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References:

Kawasaki, J. (2022, July 7). How to teach ESL pronunciation and phonics. Bridge Universe. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/esl-pronunciation-and-phonics/

Reading Rockets. (n.d.a). Phonological and phonemic awareness: Activities for your pre-k child. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-pre-kindergarten-child/phonological-and-phonemic

Reading Rockets. (n.d.b). Vocabulary: Activities for your pre-k child. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-pre-kindergarten-child/vocabulary-activities

Reading Rockets. (n.d.c.). Fluency: Activities for your kindergartener. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-kindergartener/fluency-activities

Reading Rockets. (n.d.d.). Oral language comprehension: Activities for your pre-k child. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-pre-kindergarten-child/oral-language-comprehension

Rigg, D. (2019, September 17). The importance of teaching handwriting for cognitive development. PLD Literacy. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://pld-literacy.org/the-importance-of-teaching-handwriting-for-cognitive-development/

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What is phonemic awareness, and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is phonemic awareness, and what is the benefit of it? 

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Classroom activities: I Spy first sounds and clap it out

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Classroom activities: I Spy first sounds and clap it out

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1. I Spy first sounds: For this activity select letters with distinctive easy to hear sounds such as /s/ for S (Reading Rockets, n.d.a). Begin playing the I Spy game by saying I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter S. Children can explore the learning environment. During this activity, teachers can encourage students to help each other out and offer praise for student's excellent guesses, as their item may begin with the letter S but is not the spied item, or provide reinforcement such as repeating the sound and asking to listen if the item matches that sound. An example would be I see you brought the doll, do you hear the /s/ in doll- emphasizing the beginning sound in doll. To differentiate the activity, in the beginning, the teacher can have the children repeat the sound they hear, offering an explanation of proper mouth and tongue placement. This would benefit English language students, students below grade level, and students with learning disabilities, as it helps them understand the physical aspect of letter production (Kawasaki, 2022).

2. Clap it out: This activity focuses on students practicing listening for syllables. First, begin by introducing what syllables are and how to identify them by feeling them. Explain that syllables are the big pieces of words and that some words have one syllable (cat), some have two (apple) and some have three or more (banana) (Reading Rockets, n.d.a). Next, teach them how to identify them by explaining that every time their chin goes down, that is one syllable. Teachers can use equity sticks to help differentiate this activity. For example, students who are gifted and observed to have grasped the concept quickly can move on to attempting to count two or three-word syllables. Students who seem to struggle can continue working on one-word syllables. Teachers can make this more engaging by asking students to count the syllables in their or their peer's names.

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What is comprehension and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is comprehension and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is fluency, and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is fluency, and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is vocabulary and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is vocabulary and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is phonics and what is the benefit of it? 

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What is phonics and what is the benefit of it? 

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1. At-home activity: Sound scavenger hunt. Select a letter and have children find things around the home that begin with the letter (Reading Rockets, n.d.). For example, ask the child if they can find something that begins with the letter M sound in the house.

2. Resource: Phonemic Awareness activities for parents and child- https://heggerty.org/parents/. This website provides parents with the definition, the importance of phonemic awareness, and activities for preschool and kindergarten-aged children. It also provides the resource in Spanish for Spanish speaking families.

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Classroom activities: Magic letters and alphabet phonics clip cards

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Classroom activities: Magic letters and alphabet phonics clip cards

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1. Magic letters: One integral key to phonics begins with letter identification and formation (Rigg, 2019). This activity allows students to work on these skills. Hand out black card stock papers to students with letters of the alphabet written in chalk. Give each student a cup of water and a paintbrush; the teacher will ask the students if they know what letter she is holding up. Should students below grade level need support, they can work with peers to help them identify and find the letter on their sheet. Once the students have all identified the letter, repeated it out loud, and whispered it, they will have to find it on their paper, tracing it with their paintbrush to make it disappear.

2. Alphabet Phonics Clip Cards: For this activity, the teacher will ask students to use letter clothespins and match them to the animal name that starts with the same letter, such as Z to the zebra on the circle phonic card. This can be differentiated by having the circle phonic cards have all letters on them or only three of four. Gifted students can be challenged to match all the letters where students still struggling with the concept have work on the circle phonic cards that only focus on three letters

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Classroom activities: Finding words in book and spaceman & Rocketship directionality game

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Classroom activities: Finding words in book and spaceman & Rocketship directionality game

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1. While reading a story, select a term in the book that is often repeated and is a new vocabulary word to introduce to students. For example, in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, teachers can introduce 'see' and explain that it means to look at. They can then write the word on the whiteboard and ask students that when reading the story, if they spot the word 'see,' they can make their hands into glasses, and the teacher will call on a student to come up and point to it, saying the word and definition as they do so. This activity can be differentiated for gifted students by asking them the letters that make up the word as they are called upon.

2. Spaceman and Rocketship directionality game: The teacher will hand each student a Spaceman and Rocketship stick puppet for this activity. The teacher will have directionality cards depicting vocabulary terms such as above, below, front of, and behind. The teacher will introduce the terms and explain their meaning, referencing the picture cards accompanying the word. She will have students come up and pick a card, hold it up, show it to their peers, and tell them where to place their Spaceman in reference to the Rocketship. To differentiate this activity for students who are struggling to identify and learn the vocabulary terms, the teacher, after observing the student working with the card, will call on a peer to support the student.

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Classroom activities: Echo game and Sight Word Spy

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Classroom activities: Echo game and Sight Word Spy

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1. Echo Game: Write a sentence on the board, read it, and call on students and ask them to mimic you. Then, introduce a developmentally appropriate book and have them echo you reading the story, following your speed and expression and pausing properly. This game helps them develop and learn how to pace and express the intonation of the book (Reading Rockets, n.d.c.). This activity provides extra support to ELL students as well as students with learning disabilities as the teacher is helping them read the story so they can focus on mimicking the fluency; however, to challenge gifted students, allow them to attempt to read the story on their own

2. Sight Word Spy: Hide sight words in plain sight around the learning environment. Explain to students that the game requires them to spot the sight words that the teacher says. This game excites students to listen and find the sight words (Reading Rockets, n.d.). To differentiate this activity for students still working on what the sight words look like, the teacher can reference the sight word-word wall.

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Classroom Activities: Read & Draw and Acting It Out

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Classroom Activities: Read & Draw and Acting It Out

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1. Drawing: The teacher will read a story for a week (as is appropriate to do with young children). On the last day of reading the story, the teacher will ask students to draw a picture of what happened in the story. This is an excellent way for teachers to engage, enhance, and gauge a student's comprehension of stories (Reading Rockets, n.d.d.). To challenge gifted students, the teacher will challenge them to write what they drew referencing the storybook word wall. To support ELL or students with learning disability, the teacher will take dictation about what they drew so that students can focus on demonstrating their understanding of the story.

2. Acting It Out: During this activity, the teacher will provide props to students and pair them off. The students will be asked to act out the story's events using the props provided. To help differentiate this activity, teachers will pair students off heterogeneously to provide the appropriate support or challenge students to support their struggling peers while continuing to build mastery of the objective.

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1. At-home activity: Gather toys and tape the beginning letter of the toy somewhere on the toy. On a piece of paper, write the letters of the toys. Have children go through the box and first attempt to match the sound of the first letter of the toy to the written letter; if the child is struggling, encourage them to explore the toy and see if they can find the letter on the toy. This will encourage them to find the letter and match it independently.

2. Resource: Literacy Hub- Phonics: https://www.literacyhub.edu.au/for-families/phonics-a-guide-for-families/. This website addresses why reading is critical, breaking down how and why it is essential to learn to read. Following, it discusses phonics' role in reading and how to teach children, giving strategies, examples, and further translated resources.

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1. At-home activity: a simple activity to do at home to help develop vocabulary in your child is reading to your child every day (Reading Rockets, n.d.b.). This creates a language-rich environment, as exposing children to vivid language gets them interested in words and can help them develop their vocabulary skills. Another simple strategy for creating a language-rich environment is using parallel-talk (saying what they are doing) and self-talk(saying what you are doing). Expressing what you see them doing or explaining what you are doing helps your child expand their word bank and knowledge of how to use exciting words to communicate or express their thoughts and ideas (Reading Rockets, n.d.b.).

2. Resource: Reading Rockets- Vocabulary: Activities for your pre-k child https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-pre-kindergarten-child/vocabulary-activities. This website gives a quick overview of the importance of helping children expand their vocabulary and activities to do at home with them. It also provides a video example of how to do this along with a step by step guide of how to introduce new words to young children.

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1. At-home activity: Buddy reading. Taking turns reading a book that is at your child's level helps provide them with a model of what good fluent reading sounds like and the opportunity to practice this skill (Reading Rockets, n.d.c.). Using this strategy allows children to begin to mimic the appropriate expressions and punctuation that are necessary to help build this skill.

2. Resource: Reading Rockets- Fluency: Activities for your kindergartener https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-kindergartener/fluency-activities. This resource provides activities that can be done at home with your child as well as several videos on what teaching fluency looks like and other resources such as fluency poems, more games using sight words and explaining why fluency matters. When parents are provided with an explanation of why a skill is essential to their development and provided strategies and resources, they can effectively work with teachers to establish these skills.

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1. At-home activity: Grocery Store List: Have a child help you create a grocery store list to take while shopping. Have them draw the items you say you need while you dictate or ask them to write what the item is next to it; then, when at the grocery store, have them read their list out loud. This helps oral language comprehension, the first step in teaching them how to process words and understand their meaning (Reading Rockets, n.d.d.).

2. Resource: Reading Rockets- Oral Language Comprehension: Activities for your pre-k child https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-pre-kindergarten-child/oral-language-comprehension. This resource provides families with an overview of oral language comprehension, explaining the critical role it plays in reading comprehension and how to help facilitate the foundation of these skills with young learners. At the bottom, it provides further resources for families to explore, such as Think-Alouds to help build reading comprehension, Spanish resources, and the advantages of wordless picture books.