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Phonemic awareness: the ability to recognize, hear, and work with individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken words. Key components include blending, segmenting, and manipulating phonemes. This means identifying individual sounds in words, combining sounds to make words, breaking words apart into their separate sounds, and changing sounds within words to form new ones.

Classroom activities

1. Rhyme scavenger hunt: have students break into small groups to find words that rhyme in their classroom. (Ex: boy and toy, flag and bag). This activity can help students recognize words faster when reading. This is also a great activity for students who need differentiated instruction. Working alongside their peers is another way to build on their knowledge.

2. I Spy: When playing this game, have the student focus on the sound of the object that they are looking for. (Ex: I spy with my little eye something red that starts with /a/). One way to help the students who need differentiated instruction is to have them focus on the sound rather than the letter. (Ex: I spy something that starts with /b/).

At-home activity

1. Sing songs and nursery rhymes: Enjoy reading and reciting songs and nursery rhymes together, emphasizing the rhyming words to make the different sounds in each word stand out. Singing exposes children to new words, phrases, and sentence structures, which can enhance their language development. Children are also exposed to a wide range of topics through songs that are not covered in everyday interactions. Thus, singing songs is a great way to build vocabulary in young children (Music Pandit, 2024).

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Vocabulary: a group of words that are defined or described. Vocabulary development is a crucial aspect of a child's overall language development and academic success. A rich vocabulary not only enhances communication skills but also supports reading comprehension and cognitive development (Therapies of the Rockies, 2024).

Classroom activities:

1. Word wall: creating a word wall with sight words the students have learned will help them recognize those words in text. Having these words posted around the classroom can help students recognize them during reading. To differentiate instruction, teachers can provide students with a vocabulary list in their native language. Teachers can also provide students with a list to keep on their desk of the words so they can use it as a guide during reading.

2. Vocabulary A to Z: Have students break into small groups to come up with a word for each letter of the alphabet. Having students come up with a word for each letter can help them when reading something with unfamiliar words. Providing students with visuals during this activity is a great way to differentiate instruction and help the students who may need it.

At-home activity:

1. Grocery store vocabulary: Have children walk around the food store and look for vocabulary they may notice. To add a challenge, have them spell the word by sounding it out.

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Phonics is the process of connecting the sounds of spoken English to individual letters or groups of letters. Teaching children to blend these letter sounds together helps them sound out and decode unfamiliar words.

Classroom activities

1. Ping-Pong Phonics: Write letter blends on plastic cups. Let students bounce a ping pong ball into a cup, then say a word that starts with the letter blend they land on. Ping pong phonics is a fun and interactive way for kids to learn phonics by connecting letters and sounds. It can be used to practice blending sounds or matching letters to their corresponding sounds. If students are struggling to get the ball into the cup or you need to differentiate instruction, you can have the students get closer to the cups to throw the ball in or have them place it into whatever cup they'd like.

2. Bingo: Create a playing board with phonics words on it. The teacher calls out the word, and the students have to find it on their board. Being able to look for the words will help students be able to look for these words when reading. A way to differentiate bingo would be to put pictures of the words to visualize the word.

At-home activity

1. Flashlight phonics: Write letters, blends, and vowel teams on sticky notes and stick them around the room, even on the ceiling. Turn off the lights and give your child a flashlight. As they shine the light on a sticky note, have them say a word that uses the phonics sound they find.

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The term ‘fluency’ is used to describe a reader’s ability to read accurately, at an appropriate pace, and with expression. Reading fluently helps children understand what they are reading (Reading Partners, 2019). The 5 Ps that describe fluency are perfection, pace, performance, phrasing, and punctuation.

Classroom activities

1. Echo reading: Show kids what fluent reading sounds like by using a big book or projecting the text on a screen. Read a sentence out loud first, then invite them to read it back, encouraging them to copy your smooth reading and lively expression. Doing this activity will help them work on their pace and performance. For students who need differentiated instruction, they can request to read the passage one-on-one with you without the other students present. If a student is not fluent in English, provide them with the text in their native language so they can follow along while hearing the text be read in English.

2. Punctuation practice: Provide students with a worksheet that is missing or using the wrong punctuation. When they are doing this, remind them to read the sentence aloud or to themselves using different punctuation. This also helps with expression when reading. To differentiate this activity, provide the students with choices of which punctuation is missing. Giving them two or three choices limits the stress of choosing the right answer. If an EL student needs differentiation, use their native language when writing out the sentence examples.

At-home activity

1. Timed reading: Before bedtime, have your child read you a book of their choice while you time it. Over time, this will help with speed and accuracy.

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Comprehension is all about understanding what you're reading. It’s not just about recognizing the words; it's about thinking through the text, making connections with what you already know, and really understanding the meaning behind it.

Classroom activities:

1. KWL charts: Have students fill out a KWL during and after reading a story. The KWL chart helps kids think critically by guiding them through three steps: what they already know, what they want to learn, and what they've discovered. To differentiate this activity for students who need it, simplify the chart by using fewer questions. Allowing them to have more time to fill out the chart is another way to differentiate instruction. For EL students, provide the chart in their native language to help them decipher what is being asked.

2. True or false: One way to make sure your students are comprehending the text is to play a game of truth or dare. Provide them with a few questions that are in the book and not in the book. This activity can be used for differentiated instruction by limiting the number of questions being asked at one time. This can also be done as a silent activity to help the students who struggle speaking out loud to concentrate on what is being asked.

At-home activity

1. Ask questions: Asking questions, especially open-ended ones, gives kids the opportunity to practice understanding and using language. When they respond to questions, they’re building their knowledge of how language works. These question-and-answer exchanges also help them learn about the social side of language, like how we use it in real-life conversation