UFORA complete review

Concept of Print

Understanding how print works (e.g., directionality, spaces between words, books have front/back, print carries meaning).

Phonological Awareness

Awareness of sound structures in spoken language (e.g., syllables, rhymes, phonemes).

Phonemic Awareness

The most advanced level of phonological awareness; ability to hear and manipulate individual phonemes.

Phonological Awareness Continuum/Progression

The sequence in which phonological awareness skills develop from simple to complex (e.g., word syllable onset-rime phoneme).

Syllable

A unit of spoken language with one vowel sound.

Onset and Rime

Division of a syllable into initial consonant(s) and the rest.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound (that distinguishes meaning in a language).

Phoneme Blending

Combining individual sounds to form a word.

Phoneme Segmentation

Breaking a word into its individual sounds.

Elkonin Boxes

A visual tool using boxes to represent each phoneme in a word.

Sound Wall

A classroom display organized by speech sounds (phonemes) and how they are produced.

Grapheme

A letter or group of letters that represents a sound.

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping

Matching sounds to letters.

Alphabetic Principle

Understanding that letters represent sounds in spoken language.

Letter-Sound Correspondence

Relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

Decoding

Translating written words into spoken language using phonics.

Phonics

Understanding that letters and letter combinations (graphemes) represent the sounds (phonemes) of spoken language, and using that knowledge to read and spell words.

Orthographic Knowledge

Understanding spelling patterns and conventions.

Orthographic Mapping

The mental process of connecting letters (graphemes), sounds (phonemes), and meaning to store words in long term memory for instant recognition.

(Consonant) Blend

Two or more consonants blended, each retaining its sound.

Digraph

Two letters that work together to represent ONE sound (one phoneme).

Blend

Consists of two or more consonants in which EACH sound is still heard.

Trigraph

Three letters representing one consonant sound.

Vowel Team

Two (or more) vowels that work together to represent one vowel sound.

Position-Based Reading Patterns

Patterns where pronunciation depends on a letter's position in a word.

Six Syllable Types

Patterns in English that guide pronunciation (closed, open, silent-e, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant-le).

Multisyllabic Words

Words with more than one syllable.

Irregular Word/Heart Word

A word that does not follow typical phonics patterns and must be partially memorized (by heart).

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning in a word. In English, it can take the form of a base word, root, prefix, or suffix.

Structural (Morphemic) Analysis

Analyzing word (meaning) parts (prefixes, suffixes, roots) to determine meaning.

Base Word

A word that can stand alone and has meaning, and can have prefixes or suffixes added to it.

Root

The core part of a word that carries its main meaning, often from Latin or Greek, and may not stand alone.

Prefix

A word part added to the beginning of a word that changes its meaning.

Suffix

A word part added to the end of a word that changes its meaning or grammatical form.

Affix

A general term for a word part added to a base or root, including prefixes and suffixes.

Free morpheme

A morpheme that can stand alone as a word.

Bound morpheme

A morpheme that cannot stand alone and must attach to another morpheme.

Inflectional endings

Suffixes that change a word's tense, number, or grammatical form without changing its core meaning or part of speech.

Derivational suffixes

Suffixes that create a new word, often changing the meaning or part of speech.

Etymology

The study of the origin and history of words.

Word Origins of English

English words come from multiple languages (Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, etc.).

Spelling Patterns

Common letter patterns used to represent sounds.

Spelling Rules

These refer to cases in which a letter is doubled, dropped, or changed. There are five spelling rules: the Floss Rule, the Rabbit Rule, the Doubling Rule, the Dropping Rule, and the Changing Rule.

Fluency

Accurate, fast, expressive reading.

Accuracy

Reading words correctly; it is calculated as the percentage of words read correctly.

Rate

Speed of reading (not too slow, not too fast); it is calculated by the number of words read correctly per minute.

Prosody

Expression and phrasing in reading.

WCPM (Words Correct Per Minute)

A measure of oral reading fluency that calculates how many words a student reads correctly in one minute.

Automaticity

Instant word recognition.

ORF (Oral Reading Fluency)

Measures accuracy, rate, and expression.

Repeated Reading

Rereading text to build fluency.

Mental Model

A reader's internal understanding or visualization of a text.

Schema

A reader's background knowledge used to understand new information.

Background Knowledge

Prior knowledge used to understand text.

Vocabulary Knowledge

Understanding word meanings.

Vocabulary Breadth

The number of words a person knows.

Vocabulary Depth

How well a person understands a word (meanings, uses, nuances).

Vocabulary Tier 1

(Basic words): Everyday words most people know, usually learned naturally through conversation.

Vocabulary Tier 2

(High-frequency academic words): Common across many subjects and texts, more precise than Tier 1, important for school success, and need to be explicitly taught.

Vocabulary Tier 3

(Domain-specific words): Specialized words used in specific subjects, best taught in content areas.

Syntax

The rules for how words are arranged in sentences.

Sentence Structure

The way words and phrases are organized in a sentence.

Phrase

group of words without a subject and verb.

Clause

group of words with a subject and verb.

Independent Clauses

Complete thought.

Dependent Clauses

Incomplete thought.

Simple Sentences

One clause.

Compound Sentences

Two independent clauses.

Complex Sentences

One independent + One dependent.

Four Sentence Types

Declarative (statement), interrogative (question), imperative, exclamatory.

Challenging Sentences

Sentences that are difficult due to structure or grammar. This includes Passive Voice, Double Negatives, Conditional Verb Forms, Subjunctive Mood, Articles the vs a, and Unusual Word Order.

Comprehension Strategy

A deliberate technique used to understand text.

Predicting

Making guesses about what will happen next.

Comprehension Monitoring

Checking understanding while reading.

Visualizing

Creating mental images while reading.

Graphic Organizer

Visual tool for organizing ideas.

Question Answering

Responding to questions about a text.

Question Generation

Creating your own questions about a text.

Summarization

Retelling main ideas briefly.

Retell

Recounting a text in order.

Literacy Knowledge

Understanding how reading and writing work.

Narrative

A story with characters and events.

Story Element/Structure

Components of a story (characters, setting, plot).

Informational Text

Text that provides facts and information.

Idiom

Phrase with non-literal meaning.

Think Aloud

Modeling thinking during reading.

Literal Comprehension

Understanding stated facts.

Inferential Comprehension

Reading between the lines.

Evaluative Comprehension

How information is organized

Metacognition

Thinking about your thinking.

Four Purposes/Types of Assessment

Screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring, outcome.

Universal Screening

Assessment for all students to see who is at risk. (Beginning of year fluency test)

Diagnostic Assessment

Identifies specific weaknesses to pinpoint the problem. (Analyzing spelling errors)

Progress Monitoring

Ongoing assessment to track growth. (Weekly Reading Checks, Oral Reading Fluency Graph)

Outcome Assessment

Measures overall learning at the end. (End of Unit or Year test)

Norm-Referenced

Compares students to others. (Percentile Scores, SAT, ACT)

Criterion-Referenced

Measures against a standard. (Passing a benchmark or UFORA)

Standardized Assessment

Same test given in the same way to all students. (State Test)

Formative Assessment

Ongoing checks during learning. (Exit Ticket, Teacher Observation)

Summative Assessment

Evaluation after learning. (Final Exam)