NYSTCE Multi-Subject: Childhood flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Phonemic awareness

The ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words, such as blending /k/ /a/ /t/ into "cat"; it is oral and does not involve printed letters.

Phonics

Instruction in the relationship between letters (graphemes) and speech sounds (phonemes) that allows a reader to decode unfamiliar printed words systematically.

Alphabetic principle

The understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language, which is the foundation for decoding words in print.

Reading fluency

Reading text accurately, at an appropriate rate, and with appropriate expression (prosody); fluent reading frees attention from decoding so the reader can comprehend.

Consolidated alphabetic phase

In Ehri's model, the stage in which a reader recognizes larger letter chunks such as syllables, prefixes, and rimes as units, making word recognition fast and automatic.

Running record

An assessment in which the teacher records a child's oral reading errors and self-corrections to calculate an accuracy rate and identify an instructional reading level.

Tier 2 vocabulary

High-frequency words used across many academic contexts, such as "analyze" or "compare"; they are considered the most productive target for direct vocabulary instruction.

Summarizing

A comprehension strategy in which the reader states the main idea and key supporting details in the fewest words, usually after identifying the text's organizational structure.

Writing process stages

Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing; revising addresses ideas and organization, while editing addresses conventions such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Compare-and-contrast text structure

An organizational pattern that explains how two or more subjects are alike and different, often signaled by words such as "both," "however," "unlike," and "similarly."

Place value

The value a digit has because of its position in a number; each place is ten times the value of the place to its right, as in 100 = 10 × 10.

Equivalent fractions

Fractions that name the same amount; multiplying or dividing both numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number produces an equivalent fraction.

Order of operations

Evaluate grouping symbols first, then exponents, then multiplication and division left to right, then addition and subtraction left to right.

Distributive property

a(b + c) = ab + ac; it lets a product be rewritten as a sum and underlies the standard algorithm for multiplying multi-digit numbers.

Area of a triangle

A = ½ × base × height, where the height is the perpendicular distance from the chosen base to the opposite vertex.

Circumference of a circle

C = 2πr or C = πd; the distance around a circle, approximately 3.14 times its diameter.

Mean

The arithmetic average, found by adding all values and dividing by the number of values; it is pulled toward outliers more strongly than the median.

Median

The middle value when data are ordered from least to greatest; with an even number of values, it is the mean of the two middle values.

Volume of a rectangular prism

V = length × width × height; equivalently, the number of unit cubes that fill the prism with no gaps or overlaps.

Greatest common factor

The largest number that divides evenly into two or more whole numbers; it is used to simplify fractions and to factor expressions.

Percent

A ratio comparing a number to 100; 45% equals 45/100 or 0.45, and in percent problems the word "of" signals multiplication.

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂.

Water cycle

The continuous movement of water through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection, driven mainly by energy from the Sun.

Three rock types

Igneous rock forms from cooled magma or lava, sedimentary rock from compacted and cemented sediment, and metamorphic rock from existing rock changed by heat and pressure.

Food chain energy transfer

A model of the one-way flow of energy from producers to consumers in which only about 10% of energy passes to each next trophic level.

Physical change

A change in size, shape, or state of matter that does not create a new substance, such as melting ice or tearing paper.

Chemical change

A change that produces one or more new substances with different properties, often signaled by color change, gas production, heat release, or a precipitate.

Cause of the seasons

Earth's 23.5° axial tilt changes the angle and duration of sunlight each hemisphere receives as Earth orbits the Sun, producing the seasons.

Elements of art

Line, shape, form, color, value, texture, and space-the basic visual building blocks artists use to compose a work of art.

Principles of design

Balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity-the ways an artist arranges the elements of art within a composition.

Three branches of government

Legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial (interprets laws); each branch can limit the others through checks and balances.

Musical dynamics

Terms such as piano (soft) and forte (loud) that describe volume in music; dynamics is one expressive element alongside pitch, rhythm, and timbre.