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Reference:

Phonological and phonemic awareness: Introduction. Reading Rockets. (2024b). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-101-learning-modules/course-modules/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness#:~:text=Phonemic%20awareness%20is%20the%20ability,in%20spoken%20words.

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Reference:

Basics: Phonics and decoding. Reading Rockets. (2024a). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/phonics-and-decoding

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Reference:

Components of fluency. Five from Five. (2024, August 1). https://fivefromfive.com.au/fluency/components-of-fluency/#:~:text=Text%20or%20passage%20reading%20fluency,a%20stilted%20or%20robotic%20way

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“Sound Sorting Game” helps children develop phonemic awareness by identifying and sorting sounds in words. Show your child one picture card or object at a time. Ask them to identify the initial sound of the word. For example, for the card showing a "ball," they would identify the /b/ sound and place the card under the correct initial sound. To meet the needs of my diverse learners, I can utilize colorful pictures or physical objects that represent different sounds. This helps young children make connections between sounds and physical objects.

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The video sequences alphabet letters, accompanied by sound examples, engaging children with colorful animations and lively music, while also encouraging participation and reinforcing phonic awareness through singing.

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ABC Phonics Song with Sounds for Children - Alphabet Song with Two Words for Each Letter

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Create Bingo cards with sight words. Call out words, and have your child mark them on their card with a chip. Once they get Bingo, encourage them to read the marked words aloud for practice.

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PBS LearningMedia provides an assortment of free educational resources, including videos, games, and activities focused on phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency

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PBS LearningMedia | Teaching Resources For Students And Teachers

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Inspire your students with thousands of free teaching resources including videos, lesson plans, and games aligned to state and national standards.

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ABCmouse offers a structured phonics program that helps children learn letter sounds, blending, and word identification through interactive games, songs, and activities. It allows parents to track their child's progress using a multisensory approach, identifying areas of excellency and areas requiring additional support as well as bilingual options for ELL.

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ABCmouse.com helps kids learn to read through phonics, and teaches lessons in math, social studies, art, music, and much more! For kids ages 2 to 8.

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The song encourages children to join a jungle party, promoting phonemic awareness helping children identify and use sounds in words and early literacy development through interactive elements and sound patterns.

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

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Students will take turns acting out vocabulary words for their classmates to guess in the Vocabulary Charades activity. With this tactile, hands-on method, children may actively interact with new words and their definitions. You can utilize visual cues or let students use props to encourage students at all learning levels. For advanced learners, you might challenge them to act out challenging, words.

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Introduce the "Ice Cream" method to students, read the story aloud or independently, complete a worksheet with the "Ice Cream" components, and share their responses with the class to deepen their understanding. For students who are reading at or near grade level, use texts that are appropriately challenging but still engaging. English Language Learner (ELL) students should be supported by a home language, pictures, gestures, or native language, and a language-proficient adult. For students with learning disabilities, language delays, or other special needs, provide visual aids.

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Have your child find items or situations around the house that relate to the vocabulary words on the list. For example, if the word is "cozy," they might find a soft blanket or pillow.

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I think you'll love the printable for this one! Vocabulary scavenger hunts are fun, and they're even more fun with a cool bookmark!

In a vocabulary scavenger hunt, students "hunt" for target words or the way those words are represented in books, magazines, articles on the web, in school, or at home.

For example, they either look for the word "quickly" or an example of something that was moving quickly.

While it seems like an obvious language arts activity, it works equally well in other content areas.

Let's learn how to set it up!

? How to Set Up a Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt

In order to host a vocabulary scavenger hunt in your classroom, you first have to decide what you're going to have students searching for.

You have two choices: students can either hunt for specific words, or they can hunt for types of words.

As the teacher, hunts for specific words take more prep work because you have to identify the words you want them to find.

You'll see ideas for categories of words below!

To facilitate the hunt, you can give students:

lists of words, either digitally or on a piece of paper

categories or parameters and have them complete a sheet/digital document

the opportunity to take pictures of words or examples of words they find

This choice depends upon what you're going to do with them (see below for ideas on that) and what technology your students have or have access to.

? Specific Examples of Vocabulary Scavenger Hunts

This is one activity where the sky really is the limit, but as a sample, I'll share some favorites:

Parts of speech (adverbs, adjectives, nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.)

Subcategories of the parts of speech (coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, for example, or auxiliary verbs, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs)

Specific words from the text you're reading

Words from the math unit (triangle, circle, array, decimal, obtuse angle, etc.)

Words of a specific syllable length

Science terms (cell, measure, lab, experiment, etc.)

Unfamiliar words

Words an author used to describe a character, event, or place

Tone words

Intriguing words

Words with homophones or homographs

Words they want voted off the island

Words they would want in their own dictionary

Theme words

Words with silent letters

Words that follow a particular pronunciation rule (e.g., the Magic "E")

Words we've learned

Certain prefixes, suffixes, or root words

Words in a certain verb tense

Color words

Words they love

Words they loathe

Words that sound like another name for angry/happy/mean/messy

Words that are easily confused with another word

Words that would be awesome to name a kid

And on and on...

You can see that there are a lot of options!

? What Do You Have Students Do with the Words They Find?

You can give students a bookmark and have them find words in a text like this one:

I made a whole set of these that you can get in my TeachersPayTeachers store.

You can crowdsource a class list of words in a digital platform, on a bulletin board, or even just on a piece of paper.

If you do a photo vocabulary scavenger hunt, you can have students share in a Google Slide deck like this one.

You could create a "Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt" bulletin board.

To make it really simple, you can simply have a discussion of the words they found.

If you want to do it in a discussion format, have a way to celebrate amazing words. I like to use a clapper I got at the dollar store.

? Are There Any Mistakes People Make with Vocabulary Scavenger Hunts?

The most common mistake I see is when teachers turn what could be a fun activity into just another worksheet.

They make students fill out super involved worksheets with no celebration or excitement and just label it "Scavenger Hunt."

Friends, that's no fun. And it doesn't fool kids, either.

To avoid this, make sure you carefully consider the way in which you're presenting the scavenger hunt and the way you're recognizing the words they find.

Some of the more unusual searches (e.g., "words that would make a great name for a kid") give students a feeling that's different from the one they get when they are just filling in a worksheet.

I'm a big believer in fun (I mean, Vocabulary Luau, right?), and this is an activity than lends itself to fun.

Don't let it be drudgery or busy work.

? Wrapping Up:

Vocabulary scavenger hunts belong in every teacher's toolbox because they can be adapted to so many uses.

They are immensely flexible, in that they're useful for a wide variety of grade levels and content areas.

One thing I like is that because there are so many options for them (bookmarks, photo scavenger hunts, discussions, hunting for different types of words, etc.), the same strategy can be used over and over again without getting old.

I hope you like them as much as I do!?

? You May Also Like:

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Vocabulary Scavenger Hunts | Vocabulary Luau

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I think you'll love the printable for this one! Vocabulary scavenger hunts are fun, and they're even more fun with a cool bookmark! In a vocabulary scavenger hunt, students "hunt" for target words or the way those words are represented in books, magazines, articles on the web, in school, or at home.

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Vocabulary: Introduction. Reading Rockets. (n.d.-b). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-101-learning-modules/course-modules/vocabulary

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Comprehension: Introduction. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-101-learning-modules/course-modules/comprehension

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Vooks offers a wide selection of popular children's books that have been professionally animated and narrated. The animated adaptations bring the stories to life in an engaging, visual format.In addition to the animated storybooks, Vooks includes educational activities and resources to support literacy development such as vocabulary builders and comprehension

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Vooks: read-aloud animated books for kids

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Vooks is an ad-free, kid-safe streaming platform that puts an entire digital library of animated storybooks right at your fingertips. Through subtle animation, read-aloud narration, highlighted read-along text, and engaging music and sound effects, we bring your favorite children's books to life to turn screen time into storytime.

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1. Article: "English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction" https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/english-language-learners/articles/english-language-learners-and-five-essential-components

2. https://storyweaver.org.in/en/

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYDFKm6J41o

4. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/dyslexia/articles/effective-reading-interventions-kids-learning-disabilities

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August, D., Hakuta, K. (1997). Improving schooling for language-minority children: A research agenda. Washington, DC: National Research Council.

Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. (2001). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children to read. The Partnership for Reading: National Institute for Literacy; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and U.S. Department of Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery in English and other languages. Keynote address presented at the West Coast Literacy Conference, Palm Springs, CA.

Collier,V. & Thomas, W. (1992). A synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16(1-2), 187-212.

Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering minority students. Sacramento, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education.

Cummins, J. (1992). Language proficiency, bilingualism, and academic achievement. In P. A. Richard-Amato and M. A. Snow (Eds.), The multicultural classroom: Readings for content-area teachers. White Plains: Longman.

Escamilla, K. (1987). The relationship of native language reading achievement and oral English proficiency to future achievement in reading English as a second language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer-sity of California, Los Angeles.

Hiebert, E. H., Pearson, P.D., Taylor, B.M., Richardson, V., Paris, S.G. (1998). Every child a reader: Applying reading research to the classroom. Center for the Improvement of Earl Reading Achievement. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan School of Education.

International Reading Association. (2001). Summary of the National Reading Panel Report, "Teaching Children to Read." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Reading Association, Washington, DC, July 2001.

Moats, L.C. (1999). Teaching reading is rocket science: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.

National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (2002). Survey of the states' limited English proficient students and available educational programs and services, 1999-2001. Washington, DC: NCBE.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000a). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000b). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Reading Panel (2001). "Frequently asked questions." [Online]. Available: http:// www.nationalreadingpanel.org/faq/faq.htm

New York State Education Department, Office of Bilingual Education. (2000). The teaching of language arts to limited English proficient/English language learners: A resource guide for all teachers. Albany, NY: Author.

Peregoy, S. F. & Boyle, O. F. (2000). English learners reading English: What we know, what we need to know. Theory into practice, 39(4), 237-247.

Ramirez, J.D. (2001). Bilingualism and literacy: Problem or opportunity? A synthesis of reading research on bilingual students. A Research Symposium on High Standards in Reading for Students in Diverse Language Groups: Research, Policy, and Practice. Washington, D.C.: Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, U.S. Department of Education.

Rodriguez, A. (1988). Research in reading and writing in bilingual education and English as a second language. In A. Ambert (Ed.), Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language. New York: Garland Pub.

Snow, C., Burns, S., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

U.S. Congress, No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110), 2001.

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English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction

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Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.