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Reading 101 for English Language Learners

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Reading 101 for English Language Learners

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scroll down to Phonemic awareness and English language learners

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Teaching reading IS rocket science.
~Louisa Moats

Learning to read is a little bit like learning to ride a bike - while you are balancing a person on the handle-bars, holding a pole, spinning plates, and focusing on the destination at the same time!

Reading is a complicated process, which is why so many children struggle to become strong readers. The process of learning to read can be particularly challenging for English language learners (ELLs), especially if they have little or no formal schooling and they have not learned to read in their native language.

In this article, I will highlight ELL instructional strategies based on the five components of reading as outlined in Teaching Children to Read by the National Reading Panel (2000). This report is a study of research-based best practices in reading instruction and it focuses on the following five instructional areas: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, Comprehension.

Each of these topics is explored below, and each section includes:

a definition

an explanation of why the component is important when learning to read

challenges that ELLs may face

strategies for ELL instruction

You will find references to more in-depth information about ELLs and effective reading instruction from our Literacy Instruction section and Reading Rockets throughout the article, as well as in the Hotlinks below.

Phonemic Awareness and English Language Learners

Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of how well children will learn to read during the first two years of school instruction. Sometimes it is nearly impossible, however, for speakers of a second language to "hear" and say sounds in the language they are learning.

Perhaps you have had a student who simply could not master a particular sound in English. Chances are good that that sound was not a part of the student's native language, and so the student didn't have the ability to produce that sound.

I experienced this when learning Sinhala in the Peace Corps. There was a "th" sound that seemed to be a combination "d" and "th," and no matter how hard I tried, I could not hear or produce the sound correctly. I knew which words it belonged in, but I couldn't say it. The native Sinhala speakers struggled to make sense of my pronunciation. ELLs may have similar difficulties with sounds that are not a part of their native language.

Phonemic Awareness: Challenges and Strategies

What: The ability to hear and manipulate the different sounds in our language.

Why it matters: Phonemic awareness is the foundation for spelling and word recognition skills.

Help beginning readers learn to identify sounds in short words

Have students practice identifying the sounds in the beginning, middle, and end of these words. You may wish to use words that begin with a consonant, have a short vowel, and end in a consonant (CVC words) such as mat, top, and bus.

One very effective method is having students match pictures of words that have the same beginning, middle, or ending sound.

Be careful to use only words that students know in English!

Phonics and English Language Learners

Phonics instruction aims to help new readers understand that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds.

Students will benefit from learning and practicing sounds and symbols, including blended combinations. This is fairly common in the primary grades and ELLs may pick up the code very quickly and appear to be fairly proficient readers. However, it's important to remember that knowledge of phonics and decoding does not ensure good comprehension.

Vocabulary and English Language Learners

Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read, as well as in understanding what is read.

As students learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary. For ELLs, vocabulary development is especially important as students' develop academic language.

Fluency and English Language Learners

Fluency is a tricky area when it comes to ELL reading instruction. For native English speakers, fluency and reading comprehension often share a strong correlation because fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time.

This is not always the case for ELLs, however. Many ELLs can be deceptively fast and accurate in their reading because they are good readers in their primary language and have strong decoding skills. Yet they may demonstrate little understanding of the text, and hearing the text out loud may not necessarily provide a step towards comprehension as it is likely to do for native speakers.

Comprehension

Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to 1) decode what they read; 2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and 3) think deeply about what they have read.

Comprehension can be the most difficult skill to master, however. ELLs at all levels of English proficiency, and literacy development, will benefit from explicit instruction in comprehension skills along with other skills because improved comprehension will not only help them in language arts and ESL classes - it will help them in content-area classes and in daily activities. It will also improve the chances of their interest in reading for pleasure.

Learn more from the following articles:

These strategies for ELLs just scratch the surface. If you'd like to learn more about the five components, be sure to take a look at the resources in the Hotlinks below. Remember: little things can go a long in way in providing effective literacy instruction for ELLs!

Videos: ELL Reading Instruction

Classroom Videos: ELL Reading Instruction

See more from Dr. Cloud about the use of the native language in reading instruction and how to help ELLs who struggle with reading in her Meet the Expert interview.

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Reading 101 for English Language Learners

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Teaching reading IS rocket science. ~Louisa Moats Learning to read is a little bit like learning to ride a bike - while you are balancing a person on the handle-bars, holding a pole, spinning plates, and focusing on the destination at the same time!

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Information and Videos for phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension

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Click here to access a printable copy of the information presented on this page.

ELL/ESL. [image]. Retrieved from https://www.spalding.org/about-us/about-spalding/wrtr-program/ell-esl.

While the National Reading Panel released their initial review of effective practices in reading in 1997, educators of English Language Learners (ELL) were left with little direction as to how to help their ELL students learn to read and write. The U.S. Department of Education funded the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority and Youth in 2002 with the intent to study research on teaching ELL students to read and write and released their most recent report in 2006 (August & Shanahan, 2006).

Included on this page is information on the ways that ELL students may learn the five components of reading differently than native English speakers and ways that ELL students can build their skills in the five components of reading.

Watch the video below to hear Gisela Morgado, an ELL educator, talk about importance Phonemic Awareness and ELL students. Watch below to her describe a phonemic awareness activity that she uses with her ELL students.

Morgado, Gisela (2015, Nov 19). Phonemic awareness activity for ELL's. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uslUy-pu5Y.

Phonemic awareness can be a difficult component of reading for ELL students to acquire because they may not have enough experience with the English language to be able to differentiate between sounds from those of their native language and sounds from the English language (Irujo, 2018). Additionally, some phonemes in the English Language may not be present in the ELLs' native language, making it difficult for the student to pronounce and distinguish sounds when listening, as well as to place the words into a meaningful context (Antunez, 2012). To address this issue, parents and educators should use familiar words when working on phonemic awareness, as well as be aware of the similarities and differences between the phonemes in the student's native language and English.

Three Things to Consider when Teaching Phonemic Awareness to ELL Students

Be Familiar with Sounds in the English Language
ELL students learning phonemic awareness need to be familiar with the sounds in English language before they can identify and manipulate phonemes. Songs, poems, chants, and read-alouds are fun ways to expose ELL students to the English language.

Understand the Phonemes of their Native Language vs. English
Some phonemes may not be present in ELLs' native language and, therefore, may be difficult for a student to pronounce and distinguish auditorily, as well as to place into a meaningful context (Antunez, 2012). It is for this reason that ELL students should work on manipulating phonemes in words that they are already familiar with and that parents and educators are familiar with the sound discrepancies between native language and English.

Native Language Phonemic Awareness
Once phonological awareness has developed in any language, it transfers to other languages that are learned (Irujo, 2018). This means that if an ELL learner has phonemic awareness in their native language, the focus should be on the student's ability to distinguish sounds from their native language and the English language.

There are two main reasons that phonics can be problematic for ELL students: 1) the English language does not have a regular system of correspondence between letters and sounds and 2) many ELL students have difficulty discriminating between similar sounds in English.

Author Suzanne Irujo, author of the article What does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Langauge Learners? states:

"Most ELLs will need additional time to master phonics. Given the need for extra practice to learn to hear and produce the sounds of English, to learn the meanings of the words used in phonics instruction, to learn the multiple combinations of letters that make the same sound, and to learn many more sight words than English speakers need, additional time for phonics instruction should be built into reading programs for ELLs."- Suzanne Irujo, 2018

The video below, created by ELL teacher Ian Leahy, show an activity for ELL students to build phonics skills. In the video, the students use mirrors to watch their mouth movements when producing letter sounds.

Leahy, Ian. (2011, December 14). Teaching Phonics-Activities-Using a Mirror. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIo6oKxYcGM.

To become a fluent reader one must first become a fluent speaker. Susanna Irujo states "Fluency is difficult for ELLs because their lack of proficiency in English slows down their ability to decode words and hinders their ability to understand the meanings of the words and how the words combine to produce meaningful sentences and discourse." (Irujo, 2018).

Reading in Native Language
It is encouraged that ELL students are instructed to read in their native language first, if at all possible. Additionally, choosing stories that are familiar with is a good place to start when teaching reading to ELL students, allowing the focus of the reading is on decoding the words, not understanding the meaning of the text.

Want a book suggestion? Click on the image below get book suggestions for your ELL student!

Reader's Theater
Reader's Theater (a reading activity where students read aloud a play with a small group) is a great way for ELL students to practice fluency in a meaningful way. When students participate in Reader's Theater they work in their accuracy, rate, and expression (the three elements of fluency) in a fun interactive way.

Watch the video below to see a Reader's Theater in action!

The Balanced Literacy Diet. (2011, Nov 28). Reader's Theater: Building Fluency and Expression. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Suvry_pw8&feature=youtu.be.

Understand words and their meaning is a critical element of reading. Many ELL students struggle with vocabulary and the failure to understand even a few words of a text can have negative effects on comprehension (Irujo, 2018).

Explicitly Teach Figurative Language and Idioms
Figurative language and idioms can be difficult for non-native English speakers to understand when reading due to their meanings not being fully understandable through the text only. For readers to fully understand these types of phrases they must understand the meaning of the full phrase not the individual words in the phrase.

Examples of Figurative Language

~This coffee shop is an icebox! (Metaphor)
~She's drowning in a sea of grief. (Metaphor)
~She's happy as a clam. (Simile)
~I move fast like a cheetah on the Serengeti. (Simile)
~The sea lashed out in anger at the ships, unwilling to tolerate another battle. (Personification)
~The sky misses the sun at night. (Personification)
~I've told you a million times to clean your room! (Hyperbole)
~Her head was spinning from all the new information. (Hyperbole)
~She was living her life in chains. (Symbolism - Chains are a symbol of oppression of entrapment.)

Common Idioms

~A hot potato.
~Kill two bird with one stone.
~Piece of cake.
~When pigs fly.
~Get a kick out of it.

Reading comprehension is the main goal of reading. Instruction for reading comprehension needs to be modified to address the individual needs of the ELL student. Asking ELLs to read the same texts and do the same activities as everybody else will only result in frustration for teachers and failure for students (Irujo, 2018).

Watch the video below to hear Dr. Cynthia Lundgren and Kristina Robertson discuss effective reading comprehension strategies for teaching English language learner students.

Reading Rockets. (2014, Apr 24). Comprehension: Helping ELLs Grasp the Full Picture. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0txgn2qbQE#action=share.

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Click here to access a printable copy of the information presented on this page. ELL/ESL. [image]. Retrieved from https://www.spalding.org/about-us/about-spalding/wrtr-program/ell-esl. While the National Reading Panel released their initial review of effective practices in reading in 1997, educators of English Language Learners (ELL) were left with little direction as to how to help their ELL students learn to read and write.

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What Is Phonemic Awareness? | Reading Lessons

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Red Apple Reading presents the Open House Video Series - #1 - Phonemic Awareness
Discover the skills needed to begin reading.

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Open House Video #1 - Phonemic Awareness

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Beginning sounds mail sort activity that parents can print out

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So, yesterday my kids followed the mailman around the cul-de-sac until he arrived at our house with a package from Amazon. It was a balmy 60 degrees and they new a fresh box of sidewalk chalk was just waiting to escape from that box. This is not the first time my kids eagerly await the arrival of the mailman either.

Today, we have a fun beginning sounds mail sort activity and song that my kids loved as much as following the mail truck through our neighborhood.

This game builds phonological awareness by focusing on individual phonemes (sounds) at the beginning of words.

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
SETTING UP AND PLAYING BEGINNING SOUNDS MAIL SORT Materials needed : beginning sound mail (see free download below), a mailbag and a copy of the catchy little song
To prepare for this activity, you will need to print and cut out the ten pieces of mail.
DOWNLOAD THE BEGINNING SOUND MAIL
You will also want to find a fun mailbag to use for carrying the mail. Did you know that you can make one out of a paper bag? See a paper mailbag that we made for another activity.

And, here is the catchy song you will want to learn.
Mail Delivery Tune: "I'm a Little Teapot"
I deliver mail

Rain or shine.

If you put a stamp on, it will get there in time.

Can you help me sort my mail today?

Collect the ones that start with ____ (insert letter sound).
TIME TO PLAY!
Spread out the envelopes on the floor. Give your child a mailbag.

Introduce the activity. Say, "We are going to sort the mail. Let's sing a song. At the end of the song, you will listen for a sound. Then, you will find the piece of mail that has a picture that begins with that same sound. Let's play!"

Sing the song each time to introduce a new sound. Have our child collect the right piece of mail each time.

Have fun building phonemic awareness with this Beginning Sounds Mail Sort and Song.
Related Posts
Post Office Play Ideas Making and Delivering the Mail

This week's Early Childhood Education Team theme is mail.Visit the links below for more great early childhood activities related to the mail theme.

But before you explore...

P.S. For more great book recommendations and literacy ideas, sign up to receive our newsletter for FREE each week.

Beginning Sounds Mail Sort and Song by Growing Book by Book

Mailing Letters Alphabet Activity by Mom Inspired Life

Wrong Mail (CVC Activities) by Learning 2 Walk

Make a Letter Opener-a Fine Motor Craft for Pretend Play by Capri +3

Teaching Kids About Envelope Format by The Educators' Spin On It

Name Learning Envelope from Tiny Tots Adventure

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The beginning sounds mail sort is a fun way to build phonemic awareness. Includes free printable beginning sound envelopes to play.

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2 activities that parents can use to improve their child's phoneme awareness. Game #1 Segmenting the sounds. Game # 2 Blending the Sounds

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Reading Simplified - streamlined instruction, accelerated achievement

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Try these 2 fun games to improve your student'(s) phoneme awareness (perception of individual sounds in words). Then she will read better!

Game #1 Segmenting the Sounds

Phonemic segmentation (or separating a word into its smallest units of sound) is highly predictive of reading achievement. When our students can separate each individual sound (phoneme) in words, they are better able to connect these sounds to specific spellings (i.e., /sh/ /ow/= "sh" and "ow").

If your student isn't good at the skill of phonemic segmentation yet, no worries! It's easy to develop through activities like the one in this video below. Enjoy it for a few minutes when you're in the car or waiting in line with your child.

Game #2 Blending the Sounds Together

Now try the opposite of the above segmentation game!

Challenge your student(s) to listen carefully so he can blend the sounds together to hear a real word. This phonemic skill of blending is what he will need to read unfamiliar words.

Curious about next steps if you want to help your student(s) learn to read?

Try Build It (here), if your student does not know most letter-sounds.

Try Switch It (here), if your student does know more than 7 letter-sounds.

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2 Phonemic Awareness Activities to Boost Reading Ability - Reading Simplified

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Try these 2 fun games to improve your student'(s) phoneme awareness (perception of individual sounds in words). Then she will read better! Game #1 Segmenting the Sounds Phonemic segmentation (or separating a word into its smallest units of sound) is highly predictive of reading achievement.

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Party In The Jungle | Fun Phonemic Awareness Song | Jack Hartmann

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Picture cards are a must in early literacy learning. Using picture cards without displaying the letters or words that go with them is a fantastic way to build a child's ear to listen for sounds within words {known as phonemic awareness}, which prepares kids for reading AND writing success.

And there are SO many things you can do with picture cards. You can sort them by beginning sounds {we do this in every lesson of Reading the Alphabet}, listen for vowel or ending sounds, and much more, like I shared at Imagination Soup.

These past couple of weeks, MBug {age 4} and I used the Letter Sounds Picture Cards from our Updated & Expanded Reading the Alphabet curriculum and Letter Sounds Tic Tac Toe. It was a highly effective way to get her to listen for, match, and strategize with beginning letter sounds.
*This post contains affiliate links.

Prepare Letter Sounds Tic Tac Toe

To prepare this activity, print picture cards for two letters. If you have a child who is not completely solid in letter sounds, I would recommend picking two letters that are very different sounding and felt differently in the mouth. Letter sounds that are made in a similar place in the mouth (such as B and P) may be confusing to young learners. You can read more about that here. We have played this game twice now. One time with T/F pictures and one time with P/M pictures.

I also cut yarn into 4 equal pieces for our tic tac toe board. You could use painter's tape on your carpet, a dry erase board with a tic tac toe board or even use paper and pencil.

Before we played the game, we also went through all the pictures and sorted them by beginning sound. This was to ensure that she understood what each picture represented and what sound it started with.

The last thing we did to prepare was divide up the cards {one player taking the pictures that represented one letter sound and the other player taking the other set}. We set up our tic tac toe board with yarn.

Playing Letter Sounds Tic Tac Toe

The strategy of Letter Sounds Tic Tac Toe works exactly as original Tic Tac Toe. Instead of using X's and O's, you just use the picture cards {with each player using a set of picture cards}.

To reinforce the beginning letter sounds, we played so that each of us had to name the picture as we placed our picture cards on the grid. The game was highly effective in listening for and identifying beginning sounds because in order to use the strategy of the game {getting three in a row and blocking the other player}, each player had to rename objects and listen for beginning sounds again. She did VERY well with this. Better than I thought she would.

Her biggest brother {3rd grade} also played a couple of games with her after watching us play...and she actually beat him one time!

Find letter sound picture cards in this subscriber FREEBIE set. There are 6 picture cards for every letter of the alphabet, similar to those from Reading the Alphabet. Subscribe to This Reading Mama's Newsletter to receive these and MORE other subscriber freebies!

More Alphabet Activities:

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~Becky

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Picture cards are a must in early literacy learning. Using picture cards without displaying the letters or words that go with them is a fantastic way to build a child's ear to listen for sounds within words {known as phonemic awareness}, which prepares kids for reading AND writing success.

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A fun way to include your child's Legos!

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Lego, Lego, Lego...If I had to estimate, I think we probably have over 30,000 bricks. My two boys (and husband) are a bit obsessed. In fact, as I write this post, they are all gathered around the Lego table (our former dining room table) building creations. I too have had to get creative and come up with some literacy activities to meet the Lego demand. Today I have our Beginning Sounds Lego Game Jar!

BEGINNING SOUNDS LEGO GAME JAR

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Purpose of the Lego Game

Identifying initial sounds in words is an important piece of the phonological awareness tool box. Strong readers also have a strong phonological awareness. If we say the word, "Lego" and ask the child to identify the initial or beginning sound, we want the child to identify /l/.

This Lego Game Jar encourages children to identify objects in the jar and then isolate the beginning sound.

Lego Activity Set-Up
Materials needed: a medium-sized plastic container with a large opening (we used an orange juice bottle), various Lego bricks of one color, and miscellaneous Lego pieces (dog, Lego man, fence, window, door, etc.)
Ok, this is super easy. Fill the container will all the Lego pieces and put the cap on top. Bam, your done.

Playing the Beginning Sound Lego Game

Let the kids, shake and explore.
Variation #1
When an object is found amongst the colored Lego, identify the object by name. Then, isolate and name the beginning sound. For example, it the child finds a door, he would say, "door /d/."
Variation #2
Tell the child a beginning sound. The child then turns and turns the Lego container until he or she spots the item that begins with the designated sound.

Shake and repeat.

Here are some more literacy ideas to use with Lego-loving kids.
Lego Beginning Sounds Activity The Three Billy Goats Gruff Lego Retelling Lego Literacy Ideas PIN FOR OTHERS TO FIND AND ENJOY

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Lego, Lego, Lego...If I had to estimate, I think we probably have over 30,000 bricks. My two boys (and husband) are a bit obsessed. In fact, as I write this post, they are all gathered around the Lego table (our former dining room table) building creations.

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Phonemic Awareness and Remote Learning (Teacher Resource)

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Phonemic Awareness and Remote Learning (Teacher Resource)

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UPDATED NOVEMBER 2020

Please note: Literacy Resources gives permission for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons to be recorded for remote learning instruction for students in your own school or school district. In order to preserve the fidelity of the curriculum and protect our copyright, we kindly request that all videos are shared privately with students, and they are not shared in public forums (i.e. public YouTube channels, Facebook, etc.).

During the 2020-2021 school year, administrators, educators and parents are planning for multiple scenarios for providing instruction each day. Will students attend school in-person? Will all learning take place remotely? Will instruction be a hybrid model with both in-person and remote learning? The only thing we do know is this school year will bring new learning opportunities for us all.

However, as uncertain as we may be, we know we must be prepared to provide students with the best possible education - no matter what the platform. Phonemic awareness is a foundational reading skill and a critical component of literacy instruction. While it would be ideal to implement the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons in person, we realize that there is a very real possibility remote learning will be a part of classroom instruction next school year.

Heggerty YouTube Playlists

During the school closures of this past spring, we provided online resources for teachers and parents. The list below provides an outline of the different levels of our curriculum and the week of lesson demonstrations available. These can be accessed through our YouTube channel . The playlist includes at-home learning videos to be shared with parents in both English and Spanish, lesson demonstrations for English PreK, Kindergarten and Primary and two full weeks of recorded lessons. The channel also includes Spanish sample lessons and one full week of Spanish PreK, Kindergarten and Primary recorded lessons.

PreK - Weeks 12 and 26

Kindergarten - Weeks 21 and 26

Primary - Weeks 21 and 25

PreK (Spanish) - Week 15

Kindergarten (Spanish) - Week 15

Primary (Spanish) - Week 13

In addition to the resources already provided, we are also sharing some additional resources, tips, and considerations should you need to plan for remote learning this upcoming school year.

Heggerty Lesson Videos

In an effort to support teachers and students, the Heggerty literacy specialists created daily, recorded lesson videos for all 35 weeks of the curriculum and they are available in our online store. We understand that this year classroom instruction may include recorded lessons, engaging in virtual class meetings and possibly even small group or 1-1 meetings. This resource was created to lighten the load for teachers while still ensuring students receive effective instruction in phonemic awareness. Teachers may choose to incorporate the daily videos during live teaching when the teacher is wearing a mask or added to remote learning lesson plans for asynchronous learning each day.

Available for Pre-K, Kindergarten and Primary curricula in English and Kindergarten curriculum in Spanish

Available by subscription only and lasts for the full academic year, expiring August 31, 2021

Weekly video lessons can be shared in your remote learning lessons plans by copying and pasting each link so that students can participate in the activities provided while at home

Subscriptions are per teacher

Recording Lessons for Asynchronous Instruction

Another option is to record the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons for your students, so they can engage in the lesson during asynchronous instruction. We know students love to see and hear their teacher when they are away from the classroom and the phonemic awareness lessons can be part of those connection opportunities with your students. If you will be recording videos for your students ( yes, we give you permission to record and publish videos privately for the purpose remote learning) we have provided tips for recording below:

1. Setting up your recording

Lesson videos on our YouTube channel provide an example of how a lesson would be taught in a recorded video. When preparing to record your Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons, be in close proximity to your screen. This will allow students to hear you clearly and provide a visual model for the way we articulate sounds.

Additionally, you will want to make sure your hand motions are seen by your learners in a left to right progression. We want students to see the sounds in the same manner they will map print. This may require you to adjust settings on your virtual platform recording device.

2. Lesson format

After you hit record, begin teaching the lesson as if you were in your classroom with your learners.

Use the same language and teach every component of the daily lesson plan.

When providing instruction, provide the correct answer for students. This will allow them to confirm they were correct or, if they were incorrect, hear the correct answer.

Teacher says word/word part/sounds, pauses for 2-3 seconds, and then provides the correct answer.

Example for blending sounds:
T: m - ee- t; ask students to repeat the sounds; pause 2-3 seconds
T: m - ee - t, meet

Provide error correction for tasks that may be challenging for students.

Example for error correction:
When segmenting words with consonant blends, students often keep the two sounds of the blend together. They may segment the word flip into only 3 sounds: /fl - i - p/. When recording, provide automatic error correction for some of these more difficult tasks. After pausing and providing the correct answer, the teacher can say:

"That was a tricky word. Watch me segment the word flip , /f - l - i - p/. Flip has 4 sounds, /f - l - i - p/. You try it: flip, (segment and say the sounds so students can say it with the recording). When we segment phonemes, we want to listen for all of the sounds we hear in the word."

3. Teacher modeling for new skills or concepts

The Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons follow the phonological awareness continuum. All of our lessons begin with compound words, then move to syllables, onset-rime and then phonemes. If you encounter one of these transitions during remote learning, we suggest providing a model for students first following an format. Explicitly tell students the units of language you will be working with and model the tasks for the first lesson of the week.

For example:
"We have been blending 2 small words to make compound words. Today, we are going to blend syllables. A syllable is a part of a word that has a vowel sound in it. We are going to blend syllables together to make words. Watch me. When I blend the 2 syllables nap - kin, the word is napkin."

A challenge with recording lessons is that students are not going to receive live interaction and feedback. It is best to keep recorded lessons short, around 8-10 minutes in length. A shorter time frame will help keep students focused and engaged. To keep the pace quick and the lesson short, consider using only 5 words for each of the PA skills, rather than the 8-10 words listed for many of the skills in the Kindergarten and Primary curricula.
Teaching Virtual Classroom Lessons for Synchronous Instruction

If you plan to use the lessons during your live teaching in a virtual classroom, you will find many of the tips listed above can also apply to this type of instruction. A few additional helpful tips are listed below:

Utilize small groups when possible. If you have the option to use breakout rooms (available in Zoom), this can provide the opportunity for individual or partner responses within the lesson instruction.

When teaching to a whole class or large group of students, we recommend muting all but 2-3 students each day. To ensure you get to hear all student responses throughout the weeks, we suggest creating a weekly/monthly schedule in which you rotate the students you are listening to each day.
While many students will be muted, you will still be able to see their responses by watching their mouth and observing hand-motions if they are using them.

If listening to 2-3 students at a time presents a challenge, you may choose to assign one child to be a leader for the day for a whole skill or the whole lesson. Please note, that this option may not work for some students, due to ability or personality. If you choose to use the leader option, we recommend using it with students that have a firm grasp of the PA lessons and are comfortable responding to a whole group. For students that need more support, we recommend scheduling them to be unmuted for responses with 1-2 other students.

Ask for visual responses: Phonemic awareness lessons are oral and auditory, and in a virtual classroom, students can use colored tiles, paper, or chips to represent the sounds they hear.

Teachers can send Elkonin boxes home with students and students can point to the place they hear the sound. This is "phoneme location" and can be used when working with Onset Fluency and Isolating Final or Medial sounds in words.

Ask students to use their fingers to show the number of parts or sounds they hear when segmenting words

Students show thumbs up and thumbs down for rhyme recognition activities or when listening to a series of words that have the same or different initial, medial, or final sounds.

Teach the 2 Early Literacy Skills separate from the PA lesson for asynchronous instruction:

Record a video that shows letter cards and practices the letter names and sounds separately. Share this video with students for use during asynchronous instruction.

Share a video for the nursery rhyme (for Pre-K and Kindergarten friends) Check out the Mother Goose Club on YouTube !

As teachers meet the new learning methods of this new school year, we are honored to be part of your classroom instruction. Phonemic awareness lessons are engaging and fun, and, no matter how the lessons are delivered, they continue to have a powerful impact on your students' development as readers.

Please reach out to our literacy specialists with any questions at pd@heggerty.org

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UPDATED NOVEMBER 2020 Please note: Literacy Resources gives permission for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons to be recorded for remote learning instruction for students in your...

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Phonemic Awareness and Remote Learning (Parent Resource)

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Phonemic Awareness and Remote Learning (Parent Resource)

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Remote Learning Resources for Teachers and Parents - Reading Simplified

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Find the mother lode of curated resources for remote learning of reading for both teachers and parents. Learn Zoom and Loom. Includes links to key sites.

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Information for parents on Phonemic and phonological Awareness and Rhyming. Suggested books at the end of article

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Rhyming Games | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Rhyme is found in poetry, songs, and many children’s books and games. Most children also love to sing and recite nursery rhymes. Words that can be grouped together by a common sound, for example the ”-at” family — cat, hat, and sat — can be used to teach children about similar spellings. Children ca…

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How to use Rhyming to support Phonemic Awareness

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Match the Rhyming Objects!: Foundations for Phonemic Awareness

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This site has pintables and games at the send grade level

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Try not to get confused by the fancy name "Phonemic Awareness;" it just means knowing sounds. Many research studies have shown that phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success.

In 2nd grade children are at working on advanced phonemic awareness skills, such as changing the sounds they hear in words. "What word do we create when we add -ing to run ? Or they are playing with rhyming words (" How do we turn 'tree' into 'free' ?") Often classroom teachers call these activities "making words".

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Second Grade Phonemic Awareness | Knowing Sounds in 2nd Grade

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Try not to get confused by the fancy name "Phonemic Awareness;" it just means knowing sounds. Many research studies have shown that phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success. In 2nd grade children are at working on advanced phonemic awareness skills, such as changing the sounds they hear in words.

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Information on Phonemic awareness and games to play with your children

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A Floor for What Is Phonemic Awareness? :

Why do some children learn to read so easily, while others struggle?Thirty years of research funded by the National Institutes of Health has found an answer:

Successful children have a special 'sound foundation.'
They can play with speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear.'

The 'sound foundation' of successful reading is known as Phonemic Awareness.

Phonemic Awareness is not about the spelling of words. It is all about their sounds

Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds.

For example, the word 'shows' contains three individual speech sounds: 'sh'
'oh'
'z'

clap syllables

hear individual sounds within words

blend sounds into words

pull words apart into individual sounds

add and subtract sounds from words

speak Pig Latin or sing the Name Game song

Phonemic Awareness is the ability to think about and mentally play with the sounds in speech.Children are using Phonemic Awareness when they do things like

Phonemic Awareness is necessary for phonics to work properly.

The essence of Phonemic Awareness
is learning to do these things in the 'Mind's Ear'--no peeking!

The 'Mind's Ear' itself needs to be strong enough to work smoothly on its own, in the background of awareness.

Phonemic Awareness should be taught starting at preschool age.Phonemic Awareness continues to develop as children learn Phonics.
babies can learn about speech sounds

But it's never too late to back up and build strong Phonemic Awareness.

Basic Auditory Skill and Phonemic Awareness skills list

Rhyme:Discern and supply rhyming wordsDiscern speech sounds from one anotherBlend isolated sounds into real or nonsense wordsTell if two words share a sound in common. Discern individual phonemes in a word. Tap out the number of sounds in a word. Separate and say the individual sounds of a word in order

Auditory Discrimination:

Phoneme Blending:

Word-to-Word Match:
For example, do they have the same first sound?
Sound Isolation:
For example, repeat just the first or last sound of a word.
Phoneme Counting:
'Shoe' has two sounds: sh, oo.
Phoneme Segmentation:

Phoneme Deletion:

Say what would be left if you removed part of a word

Benefits of Phonemic Awareness

Children who can recall speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear'
are equipped to learn Rapid-Accurate Naming of letter-sounds.

Children who play Phonemic Awareness games build their ability
to blend and pull apart the sounds of words in their 'Mind's Ear.'

Children who can blend and pull apart the sounds of words
in their 'Mind's Ear'
are equipped to sound out and to spell words using Phonics.

Even the weirdness of English spelling is less troublesome to children skilled in Phonemic Awareness.

Listen to the pronunciation of the red letters:mous' issue.

F a ther F a t F a C at K ite
Ch emistry Ri ck Ough t T ough Th ough Thr ough Hicc ough Okay, let me admit that I am still troubled by the whole ' ough

In English, one letter can make several different sounds.

In English, one sound can have several different letters!

But in English, one sound is . . . one sound.
Simple, accurate, reliable.

So as children work and play with sounds in their 'Mind's Ear' without involving Phonics--written letters--they are building something that is true and consistent. represent the truth about speech sounds.)
Playful Sounds

And they are building a 'Mind's Ear' strong enough to handle Phonics fluently.

(Unlike the alphabet, the

Phonemic Awareness--the stable Floor, the sound foundation--helps learners to build the Phonics 'walls' of the Reading Treehouse.

Research confirms:
Learners who have this stable Floor, this sound foundation
build their Phonics more easily, and Phonics always works better for them,
than for learners without this sound foundation.

Very young learners, kids who are not naturally 'auditory learners,' or students at risk, can begin at the very beginning by learning the sounds of speech with Playful Sounds.

Short Cut Through the Treehouse ~ The Whole Treehouse More on this topic: THE FLOOR: Power and Fluency
Through Phonemic Awareness

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A Floor for What Is Phonemic Awareness? : Why do some children learn to read so easily, while others struggle?Thirty years of research funded by the National Institutes of Health has found an answer: Successful children have a special 'sound foundation.'They can play with speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear.'

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Learning words that rhyme can be a fun and engaging way to improve your vocabulary, language skills, and phonological awareness. Rhyming words share similar sounds at the end of the word, which can help with pronunciation and creative writing. Here are some examples of words that rhyme:

Remember that these are just a few examples, and there are countless rhyming words in the English language. You can explore rhyming dictionaries or engage in activities like reading poetry, singing songs, or playing word games to expand your repertoire of rhyming words.

In the game Words that Rhyme, young learners are introduced to the concept of rhyming and learn to build sounds and word relationships. Specifically, the children will be looking for end rhymes, with three pairs of rhyming words on each screen. Rhyming is an important skill to master, as it sharpens auditory awareness and heightens a child's ability to play with words and use them with more precision.
Once you click through the OK button to begin playing the game, it takes you through the brief instructions, which encourages you to look for three pairs of rhyming words on each page. Pictures show up on the screen with words at the bottom of each like digital flashcards. If the child does not know the word, they simply press the auditory button on the left of each word and it will be read aloud to them. Locate two rhyming words on the screen, and click once on each to pair them up as a correct rhyme.
Once you click a correct pair, the narrator will announce that A rhymes with B, and whisk the cards away. Incorrect matches get a slightly harsh sound and a "This is incorrect." statement. A timer does continuously tick up as you play, bringing more and more screens of matching rhyming words. The words begin simply, with only three letter simple words being used, but it quickly amps up with each subsequent screen if they are able to handle it. Learning rhyming skills is an essential skill to have and can be practiced here while employing other senses along with it.

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Rhyming Words | Rhyming Words For Kids | Phonics Games | Turtle Diary

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Partners in Rhyme is an online game for young toddlers about rhyming words. It helps them build sound and word relationships. In this game, kids get a set of words,

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Parents can join for free to access game

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A critical step in learning to read is immediately connecting a word with the thing it defines. Your kid can get valuable practice with that skill with Roly's phonics quiz. Your early reader hears vowel and consonant sounds and matches them with objects whose words contain those sounds. It's awesome phonics practice and awesome phonics fun at the same time!

Grade

Subject

View aligned standards

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Blending Vowel and Consonant Sounds Game | Game | Education.com

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A critical step in learning to read is immediately connecting a word with the thing it defines. Your kid can get valuable practice with that skill with Roly's phonics quiz. Your early reader hears vowel and consonant sounds and matches them with objects whose words contain those sounds.

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The chicken coup (You need to activate flash player)

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My Big World | The Delightful Preschool Magazine from Scholastic

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Get preschoolers ready for kindergarten with simple, fun nonfiction on seasonal themes, plus learning activities, videos, games, and more. Subscribe or log in now.