Foundations for Success

The Benefits of RTI in Phonological Awareness for Early Literacy Skills

Lara Buchmann-Duck
001188608
PIP Final Report
PSIII
Mar. 31st 17
For my PSIII internship I was fortunate enough to take part in a very rewarding professional
development project which became the focus of my professional inquiry project. This project
was to learn the skills needed to carry out early literacy Response to Intervention (RTI) activities
with Kindergarten students. In Kindergarten, the focus of early literacy RTI is on phonological
awareness, as this is what gives students the foundational skills needed to learn to read and write.
Phonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided
into smaller components and manipulated (Chard & Dickson, n.d.). My teacher mentor
suggested at the beginning of my internship that it would be useful for me to become trained in
the literacy RTI activities that the Kindergarten teaching team was carrying out with students.
This would be an opportunity of professional growth for me as I learned the key skills involved
in RTI activities and assessment, skills which I would be able to take with me in my career. It
would also mean one more adult who could work with more Kindergarten students, getting them
the assistance they need in early literacy and allowing their teachers to work with other students
on other skills. I eagerly agreed to this opportunity and also decided to make it my Professional
Inquiry Project for this practicum. My inquiry question which guided my project was: How do
the strategies used in literacy Response to Intervention (RTI) help improve students literacy
skills?
The Kindergarten teachers had already tested their students using the DIBELS phonological
awareness test before I began my project. This determined where students were at in terms of
skill level and understanding in phonological awareness. The students were then divided up into
an RTI triangle or pyramid consisting of three tiers of skill level. In an RTI pyramid, the top tier
or tier three is made up of those students who are struggling the most with a certain skill and
require the most intensive forms of interventions usually done outside the classroom. A teacher
usually works with these students one at a time or in groups of two (Special Education Guide,
2016). Students in the middle tier (tier 2) require some milder forms of small group intervention
which can be done in the classroom. The students in the bottom tier (tier 1) have mastered the
skill in question and are alright to carry on with just regular classroom work.
To begin my involvement with phonological awareness RTI in Kindergarten, I first had to
become familiar with the activities. The activities are called games with the students to make the
work less intimidating. First I became familiar with the games by reading over them, and by
observing my teacher mentor carry out the games with some of her students. I then met with the
school literacy specialist who is the school expert on all literacy RTI strategies. She went through
the games with me and explained how each of them helps the students. She also showed me how
to carry out the formal assessment of the students which has to be done for every game played.
At the end of January, I was assigned to work with eight students from the top two tiers of the
Kindergarten RTI pyramid. I began working with these students in the first week of February,
and began pulling from their class to work in a small office. I worked with the students in pairs
for 15 minutes each, three times a week. In each 15 minute session with two students, we would
carry out all three games.
The RTI games I carried out with these students specifically addressed phonemic awareness,
a sub-category of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think
about, and work with the individual sounds in words...(and) is a good predictor of later reading
success or difficulty (Reading Rockets, 2017). The three RTI games specifically get students to
work on the skills of sound blending, segmenting, and initial sounds. Two consonants are worked

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on per week for all of the games. In a week it is ideal to carry out three sessions with each pair of
students where all three games are done. The consonants are decided in advance by the literacy
specialist and are designed to be letter sounds which are very different and not brother sounds.
For example some of these letter pairs include M & S and R & Z. After the four consonant
pairs are done with the students (four weeks of sessions), the games are repeated with a third
letter added to each original pair.
The first game is called What did I say? and works on sound blending with the students.
The game involves the teacher choosing ten picture cards which are words beginning with the
two or three consonants being worked on that week. All cards are introduced to the students in
the first session of the week to ensure the students know what the images are. The teacher pulls
two cards forward in front of the student (eventually progress to three cards, and later all ten
cards for the student to choose from). The teacher slowly says a word from the cards that have
been pulled forward. For example, the teacher says r...ain. The teacher then asks the student
what did I say? The student is expected to repeat the word quickly by saying rain and to grab
the correct picture card. If they say the word correctly and choose the right card, they get to keep
the card. If not, then the teacher takes the card. Then this is repeated with the other student. The
game is continued until each student has done five cards (all ten cards have been done). The
teacher records each students score out of five on that students assessment sheet. As students
improve at this game the amount of cards the students have to choose from can be increased until
they are choosing from all ten cards. Magnetic letters can also challenge the students further by
having the student point to the letter that the word on their picture card starts with.
The second game is called Blocks and Sounds and addresses segmenting. I found this game
to be the most difficult for all of the students I worked with. To begin, small plastic red and green
blocks and a toy hammer is given to each student (eventually a third yellow block is also added).
The teacher gives the student a picture card which is placed between the red and green blocks.
The student is told to use the toy hammer to tap the green block and say the first sound of the
word in the picture card. They are then to tap the red block and say the remaining sounds in the
word from the picture. They are then to tap the picture card and say the word all together. For
example, for rat the student would say Rrr and tap the green block, say at and tap the red
block, and finally say rat and tap the picture card. To challenge the student further, they can be
asked to point to or grab a plastic magnetic letter matching the letter that the word starts with.
The teacher goes back and forth between the pair of students until each student has done five
cards. Again, if they get the card right, they get to keep the card. The teacher should make sure
that the student is doing an equal amount of words for each of the beginning consonant being
worked on for that week. The goal is for the students to eventually be competent in segmenting
words into two sounds using just the red and green blocks. For each word the student does, the
teacher records a checkmark or x indicating if they segmented that word correctly or not, and
also record the letter they were doing. Once the student has mastered segmenting words into just
two sounds, the teacher introduces the student to the plastic yellow block which is placed
between the red and green blocks. The student is now expected to segment each word into three
sounds. Kindergarten students should definitely be able to segment short words into three sounds

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by the end of the school year. Most students I worked with I found struggled with segmenting
words into three sounds. To help them with this I had to do a lot of modeling for them and asking
them to repeat me.
The third and final RTI game done with the Kindergarten students in each session is called I
Spy and addresses initial sounds. The picture cards are pulled forward in pairs in front of the
student so that they have two cards to choose from. The teacher says I spy a card that starts with
the sound, _____. The student then takes a card that starts with that sound and says the word on
the card. For example the teacher might say I spy a card that stars with the sound, Zzzzz. The
student might grab a card with an image of zebra and say zebra. If the student selects a correct
card, they get to keep it. The teacher repeats this with both students until each student has done
five cards. Eventually to make this more challenging for the students, the teacher can increase
the amount of cards the students has to choose from, until they are choosing from all 10 cards.
The teacher again records each students score out of five on their respective assessment sheets.
Formal assessment is an important aspect of all RTI. It must be consistent between all
teachers at that grade level for fairness and validity. A record sheet is kept for each student the
teacher works with in RTI groups. For each session the teacher must record the date, the letters
being worked on, scores for each of the three games, a total score out of 15, and any additional
comments on how the student did in that session. I strived to record comments for each session I
did with my students, recording in particular how they were doing with segmenting.
In the second week of March, the classroom teachers of the students I was working with
assessed all of their students on skills in phonemic awareness. From the results of this testing,
four of the students I was working with graduated from my small RTI groups. I continued
working with my other original four, but was also assigned three new students to begin working
with.
Overall, I found that for most of the students I worked with, the skills of sound blending and
initial sounds came naturally and fairly quickly with repetition and practice. Segmenting and the
Blocks and Sounds game was the most challenging for all students I worked with. This skill
was the reason four of my original students were not able to graduate from my small RTI groups
as quickly. From talking to the other Kindergarten teachers and from my experience, it is clear
that word segmenting is the most difficult phonemic awareness skill for young students to
master. This is particularly true for segmenting words into three sounds, as all of my students
were able to master segmenting words into just two sounds. I talked to the other Kindergarten
teachers about strategies I could use to help the students I was working with on this skill. One of
the main strategies I used with my students which worked with a handful of them was carrying
out a lot of modeling and repeating. I would model for the students how to segment a word into
the three sounds, and then I would do it again but asking them to repeat each sound after me. For
some students this worked as they got this after about two weeks of practice. Others needed a lot
more time and I continue to work with them on this as I enter the final weeks of my internship.
Another strategy my mentor suggested which I tried with one student in particular was just
hovering the hammer above the three blocks, and just slowly dragging the sounds of the word
out so that they could see and hear that segmenting was just like saying a word slowly. A third

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strategy I tried was allowing the student to look at the letters of the word on the card and getting
them to say the sound which goes with each letter.
I also found it very important to keep all of the students I worked with motivated and happy
to come and work with me on these games. This was particularly important for those students
that were struggling with segmenting and had to continue to come and work with me repeating
the same games. At times, I could tell they were getting frustrated with having to continue the
games and with not getting the segmenting in Blocks and Sounds. To motivate my students it
was vital that I carried out constant positive verbal feedback. This involved letting my students
know when they did something right and being very enthusiastic. I found that if I was excited
about them doing well, then they were excited too. For those students that were struggling, I
reminded them that they were doing a great job and to not give up. After doing the three sessions
with each student in a week, I gave each student a sticker. I found this to be something they
enjoyed and was just a little reward for their work and motivated them to continue.
In addition to carrying out these phonemic awareness RTI games with my students, I was
also able to attend a RTI meeting with the Kindergarten teaching team, school literacy specialist,
learning support, and the principal. At this meeting I observed and contributed where possible
regarding the students I had been working with. We re-created the Kindergarten RTI pyramids
based on the recent testing the teachers had done, and the teachers decided what their goals were
for RTI with the students moving forward in the school year. This was some great insight into
some of the conversation surrounding RTI and how it really can help students improve and move
to a different tier in the pyramid.
In reflecting back on my experience with literacy RTI in Kindergarten, and thinking about
my inquiry question on how literacy RTI benefits students, I would say there are a few simple
but key things I have learned. Ultimately I found that the phonemic awareness RTI games I
carried out with my students, with repetition and practice, improved each of their abilitys to
hear, say, and manipulate sounds in words. All of the students I worked with became more
confident with these skills over time. With practice and with more experience working with me,
they were all comfortable to try the skills involved in the games, and were not afraid to make a
mistake. I think positive verbal feedback really helped with this. The phonemic awareness skills
students gained from the RTI groups was quickly transferred to the work being done in early
literacy in the classroom. I saw this in particular with the Kindergarten students in my class
whom with my mentor was carrying out RTI sessions. With more experience with the RTI
games, the students were able to better associate sounds to letters, and apply this as they began to
read and write. I saw this in writing exercises we did with our letter scrapbooks, and with hearing
them read sight words and other words we were working on in class. From this it was clear that
the RTI games were helping them with their early reading and writing as they connected sounds
to letters in words. Additional research and reading on RTI has further taught me that ultimately
RTI in phonological awareness in early childhood education can help students a great deal by
setting them up for success with reading. It really can affect their overall academic success in
school in later grades, by beginning some of the foundational skills in literacy.

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 Some additional online reading and research on literacy RTI in early childhood education
has further enlightened me on the benefits of this form of intervention, specifically on
phonological awareness. For example, authors Chard and Dickson explain in an article that skills
in phonological awareness help prepare students for learning to read, phonics lessons, word
analysis, and spelling (n.d.). Furthermore, one of the main reasons students with and without
learning disabilities struggle to learn to read, is due to a weakness in phonological awareness.
They also state that (a)n awareness of phonemes is necessary to grasp the alphabetic principle
that underlies our system of written language...(and) developing readers must be sensitive to the
internal structure of words in order to benefit from formal reading instruction (Chard &
Dickson, n.d.). There are many different activities and strategies to help students with this
phonological awareness development, and intensive work through RTI is clearly one very
beneficial way to carry this out.
In another article, the authors explain how many students begin school having had very little
exposure to early literacy either at home or elsewhere, and this puts them at risk for not
achieving expected language, literacy, and social-emotional outcomes (Greenwood, Bradfield,
Kaminski, Linas, Carta, and Nylander, 2011, p. 2). Too many of these students become
struggling readers in later grades and often need to see specialists for reading disabilities.
Statistics also show that students who struggle with learning to read, also are at a greater risk for
experiencing behavior problems in their elementary years (Greenwood et al., 2011, p. 2).
Ultimately, the (p)otential benefit of RTI in early childhood is the ability to provide key social-
emotional and early literacy experiences for those children who lack these experiences and the
key skills to prevent the need for special education services for language, literacy, and behaviour
disorders (Greenwood et al., 2011, p. 2).
It is clear both from my experience with literacy RTI at the Kindergarten level in
phonological awareness and additional research, that RTI goes a long way to help students who
are struggling in this area. The intensive teacher-to-student work that small group RTI provides
tier three students gives these struggling students the help they need to gain crucial early literacy
skills. The improvement in these skills such as phonological awareness is directly linked to
reading and writing development. Therefore, I can conclude by answering my inquiry question
and state that early childhood RTI in phonological awareness helps students by laying the
foundational skills in literacy, which they will take with them in later grades and in their lives. I
am very thankful for this professional development opportunity and to have gained some insight
into RTI at the Kindergarten level in the subject area of early literacy. I take with me the skills I
have learned as I begin my career, knowing that different schools may carry out RTI differently,
but the foundational skills in early childhood education are the same. I have also created a Prezi
presentation documenting my professional development experience with Kindergarten RTI in
literacy which is embedded in my e-portfolio. Please refer to this for an overview of my
experience including some images, as well as some RTI resources for new teachers.

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 References

Chard, D.J., & Dickson, S.V. (n.d.). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment
Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6254/.

Greenwood, C.R., Bradfield, T., Kaminski, R., Linas, M., Carta, J.J., & Nylander, D. (May
2011). The Response to Intervention (RTI) Approach in Early Childhood. Focus on
Exceptional Children, 43(9), 1-24.

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Reading Rockets. (2017). Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/
reading-topics/phonemic-awareness.

Special Education Guide. (2016). Response to Intervention. Retrieved from http://www.special

educationguide.com/pre-k-12/response-to-intervention/.