Teacher Manual Fast ForWord® Reading Level 3 Copyright ©2000–2011 Scientific Learning Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is supplied subject to the terms of the Scientific Learning Corporation license agreement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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Third Edition
2 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 contents
INTRODUCTION
THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
FAST FORWORD READING LEVEL 3 EXERCISES
Scrap Cat.
H how Students Work on Scrap Cat H how Students Progress through Scrap Cat H how Students Advance in Scrap Cat Scrap Cat Content
TWISTeD PIcTureS
how Students Work on Twisted Pictures how Students Progress through Twisted Pictures how Students advance in Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures content
BOOK MOnKeyS
how Students Work on Book Monkeys how Students Progress through Book Monkeys how Students advance in Book Monkeys Book Monkeys content
GlOSSary
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 3 introduction What is Fast ForWord Reading?
Fast ForWord Reading is a reading intervention solution that develops reading skills through inten- sive, adaptive software exercises. It is based on more than 30 years of research on how the brain learns and how this connects to language and reading. It increases processing efficiency and builds critical reading skills so districts get the most from their existing instructional approach.
Who should use Fast ForWord Reading? Fast ForWord Reading software is for K-12 education institutions and clinical specialists worldwide whose students are reading below grade level.
What does Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 teach? Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 concentrates on reading knowledge and fluency, with a focus on: ➤ phonology and spelling ➤ morphological properties and complexity ➤ syntactic complexity ➤ vocabulary ➤ comprehension
To accelerate reading progress, Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 software develops critical brain processing efficiency in four key areas: ➤ Builds memory by working on long-term recall of vocabulary and grammatical structures. ➤ Improves attention by requiring selective attention to grammatical features of similar response alternatives. ➤ Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences. ➤ Develops sequencing by using word order to help determine precise meanings.
Just as physical exercise increases muscle strength and efficiency, Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 software exercises the brain, increasing its ability to learn better and faster. Each exercise targets and develops the processing efficiency needed for successful reading and learning. In addition to the computer-based instruction, activity strategies and materials are provided for teachers. They can be used to provide guidance on appropriate student placement within the products as well as to give direct instruction, motivation, intervention, and supplemental instruction. Some of the activities are designed as individual activities. Others are appropriate for small-group instruction or for integrating into classroom reading curriculum. Some of the activities are designed for specific students such as ELL, Special Education and struggling readers.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 9 How does Fast ForWord Reading work? Four key components of this intervention product work together to create dramatic changes in brain function required to achieve universal literacy: ➤ Frequency and Intensity—Neuroscience research demonstrates that completing a set of learning tasks in a frequent, intense timeframe accelerates learning. ➤ Adaptivity—Exercises adapt with each key stroke to individual skill levels and responses, keeping students continuously challenged but not frustrated. ➤ Simultaneous Development—Exercises develop major cognitive and reading skills simultaneously to produce lasting improvements in learning. ➤ Timely Motivation—Tiered rewards are designed to maximize motivation from start to finish.
Online and offline activities combine to provide instructional opportunities and reinforcement that support each student’s journey toward reading proficiency.
How does Fast ForWord Reading help struggling readers? The exercises challenge students to remain focused on completing the exercises to obtain the maxi- mum benefit from the product. To lessen any distraction and discouragement, Fast ForWord Reading exercises include points and on-screen rewards that can be combined with motivational activities. These rewards and activities are effective ways to provide students with positive reinforcement. Rewarding students for their hard work encourages them to maintain sustained and focused atten- tion. Motivation is a critical factor in whether students achieve the high levels of participation and completion necessary for success (80% or higher). Lab coaches, teachers, administrators and parents can work together to create an effective program for building intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Timely intervention is key to supporting students’ effective performance on the exercises. Teachers can use informal and formal assessment strategies to identify when a student is experiencing difficulty.
What kind of results can be expected? Students can achieve, on average, a 1 to 2 year gain in reading skills in 4 to 16 weeks using one of the prescribed protocols: Neuroscience research confirms the importance of frequency and intensity of activity to build and strengthen new skills. The research-based protocol recommended here ensures students receive fre- quent and intense practice, while providing teachers with the flexibility to meet their instructional programs’ structure and objectives. In addition, students often exhibit enhanced self-confi- 30 minutes each day Five days a week for 12 – 16 weeks dence, better communication, 40 minutes each day Five days a week for 9 – 13 weeks greater interest in learning, 50 minutes each day Five days a week for 6 – 10 weeks and improved mental agility 90 minutes each day Five days a week for 4 – 7 weeks and alertness, after working on these exercises.
10 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 The Learning Environment
Fast ForWord Reading Series can be used in a variety of scenarios within a school: Classroom Setting In this scenario the teacher provides direct instruction using effective read- ing strategies to help students use the program before, during and after using Fast ForWord Reading. Often there may be a paraprofessional who may assist students as they work on the computer while the teacher works with other students on different activities. ➤ L arge Group – The teacher leads a discussion about the target skill(s) being addressed in Fast ForWord and demonstrates how the product works using a computer and large screen or projection system. Some of the teacher-directed offline activities, such as stories read aloud or practice with word lists or families, also may be done with a large group. ➤ Small Group – Students are given the directions in a small group by the teacher. Then each student goes to the computer to work on individualized exercises, adapted to his or her ability. As students finish, they may work on an offline activity that supports the exercises completed on the computer or prepares the student for the next exercise. ➤ Individual Student – A student works on an individualized program either in the classroom or in a pull out program using the software and the offline activities.
Computer Lab Students work on the program in the computer lab where there are many comput- ers. The Lab Coordinator or a paraprofessional may guide the student as needed.
Media Center This scenario works similar to the Computer Lab environment. Students work inde- pendently with assistance as needed from the media specialist or a paraprofessional.
No matter where Fast ForWord Reading is used, it is important to have a smooth implementation. Each station where a student works on the software should have the following elements: ❏ Computer with the minimum technical requirements ❏ Two sets of high-quality stereo headphones – one for the student, one for the teacher ❏ One Y-adapter for the headphones – This allows the teacher to listen to the student as he is working on the software. ❏ Headphones plugged into the computer with the Y-adapter ❏ Access to a printer ❏ Internet connection
The station should be located in such a way that the teacher/coach/aide can easily observe the student’s progress and intervene if he is struggling with the exercise. There should also be room for the student to do paper and pencil seatwork on offline activities when finished with the online exercises as students may work at different speeds to complete their assignments.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 11 Sample Learning Station Here is a sample configuration of a learning station:
Stereo Y-adapter Computer Partition
Clutter-free desk or table
2 sets of stereo Non-swivel headphones for chair student and teacher
12 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Exercises
Scrap Cat Scrap Cat uses categorization to help develop decoding skills, vocabulary, automatic word recognition, and an understanding of semantics (meaning), syntax (part of speech), phonology (sound structure), morphology (word structure), and conceptual relationships. The student helps Scrap Cat recycle the bottles and cans by sorting the words into their appropriate categories.
Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures helps develop sentence comprehension, syntax (part of speech), working memory, logical reasoning, and vocabulary as the student matches the pictures to their descriptive titles . The student helps the museum get things organized by matching the correct descriptive sentences to their corresponding paintings .
Book Monkeys Book Monkeys helps develop paragraph comprehension, the understanding of cause and effect, the ability to make inferences, working memory, and vocabulary as the student reads paragraphs and answers related questions. Monkeying around in the library and not putting the books where they belong has left the library in a big mess. The student helps the librarian get the library back in order.
14 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 scrap cat GOAL ➤ To improve automatic word recognition and understanding of conceptual relationships. objectives ➤ Develop automatic word recognition. ➤ Develop understanding of conceptual relationships. ➤ Develop decoding, vocabulary and word categorization skills. ➤ Understand semantic, syntactic, phonological and morphological properties.
SKILLS Cognitive Skills Memory – long-term recall of vocabulary and sight words Attention – selective attention to process different aspects of the vocabulary presented Processing – linguistic and visual processing
Reading/Language Arts Skills ➤ Impr ove decoding, vocabulary, and word recognition skills by working on: • Conceptual relationships • Semantics • Syntax • Phonological properties • Morphological properties
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 15 scrap cat
Reading Curriculum Standards (Note: Scrap Cat exercise also presents instruction above and below grade level)
➤ U nderstand the basic features of a reading, select and know how to translate letter patterns into spoken language using phonics, syllabication, and word parts, and apply this knowl- edge for fluent oral and silent reading. ➤ Recognize and use knowledge of spelling patterns (diphthongs, special vowel spellings) when reading. ➤ Kno w and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words. ➤ D ecode regular multi-syllabic words. ➤ D emonstrate knowledge of levels of specificity among grade-appropriate words. ➤ U se the dictionary to learn the meaning and other features of unknown words. ➤ U se knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of words. ➤ Identify adjectives and compound words. ➤ Identify past, present, and future verb tenses properly. ➤ R ecognize the similarities of sounds in words. ➤ R ecognize the rhythmical patterns in a selection.
Description
Scrap Cat helps participants develop decoding, vocabulary and word categorization skills. It helps students learn to automatically access the various dimensions of vocabulary, including semantic, syntactic, phonological and morphological properties. Scrap Cat helps students learn to be flexible when reading and encourages the development of automatic word recognition and the understanding of conceptual relationships. The student helps Scrap Cat recycle the bottles and cans by sorting the words into their appropriate categories.
How Students Work on Scrap Cat
When the student clicks the yellow KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS paw, a bottle or can rolls down the Button Keyboard Shortcut recycling chute and displays a word. Paw Space bar The student must figure out which Category bags, left to right Number keys 1 through 4 category the word fits into, and then click that category’s bin on the right.
16 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 scrap cat
If the student doesn’t understand a word, the student can look up the definition by clicking the “?” button at the bottom of the recycling chute. Scrap Cat presents the word and the number of syllables, along with a short definition. The student can click the speaker button if he or she wants to hear the word read aloud. If the student doesn’t understand a category, the student can click the speaker next to each category bin to hear the category name read aloud, as well as hear additional information about the category, such as examples.
How Students Progress through Scrap Cat
Scrap Cat progresses through four category types as follows: ➤ Semantic categories: The student sorts words according to definition (such as animals and states). ➤ Syntactic categories: The student sorts words into grammatical groups (such as nouns and verbs). ➤ Phonological categories: The student sorts words according to vowel sounds, consonant sounds, and syllables (such as “has one consonant sound” and “has the same vowel sound as ate”). ➤ Morphological categories: The student sorts words by morpheme (such as “has a suffix that means full of” and “is a plural”)
How Students Advance in Scrap Cat
Scrap Cat helps students advance by working on progressively larger numbers of words in progres- sively more categories. ➤ When starting to work on a new category type, such as semantics, Scrap Cat presents two dif- ferent categories (such as animals and things to wear) from the first category group. The student then sorts six different words (such as salamander and mitten) into these categories. ➤ After all six words have been sorted, Scrap Cat evaluates that group of trials. If the student has sorted at least 90 percent of the words correctly, Scrap Cat presents more categories and more words to sort until the student is sorting 20 words into 4 different categories. ➤ After the student has completed 90 percent of each group of trials correctly for the current cat- egory group, Scrap Cat advances to the next category group. ➤ If a group of trials includes fewer than 10 trials, the student may complete 1 trial incorrectly and still be considered for advancement.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 17 scrap cat
Mastery If a student repeats a group of trials 3 times but does not achieve 90 percent correct, Scrap Cat presents a new category group from the same category type. Before the student completes the exercise, and after the student completes as much of the material in Scrap Cat as possible, Scrap Cat returns the student to the group (or groups) of trials that the student did not complete with 90 percent accuracy. Scrap Cat requires the student to work on this group (or groups) of trials until he or she achieves 90 percent accuracy.
Points Awarded in Scrap Cat Scrap Cat awards points to the student based on the following conditions: ➤ Correct answers: The student earns 4 points for each trial that is correctly completed without the use of the dictionary. ➤ Dictionary-aided correct answers: If the student uses the dictionary, Scrap Cat awards only 1 point for a correct answer. In addition, that answer does not count toward the total cor- rect for the group of trials and is therefore not evaluated for advancement. A correct answer after dictionary use also does not count toward bonus points.
18 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 scrap cat
➤ Bonus points: After the student completes 10 trials correctly without the use of the dictionary, Scrap Cat rewards the student’s performance with 10 bonus points.
Scrap Cat Content
Semantic Sorting Categories
Gr oup One Animals Things to Wear Things people can Tools be fawn shirt daughter shovel turkey crown queen saw goose skirt artist hammer turtle mitten scout pliers skunk sweater author plow horse boot soldier file salamander pants scientist screwdriver
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 19 scrap cat
Gr oup Two Things to eat Things someone Things to find in Things to find can be the house outdoors strawberry clever stove hill squash hungry blanket garden bread practical sink surf pear smart bathtub cloud cheese curious lamp pool soup handsome couch iceberg hamburger brave bookcase raindrops
Gr oup Three Things with Parts of the body Things to read Things to do with wheels your mouth truck cheek magazine lick skateboard forehead newspaper smile tricycle elbow letter burp train arm label talk jeep shoulder sign laugh wagon toenail book yell scooter hip billboard giggle
Gr oup Four Money Fun Family Dangerous coin circus father poison dime birthday sister thorn penny present grandfather knife nickel party mother wreck quarter hobby aunt claw dollar games brother volcano case laughter cousin criminal
20 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 scrap cat
Group Five Months Holidays States Countries January Christmas California France April Passover Alabama Germany March Kwanzaa Delaware China August Halloween Texas Australia February Thanksgiving Mississippi Italy November Easter Idaho Peru July Ramadan Tennessee Egypt
Syntactic Sorting Categories
Group One (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Prepositions) NOUNS VERBS Adjectives Prepositions glacier argue cloudy around avocados caught rude over colony stared important beside bulb enjoy merry before protection thinks silent below automobile create worthless during electricity fainted moist across
Phonological Sorting Categories Group One Has two Has the same vow- Has the same vow- Has the same vow- syllables el sound as ate el sound as me el sound as go
merchant plane these flow rapid quail freeze globe better sway dream clothes panther break stream rope shower strange leave road myself vein weep woe twinkle elevation greenery soap
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 21 scrap cat
Group Two Has the same vow- Has the same vow- Has the same vow- Has the same vow- el sound as mop el sound as rope el sound as rat el sound as cut
spot goat have sponge block hoped snap from falter meadow glass some closet clover crackle crumb operate raincoat black cupcake proper tone brat hush model folk drag unto
Group Three Has the “s” sound Has three conso- Has three vowel Has one conso- nant sounds sounds nant sound
cell tread deliver are lace pinch porcupine cue tracing plate company toy proceed brick blueberry bow dressed third awfully shoe display hired oriole obey housework prize whatever thy
Morphological Sorting Categories
gRoup one haS a SuFFIX ThaT Has a prefix that Has a suffix None of the MeanS happened means not or meaning full of above reverse in the past read appeared disappear thankful placed displace grateful place attached discontinue healthful attach played dishonest playful speed covered discover careful dishes ordered disorder truthful dull thanked disagree helpful disease
22 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 scrap cat
Gr oup Two I s a plural noun Has a prefix Is a possessive Is a compound word monuments untie theirs toothpaste chimneys react hers afternoon oxen preview our footstep witnesses bicycle his dragonfly cherries reset your turtleneck elevators unlimited mine skyrocket knives disabled my scrapbook
Gr oup Three H as a prefix that Has a suffix that Has a prefix that None of the means again makes it an means not above adverb replay quickly uncover jelly retie quietly unbend realize reinvent properly uncommon reach reset fully uncomfortable reading refill probably undoes underground rebound fortunately unfit uncle retake silently unhook uniform
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 23 Twisted Pictures
GOAL ➤ To develop sentence comprehension skills.
Objectives ➤ Improve skills in using syntax (part of speech). ➤ Improve vocabulary skills. ➤ Improve working memory. ➤ Improve logical thinking skills.
SKILLS cognitive Skills Memory — recall of vocabulary and grammatical structures from long-term memory while holding multiple sentences in working memory and comparing them Attention — sustained attention Processing — linguistic and visual processing Sequencing — use word order to help determine precise meanings
Reading/Language Arts Skills ➤ Sentence comprehension — Determine best of four syntactically similar sentences describing accompanying picture. ➤ Syntax — Work with 17 syntactic structures of varying complexity. ➤ Logical reasoning — Work with sentences that use reversible nouns, similar vocabulary, and similar syntax. ➤ V ocabulary — Use more advanced vocabulary words in longer sentences; expand automatic word recognition skills.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 43 Twisted Pictures
Reading Curriculum Standards (Note: Twisted Pictures also presents instruction that is above and below grade level)
➤ U se sentence and word context to find meaning of unknown words. ➤ Understand and be able to use complete and correct declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences. ➤ Identify articles. ➤ Identify adjectives and compound words. ➤ Identify pronouns. ➤ Identify past, present, and future verb tenses properly. ➤ D emonstrate comprehension by pinpointing answers in text. ➤ E xtract appropriate and significant information from text, including problems and solutions.
Description
Twisted Pictures helps the student improve sentence comprehension in the following ways: ➤ Sentence comprehension: Twisted Pictures presents four syntactically similar sentences, one of which best describes the picture shown. The participant must comprehend each sentence in order to choose the sentence that best describes the picture. ➤ Syntax: Twisted Pictures presents 17 syntactic structures of varying complexity. ➤ Working memory: The participant must hold each word of the four presented sentences in mind to construct a gist for each sentence, and then must hold those in mind while choosing the correct sentence. Developing working memory abilities will help the participant not only keep sentence meaning in mind but also read and comprehend more complicated and lengthy texts. ➤ L ogical reasoning: Because sentences use reversible nouns, similar vocabulary and similar syntax, the participant must use logical reasoning rather than relying only on common sense to comprehend each sentence and choose the correct sentence. Using logical reasoning to compre- hend sentences allows the participant to become a flexible reader. ➤ V ocabulary: As the participant progresses, Twisted Pictures presents longer sentences that use more advanced vocabulary words. Vocabulary skills contribute to automatic word recognition, which is an important factor in fluent reading. Reading a key set of words several times in differ- ent sentences further contributes to automatic word recognition. The student helps the museum get things organized by matching the correct descriptive sentences to their corresponding paintings.
44 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
How Students Work on Twisted Pictures
When the student clicks the yellow KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS paw, a painting and four sentences Button Keyboard Shortcut appear. The student must choose Paw Space bar the sentence that most accurately describes the painting. Responses, top to bottom Number keys 1 through 4
How Students Progress through Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures progresses through three levels of difficulty as follows: ➤ Level 1: The student works on sentences that contain, on average, 6 words. Words are at the 2nd grade level at highest. ➤ Level 2: The student works on sentences that contain, on average, 8 words. Words are at the 3rd grade level at highest. ➤ Level 3: The student works on sentences that contain, on average, 12 words. Words are at the 4th grade level at highest. At each level, Twisted Pictures presents 6 tiers of syntactic complexity. Each tier contains several dif- ferent syntactic structures (categories) that are all mastered at roughly the same age: ➤ 1 st tier: Simple clauses, prepositional phrases, negations, conjunctions ➤ 2nd tier: Subject relativization—sentences containing a relative clause that describes the subject of the main clause ➤ 3 rd tier: Transformations and embeddings that challenge Subject-Verb-Object parsing ➤ 4th tier: Complex subject relativization—sentences containing a Subject-Verb-Object relative clause that describes the subject of the main clause ➤ 5th tier: Object relativization—Subject-Verb-Object sentences containing a relative clause that describes the object of the main clause ➤ 6th tier: Cleft sentences and subject infinitival clauses
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 45 Twisted Pictures
How Students Advance in Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures presents syntactic structure categories in variable order to give the student exposure to all syntactic structures. This strategy simulates real-life situations in which the student is sur- rounded by people using a variety of syntactic structures in everyday conversation. It also prevents the student from advancing steadily and then suddenly getting stuck, becoming frustrated, and withdrawing attention from the exercise. The student works on 4 different trials for each category, and the student works on all 4 of these trials before Twisted Pictures moves on to the next category. Twisted Pictures presents a total of 17 different syntax structure categories at each level.
Mastery Twisted Pictures does not use plateau-based transitions for the following reasons: • Twisted Pictures presents all categories of syntactic complexity at each level. • Each level increases the difficulty of sentence length and vocabulary level but not the complexity of the syntax.
46 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Therefore, Twisted Pictures requires the student to work on the trials at each level until he or she achieves 90 percent accuracy. At that point, the student is better prepared to work on the same syntactic structures in longer sentences with more difficult vocabulary words.
Points Awarded in Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures awards points to the student based on the following conditions: ➤ Correct answers: The student earns 7 points for each trial that is correctly completed. ➤ Bonus points: After the student completes 10 trials correctly, Twisted Pictures rewards the stu- dent’s performance with 20 bonus points.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 47 Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures Content Subject-Verb Attributive/Stative
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The chicken is eating. The fat and smiling monkey is The magnificent, shiny horn is The chicken is sitting . working hard. leaning dangerously. The cat is eating . The thin and frowning monkey is The magnificent, shiny horn is lying eating . safely . The cat is standing . The fat and smiling cat is eating . The beautiful, wooden guitar is The thin and frowning cat is leaning dangerously . working hard . The beautiful, wooden piano is leaning dangerously .
The dog is brown. The tall dog is singing. The wide-awake duck is The dog is small . The sitting dog is writing . performing brilliantly. The snake is green . The sad skunk is writing . The exhausted duck is performing poorly . The snake is big. The tall skunk is singing . The wide-awake cat is performing poorly . The exhausted cat is performing brilliantly.
The zebra is sad. The scared dog is stepping softly. The clean and tall horse is The zebra is thin. The curious dog is stepping softly . listening attentively. The cow is sad . The scared snake is observing. The clean and tall horse is staring blankly. The cow is fat . The curious snake is stepping softly . The short and dirty cow is listening attentively . The clean and tall cow is staring blankly.
The skunk is alone. The lean cow is slipping. The late chicken is messy and The skunk is clean . The chubby cow is slipping. wrinkled. The monkey is alone . The lean horse is sitting . The late chicken is tidy and organized . The monkey is dirty . The short horse is slipping . The early skunk is messy and . wrinkled . The late skunk is tidy and organized .
48 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
A ctive Voice: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The pig rows the skunk. The yellow giraffe seizes the The stern conductor leads the The skunk rows the pig . brown hippopotamus. disorderly band. The pig rows the dog . The brown hippopotamus seizes The disorderly band leads the stern the yellow giraffe . conductor . The skunk rows the dog . The yellow giraffe seizes the yellow The stern conductor leads the balloons. bored audience. The brown hippopotamus seizes The bored audience leads the the yellow balloons. disorderly band.
The monkey is paying The brown bear bumps the red The young, poorly dressed violin the snake. fox. player copies the old, well- The snake is paying the The red fox bumps the brown bear. dressed violin player. monkey . The brown bear bumps the green The old, well-dressed violin player The monkey is paying the turtle . copies the young, poorly dressed violin player . chicken . The red fox bumps the green turtle. The snake is paying the The old, poorly dressed violin chicken . player copies the young, poorly dressed violin player . The old, well-dressed violin player copies the young, well-dressed violin player .
The cat is holding the The helpful cat serves the The stout horn player follows the box. contented dog. slender violin player. The box is holding the cat. The contented dog serves the The slender violin player follows The ball is holding the helpful cat . the stout horn player . chicken . The helpful cat serves the playful The stout violin player follows the The chicken is holding the fox . slender horn player . box. The playful fox serves the The slender horn player follows the contented dog . stout violin player .
The cow sprays the The smiling skunk purchases an The fearful goat is clutching the zebra. ice cream. light-hearted goose. The zebra sprays the The rude raccoon purchases an ice The light-hearted goose is monkey . cream . clutching the fearful goat . The zebra sprays the cow. The smiling skunk feeds some The fearful goat is clutching the The cow sprays the seagulls . guitar . monkey . The rude raccoon feeds some The light-hearted goat is clutching seagulls . the guitar .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 49 Twisted Pictures
Simple Negation
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cat is not playing The smiling dog is not speeding. The sorrowful bear is not playing Frisbee. The smiling dog is speeding . a brass instrument. The cat is playing Frisbee. The frowning monkey is not The sorrowful bear is playing a The monkey is not playing speeding . brass instrument. Frisbee. The smiling monkey is speeding . The jolly wolf is playing a worn The monkey is short . guitar . The jolly wolf is not playing a brass instrument .
The dog is not jumping The giraffe is not copying the The curious raccoon is not rope. horse’s movements. clanging the metal bell. The dog is jumping rope . The giraffe is copying the horse’s The mischievous monkey is not The skunk is not jumping movements . clanging the metal bell. rope . The cow is copying the giraffe’s The curious raccoon is clanging the The skunk is fat . movements . metal bell. The horse is copying the giraffe’s The curious raccoon is not carrying movements . a telescope .
The pig is not picking the The alarmed pig is not lifting the The chubby duck is not playing a flowers. bar. soft and pretty melody. The pig is picking the The delighted pig is lifting the bar. The chubby duck is playing a soft flowers . The delighted cow is not lifting the and pretty melody . The dog is not picking the bar. The skinny dog is not playing a soft flowers . The alarmed horse is not lifting the and pretty melody . The dog is frowning . bar. The skinny dog is sitting in a short chair .
The cat is not playing The blindfolded monkey is not The piano player is not wearing hopscotch. aiming the ball correctly. torn blue jeans. The cat is playing The blindfolded monkey is aiming The piano player is wearing torn hopscotch . the ball correctly. blue jeans. The skunk is not playing The worried cat is aiming the ball The singer is wearing a fancy ball hopscotch . correctly . gown . The skunk is well dressed . The frowning cat is not aiming the The singer is playing the grand ball correctly. piano .
50 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
S V + Prepositional Phrases
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The skateboard is under The calm dog is sitting over the The concerned violin player is the bench. water. looking down at his violin. The kite is on the bench. The nervous cat is sitting under the The calm horn player is looking out The skateboard is under water . at the crowd . the picnic table. The nervous dog is sitting beside The calm violin player is looking up The kite is under the picnic the water . at the ceiling . table. The calm cat is sitting over the The concerned violin player is water . looking up at the conductor .
The cat sits on the slide. The balloon is secured to the The glaring conductor points The cat stands behind the bench with a red ribbon. directly toward the beaming slide . The balloon is secured to the bench tuba player. The dog sits next to the with a blue ribbon. The glaring conductor points away slide . The balloon is secured to the from the beaming tuba player. The dog stands under the bicycle with a red ribbon. The glaring conductor points slide . The balloon is secured to the directly toward the uncertain piano bicycle with a blue ribbon. player . The beaming tuba player points away from the glaring conductor .
The kite is hanging in a The thankful pig’s prize came The poodles in clever costumes tree. from the skunk. are dancing toward each other The kite is flying in the air . The ungrateful pig’s prize came on the stage. The ball is hanging in a from the skunk . The poodles in clever costumes are tree . The thankful dog’s prize came from dancing away from each other on the stage . The ball is flying in the air. the skunk . The thankful skunk’s prize came The poodles in clever costumes are from the dog . dancing toward each other in front of the stage . The poodles in clever costumes are dancing away from each other in front of the stage .
The cow jumps rope with The brave monkey crawls toward The talented sheepdog is playing the zebra. the concerned duck. with the amusing armadillo The cow is reading on the The brave monkey crawls away under the stars. bench. from the concerned duck . The talented sheepdog is playing The cow jumps rope with The brave duck crawls toward the with the amusing armadillo inside the snake . concerned monkey . the tent . The chicken is reading on The concerned duck crawls away The amusing armadillo is playing the bench. from the brave monkey. without the talented sheepdog under the stars . The talented sheepdog is playing without the amusing armadillo inside the tent .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 51 Twisted Pictures
C onjunction of NP, VP, S using and, or, neither-nor
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cow and the chicken The skunk is neither eating The short, handsome dog and are hot. cotton candy nor eating an ice- the tall, slender cat are singing The cow and the chicken cream cone. joyfully and loudly. are cold . The skunk is neither eating an ice- The tall, slender dog and the short, The snake and the chicken cream cone nor eating a hot dog . pretty cat are singing sadly and are hot . The snake is neither eating cotton quietly. The cow and the snake are candy nor eating an ice-cream The short, pretty skunk and the hot . cone . short, handsome dog are singing The snake is neither eating an ice- joyfully and loudly . cream cone nor eating a hot dog . The tall, slender cat and the short, pretty skunk are singing sadly and quietly.
Neither the dog nor the The skinny hippo and the chubby Neither the spotted cow nor the cat is playing tennis. giraffe are cheerful. sleek stallion is tuning a guitar. Neither the dog nor the cat The skinny hippo and the chubby Neither the spotted cow nor the is sitting on a blanket. giraffe are gloomy . sleek stallion is tuning a violin . Neither the dog nor the cat The chubby hippo and the skinny Neither the sleek stallion nor the is eating a picnic lunch . horse are cheerful . grizzly bear is tuning a violin. Neither the dog nor the cat The chubby hippo and the chubby Neither the spotted cow nor the is happy . horse are gloomy . grizzly bear is tuning a guitar.
The snake and the The zebra can choose the duck The pig is sitting and carefully chicken are asleep. or the rabbit to get on the Ferris taking apart his brass horn. The snake and the chicken wheel. The pig is sitting and playing his are awake . The duck can choose the zebra bagpipe mournfully. The skunk and the chicken or the rabbit to get on the Ferris The cat is sitting and playing her are asleep . wheel . bagpipe mournfully. The snake and the skunk The rabbit can choose the zebra The cat is standing and carefully are asleep . or the monkey to get on the Ferris taking apart her brass horn. wheel . The zebra can choose the rabbit or the monkey to get on the Ferris wheel .
The cow and the zebra The cat and the dog are setting The guilty monkey is returning eat the cake. out their favorite food for lunch. the valuable music book and the The cow and the zebra The cat and the chicken are eating polished violin. don’t eat the cake. the lunch . The guilty monkey is returning the The cow and the zebra eat The dog and the chicken are eating valuable music book and the worn the sandwich . the lunch . guitar . The cow and the zebra eat The chicken and the monkey are The guilty monkey is returning the the banana. setting out their favorite food for worn guitar and the polished violin . lunch . The pleased raccoon is returning the valuable music book and the polished violin .
52 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Subject Relativization: SV modifier (past and present)
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cat that is smiling is The zebra that is searching is The country cat that is playing swinging. playing hide-and-seek. quickly is jolly. The cat that is frowning is The zebra that is searching is The city cat that is fiddling slowly is swinging . rowing a canoe . serious . The cat that is smiling is The zebra that is hiding is playing The country mouse that is fiddling falling . hide-and-seek. quickly is serious. The cat that is frowning is The zebra that is hiding is rowing The city mouse that is playing standing . a boat. slowly is jolly .
The balloon that escaped The brown cow that won is The longhaired, laughing dog is purple. pleased and delighted. that is drumming is wild. The balloon that escaped The brown cow that won is sad and The shorthaired, frowning dog that is orange . upset . is dancing is tame . The balloon that escaped The blue horse that won is pleased The longhaired, laughing monkey is yellow . and delighted . that is drumming is tame . The balloon that escaped The yellow dog that won is sad and The shorthaired, frowning monkey is blue. upset . that is drumming is wild .
The dog that is sliding The pig that is rushing honked The chubby, horn-playing cow is fat. his horn. that is running is humorous. The dog that is spinning The pig that is lagging honked his The skinny, violin-playing cow that is thin . horn . is standing is earnest . The cat that is sliding is fat . The cat that is rushing honked his The chubby, horn-playing horse The chicken that is horn . that is standing is earnest . spinning is thin . The duck that is rushing honked his The skinny, violin-playing horse horn . that is running is humorous .
The red picnic basket The strong skunk that won is The well-dressed skunk that is that broke was full. beaming. browsing is delighted. The green bag that broke The tall skunk that lost is pouting . The skunk in the uniform that is was full . The thin chicken that won is purchasing is sad . The red picnic basket that beaming. The well-dressed pig that is broke was empty. The short chicken that lost is browsing is sad. The green bag that broke pouting . The pig in the uniform that is was empty . purchasing is delighted .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 53 Twisted Pictures
Subject Relativization SV reduced
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cat crawling is The grinning dog announcing is The capable alligator instructing young. fat. is patient with his student. The cat walking is old . The frowning dog announcing is The confused alligator playing is The dog crawling is old . thin . worried about his progress. The dog walking is young . The grinning cat announcing is The capable crane instructing is thin . patient with her student . The frowning pig announcing is The confused crane instructing is thin . worried about her progress.
The pig sweating is The duck winning is an excellent The short, lazy drummer rowing. pitcher. snoozing during the concert is The pig reading is fishing. The duck losing is a terrible pitcher. under the stage. The chicken sweating is The skunk winning is a terrible The short, hard-working guitarist rowing . pitcher . playing in the band is singing a song . The chicken reading is The skunk winning is an excellent fishing. pitcher . The tall, lazy guitarist playing in the band is under the stage. The short, hard-working drummer playing in the band is singing a song .
The monkey frowning is The friendly dog waving is The chubby, well-dressed pig struggling. wearing plaid pants. boasting loudly is selling tickets. The monkey smiling is The friendly dog waving is wearing The chubby, well-dressed pig resting . striped pants . hiding meekly is selling pretzels . The dog smiling is The unfriendly cat waving is The lean, poorly dressed cow struggling . wearing plaid pants . hiding meekly is selling tickets . The dog frowning is The friendly cat waving is wearing The lean, poorly dressed cow resting . striped pants . boasting loudly is selling pretzels.
The zebra napping is old. The cow signaling is wearing a The chubby duck quacking off- The zebra reading is hat. key is ashamed. young . The cow racing is wearing a The skinny duck playing his tune is The cow napping is old . bathing suit. proud . The cow reading is young . The zebra signaling is wearing a The chubby skunk singing off-key is bathing suit. ashamed . The pig racing is wearing a hat . The skinny skunk playing in tune is proud .
54 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Subject Relativization: Negation
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The monkey that is not The pig that is not eating is The rat in the black cap that is not talking is wet. feeling sick. dancing is listening to the jukebox. The monkey that is not The pig that is eating is smiling . The rat in the black cap that is dancing talking is dry . The pig that is eating is feeling is listening to the jukebox. The zebra that is reading sick . The cat in the dark sunglasses that is is wet . The monkey that is not eating is not dancing is listening to the radio . The monkey that is talking smiling . The rat in the dark sunglasses that is is dry . not dancing is listening to the radio .
The chicken that is not The cow that is not joking with The serious zebra that is not flying a kite is swinging. her friend is aiming the dart blowing her horn is reading. The chicken that is not correctly. The stout cow that is not blowing her flying a kite is jumping . The cow that is joking with horn is nibbling. The snake that is flying a her friend is aiming the dart The serious zebra that is blowing her kite is swinging . correctly . horn is reading . The chicken that is flying a The pig that is not joking with The slender monkey that is not kite is jumping . her friend is not aiming the dart blowing her horn is not reading. correctly . The pig that is joking with her friend is aiming the dart correctly .
The pig that is not sitting The well-dressed skunk that is The dog that is not composing in the sun is smiling. not preening is holding a fan. music is reading a book of poems. The pig that is not sitting The well-dressed skunk that is The skunk that is not composing in the sun is frowning . preening is holding a fan . music is reading a book of poems. The pig that is sitting in The well-dressed zebra that is The dog that is composing music is the sun is smiling . not preening is holding a comb. reading a book of poems. The snake that is sitting in The well-dressed zebra that is The skunk that is composing music is the sun is frowning . preening is holding an umbrella. reading a book of poems.
The snake that is not The scary monkey that is not The monkey in the pretty frock that reading is jumping. popping up is excited. is not trying out for the band is The snake that is not The scary monkey that is bashful. reading is roller-skating. popping up is excited . The monkey in the pretty frock that is The cat that is reading is The scary dog that is popping trying out for the band is bashful. jumping . up is bored. The tiger cub with an electric guitar The snake that is reading is The scary monkey that is that is not trying out for the band is jumping . popping up is bored. not daring . The monkey with an electric guitar that is not trying out for the band is daring .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 55 Twisted Pictures
Infinitival Complement to Verb
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cow wants to swim. The cow wants to cheer up his The energetic chicken loves to play The cow wants to read . cross friend. the white piano. The pig wants to climb. The cow wants to pester The lazy chicken loves to bang on the delighted friend . large drums . The pig wants to swim . The pig wants to cheer up his The energetic duck loves to watch the cross friend . talented musicians . The horse wants to pester his The lazy dog loves to play the white cross friend . piano .
The cat wants to play. The pig likes to construct The tall giraffe in the blue hat asked The dog wants to play . sandcastles by the ocean. to test the long-necked guitar. The cat wants to eat . The pig likes to swim in the The short giraffe in the green hat aquarium asked to test the precious violin . The dog wants to run . The duck likes to construct The short cow in the green hat asked sandcastles by the ocean. to test the long-necked guitar. The duck likes to swim in the The tall cow in the blue hat asked to aquarium. test the precious violin .
The tall monkey in the The stylish snake wants to The busy dog wants to go to the yellow jacket asked to fly charm the silly salmon. music concert. the kite. The stylish snake wants to dance The busy dog wants to go to the The short monkey in the on the stage . action movie . yellow jacket asked to The silly salamander wants to The daydreaming cat wants to go to hold the balloon. charm the stylish salmon . the clothing store . The short zebra in the blue The stylish salmon wants to The daydreaming cat wants to go to jacket asked to fly the kite . dance on the stage . the action movie . The tall zebra in the blue jacket asked to hold the balloon.
The chicken tries to save The excited pig likes to drag The chubby chicken knows to tune the drowning dog. his little sister to all the rides. the violin before playing. The dog tries to save the The excited pig likes to take The chubby chicken knows to tune drowning chicken . tickets for the stage show . the horn before playing. The chicken tries to save The gloomy dog likes to drag his The skinny duck knows to tune the the sinking boat. little sister to all the rides . violin before playing. The dog tries to save the The excited dog likes to take The skinny duck knows to open the sinking boat. tickets for the stage show . music book before playing.
56 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Passive Voice: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The chicken is pushed by The lost pig was located by The seated violin player is accompanied the cat. the clever duck. by the standing horn player. The cat is pushed by the The lost duck was located by The seated horn player is accompanied chicken . the clever pig . by the standing violin player. The chicken is pushed by The lost monkey was located The seated horn player is accompanied the monkey . by the clever pig. by the seated piano player. The monkey is pushed by The lost duck was located by The standing piano player is the cat . the clever monkey . accompanied by the seated violin player.
The ball was thrown by The pretty zebra was lifted The famous music contest was won by the cow in the red shirt. by the mysterious cow. the spotted horse in the formal black The ball was thrown by the The mysterious cow was suit. pig in the green hat . lifted by the pretty zebra. The famous music contest was won by The Frisbee was thrown by The pretty snake was lifted by the spotted cow in the blue ball gown. the cow in the red shirt . the mysterious zebra. The prize money was won by the The Frisbee was thrown by The pretty cow was lifted by splendid pig in the formal black suit. the pig in the yellow hat . the mysterious snake . The prize money was won by the spotted cow in the brown suit.
The skunk is tagged by The hungry cat is The laughing horn players are greeted the monkey. approached by the candy- by the handsome fiddle player outside The monkey is tagged by apple seller. the dance hall. the skunk . The candy-apple seller is The handsome fiddle player is greeted The skunk is tagged by the approached by the hungry by the laughing horn players outside the chicken . cat . dance hall . The chicken is tagged by The candy-apple seller is The grimacing horn players are greeted the monkey . approached by the ticket- by the bagpipe player at the train station. taker . The handsome fiddle player is greeted The hungry cat is approached by the bagpipe player outside the dance by the ticket-taker. hall .
The small boat was The well-dressed monkey The woeful, poorly dressed violin guided by the skunk on was sprayed by the bratty player is embraced by the comforting, shore. cat. well-dressed horn player. The small boat was guided The bratty cat was sprayed by The woeful, poorly dressed horn player by the cat in the boat. the well-dressed monkey. is embraced by the comforting, well- The large boat was guided The well-dressed skunk was dressed violin player . by the skunk on shore. sprayed by the bratty cat. The woeful, poorly dressed violin player The large boat was guided The well-dressed monkey is embraced by the comforting, well- by the skunk in the boat. was sprayed by the bratty dressed doorman . skunk . The comforting, poorly dressed violin player is embraced by the woeful, well- dressed horn player .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 57 Twisted Pictures
Subject Relativization: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The zebra that chases The orange duck that passed The frowning conductor that the monkey is short. the dog is cheering. instructs the pretty chicken violin The zebra that chases the The spotted duck that passed player is stout. monkey is tall . the dog is crying . The smiling chicken violin player that The monkey that chases The orange dog that passed the instructs the plain conductor is slender . the zebra is short. duck is cheering . The smiling conductor that instructs The monkey that chases The spotted dog that passed the the plain chicken violin player is slender . the zebra is tall. duck is crying . The pretty chicken violin player that instructs the frowning conductor is stout .
The chicken that pulls The bratty monkey that The anxious bandleader that hired the monkey is frowning. pesters the chicken is fat. the peaceful horn player is thin and The monkey that pulls the The clever monkey that pesters hard-working. chicken is frowning . the chicken is thin . The peaceful horn player that hired The chicken that pulls the The bratty chicken that pesters the anxious bandleader is thin and monkey is smiling . the monkey is fat . hard-working. The monkey that pulls the The clever chicken that pesters The anxious bandleader that hired the chicken is smiling . the monkey is thin . peaceful horn player is fat and lazy . The peaceful horn player that hired the anxious bandleader is fat and hard-working.
The skunk that fed the The dog that pushes aside The fresh-faced, young zebra that dog is old. the turtle scatters popcorn contacts the wealthy music producer The dog that fed the skunk everywhere. is excited. is old . The dog that pushes aside the The fresh-faced young music producer The skunk that fed the dog turtle spills soda on herself . that contacts the wealthy zebra is calm. is young . The turtle that pushes aside The fresh-faced, young zebra that The dog that fed the skunk the dog scatters popcorn contacts the wealthy music producer is is young . everywhere . calm . The turtle that pushes aside the The wealthy music producer that dog spills soda on herself . contacts the fresh-faced, young zebra is excited .
The chicken that The horse that chooses the The handsome cat that manages the addresses the cow is cow and the pig collects the costumed singing trio is winking. scared. money. The costumed singing trio that The chicken that addresses The horse that chooses the cow manages the handsome cat is winking . the cow is calm . and the zebra opens the gate. The handsome cat that manages the The cow that addresses The cow and the pig that choose costumed singing trio is sitting . the chicken is scared . the horse collect the money . The costumed singing trio that The cow that addresses The zebra that chooses the cow manages the handsome cat is the chicken is calm . and the pig collects the money . standing .
58 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Subject Relativization: SVO reduced
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The pig rowing the The little pig needing her The old dog tuning the white grand chicken wears a hat. older sister holds a lollipop. piano observes a tiny tuning fork. The chicken rowing the The big pig needing her The young dog playing the black grand pig wears a hat . younger sister holds a candy piano observes an enormous music The pig rowing the apple . book. chicken wears a backpack. The little pig needing her older The young cat playing the white grand The chicken rowing the sister holds a candy apple . piano observes an enormous tuning fork. pig wears a backpack. The big pig needing her The old cat tuning the black upright younger sister holds a lollipop . piano observes a tiny music book.
The cow teaching the The well-dressed monkey The feathered cow striking the silver zebra is smiling. exiting the funhouse is and gold bells holds a long stick. The zebra teaching the trembling. The painted horse striking the silver and cow is smiling . The sloppy monkey exiting gold bells holds a long stick. The cow teaching the the funhouse is grinning . The painted horse striking the black and zebra is frowning. The sloppy zebra exiting the brown drums holds a short stick. The zebra teaching the funhouse is trembling. The painted cow striking the black and cow is frowning . The well-dressed zebra brown drums holds a short stick. exiting the funhouse is grinning .
The dog watching the The little pig losing the The duck wearing headphones records monkey is holding a kite. group wants the dolls. the singer’s harmonies and the guitar The monkey watching the The little pig losing the group player’s melody. dog is holding a kite . wants the peanuts . The duck wearing headphones records The dog watching the The little dog losing the the drummer’s beats and the guitar monkey is carrying a soda . group wants the peanuts . player’s melody. The monkey watching the The little dog losing the The skunk wearing headphones records dog is carrying a soda . group wants the dolls . the drummer’s beats and the guitar player’s melody. The skunk wearing headphones records the singer’s harmonies and the guitar player’s melody.
The snake trailing the The cow waving the flag The capable horse erecting the skunk carries a pair of watches the boasts. background scene balances gracefully scissors. The cow waving good-bye on the leaning ladder. The skunk trailing the watches the passers-by. The capable horse painting the snake carries a pair of The zebra waving good-bye background scene hangs dangerously scissors . watches the boats. from the leaning ladder . The snake training the The zebra waving the flag The creative cat erecting the background skunk carries a small watches the passers-by. scene balances gracefully on the leaning shovel . ladder . The skunk trailing the The creative cat painting the background snake carries a small scene balances gracefully on the leaning shovel . ladder .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 59 Twisted Pictures
Double Embedding
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The cat that pushes the The mouse that dances on the The dog that whirls beside the cow that has a blue hat spool that is large is small. raccoon that is playing a horn wears has a yellow jacket. The mouse that dances on the a blue, flowered dress. The cat that pushes the spool that is small is large . The dog that whirls beside the cow that has a yellow hat The mouse that dances on the raccoon that is playing horn wears a has a blue jacket. spool that is small is small . blue, pinstriped suit. The cat that pushes the The mouse that dances on the The dog that whirls beside the cow that has a blue hat spool that is large is large . raccoon that is playing the drums has a blue jacket. wears a blue, flowered dress. The cat that pushes the The dog that whirls beside the cow that has a yellow hat raccoon that is playing the drums has a yellow jacket . wears a blue, pinstriped suit.
The monkey that seeks The beach balls that hang in The singing horse that entertains the skunk that is hiding a bunch near the table that is the crowd that is disorderly bows is fat. blue are striped. and gestures to the bandleader pig. The monkey that seeks the The beach balls that hang in The singing horse that entertains the skunk that is hiding is thin . a bunch near the table that is crowd that is disorderly throws the The monkey that seeks yellow are striped . tomatoes . the skunk that is climbing The beach balls that hang in a The singing horse that entertains the is tall . bunch near the table that is blue crowd that is slumbering bows and The monkey that seeks the are spotted . gestures to the bandleader pig. skunk that is climbing is The beach balls that hang in The singing horse that entertains the short . a bunch near the table that is crowd that is slumbering throws the yellow are spotted . tomatoes .
60 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Double Embedding
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The dog that played with The rabbit that skirted the The duck that thanks the contest the cat that has a green crowd that is booing is official that clutches a prize weeps ball has a white ball. crawling. for joy. The dog that played with The rabbit that skirted the The duck that thanks the contest the cat that has a white crowd that is booing is running. official that clutches a violin weeps for ball has a white ball. The rabbit that skirted the joy . The dog that played with crowd that is cheering is The duck that thanks the contest the cat that has a green crawling . official that clutches a violin glares ball has a green ball. The rabbit that skirted the bitterly. The dog that played with crowd that is cheering is The duck that thanks the contest the cat that has a white running . official that clutches a prize glares ball has a green ball. bitterly.
The chicken that taps the The horse that is stacking the The musical street performers that snake that is flying the prizes that are big is tall. captivate the crowd that is gathered kite is smiling. The horse that is stacking the on the dirty train platform are The chicken that taps the prizes that are small is tall . clasping brass instruments. snake that is holding the The horse that is stacking the The musical street performers that balloons is smiling. prizes that are big is short. captivate the crowd that is consulting a posted map are clutching money . The chicken that taps the The horse that is stacking the snake that is flying the kite prizes that are small is short . The tired workers that watch the is frowning . musical street performers that are The chicken that taps the clutching money are clasping brass snake that is holding the instruments . balloons is frowning. The tired workers that watch the musical street performers that are consulting maps are clasping brass instruments .
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 61 Twisted Pictures
Object Relativization: Subject-Verb (SV)
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The skunk comforts a The horse chooses the skunk The tall, well-dressed conductor praises the monkey that is crying. that is hiding behind a pole. pretty, but messy-haired, piano player that The skunk comforts a The skunk chooses the horse that bows deeply. monkey that is smiling . is waving and leaping . The tall, well-dressed piano player praises the The monkey comforts a The horse chooses the skunk that pretty, but messy-haired, conductor that nods skunk that is crying . is waving and leaping . gently . The monkey comforts a The skunk chooses the horse that The tall, well-dressed conductor praises the skunk that is smiling . is hiding behind a pole. pretty, but messy-haired, piano player that nods gently . The pretty, but messy-haired, piano player praises the tall, well-dressed conductor that bows deeply.
The zebra trips a cow The zebra helps the bewildered The poor songwriter approaches the well- that is snacking. duck that is searching for the dressed singer who exits at the theater’s The cow trips a zebra that exit. back entrance. is snacking . The duck helps the bewildered The poor singer approaches the well-dressed The zebra trips a cow that zebra that is searching for the exit. songwriter who exits at the theater’s front is reading . The duck helps the bewildered entrance . The cow trips a zebra that zebra that is searching for the The well-dressed songwriter approaches the is reading . restroom . well-dressed singer who exits at the theater’s The zebra helps the bewildered front entrance . duck that is searching for the The well-dressed songwriter approaches the restroom . poor singer who exits at the theater’s back entrance .
The cat follows the dog The observant cat recognizes The singing mother cat calms the tired kitten that is roller-skating. the pig that is speaking. that had been playing all day. The dog follows the cat The observant pig recognizes the The tired kitten calms the singing mother cat that is roller-skating. cat that is speaking . that had been sleeping all day. The cat follows the dog The observant cat recognizes the The tired mother cat calms the singing kitten that is skateboarding. pig that is listening . that had been sleeping all day. The dog follows the cat The observant pig recognizes the The singing mother calms the singing kitten that is skateboarding. cat that is listening . that had been playing all day.
The cow that sprays the The cow avoided the snake that The thin, concert-organizing chicken zebra is wet. was calling loudly outside the telephones the fat, opera-singing dog that The zebra that sprays the show. eats constantly. cow is wet . The snake avoided the cow that was The thin, opera singing dog telephones The cow that sprays the calling loudly outside the show . the concert organizing chicken that eats at zebra is dry. The cow avoided the snake that was mealtime . The zebra that sprays the sleeping behind the tent. The fat, concert organizing chicken telephones cow is dry . The snake avoided the cow that was the thin, opera singing dog that eats at sleeping behind the tent. mealtime . The thin, opera singing dog telephones the thin, concert organizing chicken that eats constantly .
62 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Object Relativization: SVO
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
The pig rowed a skunk that The dog alarms the cat that buries The lively zebra tunes the polished dropped an umbrella. the map under the boardwalk. piano that occupies the center of The skunk rowed a pig that The cat alarms the dog that buries the the stage. dropped an umbrella. map under the boardwalk. The weary cow tunes the polished The pig rowed a skunk that The dog alarms the cat that hides piano that occupies the center of the ate a sandwich . some sunflowers behind her back. stage . The skunk rowed a pig that The cat alarms the dog that hides The lively cow tunes the polished ate a sandwich . some sunflowers behind her back. piano that occupies the center of the stage . The weary zebra tunes the polished piano that occupies the center of the stage .
The dog passes the snake The rabbit commands the monkey The laughing monkey cheers the that is eyeing an apple. that secures the poster to the pole. dancing duck that plays the violin. The snake passes the dog The monkey commands the rabbit The dancing duck cheers the that is eyeing an apple . that secures the poster to the pole . laughing monkey that plays the The dog passes the snake The rabbit commands the monkey violin . that is wearing glasses . that secures the balloons to the cart. The laughing monkey cheers the The snake passes the dog The monkey commands the rabbit dancing duck that wears a green that is wearing glasses . that secures the balloons to the cart. jacket . The dancing duck cheers the laughing monkey that wears a green jacket .
The zebra kissed the The pig cheered the cow that upset The pushy raccoon urges the monkey that is holding a every bottle in the row. hesitant skunk that is studying flower. The cow cheered the pig that upset music. The monkey kissed the zebra every bottle in the row. The pushy skunk urges the hesitant that is holding a flower . The pig cheered the cow that ate all raccoon that is studying dance . The zebra kissed the monkey the blueberry pies. The pushy raccoon urges the that is holding a watermelon . The cow cheered the pig that ate all hesitant skunk that is studying The monkey kissed the zebra the blueberry pies. dance . that is holding a watermelon . The pushy skunk urges the hesitant raccoon that is studying music .
The chicken aids the cat The duck hushes the horse that The dog bothers the snake that is wearing a blue hat. plays his boom box too loudly. that likes hearing music with The cat aids the chicken that The horse hushes the duck that plays headphones. is wearing a blue hat. his boom box too loudly. The snake bothers the dog that likes The chicken aids the cat that The duck hushes the horse that plays hearing music with headphones . is wearing a red jacket . his horn during the magic trick . The dog bothers the snake that The cat aids the chicken that The horse hushes the duck that plays studies history with a giant book. is wearing a red jacket . his horn during the magic trick . The snake bothers the dog that studies history with a giant book.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 63 Twisted Pictures
Clefting
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
It’s the snake that the It’s the young skunk that It’s the resistant chicken with the monkey is poking. the busybody cow is concert tickets that the duck is trying It’s the monkey that the telephoning. to convince. snake is poking . It’s the young cow that It’s the resistant duck with the concert It’s the cat that the the busybody skunk is tickets that the chicken is trying to monkey is poking . telephoning . convince . It’s the cat that the snake is It’s the young snake that It’s the resistant skunk with the concert poking . the busybody cow is tickets that the duck is trying to telephoning . convince . It’s the young skunk that It’s the resistant chicken with the the busybody snake is concert tickets that the skunk is trying to telephoning . convince .
It’s the monkey that the It’s the bewildered horse It’s the horse’s tail hair that the snake is paying. that the honest pig is thoughtless dog is plucking and It’s the snake that the tapping. stringing. monkey is paying . It’s the bewildered pig that It’s the dog’s tail hair that the thoughtless It’s the chicken that the the honest horse is tapping . horse is plucking and stringing . monkey is paying . It’s the bewildered dog that It’s the zebra’s tail hair that the It’s the chicken that the the honest pig is tapping . thoughtless dog is plucking and snake is paying . It’s the honest dog that the stringing . bewildered pig is tapping. It’s the horse’s tail hair that the thoughtless zebra is plucking and stringing .
It’s the zebra that the It’s the talented cat that the It’s the hard-working cow with the cow is calling. masked dog is helping. tuba that the friendly pig with the It’s the cow that the zebra It’s the talented dog that the pushcart is assisting. is calling . masked cat is helping . It’s the friendly pig with the pushcart that It’s the snake that the cow It’s the talented monkey that the hard-working cow with the tuba is is calling . the masked dog is helping . assisting . It’s the snake that the It’s the talented cat that the It’s the hard-working dog with the tuba zebra is calling masked monkey is helping . that the friendly pig with the pushcart is assisting . It’s the hard-working cow with the tuba that the friendly dog with the pushcart is assisting .
It’s the cat that the dog is It’s the popular pig that the It’s the hidden cat that the curious following. merry zebra is finding. monkey glimpses. It’s the dog that the cat is It’s the popular zebra that the It’s the hidden monkey that the curious following . merry pig is finding. cat glimpses . It’s the skunk that the cat It’s the popular bird that the It’s the hidden snake that the is following . merry zebra is finding. disinterested cat glimpses . It’s the skunk that the dog It’s the popular pig that the It’s the hidden cat that the disinterested is following . merry cow is finding. snake glimpses .
64 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Twisted Pictures
Subject Infinitival Clause
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
To catch the ball is what To capture the crawfish is what To startle the drummer is what the the cat really likes to do. the dog really wants to do. sneaky chicken holding the gong is To catch the ball is what To capture the crawfish is what hoping to do. the dog really likes to do . the cat really wants to do . To relax with a soda is what the sneaky To read is what the cat To jump in the ocean is what the chicken holding the gong is hoping really likes to do . dog really wants to do . to do . To skateboard is what the To fish is what the cat really To startle the sneaky chicken is what dog really likes to do . wants to do . the drummer holding a soda is hoping to do . To calm the sneaky chicken is what the drummer holding the gong is hoping to do .
To eat cake is what the To satisfy his thirst is what the To organize the relaxed musicians zebra really likes to do. skunk really likes to do. is what the angry cat really wants To eat cake is what the To satisfy his hunger is what the to do. cow really likes to do . skunk really likes to do . To play his guitar is what the happy To eat a sandwich is what To satisfy his thirst is what the pig really wants to do . the zebra really likes to do. monkey really likes to do . To organize the relaxed musicians is To eat a sandwich is what To satisfy his curiosity is what what the angry skunk really wants to the cow really likes to do . the skunk really likes to do . do . To sit on the couch is what the angry cat really wants to do .
To swim is what the dog To catch the cloth is what the To repeat her prize-winning really likes to do. skillful zebra really likes to do. performance is what the raccoon To swim is what the snake To catch the Frisbee is what the wants to do. really likes to do . skillful zebra really likes to do. To repeat his prize-winning To fish is what the dog To catch the cloth is what the performance is what the pig really really likes to do . skillful pig really likes to do . wants to do . To fish is what the chicken To catch the ball is what the To put up a banner is what the pig really likes to do . skillful pig really likes to do . really wants to do . To scrap her violin is what the raccoon really wants to do .
To sit in the shade is To delight the crowd is what To combine the sounds of different what the pig really likes the dancing cow really likes musical instruments is what the to do. to do. creative raccoon really likes to do. To sit in the shade is what To delight the crowd is what the To combine the sounds of different the dog really likes to do . dancing horse likes to do . musical instruments is what the To eat watermelon is what To pester the crowd is what the creative skunk really likes to do . the pig really likes to do . dancing cow really likes to do . To enjoy the performance of the street To eat watermelon is what To pester the crowd is what the musician is what the pleased raccoon the dog really likes to do . dancing horse really likes to do . really likes to do . To play a dirty old fiddle is what the creative skunk really likes to do .
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GOAL ➤ To build paragraph comprehension skills.
OBJECTIVES ➤ Read for literal meaning, cause and effect relationships and inferential comprehension. ➤ Improve working memory. ➤ Improve vocabulary skills.
SKILLS cognitive Skills Memory — Hold in working memory the gist of the paragraph, as well as important details, to answer the questions correctly, and read and comprehend longer, more complicated texts.
Reading/Language Arts Skills ➤ Literal comprehension — Recall facts from the paragraph, such as the main point. ➤ Causative comprehension — Build cause and effect relationships. ➤ Inf erential comprehension — Work with various hypotheses needed to be formed in order to understand the text. ➤ V ocabulary — Develop advanced vocabulary 1 to 3 grade levels above the vocabulary level appearing in longer paragraphs; build automatic word recognition.
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Reading Curriculum Standards (Note: Book Monkeys also presents instruction that is above and below grade level)
➤ Use sentence and word context to find meaning of unknown words. ➤ Understand and be able to use complete and correct declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences. ➤ Identify pronouns. ➤ Demonstrate comprehension by pinpointing answers in text. ➤ Recall and summarize major points in text. ➤ Make predictions about coming information. ➤ Distinguish main idea and supporting details in expository text. ➤ Distinguish cause and effect. ➤ Extract appropriate and significant information from text, including problems and solutions. ➤ Determine the underlying theme or author’s message in fiction and nonfiction.
Description
Book Monkeys helps the participant improve paragraph comprehension in the following ways: ➤ L iteral comprehension: Book Monkeys presents questions that ask the student to recall facts from the paragraph, such as the main point. The ability to extract the main point from a para- graph – the gist – contributes to comprehension of longer passages. ➤ Cua sative comprehension: Book Monkeys presents questions about the cause of the events within the paragraph. Understanding cause and effect is important for comprehending and remembering text. ➤ Inferential comprehension: Book Monkeys presents questions that ask the student about various hypotheses he or she needs to form in order to understand the text, such as to whom a pronoun refers and what the best title for the paragraph might be. Inferential comprehension is crucial for understanding the links between concepts and building a coherent gist for the entire passage. ➤ Working memory: The student must hold in working memory the gist of the paragraph, as well as important details, to answer the questions correctly. Developing working memory abilities helps the participant not only keep the gist of the paragraph in mind but also read and compre- hend longer, more complicated texts.
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➤ V ocabulary: As the participant progresses, Book Monkeys presents longer paragraphs that use more advanced vocabulary words. In addition, Book Monkeys regularly ask the student to identify the meaning of a word that is from 1 to 3 grade levels above the vocabulary level of the paragraph. Vocabulary skills contribute to automatic word recognition, an important factor in fluent reading. Monkeying around in the library and not putting the books where they belong has left the library in a big mess. The student helps the librarian get the library back in order.
How Students Work on Book Monkeys
When the student clicks the yellow paw, a monkey dangles an open book on the screen. The student must first read the displayed paragraph, click the Done Reading button, and then read the librarian’s question. Several scholarly monkeys display possible answers to the question, and the student must choose the correct answer. After the student has answered two questions about the paragraph, Book Monkeys displays the para- graph again to help the student refresh his or her memory. The librarian asks six questions about each paragraph; the paragraph reappears after the student has answered the second and fourth questions.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Button Keyboard Shortcut How Students Paw Space bar Progress through Done Reading Space bar Book Monkeys Responses, top left to bottom right Number keys 1 through 4
Book Monkeys progresses through three levels of difficulty as follows: ➤ Level 1: The student works on paragraphs of around 6 sentences; each sentence contains, on aver- age, 10 to 11 words. Questions are easier than level 2. Words are at the 2nd grade level at highest. ➤ Level 2: The student works on paragraphs of around 5 to 6 sentences; each sentence contains, on average, 9 to 10 words. Words are at the 2nd grade level at highest. ➤ Level 3: The student works on paragraphs of around 7 sentences; each sentence contains, on aver- age, 9 to 12 words. Words are at the 3rd grade level at highest. At each level, Book Monkeys presents four nonfiction paragraphs and six fiction paragraphs. After the student has read a paragraph, Book Monkeys asks the student: ➤ Two literal questions of a true-false nature (This story does not tell you...)
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➤ Two causative questions regarding causes of events within the paragraph (The animals dig the holes first because...) ➤ Two inferential questions that require the student to formulate a hypothesis about certain compo- nents of the paragraph. The two inferential questions are chosen from four possible types: ➤ The most appropriate title for the paragraph (The best title for this story is...) ➤ What is most likely to happen next (Which sentence would most likely come next?) ➤ The meaning of a particular word (The word “mayor” means...) ➤ Whom or what a particular pronoun refers to (The word “she” is talking about...) At each level, the monkeys ask all types of inferential questions.
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How Students Advance in Book Monkeys
After Book Monkeys presents a paragraph and six questions about that paragraph, Book Monkeys evaluates the student’s responses. If the student answered all six questions correctly, Book Monkeys activates the yellow paw and allows the student to go on to the next paragraph. If the student has not answered a question correctly, Book Monkeys gives the student two more tries at it. Book Monkeys allows the student to revisit incorrectly answered questions for two reasons. One is to accommodate the working memory capacity of young students; a student may have answered the question incorrectly simply because he or she could not remember the paragraph well enough. If so, the student will do better after reading the paragraph again. The second reason is that the student may not have developed the skills necessary to comprehend and extract the main point of a passage. By giving the student the chance to rethink his or her reading strategy, Book Monkeys guides the student toward reading for comprehension and retention of the salient points of a text. During the student’s second attempt to answer a question correctly, Book Monkeys displays the para- graph again and the librarian repeats the question. The monkeys give the student the same four choices, but Book Monkeys grays out and deactivates the incorrect answer the student chose the first time. After the student responds, Book Monkeys displays another question that wasn’t correctly answered (if there are any). After Book Monkeys cycles through all the questions that the student didn’t answer correctly the first time around, Book Monkeys evaluates the student’s responses. If the student still has not answered a question correctly, Book Monkeys gives the student one last attempt. During the student’s third attempt to answer a question correctly, Book Monkeys displays the paragraph again and the librarian repeats the question. The monkeys give the student the same four choices, and Book Monkeys grays out and deactivates both incorrect answers that the student chose the first two times. If the student answers correctly, Book Monkeys displays the next question that has not yet been correctly answered (if any). If the student doesn’t choose the correct answer on the third try, Book Monkeys highlights the correct answer. Book Monkeys does not give the student a fourth try at questions that the student has not answered correctly; after the third round of attempts, Book Monkeys activates the yellow paw and allows the student to progress to the next paragraph. After the student has completed all the trials in one level, Book Monkeys evaluates all the trials for that level. In evaluating trials for advancement, Book Monkeys only considers the student’s first response to each question. If the student has chosen 90 percent of the answers correctly on the first try, Book Monkeys advances to the next level.
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Mastery Book Monkeys does not use plateau-based transitions to advance the student to the next level for the following reasons: ➤ Book Monkeys presents all categories of questions at all three levels. ➤ Level 2 increases the difficulty of the exercise by increasing the similarities between the target answer and the foils, but it does not increase the difficulty of the type of question asked. ➤ Level 3 increases the difficulty of the paragraph by increasing the number of sentences per para- graph, the sentence length, and the vocabulary level, but it does not increase the difficulty of the type of question asked. Therefore, Book Monkeys requires the student to work on the trials at Level 1 until he or she achieves 90 percent accuracy. At that point, the student is better prepared to work on the same types of ques- tions at a higher level of difficulty.
Points Awarded in Book Monkeys Book Monkeys awards points to the participant based on the following conditions ➤ Correct answers: The participant earns 12 points for each trial that is correctly completed on the first attempt. The participant earns 6 points for a trial that is correctly completed on the second attempt and 3 points for a trial that is correctly completed on the third attempt. ➤ Bonus points: After the participant completes 10 trials correctly, Book Monkeys rewards the participant’s performance with 40 bonus points.
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Book Monkeys Content
Level 1
Today I’m going to the big soccer game. The Daring Donkeys are playing the Great Goats. Both teams run very fast. The donkeys are very good at kicking with their back feet. The goats are great at using their heads to send the ball flying. Whoever wins today will be the city champions! (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that ______The Great Goats play baseball. ______. The goats are great at using their heads . both teams run very fast The game today is important . the Daring Donkeys will win The donkeys are very good at kicking . the Great Goats are slow today’s game is not important (Causative)
The donkeys are special because they The goats are special because they kick with their back feet hit the ball with their heads are good runners chase the donkeys move the ball with their heads always win every game are bigger than goats kick with their back feet
(Inferential)
The best title for this story is The story says, “Whoever wins today will be A Big Soccer Game the city champions!” The word “champions” most likely means The Great Goats winners The Daring Donkeys losers I Love Soccer players goats
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The Animal City swimming pool is a popular place . Everyone is welcome as long as they act nicely . In hot weather you might see dogs, ducks, alligators, and even a hippopotamus swimming together . In the winter the pool is full of polar bears, seals, and penguins. Hot or cold, you won’t see lions, panthers, or house cats. Most cats don’t like getting wet! (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that ______Ducks won’t swim with dogs. ______. The swimming pool is popular . alligators enjoy swimming Alligators swim in hot weather . all dogs love cold water Polar bears swim in cold weather. panthers swim in the summer ducks aren’t welcome (Causative)
You might see polar bears in winter You won’t see cats swimming because they because they like to swim in cold weather don’t like getting wet like hot weather are afraid of other animals need a lot of room aren’t welcome at the pool won’t swim with cats. don’t know how to swim (Inferential)
This story is mostly about The story says, “The Animal City swimming the Animal City swimming pool pool is a popular place.” The word “popular” most likely means swimming in cold water well-liked dogs and ducks empty why lions swim not liked small
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Most big cities are busy by day and much quieter at night. Animal City is very active at night. That’s because many animals come out only at night. These nighttime animals sleep all day. Once it gets dark, bats, owls, hamsters, and many others wake up. They will stay awake until the sun comes up again . (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that ______Animal City is quiet at night. ______. Owls come out at night . nighttime animals sleep during the day Hamsters sleep during the day . most cities are busy at night Most cities are busy by day. nighttime animals don’t need sleep owls are afraid of the dark (Causative)
Bats sleep during the day because they Animal City is different from other cities are up all night because it is don’t like noise busy both night and day like bright light busy during the day are lazy only busy at night quiet at night
(Inferential)
Which sentence would most likely come next The story says, “Animal City is very active at in the story? night.” The word “active” most likely means Then they will head off to bed. busy They enjoy working by day. slow Hamsters enjoy the sunshine . fun Now the city is quiet. scary
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My friend Roger is a fennec fox. He comes from the desert in Africa and has huge ears. His big ears help him hear very, very well. He can hear tiny bugs moving under the sand. Roger has a very special job in Animal City. He goes from house to school to music hall tuning pianos. (Literal)
You would find a fox like Roger Which sentence is false? in Africa Roger doesn’t hear well. under the sand Roger has a special job. inside trees Roger has huge ears . on a farm Roger is a fox .
(Causative)
Roger has big ears because Roger can find tiny bugs because he they help him hear better can hear them moving he is a fox can smell them hiding he is from Africa digs into the sand he is afraid of noise can see through the sand
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be Which sentence would most likely come next? Roger the Special Fox Because of Roger, the music sounds How to Find Bugs better. Stop the Noise! He can’t tune a fish, though. Life in Africa People shout and yell at him . Roger wishes his ears were smaller .
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We just saw a show called “Mice on Ice.” We joined the crowd at the ice-skating rink. On the ice were hundreds of mice in beautiful costumes. They wore tiny ice skates and did spins and jumps to music. At the end, they formed a long line holding each other’s tails. As they raced across the ice, the crowd clapped and clapped . (Literal)
It is true that Which sentence is false? the mice wore tiny ice skates The mice didn’t skate very well. mice don’t have tails A crowd watched the show . the show is called “Iced Mice” The mice did spins to music . not many people came The show was at a skating rink .
(Causative)
The mice wore tiny ice skates because The crowd clapped because mice have tiny feet the show was ending they held each other’s tails they were afraid of mice they jumped to the music they were very cold the crowd told them to the show was starting
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says, “On the ice were hundreds Mice on Skates of mice in beautiful costumes.” The word “costume” most likely means Mice Can’t Skate special clothing A Terrible Night ice skates Learning to Jump music large crowds
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Let’s visit the Farm-Animal Food Market. There is a large department with seeds for chickens, ducks, and geese . There is a room full of dried oats for the horses . There are piles of different grasses for the cows and sheep. Most farm animals like the fruit and vegetable department. Because pigs will eat rotten food, there is a smelly room just for them . (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that There are cakes for sale. pigs will eat rotten food The market has many different foods . not many animals like fruit The store is especially for farm animals . cows don’t eat grass Birds shop at the market . all animals eat the same food
(Causative)
The store has many departments because Pigs have a special room because different animals like different foods their food is smelly all animals enjoy eating the same thing pigs don’t get along with horses or sheep most farm animals like fruits they only like eating seeds the big animals hurt the small animals pigs never eat fruit or vegetables
(Inferential)
This story is mostly about Which sentence would most likely come next? one store where animals shop I’d rather not go in there! many places animals like to visit They share it with the horses . why cows eat grass Pigs eat only fresh food . a good place to take your dog or cat Most sheep don’t like to shop.
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Spring is a special time in Animal City. That’s because so many animals have their babies in spring. You can see new lambs playing in flocks of sheep. In the parks, you can watch calves following their mother cows. You can hear baby birds chirping from nests high in the trees. I especially like watching foals learning to run like stallions and mares . (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that Baby birds are born in the fall. many animal babies are born in spring Many baby animals are born in spring. baby birds can’t chirp You can see some babies in the parks. calves live high in the trees Spring is special in Animal City . few animal babies are born in spring
(Causative)
You can hear baby birds because they Spring in Animal City is a special time because are chirping many baby animals are born live in nests the weather is so warm are hiding in trees the cities parks are beautiful make more noise than cows lambs play games
(Inferential)
The words “stallions and mares” most The story says, “In the parks, you can watch likely mean calves following their mother cows.” The word adult horses “calves” most likely means young sheep baby cows animals who run mother cows baby cows groups of pigs city people
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All people need fresh water to live . That is why most large cities are near fresh water . Cities near a lake or river have a steady supply of fresh water close-by. Those in the desert or near the saltwater ocean may not . These cities must get fresh water from other places . Their water is carried to them through pipes from freshwater rivers and lakes . (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that Cities near lakes have a supply of salt all people need fresh water water. few large cities are near fresh water All people need fresh water . deserts have plenty of fresh water Most large cities are near fresh water . all rivers and lakes have salt water Water is carried through pipes .
(Causative)
Cities in the desert get water piped in because Cities near the ocean get fresh water there is no fresh water nearby from rivers and lakes there are many rivers in the desert right from the ocean they need salt water sent from the desert desert people don’t need water only from rain
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says, “Their water is carried to them Water for Cities through pipes from freshwater rivers and lakes.” The word “their” is talking about Life beside the Ocean cities not near lakes or rivers Desert Lakes cities near lakes All about Pipes people in America rivers and lakes
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Most tall buildings have elevators. Elevators carry people and things between floors. First, you press a button to choose whether to go up or down. When the elevator arrives, get in and choose the number for the floor you want. A bell rings to signal that you have arrived at the right floor. I like elevators because I’d rather not climb hundreds of stairs! (Literal)
Which sentence is true? Which sentence is false? Elevators go up and down. Tall buildings never have stairs. All buildings have elevators. Most tall buildings have elevators. Elevators carry only people . Elevators go up and down . Tall buildings never have stairs. You must choose which floor ouy want .
(Causative)
You press an elevator button because Some people like elevators because you must choose which floor you want they are faster and easier than stairs you don’t want the doors to open elevators only go up someone asks you to elevators were built long ago a bell is ringing they are afraid of tall buildings
(Inferential)
The story says, “A bell rings to signal when Which sentence would most likely come next? you have arrived at the right floor.”T he word Climbing stairs makes me tired. “signal” most likely means I love climbing stairs. give a cue Elevators aren’t very useful. ring like a bell That’s why I don’t like elevators! start a song nice or kind
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Cities often honor important people and events. They might build a monument to help people remember a special time. Some monuments honor war heroes. Other monuments honor important leaders, such as presidents . Most have a sign telling you what the monument is for . When you look at the monument and read the sign, you are learning about a city’s history. (Literal)
Which sentence is false? It is true that Monuments never honor leaders. monuments help people remember Monuments help people remember. monuments never have signs Some monuments have signs . you can’t learn anything from a Cities often honor people . monument cities never honor events
(Causative)
Cities build monuments because they Most monuments have signs because want to honor an important person or they explain what the monument is for time people should practice reading don’t like building signs city people like signs are trying to forget the city’s past leaders shouldn’t be forgotten need a place for people to live
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be This story is mostly about City Monuments what monuments are for Remembering War how monuments are built Parks of the City why presidents are important Who Likes History? who studies history
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If you like baseball, you might enjoy living in a big city. Almost every large city in America has its own baseball team. If you buy a ticket, you can visit the ballpark. You can sit with other fans and cheer for your favorite team. Chicago and New York have two teams each! I guess people in those cities are crazy about baseball. (Literal)
This story does not tell you It is true that the rules for playing baseball New York has two baseball teams two cities where baseball is played Chicago has only one baseball team if you will need a ticket only a few large cities have baseball whether or not you can cheer teams every city has two baseball teams
(Causative)
You can visit a ballpark because you The writer of this story thinks people in New buy a ticket York and Chicago are crazy about baseball because are a good ballplayer both of those cities have two teams are at least eight years old each are crazy about baseball they travel long distances to see a game they cheer louder than other fans the writer lives in New York
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be Which sentence would most likely come next Big-City Baseball in the story? Why I Love Baseball I wonder how they choose which team to watch. Let’s Visit Chicago New York has three baseball teams! A Hitter’s Game They probably like basketball, too. It is more fun to visit the country .
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Big cities usually have several large highways. It takes many years to plan and build them. First, the city government uses a map to decide where the highway should go. Next, they buy all the necessary land . Then, hundreds of workers remove anything on that land . Over several years, the new road is built. When it is finished, cars, trucks, and busses will use it every day. (Literal)
You can tell from this story that Which sentence is false? many people work together to build a Most highways are built quickly. new highway Highways take a lot of planning . it is easy to build a highway The government helps to make most cities have too many old roads decisions . highways are not very useful Many workers clear the land .
(Causative)
The city government uses a map because A highway takes years to build because they need to plan where the highway it is a big job using many people should go trucks won’t get out of the way it is hard to find your way on a highway every worker has to vote the workers often get lost most city people don’t like highways they sell maps to earn money
(Inferential)
The story says, “First, the city government uses The story says, “Next, they buy all the land a map to decide where the highway should go.” needed for the highway.” The word “they” is The word “highway” means talking about a main road the city government a road built on a high bridge the highways any road that only trucks use cars and trucks a map of a large city people who clear the land
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Level 2
Many animals work together at the City Flower Garden . First, dogs and foxes dig all the holes for the plants. Then birds drop seeds into the holes. Raccoons water the seeds so they will grow. Sheep and cows especially like eating grass . (Literal)
This story is about This story does not tell you animals working together raccoons dig holes a visit to a garden cows eat grass how flowers grow animals work together keeping a garden neat birds plant the seeds
(Causative)
The animals dig the holes first because The raccoons water the seeds because then there is a place for seeds seeds need water to grow dogs and foxes work harder than birds the dogs tell them to sheep are best at digging they like to the raccoons like to go first the grass needs water
(Inferential)
Which sentence would most likely come next? The story says, “Sheep and cows especially like They keep the grass nice and short. eating grass.” The word “especially” most likely means The cows help the birds plant seeds. very much The foxes always fight with the dogs. won’t try Raccoons always come late . don’t like never will
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The city needs a leader to be in charge. Every four years, the animals vote for mayor. This year, a tiger won and now she runs the city . She is very smart and strong . All the animals like her even though she has sharp teeth! (Literal)
This story is about It is true that who runs the city the animals chose the tiger how animals vote most animals don’t like tigers what tigers are like every animal doesn’t vote having sharp teeth the city doesn’t have a leader
(Causative)
The animals vote for a leader because Every four years, the animals someone must run the city vote for a new mayor the tiger has sharp teeth vote for a tiger two years have passed like their leader tigers are very smart choose a new tiger
(Inferential)
The word “she” is talking about The word “mayor” means the tiger someone in charge of the city all animals a very mean tiger a voter a city animal every leader someone who votes
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The city has busses and trains. They take the animals from place to place. A lot of the slower animals ride on them . You might ride with a hen, a turtle, or some pigs . Fast animals would rather run or fly . (Literal)
Many slow animals You can tell that ride on busses and trains fast animals don’t often ride like to run fast animals always ride trains don’t want to ride pigs like to run always go from place to place slow animals never ride
(Causative)
You might ride with a hen because Fast animals don’t take busses because they hens ride on busses and trains would rather run or fly turtles don’t like to ride don’t like slow animals people always ride on trains would all rather fly pigs won’t ride only like to take trains
(Inferential)
The best title for this story is Which sentence would most likely come next? How Animals Get Around You won’t see a horse on your bus! The City’s Trains You better buy a ticket today. What Fast Animals Like Why does the city have trains? Pigs, Hens, and Turtles Busses are better than trains.
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Many snakes are good at climbing trees. That is why they fix the city’s streetlights. When a light breaks, a snake is called to that street. The snake ascends the light pole. Soon the city night is bright again. (Literal)
Snakes fix lights because they When snakes do their job are good at climbing poles the city night has light are not afraid of lights they always climb trees know the city is bright lights never break break a lot of streetlights the night is dark
(Causative)
When a light breaks, snakes help because they Why does the story say, “Soon the city night is are good at climbing trees bright again?” live on the ground Because the snakes fixed the lights. need a lot of light Because the snakes like to climb. are very smart Because the city needs lights . Because the lights are broken.
(Inferential)
The story says, “The snake ascends the light Which sentence would most likely come next? pole.” The word “ascends” most likely means That snake can go home for the night. climbs up Too bad those snakes can’t climb! fixes It is very dark tonight in the city . jumps down Those snakes need to get some more breaks help .
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A building is on fire! Quickly someone calls the fire department. Here come the elephants, racing to the scene. They shoot water from their trunks and soon the fire goes out. The animals are lucky to have elephant heroes . (Literal)
In this story In this story, which of the following is false? a building is on fire Elephants are afraid of fire. an elephant is in trouble Elephants shoot water on the fire. elephants start fires Someone calls for help . the fire won’t go out The animals feel lucky .
(Causative)
The elephants hurry to the fire because they The fire goes out because are the fire department elephants shoot water on it are good at running there is a big rainstorm like watching fires the building burns down own the burning building the animals have good luck
(Inferential)
The elephants “shoot water from their trunks.” The best title for this story is The word “trunks” most likely means The Elephant Heroes long noses Why Buildings Burn tree parts One Sad Day large ears Elephants on Fire big suitcases
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In a zoo, animals live in cages and glass houses . Our city does not have a zoo . If people visit our city, they will see all kinds of animals . They might even think that Animal City is a giant zoo . Except, of course, the animals are running free . (Literal)
You can tell from this story that animals in a In Animal City, which of the following is zoo NOT true? often live in cages Animals live in cages. live in Animal City People who visit will see animals . run free Animals are free in their city . don’t like people Animal City doesn’t have a zoo.
(Causative)
People who visit Animal City will see People might think Animal City is a giant animals running free zoo because only three kinds of animals they will see all kinds of animals a giant zoo there are many zoos there a city full of people all the animals live in cages people like zoos
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be Which sentence would most likely come next? No Zoos Here! You won’t see any cages. I Like Zoos You won’t see any buildings. How Animals Live The animals will be fighting. Let’s Build Zoos They are building a new zoo.
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The streets in a big city can get very dirty. Most cities have special trucks called street sweepers to clean up the litter. These trucks have large brushes that remove the litter from the street. All the cars must move off the street when it is being cleaned. (Literal)
Street sweepers clean the streets because Which of the following is false? the streets are dirty Cars use brushes to sweep streets. they are special trucks Street sweepers are trucks . they dropped the litter Street sweepers clean up litter . the cars won’t move away Cars must move off the street when streets are cleaned .
(Causative)
The brushes on street sweepers The cars must move because remove the litter from the street the street sweeper is coming move cars off the dirty street the city is getting dark need to be cleaned very often the police told them to help cars to stay clean litter is removed by the truck
(Inferential)
The best title for this story is Which sentence would most likely come next? Let’s Clean the Streets Now the street sweeper has room to Clean Up Those Cars clean. How to Build a Street Sweeper Street sweepers are special trucks . Litter and Brushes Most cities get very dirty . We need to find a way to stop litter.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 91 Book Monkeys
Many cities have theaters where you can watch a play. If you buy a ticket, you can see actors work on stage. Actors wear costumes and pretend to be someone else. They might sing, dance, or make you laugh . When the play is over, you clap to show you enjoyed it . (Literal)
This story is about It is true that seeing a play actors work on stage wearing costumes all plays are done in the country what cities have actors always go see plays why actors live in cities actors clap after a play
(Causative)
You clap to You can see actors work show you enjoyed the play if you buy a ticket get a ticket to the play if you are wearing a costume pretend you are someone else because you have clapped put a play on in a city because you can sing and dance
(Inferential)
The best title for this story is The story says, “They might sing, dance, or Seeing a Play make you laugh.” “They” is talking about the How to Buy a Ticket actors Wearing Costumes people watching Why We Clap theater plays
92 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
Big ships come to the city harbor. The ships are bringing necessary supplies. The ships come across oceans and rivers. The ships dock at the city’s harbor and unload their cargo. Everyone in the city is thankful for this cargo . Now they have things they need to live and work . (Literal)
It is true that This story is mostly about ships come to the harbor what ships do for a city ships never bring supplies how ships go across rivers no one likes ships how ships dock ships have trouble docking how a harbor works
(Causative)
The ships come to the city because Everybody is thankful because they are bringing supplies they have the things they need the city has a harbor the ships dock at the harbor they have crossed oceans the ships cross rivers and oceans everyone in the city is thankful big ships travel very quickly
(Inferential)
The best title for this story is Another word for “cargo” is Helpful Ships supplies Crossing Oceans cities What We Want ships Things We Need harbor
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 93 Book Monkeys
A taxi is a car that takes someone from place to place . Each taxi has a meter that keeps track of how long the ride took. The taxi driver starts the meter as soon as the rider gets in the car. When the cab gets to the right address, the driver stops the meter . The rider must pay the amount the meter shows . (Literal)
This story is about It is false that how taxis work riders pay before the ride why riders take taxis drivers take money what drivers think each taxi has a meter going for a ride the driver stops the meter
(Causative)
The driver starts the meter when When the car gets to the right address the rider gets in the car the rider needs to pay the driver they have reached the right address the driver has to start the meter the rider has left the car the meter keeps running the car goes from place to place the taxi ride has just begun
(Inferential)
Which sentence would most likely come next? The best title for this story is The taxi moves on to pick up someone A Taxi Ride else. City Cars Now the rider drives the taxi . No Meters Here The driver stops the car’s meter. You Can Drive The rider has to start the taxi’s meter.
94 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
Level 3
The blues band is playing in the park tonight. They are expecting a huge crowd because the concert is free. Some of the animals bring chairs so they will feel comfortable. They like to arrive early to get a good spot. Other animals bring blankets. They will lie out under the stars as the music plays. Giraffes and elephants usually stand in the back because they are so tall. (Literal)
It is false that the blues band This story is mostly about is selling tickets going to hear music is playing in the park setting up chairs is playing at night why animals bring blankets expects a big crowd what tall animals do
(Causative)
The band expects a huge crowd because Some animals arrive early because they the concert is free want to get a good spot they are playing at night need to practice the music the park is very pretty are carrying heavy blankets giraffes love music are very tall
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be When the story says “...they will lie out under When the Band Plays the stars,” the word “they” is talking about Life in the Park animals who bring blankets Music for Money animals who bring chairs Under the Stars giraffes and elephants the blues band
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 95 Book Monkeys
Many artists live in the city . Some of them like to mold things out of clay . Others like to draw or paint . A gorilla named John is famous for his paintings . He stands in his studio wearing a plastic suit and gloves. He reaches into cans and throws paint of all colors. The paint splashes against big pieces of paper . (Literal)
You can tell from this story that Which sentence about John is false? some animals draw and paint John draws great pictures. all animals like to use clay John is famous . the city doesn’t have enough artists John wears special clothing . only gorillas use paint John throws paint .
(Causative)
John reaches into cans because he The paint splashes against paper because needs to get paint John throws the paint wants more brushes John is very famous left his gloves there the gorilla is angry likes to mold things gorillas aren’t artists
(Inferential)
Which sentence would most likely come next? The story says “He stands in his studio...” What a messy way to paint! The word “studio” most likely means No one likes John . a place where an artist works The gorilla needs more clay . somewhere movies are made He puts on his plastic suit . a good place to keep a gorilla a quiet room for studying
96 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
The city streets are crowded and busy. Sometimes the cars and trucks are backed up for miles! No one likes all that traffic. You hear a lot of honking horns and squeaking brakes. You also hear angry barking and growling! When drivers aren’t careful, there may be a crash. To avoid such trouble, many animals walk . (Literal)
This story is mostly about It is false that problems on the city’s streets all city animals walk why animals like to drive you might hear squeaking brakes who drives cars and trucks some animals growl listening in the city the city is crowded
(Causative)
There may be a crash when Some animals walk because drivers aren’t careful they want to avoid trouble animals walk too fast the city is too noisy horns honk too loud their cars have crashed the city gets quiet the streets are empty
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says, “No one likes all that traffic.” Crowded Streets The word “traffic” most likely means Angry Animals the movement of cars and trucks Trucks Are Trouble walking very fast Growling and Barking streets and roads the problems with angry animals
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 97 Book Monkeys
Martha is a canary who loves to sing. She is studying to improve her voice. Living in a big city gives her an advantage . There are many teachers and schools to help Martha . Every Thursday, she goes to see Master Mockingbird. He is an expert singer. With his teaching, Martha will become a great singer, too. (Literal)
This story is mostly about You can tell that Martha a canary who studies singing wants to improve why mockingbirds are good teachers isn’t a good singer why canaries like cities can’t find the right teacher the problems with singing class would rather be flying
(Causative)
Martha may become a great singer because Living in the city is an advantage because she there are many different schools has a good teacher all canaries like the city is a canary classes are on Thursday lives in the country it is such a quiet place doesn’t like studying
(Inferential)
The story says, “She is studying to improve her The story says, “He is an expert singer.” The voice.” The word “she” is talking about word “expert” most likely means a canary named Martha someone with a special skill or every canary knowledge Master Mockingbird any mockingbird who teaches a singing teacher an animal who wants to learn terrible and mean
98 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
Every home and business in the city needs water. The water travels from the city’s lakes through pipes. The pipes lie under the city’s streets in tunnels. These tunnels were dug by moles. Thousands of moles spent many years digging . They worked day and night to complete the task . Every thirsty animal is grateful to those moles . (Literal)
You can tell from this story that moles This story is mostly about work day and night moles who dug tunnels like water the city’s lakes don’t enjoy working why animals need water are very happy why moles build businesses
(Causative)
The city needs tunnels The animals are grateful because so there is a place for water pipes the moles helped bring them water since moles get very thirsty the city has so many lakes because the lakes are going dry moles are good at building pipes so moles have a place to live tunnels are under the streets
(Inferential)
Which sentence would most likely come next? The best title for this story is Without them, the city would be dry. Those Helpful Moles Moles have to work day and night . Very Thirsty Animals Every city needs lots of water . Moles at Home Tunnels and pipes are not too important . Why Cities Need Water
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 99 Book Monkeys
Bob is a bear who hates to cook. Life in the city is perfect for Bob. When he is hungry, he goes out to eat. The city has many places to dine. Bob’s favorite meal is salmon with honey. He goes to a restaurant and orders three plates full! The cook works quickly to feed that hungry bear. (Literal)
Bob likes the city because The story doesn’t say it has many places to dine what Bob’s job is it is busy and crowded what the cook does he likes to cook for others how Bob feels about cooking he has so many friends what Bob likes to eat
(Causative)
Bob goes out to eat because The cook works quickly because he is hungry Bob is a very hungry bear he loves to cook he always is in a hurry a friend asks him to Bob is angry and mean he is out of salmon life in the city moves fast
(Inferential)
The story says, “He goes to a restaurant and When the story says, “When he is hungry...,” orders three plates full!” The word “restaurant” the word “he” is talking about most likely means a bear named Bob a place to eat a meal the cook anywhere that bears like any bear somewhere bears go to cook a salmon a large city house
100 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
Every city needs a government to help it run smoothly. The government is elected by the citizens of the city. The members of the government make important decisions every day. They create a budget to decide how to spend the city’s money. For example, the budget tells how much money goes to fix roads, schools, and hospitals . When more money is needed, the government raises taxes . (Literal)
This story is mostly about Which of the following is false? things government does There is no money for roads. how citizens elect a government The government makes decisions . what city schools need The government might raise taxes . where money comes from Citizens elect the government .
(Causative)
Every city needs a government because The government raises taxes when cities need to run smoothly more money is needed citizens spend too much money the citizens elect a government hospitals are in trouble they can’t make plans no one likes to run the schools the city needs new leaders
(Inferential)
The story says, “They create a budget to decide The story says, “They create a budget to decide how to spend the city’s money.” The word how to spend the city’s money.” The word “they” is talking about “budget” most likely means the city’s government a plan for using money the teachers in school what a government does anyone living in the city a way to get taxes the doctors in the hospitals a way to fix schools
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 101 Book Monkeys
Just imagine the amount of mail arriving in a city each day! Now consider all the mail leaving the city. The postal service is very busy. The postal workers have to sort the mail to get it to the right address . They must transport all the mail from place to place . It takes a lot of work just to get one letter through. A single letter may travel on four trucks and several airplanes! (Literal)
This story is mostly about A single letter how the postal service works travels in many ways why mail is important is not much work trucks that carry mail never leaves the city why addresses are important doesn’t get sorted
(Causative)
The mail is sorted because In this story, trucks and airplanes are it must get to the right address important because it travels by airplane they carry mail from place to place there are many postal workers the postal service needs to get the right address packages can cause problems they help to sort the mail they help the city’s people get around
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says “They must transport all the The City’s Mail mail from place to place.” The word “transport” most likely means One Single Letter to carry something from one place to A Day in the City another Buy a Stamp anything that needs to be sorted the best way to address a letter think about and decide
102 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Book Monkeys
Every city takes pride in its tall buildings. Special buildings, new and old, give the city a certain look. When you see a postcard of a city, you may recognize it by its skyline. You know the city by the shape and outline of the buildings. Only the skyline of Chicago has the huge, black Sears Tower. The city of Seattle is known for the Space Needle . These landmarks make each city individual . (Literal)
This story is mostly about Big cities take pride in special buildings in cities their tall buildings the city of Chicago having good postcards why we like Seattle mostly their new buildings looking at postcards only their old buildings
(Causative)
You might recognize a city because Each city is individual because you see buildings you know it has special landmarks someone tells you the city’s name it has the Space Needle a lot of cities are alike they are fun places to visit every city has the same buildings everyone likes new buildings
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says, “Only the skyline of Chicago City Buildings has the huge, black Sears Tower.” The word “skyline” most likely means Old Buildings Must Go buildings forming an outline against A Trip to Seattle the sky Chicago’s Sears Tower the way a postcard picture is taken why we like cities the clouds that you see in every big city
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 103 Book Monkeys
If you like watching sports, a city is great! You can see a big league baseball team play on their home field. You might go to an indoor arena. Many cities have hockey, basketball, and football teams. Sports fans fill the arena to cheer for their favorite team. If you buy a ticket, you can join the crowd. Indoors or outdoors, you can see a game throughout the year . (Literal)
This story is mostly about This story doesn’t say seeing sports in a city how much tickets cost why cities are crowded where you could see games how to buy a ticket anything about baseball baseball and hockey what sports cities have
(Causative)
A city is great for sports because You can see a team play if there are games throughout the year you buy a ticket baseball is a country game you are a good player sports fans like to cheer they build a new field all the tickets are free you visit in the winter
(Inferential)
The best title for this story would be The story says, “You might go to an indoor Watching City Teams arena.” The word “arena” most likely means Let’s See Football a building for activity The Summer Games a place for outdoor sports Why Teams Play any place for ice skating an empty room
104 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Glossary
A B adaptivity basic skills With every mouse click, exercises in the Fast The building blocks for language and reading ForWord® product exercises adapt (or adjust) to development: visual attention, auditory dis- the individual skill level of each participant to crimination, and sustained auditory attention. ensure participants are appropriately challenged. Fast ForWord® products provide exercises that improve sound sequencing skills, fine motor affix skills, hand-eye coordination, pattern recogni- Prefix or suffix; sounds or letters attached to the tion and color/shape identification. beginning or end of a word or base to modify meaning or part of speech. b rain plasticity The ability of the brain to change through expe- attention rience or learning. The ability to focus on information and tasks, and ignore distractions. C audito ry discrimination cause and effect The ability to detect differences in sounds; may be gross ability, such as detecting the differences The connection or relationship between a precip- between the noises made by a cat and dog, or itating event or reason, and its effects or results. fine ability, such as detecting the differences cha racter traits made by the sounds of letters “m” and “n.” Various aspects of the character in a passage or audito ry memory story; authors develop characterization by The ability to retain information which has been providing these. presented orally; may be short term memory, cognitive ability such as recalling information presented several Intellectual ability; thinking and reasoning skills. seconds before; long term memory, such as cognitive skills recalling information presented more than a minute before; or sequential memory, such as Memory, attention, perception and language skills, recalling a series of information in proper order. as used in phonological memory, phonological processing and memory, sentence memory and automaticity word discrimination, and sequencing. Automatic word recognition; the fast, effortless comprehension word recognition that comes with a great deal of reading practice (emerging and developing The ability to derive the message or meaning readers may be accurate, but slow and inefficient from text; the reason for reading. at word recognition). Continued reading practice context clues helps word recognition become more automatic, Information from the surrounding words, illus- rapid, and effortless. Automaticity refers only to trations, or sentences that helps give meaning to accurate, speedy word recognition, not to read- a specific word or phrase. ing with expression. 134 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 critical thinking Fast ForWord® exercise focuses on a specific set The process of conceptualizing, applying, of reading tasks and simultaneously develops analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating underlying cognitive processes such as memory, information gathered from, or generated by, attention, processing, and sequencing. observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, FAST Formula: Timely Motivation or communication. The Fast ForWord® exercises provide immedi- ate rewards for correct responses. In addition, D patented technologies give students only one decode opportunity per question to respond correctly, To use the alphabetic principle (that each letter which reduces guessing and encourages students represents a speech sound) to sound out a to maintain high levels of attention and effort. word; decoding starts when the reader recovers FAST Formula: Adaptivity the phonemes that the letters of a word ‘stand With every mouse click, exercises in the Fast for’ and then blends those phonemes in a ForWord® product exercises adapt (or adjust) to recognizable word. the individual skill level of each participant to digitally-enhanced speech sounds ensure participants are appropriately challenged. The use of computers to slow down and enhance f igurative language the sounds that convey phonemes so that they Language which makes use of certain literary can be differentiated. devices or literary techniques such as metaphor directionality in which something other than the literal The ability to accurately perceive the spatial meaning is implied. orientation of print (e.g., the print concept of fine motor development reading from left to right and top to bottom). The achievement of precise and accurate move- d raw conclusions ment and use of hands and upper extremities, Use facts and inferences to make a judgment making possible accurate reaching, grasping, and or decision. manipulation of objects. fluency F The ability to read a text accurately and quickly. FAST Power Learning™ Formula Fluent readers can decode and recognize words An acronym for Frequency and Intensity, automatically and understand their meaning at Adaptivity, Simultaneous development, and the same time. Timely motivation; neuroscience-based prin- ciples used by Fast ForWord® products to enable G student learning. grapheme FAST Formula: Frequency/Intensity The smallest part of written language that rep- Occurring or repeating at short intervals. In the resents a phoneme in the spelling of a word. A context of Fast ForWord® products, frequency and grapheme may be one letter, such as d, l, and p; intensity refers to the recommended protocol or several letters, such as ch, sh, and th. of daily participation and concentrated activity. g raphic organizer FAST Formula: Simultaneous A visual device for organizing information development around a concept, theme, or topic. Exercising multiple skills at the same time. Each
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 135 Learning MAPs™:Attention H The ability to focus on information and tasks, high-frequency words and ignore distractions. Common words that appear very often in writ- letter-sound correspondence ten or spoken language (e.g., the, of, and, a, to, The principle that each letter represents a unit of in, is, you). sound (a phoneme). I M infer memory Draw meaning form a combination of clues in The ability to store information and ideas, which the text without explicit reference to something is essential for word recognition, comprehension that was stated in the text. of complex sentences, and remembering instruc- intervention strategies tions. Includes both temporary or ‘working’ Approaches to promote positive classroom memory and long-term memory. behaviors and foster effective learning. morphological awareness The ability to understand and correctly use the L base words, small words, letters, and letter com- language structures binations that modify the meaning of a word Grammatical elements found in every language (e.g., re/view) or its part of speech (e.g., sad/ (e.g., nouns, verbs, consonants, vowels). ness). Learning MAPs™ An acronym for Memory, Attention, Processing, N and Sequencing; foundational cognitive skills neuroscience required for effective reading and targeted by Study of the brain and its functions, especially Fast ForWord® products. their relation to behavior and learning. Learning MAPs™: Memory The ability to store information and ideas, which P is essential for word recognition, comprehen- phonemes sion of complex sentences, and remembering The smallest units of sound in spoken language instructions. Includes both working memory and that make a difference in the meaning of words. long-term memory. When added together, phonemes create syllables, Learning MAPs™: Processing which allow the creation of words; English contains 44 phonemes and these bear a compli- The ability to accurately perceive and manipulate cated relation to the 26 letters of the alphabet. information. In the context of reading, process- Sometimes one letter represents one phoneme, ing refers to the ability to distinguish speech but sometimes two letters represent a phoneme sounds and identify letter and word forms. or one letter represents two phonemes. For Learning MAPs™: Sequencing instance, “ox” is made up of three phonemes: / Placing the detail of information in its accus- aa/, /k/, and /s/, “she” is made up of two pho- tomed order (e.g., days of the week, the nemes: /sh/ and /e/. alphabet). In the context of reading, sequencing phonemic awareness is the ability to determine the order of letters The ability to hear, but also explicitly identify, within words or words within sentences. and manipulate the sounds of spoken language.
136 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 phonetic spelling p rotocol Spelling a word as it sounds: ‘bag’ has a phonetic Specific product process (e.g., Fast ForWord spelling but ‘yacht’ does not. Reading Level 3: 50 minutes per day, 5 days/week, 6-10 weeks. phonics A method of instruction in reading that is based on the alphabetic principle that there is a pre- R dictable relationship between phonemes (sounds Read–alouds in spoken language) and graphemes (letters that Prose or poetry that is read aloud with students. represent the sounds) that can be used to decode Read-aloud texts are generally at a higher reading and read words. level than the listener would be able to read and plasticity comprehend independently. The ability of a neural network to be reconfig- reading rate ured or rewired; changing connections within a The speed at which a selection is read, the read- neural network. ing rate depends on the level of the text as well plateau-based transitions as the manner in which it is read, and on the Fast ForWord is designed to cross-train multiple purpose for reading. skills within each exercise, but also to allow a rhyme student who is not progressing in one area to A property of the sounds of words in which continue to advance in other areas. To accom- words share key phonemes. The most common plish this goal, some exercises use plateau-based form of rhyme involves a match between the transitions to allow the student to train on dif- vowel and final consonants (e.g, perfect or exact ferent material when the student becomes stuck rhyme: differing consonant sounds followed on an aspect of the focus skill and is not able to by identical vowel and word ending, as in “run, progress immediately. Fast ForWord then returns fun”). Rhyme is important to beginning readers the student to this material before allowing the because it helps draw their attention to the sys- student to complete the exercise. tematic relation between print and phonemes. post-reading strategies It is also an important literary device because of Strategies that take place after reading to help its aesthetic appeal and because it can serve as an the reader consolidate, reflect and integrate aid to memory. new information and concepts with previously rhythm learned understandings. A sound device characterized by the musi- pre-reading strategies cal quality created by a pattern of stressed and Activities that take place before reading to help unstressed syllables. Rhythm helps to draw atten- the reader access relevant prior knowledge, tion to the syllables in words and ultimately to preview the text, and attempt to predict the text’s the vowels. topic or main idea and thereby set a goal and a purpose for reading. processing The ability to accurately perceive and manipulate information. In the context of reading, process- ing refers to the ability to distinguish speech sounds and identify letter and word forms and how these embody the relation between printed words and the spoken words they represent.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 | 137 S V sound sequencing skills visual attention The ability to recognize, analyze, and/or produce One of the basic skills necessary for language and a number of sounds combined in sequence. reading development; it involves being able to focus on what the eyes are seeing. sight words Words a student can recognize on sight without visual discrimination applying phonics or other word-attack skills. The ability to detect similarities and/or differ- These tend to be the high frequency words, ences in materials which are presented visually, many of which do not use phonetic spellings. e.g., ability to discriminate ‘h’ from ‘n’, ‘o’ from ‘c’, ‘b’ from ‘d’, etc. s tory elements Basic parts of a story: setting, characters, plot, visual memory conflict, point of view, and theme. The ability to retain a mental picture of informa- tion which is presented visually; may be short summarize term memory, such as recalling information pre- Make a brief statement about the essential ideas sented several seconds before; long term memory, in a text. such as recalling information presented more sustained auditory attention than a minute before; or sequential memory, such The ability to concentrate on what is heard as recalling a series of information in proper order. continuously over the course of many stimuli. vocabulary syntax Includes knowing the meaning of single words The structure of a language that concerns the that represent objects, groups of objects, actions, formation of sentences. It is a set of rules which relationships, qualities of space and time and specify how grammatical markers and words are knowing how these words function as parts of combined to make meaningful sentences. The speech (e.g, nouns, verbs, etc.). rules of syntax make reference to words as ‘parts of speech’ (for instance, noun or adverb) and W determine how these can be ordered, combined word recognition and moved about in the sentence. The ability to read or pronounce a word; usually implies that the word is recognized immediately T by sight and that the student does not need to timely motivation apply word analysis skills. Does not imply The Fast ForWord® exercises provide immedi- understanding of the word. ate rewards for correct responses. In addition, working memory patented technologies give students only one The short-duration, limited-capacity memory opportunity per question to respond correctly, system that simultaneously stores and manipu- which reduces guessing and encourages students lates information in order to accomplish a task. to maintain high levels of attention and effort. Working memory specifically refers to a system that uses internal speech to store and manipu- late information — as a series of letters, a list of words, a set of sentences. An analogous system called the ‘visual spatial scratchpad’ stores visual or graphic information.
138 | Fast ForWord Reading Level 3