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Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness Resources

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Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness Resources

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Activities:

Pre-Kindergarten | Florida Center for Reading Research (fcrr.org)

Kindergarten and First Grade | Florida Center for Reading Research (fcrr.org)

Second and Third Grade | Florida Center for Reading Research (fcrr.org)

Assessment:

- The PAST (thepasttest.com)

Book Resources:

Equipped for Reading Success by Kilpatrick (OR borrow a copy from the Queen's Libary)

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44 speech sounds in the English Langauge

44 Phonemes - YouTube

Phonics Games:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hr5FHNOYdSihAFgCCCpu_LNAK0M-HTJes-AEiWw_69I/edit?usp=sharing

Sound Walls

https://youtu.be/ymw6aCp7m14

https://youtu.be/HCh9-gQhdtM

Heart Words

https://www.reallygreatreading.com/heart-word-magic

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Example Close Reading Lesson Video:

Complete Lesson: Modeling Close Reading of Short Texts - Bing video

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What is Self Reg? Dr. Stuart Shanker Explains

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Teaching & Learning Center Kansas State University

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Professional Development Series - Katie Linder's "Keeping a Teaching Journal"

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Social Emotional Learning Journals FREE-

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Writing Prompts that Reinforce Social Emotional Learning

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Writing Prompts that Reinforce Social Emotional Learning

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Talking Circles Overview from the First Nations Pedagogy Online Project

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Talking Circles or Circle Talks are a foundational approach to First Nations pedagogy-in-action since they provide a model for an educational activity that encourages dialogue, respect, the co-creation of learning content, and social discourse. The nuance of subtle energy created from using this res…

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The KWL Chart starts students thinking about what they now about a topic, what they ant to know, and what they have earned in the end. This note-taking device guides students through a three-step process to activate background knowledge, develop a purpose for learning, and summarize.

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Click here to find out what is new on our site!

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The evidence and answers you need when you need them
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Find evidence-informed resources and information to support student mental health

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Behavior Strategy: How to Teach Nonverbal Signals

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Behavior Strategy: How to Teach Nonverbal Signals

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Looking for a way to foster communication while limiting interruptions during instruction? Try using nonverbal signals, which are also called silent signals.

With nonverbal signals, you and your students can communicate with each other quietly, quickly, and discreetly. It also allows students to communicate their needs to you without drawing attention to themselves.

Watch: See nonverbal signals in action

Watch this classroom video from EL Education to learn the many ways you can use nonverbal signals.

Read: How to use this strategy

Here are some commonly used signals a student may use to communicate with a teacher.

Using the American Sign Language sign for "restroom"

"I need to use the bathroom."

Giving a thumbs up, sideways, or down

"I do/don't/sort of understand."

Making a "C" shape with their hand

"I need clarification."

Showing their hand in a "fist to five" position

"I don't understand
a concept." (fist)
"I totally understand." (five)

Making a three-finger "W" sign

"Can I get a sip of water?"

And here are some nonverbal signals you can use to communicate with your students.

Encourage students to let you know if any of the signals don't feel comfortable for them to use. Let them know it's OK to approach you to discuss it privately. Gestures don't always mean the same thing across cultures.

Also, students who struggle with motor skills may have difficulty making some of the signals. Share with the class any modifications or variations you've created based on your conversations with specific students. If there's a reason behind a modification that's appropriate to share with the class, such as a cultural difference in the use of a signal, make that a learning moment. (You don't have to specify who brought that difference to your attention.)

Understand: Why this strategy works

Students who have learning and thinking differences may struggle with executive function. They often have difficulty with paying attention, regulating emotions, staying focused, keeping still, or staying quiet in class. In fact, many students (whether or not they have learning and thinking differences) struggle with these skills. You may find yourself repeatedly responding to requests for bathroom breaks or asking students to quiet down. These small interruptions can add up, disrupting routines and taking time away from instruction.

Nonverbal signals allow you to respond to students without calling unwanted attention to them. This is especially beneficial for students who may need repeat reminders. You can even co-create signals with individual students who frequently need specific reminders.

Nonverbal signals are also an effective way to check for understanding, which is important for all students and particularly for English language learners, students who process information more slowly, or those who have other challenges with communication.

With nonverbal signals, you can preserve instructional time and level the playing field for students who learn and think differently by providing an avenue of communication that's discreet and shared by all students in the classroom.

For consistency between home and school, explain to families how nonverbal signals work. Create and share a handout or a video to demonstrate the signals you're using in class.

Research behind this strategy

About the author

About the author

Amanda Morin is the author of "The Everything Parent's Guide to Special Education" and the former director of thought leadership at Understood. As an expert and writer, she helped build Understood from its earliest days.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Trynia Kaufman, MS was the senior manager of editorial research at Understood. She is a former educator and presents nationwide at education conferences.

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Behavior Strategy: How to Teach Nonverbal Signals

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Using nonverbal signals or silent signals in the classroom can reduce interruptions and allow all students to communicate their needs.

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Helping students regain their calm after misbehavior doesn't mean there are no consequences-it ensures that the right lesson is learned.

Jim West / Alamy Stock Photo

Our schools are currently seeing a dramatic increase in students of all ages carrying in anxiety, adversity, and trauma from a variety of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Social and emotional learning programs are critical for addressing these emotional and mental challenges, but we must also rethink our discipline procedures and policies. We need to understand that traditional discipline works best with the children who need it the least, and works least with the children who need it the most. Discipline ideally is not something we do to students-it should be a quality we want to develop within them.

For students with ACEs, traditional punishments can unintentionally retraumatize and reactivate their stress response systems. Recent research in school discipline is grounded in the neuroscience of attachment, which emphasizes the significance of relationships. Those relationships begin with an adult in a regulated, calm brain state. It takes a calm brain to calm another brain-this co-regulation is something that students with ACEs may have missed out on. Their school can be an environment where they feel safe and connected even when they make poor choices.

This doesn't mean giving students a pass for misbehavior: There are still consequences for poor choices, but regulating the feelings and sensations a student is experiencing is the initial step, one that is critical for a sustainable change in behavior.

Emotions are contagious, and when a teacher is able to model a calm presence through their tone, facial expression, and posture, students are less likely to react defensively. When the teacher listens to what is beneath the behavior, focusing on the student's feelings, this type of validation says to the child that the teacher sees them and is trying to understand. When the teacher takes deep breaths, gets a drink of water, and creates space for reflection for a minute or two, they are modeling the regulation skills they want to see from students.

Co-Regulating Behavior With Students

If I'm the teacher, co-regulation-the process of helping a student who has made a poor choice of behavior to regain their composure-begins with the awareness of my own sensations and feelings when I am disciplining the student. It entails a willingness to regulate my own brain before I act on that discipline. Personally, I try to commit to three quick routines that feel doable to calm me in a short period of time: taking three deep breaths, texting a friend or pulling an affirmation from a prepared jar, and stretching and moving for a minute.

It's much better to wait for a few minutes when we're feeling irritated and angry before we discipline, and this is also excellent modeling for students. Students read our nonverbal communication, so paying attention to our facial expression and posture in addition to our tone of voice is critical when teaching the behaviors we want to see.

Focusing on the student's sensations and the feelings that lie beneath the behavior help us to understand the root causes and patterns of a behavior we might discover when there is rising irritation and anger. I may have a minute or two to redirect-by suggesting that the student go and get a drink of water or take a couple of deep breaths to calm down with me before we talk about the problem.

Creating a friend-in-need system could be helpful so each student has a buddy or even another adult in the building to go to when they begin to feel agitated. For the friend-in-need system, teachers ask students to select one or two peers or adults at the school who they trust and feel comfortable with if they need to take a break and be in another environment or talk through those challenging moments. This is preventative discipline and a way for students to have options when they begin to feel negative. These calming strategies are taught ahead of time and become a part of our procedures and classroom agreements or guidelines.

"That must feel awful."

"You seem really angry."

"You seem really frustrated."

"What a difficult situation you're in."

Validation is powerful way to calm an agitated and angry student. It's calming to be understood and felt by another. Some things you can say to help a student feel validated:

Validation opens the door for teacher and student to discuss choices and consequences and to create a plan of action for the next time there's a conflict.

I once heard that it is critical that a teacher's brain should resemble a thermostat rather than a thermometer when it comes to disciplining a student. What does this mean? Like a thermostat, the teacher needs to maintain a steady temperature throughout a moment of conflict, with a goal of creating conversation and a plan of action with a student who understands their choices and the consequences of those actions. The teacher needs to model the behaviors they want to see and to model self-care and respect during the discipline process.

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The Role of Emotion Co-Regulation in Discipline

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Helping students regain their calm after misbehavior doesn't mean there are no consequences-it ensures that the right lesson is learned.

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We are embarking on an era of transformational change in education where we have a vision of creating learner-centered environments where learners pursue their passions and interests and develop agency with the knowledge, skills and dispositions so they are future ready for careers yet to be imagined. The question is:

Why are we still using the traditional approach of learning styles to develop learner profiles?

Let's take at the research and what it says about learning styles.

Why Stop Using Learning Styles?

As we are transforming education from the traditional teacher-centered environments to a personalized, learner-centered environment we need to reconsider the learning styles approach that has no basis in research. Classroom teachers and academics have been using learning styles for over four decades to understand learners. During this time the notion that teaching methods should match a learner's particular learning style has had a powerful influence in education, however, a study published in the Psychological Science in the Public Interest challenged the concept of learning styles and their affect on performance.

Despite the preponderance of the learning styles concept "from kindergarten to graduate school," and a "thriving industry" devoted to such guidebooks for teachers, Pashler found there wasn't rigorous evidence for the concept. He wrote:

Although the literature on learning styles is enormous, very few studies have even used an experimental methodology capable of testing the validity of learning styles applied to education. Moreover, of those that did use an appropriate method, several found results that flatly contradict the popular meshing hypothesis. We conclude therefore, that at present, there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into general educational practice.

The four prominent cognitive psychologists in this study found no evidence for validating educational applications of learning styles into general education practice. This was their conclusion:

Research conducted over 40 years has failed to show that individual attributes can be used to guide effective teaching practice. Rather than being a harmless fad, learning styles often perpetuates stereotyping and harmful teaching practices it is suppose to fight." (Pashler et al, 2009).

So as schools move from a traditional system to a personalized, competency-based system, we need to evaluate the traditional tools we have used around learners and learning and teachers and teaching, and understand how a learning science can be used to nurture and build a culture of learning.

Start Using the Learning Sciences and the UDL Lens

We need to stop using learning styles and start using Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a research-based set of principles based on the learning sciences to guide the design of learning environments and innovative sustainable systems that are accessible and effective for all learners. UDL tells us that there is variability in the way each learner learns: their strengths, challenges, aptitudes, talents, and aspirations.

The UDL Lens of Access, Engage and Express™ is designed so that we see the learner in every child. It offers key information about the learner's strengths and challenges in how they access and process information, how they engage with content and how they express what they know and understand. The terms Access, Engage and Express also serves as the "common language" between teacher and learner where daily conversations can take place about learning with a process to identify the tools and skills that could support a challenge or enhance a strength in their Personal Learning Backpack™. This leads to a Personal Learning Plan™ (PLP) where each learner can set goals to acquire the necessary skills to become an independent and self-directed learner, a learner with agency that has ownership to their learning.

Ownership to learning requires the learner to understand how they learn.

Empower Learners with the UDL Lens

Start the next school year with having every learner create a Learner Profile. From the learner's perspective, the UDL Lens of Access, Engage and Express™ in a Learner Profile would give him or her an opportunity tell their story of who they are and how they learn by:

sharing their strengths, challenges, preference and needs in how they access and process information, engage with content and concepts, and express what they know and understand;

express their interests, talents, aspirations and passions;

set learning goals and actionable plans with teachers to support a challenge or enhance a strength; and

have regular conversations about their learning with teachers, peers, and parents.

Let's take a closer look at the UDL Lens of Access, Engage and Express™ and how a learner can share how they learn by using a Learner Profile (LP) that also includes their interests, talents, passions, aspirations and the words that would describe them.

The information in the Learner Profile™ (LP) helps each learner tell their story and how they learn with their teacher. This is the foundation from which conversations, relationships and partnerships in learning are built. What are the possible messages and outcomes from a learner using the Learner Profile?

It helps validate the learner and how they learn.

It tells the learner that you care about who they are.

It creates a community of learners based on trust and respect.

"No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship." - Dr. James Comer
To learn more about how to personalize learning and the three-step process of the Learner Profile, Personal Learning Backpack™ and Personal Learning Plan™, refer to How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper by Bray and McClaskey (2016) or the blog posts on the Learner Profile™, Personal Learning Backpack™ and Personal Learning Plan ™.

The UDL Lens of Access, Engage and Express, Access, Engage and Express, Learner Profile (LP), Personal Learning Backpack (PLB) and Personal Learning Plan (PLP) are trademarks of Kathleen McClaskey.

Reference: Paschler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., and Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 105-119. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf

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Learner Profile™: Stop Using Learning Styles, Start Using the Learning Sciences

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We are embarking on an era of transformational change in education where we have a vision of creating learner-centered environments where learners pursue their passions and interests and develop agency with the knowledge, skills and dispositions so they are future ready for careers yet to be imagined.

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The Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario's (LDAO) mandate is to provide individuals with the right to learn, the power to achieve. With support from the Ontario Ministry of Education's Special Education/Success for All Branch, LDAO has developed a bilingual resource designed to provide Ontario educators with meaningful information to help support students with learning disabilities, known as LD@school.

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LD@school - Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario

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The Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario's (LDAO) mandate is to provide individuals with the right to learn, the power to achieve. With support from the Ontario Ministry of Education's Special Education/Success for All Branch, LDAO has developed a bilingual resource designed to provide Ontario educators with meaningful information to help support students with learning disabilities, known as LD@school.

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Written by Nolwenn Chesnaisa, Claudia Verretb and Geneviève Cabagnoa a Université Rennes, Laboratoire VIPS2 (Values, Innovations, Policies, Socializations & Sports) EA 4636 - F- 35000 Rennes, France b Université du Québec à Montréal, Département des sciences de l'activité physique, CP 8888, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada
Student behavioural problems in schools can confront teachers with the daily challenge of classroom management and place them in situations that they experience as particularly complex and stressful (Bernier et al., 2021). These behavioural difficulties can also have a negative impact on student learning since they are associated in the scientific literature with greater academic and social difficulties (McClelland et al., 2007; Robson et al., 2020). In fact, they are manifestations of inappropriate behaviours that are unsuited to the school context, such as inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, etc. (Déry et al., 2002; Déry et al., 2007; Gaudreau, 2011) that disrupt classroom functioning and also prevent students from fully engaging in learning. The management of behavioural difficulties in the classroom, therefore, raises questions about the pedagogical modalities that teachers could propose to support better behaviours and thus facilitate the learning of these students.

Students with behavioural difficulties have been found to struggle with self-regulation, that is, controlling their thoughts, behaviours, and emotions (Vohs & Baumeister, 2016). Different types of interventions, such as curriculum-based interventions, mindfulness and yoga, physical activity and exercise, involving parents/families, or focusing on other social or individual skills (e.g., self-control, inattention, etc.), can be implemented to improve children's and adolescents' self-regulatory abilities, and thus more broadly academic success (Pandey et al., 2018). Thus, for example, the implementation of activities such as yoga, or, more broadly, physical activities can have beneficial effects on these dimensions. The specific interest of these interventions, for students with learning disabilities linked in particular to these behavioural problems, is noted with regard to the potential benefits on their learning (Popham et al., 2018).

Active breaks, characterized by short periods of physical activity that take place within the classroom, are one of the modalities proposed among different forms of physical activity in school settings to support students' self-regulation (Verret et al., 2020). More broadly, they seem to be able to support students' academic success through multidimensional effects on their academic performance (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011), their motivation and enjoyment (Mullins et al., 2019), or their classroom behaviours, particularly related to their engagement in the task at hand (Daly-Smith et al., 2018). From then on, active breaks can support behaviours conducive to students' learning. More specifically, a few studies (e.g., see Ma et al., 2015) have looked at the effects of these breaks on students with the most off-task behaviours in the classroom and concluded that there are greater benefits on task engagement for this population. Given these multiple benefits, it is possible to assume that these active breaks could promote the academic success of students with learning disabilities. However, further research is needed to clarify the effects of active breaks on these students in particular.

Presenting Active breaks

Active breaks have attracted the interest of a number of researchers and practitioners because of their benefits, observed on students, as well as their feasibility. In fact, active breaks are a tool with a low cost in terms of time and materials, which greatly facilitates their use by teachers. They are characterized by short sessions of physical activity of moderate to sustained intensity, carried out within the classroom. They last between 5 and 15 minutes on average and are different from recess, which is outside the classroom and unstructured, and from physical education class, which has very specific educational purposes (Hivner et al., 2019). Therefore, active breaks should not be used to replace recess or physical education; instead, they aim to be complementary to these other times of physical activity.

Content of active breaks

Active breaks can take very different and varied forms (Table 1).

Table 1: The different contents of active breaks
Click here to view and download Table 1: The different contents of active breaks.
Other active breaks can be imagined, invented by teachers or even by students! In addition, the integration of physical activity within the classroom may or may not be associated with academic content (Vazou et al., 2020). For example, the statements made in the active games can be linked to a lesson previously seen in the classroom, such as French, geography, etc.

Conduct during active breaks

In terms of structure, an active break often begins with a short initiation, followed by a time of more intense physical activity during which various structured movements are repeated. The break ends with a calming phase, with stretching movements, yoga-type exercises or breathing and relaxation exercises. These different phases are detailed in the following table, along with tips for implementation (Table 2).

Table 2: The different phases of the active break, recommendations for implementation
Click here to view and download Table 2: The different phases of the active break, recommendations for implementation
Implementing Active Breaks

A number of recommendations for implementing active breaks emerge from the literature and from discussions with teachers who use active breaks in their classrooms.

Choose the content:

The active break can be chosen by the teachers, by the students, or by lottery. The content may depend on the materials available in the classroom but also on the needs, desires, and preferences of the teachers and/or students. Taking into account the characteristics of the students (age, classroom atmosphere, student behaviours, students' attention and concentration capacities, level of excitement, perceived difficulties in a specific task, etc.) seems to be a central element in order to propose relevant content that will promote the appearance of beneficial effects on the students. The richness of the content of active breaks in terms of intensity, duration, supports and physical exercises performed greatly facilitates this adaptation.

Choosing the time:

Active breaks can be implemented spontaneously (when the students or the teacher feel the need) or in a ritualized manner (by integrating them into the class schedule). In the first case, the teacher can base his or her decisions on the behaviour of his or her students (inattention, irritation, fatigue, weariness, discouragement, the noise level in the classroom, etc.), or on the feelings of his or her students (the students can use a visual signal on their table, for example, to be placed on the side "I feel the need to take an active break"). This allows for an active break to be implemented at a time when students really need it. However, it can be difficult to interrupt a lesson or to remember to set up the active breaks, and implementation can be more complicated. In the case of ritualized active breaks, implementation is simplified in the sense that it is planned and systematized. Rituals are recommended in the literature on special needs students because they facilitate the management of these students by giving them a stable framework. In addition, the ritualization of these activities allows for more frequent and automatic use of active breaks, which can facilitate students' habituation to activity and thus help reduce students' excitement about novelty in particular. According to the teachers interviewed about the introduction of active breaks, the change of task is a good time to offer an active break, because it allows students who are engaged in a task not to be interrupted, and to offer a transition between two tasks. Active breaks can also be used as a morning or post-meal ritual when students arrive in class, as a routine time to prepare them to work and to put them in the right conditions for the day.

Choose the frequency:

Active breaks can be used on an ad hoc basis or more frequently, depending on the objectives and the needs of the students. According to scientific studies, the greatest benefits for students are obtained when active breaks are implemented in a ritualized manner, daily or even several times a day. However, teachers may find it difficult to maintain daily use of active breaks over the long term (Holt et al., 2013). Therefore, the frequency of active breaks should be adapted by teachers according to the expected effects and the needs of the students, taking into account their time constraints and the characteristics of their students.

Set up a clear framework for the break and provide clear rules:

Because of their playfulness and the pleasure they bring to children, active breaks can lead to a certain amount of excitement and excesses. To make it easier to get back to work, teachers who use this tool recommend setting up a clear framework and very precise rules, with a clear delimitation of the time dedicated to the active break.

Conclusion

Active breaks are accessible pedagogical tools that are appreciated by students and teachers alike (Bailey & DiPerna, 2015). Because of their benefits on students' behaviours, but also on the classroom atmosphere and the positive dynamic they create, they can be particularly interesting for teachers to support them in managing their classrooms, especially with students with learning difficulties. As with any pedagogical intervention, active breaks must nevertheless be appropriated and adapted by teachers if they hope to obtain benefits for their students. Particular attention should be paid to students with learning difficulties in order to identify their reactions and find the most appropriate ways of implementing them to avoid any excesses.

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Active breaks in elementary school: A tool to support the self-regulation of students with LDs

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Written by Nolwenn Chesnaisa, Claudia Verretb and Geneviève Cabagnoa a Université Rennes, Laboratoire VIPS2 (Values, Innovations, Policies, Socializations & Sports) EA 4636 - F- 35000 Rennes, France b Université du Québec à Montréal, Département des sciences de l'activité physique, CP 8888, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada Student behavioural problems in schools can confront teachers with the daily challenge of

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Reading & Literacy: Designing and Implementing a Successful Program

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In this workbook, we'll evaluate the many facets of structuring an effective, research-based reading and language arts block and help you select the appropriate technology tools to support your approach.

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The PAST can be downloaded above. Please also download and carefully read the instructions before using. Information can also be found in the manual “Equipped for Reading Success” by David A. Kilpatrick, Ph.D in chapter 11 on how to effectively use the test. Make sure to also practice using the test before using it with […]

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The Robertson Program for Inquiry-based Teaching in Mathematics and Science

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Number Assessment Toolkit - The Robertson Program for Inquiry-based Teaching in Mathematics and Science

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Set of 4 quick, efficient assessments to be used by an educator to better understand a student’s number knowledge. Related math lessons included.

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