I could learn from the data. So, what exactly do these tests tell us, and why are they so important?

What do these tests tell us?

NWF tests measure a students ability to decode individual phonemes and then blend the phonemes together to read.  These assessments are a great indicator of a students progression with alphabetic principal, or the understanding that letters and spoken sounds have a systematic and predictable relationship.  Data from these assessments will give a teacher a window into where the student falls on the phonics continuum. 

Lets take the example below.  John is reading sound by sound (the dashes below each letter tell us this) and he is having difficulty with short vowels and letter reversals for b and d.  Specifically he is having trouble with short vowel a and e. 

NWF tests are particularly important because it will TRULY show you if a student has a phonics skill mastered and if they are able to apply it in word reading.  If we were to give students word reading assessments with real words, we may get a lot mastery "false positives" for phonics skills.  In real word assessments students may have already been exposed to the word or have it memorized.  

Additionally these tests tell us what stage of word reading students are at.  Are students reading sound by sound, partial blends or unitizing?  We will explore what each of these stages mean in a later blog post--so stay tuned!

What do I do with the data?

These assessments should pinpoint where a student needs instruction. In the example above, the teacher should work with John on b and d letter reversals and short vowels.

An NWF assessment may also prompt the teacher into giving a further diagnostic.  For example if the student does really poorly he or she will need letter sounds and naming (if using a cvc NWF).  If a student makes zero mistakes, maybe a harder NWF should be given, or a phonics screener to determine an area of focus.  

Once you have determined the starting place for the student (either though an additional diagnostic, or through information collected from the NWF) its time to plan your instruction.

Instruction should be direct, explicit and have many opportunities for the student to practice at the word, sentence and decodable passage level.  For ideas on direct and explicit instruction check out some of these blog posts below:

Mastering Short Vowels

At a Loss For Words

After the students have had sufficient practice administer another NWF test with the instructed upon skill to determine if they have reached mastery. 

There is lots more to explore with nonsense word fluency!  I will be exploring the following topics during this blog series......so come back for more learning!

Part 1: Why Nonsense Words? 

Part 2: The three stages of word reading

Post 3: The instructional focus for each stage of word reading

What's On Your Plate?

A few weeks ago I was preparing professional development for first and second year teachers in my school district.  New teachers not only need the basics of classroom management, routines, procedures and relationships....but this year they also need training on how to effectively be a remote educator.  

The first year of teaching is difficult under normal circumstances, but this is no normal year.  I feel for these first year teachers as so much extra is being added to their already overflowing plate.  

To acknowledge the amount of stress each new teacher is facing, I started with a What's On Your Plate? activity.   This is a great activity to use with any age (youth all the way to adults)! The purpose of the activity is for participants to honor all of the issues and tasks they have on their mind.

We have all heard the analogy, "My plate is really full." Which is a code phrase for, "My brain is so full, I literally can't fit any more in it!"  We have all been there.  We all know how stressful a full or overflowing plate can be.  

Whats On Your Plate? gives participants a chance to get all of those thoughts swimming around in their brains out on paper.  This activity acknowledges how many responsibilities and commitments everyone has, and then allows them to set those thoughts aside and be fully present for the meeting, class period, activity, etc.  See below for materials, instructions and plate example.

    

Bonus Sale!

This school year looks very different for all of us, but Teachers Pay Teachers is here to help! Starting tomorrow (Tuesday, September 15th) TPT is having a one-day-only sale until 11:59pm.  Most items are 20% off, but buyers can receive an additional 5% when they enter code "extrabonus" at checkout.  

TPT wants to make sure teachers have the resources they need to support students--including tons of digital items! 

Many sellers have spent hours turning their printable resources into something that can be used digitally.  I personally have made all of my resources available to be used digitally, which includes one of my most popular items: paragraph writing frames.

To use the writing frames digitally buyers simply choose the pages they want to use and add them to Google Classroom.  Students then answer the questions/complete the activity digitally.

Buyers also have the option to customize TPT digital activities for their students by adding additional annotations within the interactive layer of the resources.  Here is an example of what a student would see when completing a digital summary frame over a text they have read.  

I hope everyone has a chance to take advantage of the one-day-only sale!  

Happy shopping!

Enter to win 100 dollars from TPT!

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I sure do!  

Enter for your chance to win a $100 dollar gift card to TPT!  Whoop Whoop!  The giveaway ends September 13th and is open worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway This is a monthly contest hosted by An Apple for the Teacher (Kelly Malloy).  If you don't win this month, come back in October for another chance to win!  Best of luck!

If you are a teacher blogger or TPT seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these, click here.  This is a great way to help your business grow and join a totally awesome group of bloggers!