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Sound Sorting with Picture Cards
Children sort images (e.g., sun, sock, mouse) by beginning, middle, or ending sounds.
Differentiation: For students with speech/language needs, use visual supports (e.g., lips showing how sounds are made) or limit the number of choices. For ELL students, pair sounds with real objects and model pronunciation.

Elkonin (Sound) Boxes with Counters
Students hear a word (like “fish”) and push a token into a box for each phoneme: /f/, /i/, /sh/.
Differentiation: Use colored chips for each sound, allow students to clap or tap if fine motor is a barrier, or use magnetic boards for tactile feedback.

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Letter-Sound Hopscotch
Create a hopscotch grid with letters. Students say the sound of the letter they hop on.
Differentiation: Add pictures (e.g., “b” with a ball) or use recorded sound buttons. For students with mobility needs, this can be adapted as a bean bag toss or a tabletop game.

Build-a-Word with Magnetic Letters
Students use letters to build CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words like hat, dog, bug.
Differentiation: Provide picture cues, use color-coded consonants/vowels, or offer pre-filled templates with one or two missing letters.

These activities help to support students development through fun, interactive games. It is important to incorporate hands-on activities, especially with phonics because it allows for the content to be reinforced (Marshall, 2024). The more fun students have while learning, the more likely they are to remember the material.

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Choose a letter and have your child find household items that begin with that sound. For example, for /t/, they might find toothbrush, towel, and toy.
Why it helps: Encourages phonics practice in a real-world setting and helps children generalize letter-sound knowledge. Children with special needs can use a checklist or take pictures of found items.

Website for Families:

Starfall- ABCs and Learn to Read

https://www.starfall.com/h/ltr-classic/

Why it’s helpful: Engaging phonics-based games that guide kids through letter-sound relationships and word building. It’s easy to navigate, and many features are free.

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Please see Starfall's how-to-teach-reading page, Learn to Read with Phonics, Fluency, and Comprehension, and print the Free Phonics Printouts for children. Starfall™ books, games, movies, and songs follow a research-based method of systematic phonics starting with consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Emergent readers gain confidence as they progress to long vowels and other letter-sound relationships such as digraphs.

Brought to you by Zac the Rat™, Peg the Hen™, and Gus the Duck™.
Starfall™ Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read™

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Learn to Read with Phonics | Starfall Education

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Starfall's movies, games, and ebooks create an environment where children have fun as they learn to read. We use a proven sequential phonics method.

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Interactive Word Wall
New words from read-alouds are added to a chart with images. Students can act them out, draw pictures, or use them in sentences.
Differentiation: Use real objects for concrete nouns, give sentence frames for use in speech or writing, and add sign language or visual symbols for non-verbal students.

Story Time Word Hunt
During read-alouds, pause to spotlight new or interesting words (e.g., cocoon, enormous). Students guess meanings using context and pictures.

Differentiation: Use visual cues, repetition, and simplified definitions. Provide additional small-group practice with tactile materials (e.g., word cards with textures or symbols).

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Echo Reading with Big Books or Poems
The teacher reads a line, then students repeat it using the same rhythm and expression.
Differentiation: Use visual supports for expression (e.g., emojis for tone), and let students read chorally or listen to recordings first if reading aloud is challenging.

Poetry Performance
Students rehearse and perform short poems with expression, gestures, or props.
Differentiation: Provide simplified scripts or buddy reading options. Let non-verbal students participate through movement, visual props, or pointing to lines.

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Story Maps (Beginning, Middle, End)
Students draw or use picture cards to retell the parts of a story.
Differentiation: Use visuals or sentence stems ("In the beginning…") and provide assistive tech options like drawing on a tablet or using picture-based software.

Think-Pair-Share
After reading, students think about a question, discuss it with a partner, then share with the group.
Differentiation: Pair students thoughtfully for language support. Use pictures to support retelling and allow alternate response options (drawing, pointing, or typing).

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Word Jar of the week

Write new words on slips of paper and keep them in a jar. Each day, pick a word and use it in conversation, drawing, or storytelling. It is proven that students need to understand the context in which vocabulary should be used in order to truly understand what the word means. Using the words from a word jar in conversation teaches students that the words they are learning are important for everyday life (Diamond and Gutlohn, N.d.).

Why it helps: This makes vocabulary learning playful and consistent. Kids with communication challenges can draw the word or choose a symbol to represent it instead of saying it aloud.

Website for Families:

Colorín Colorado- Building Your Child's Vocabulary

https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/building-your-childs-vocabulary#:~:text=Choose%20which%20words%20to%20talk,books%20your%20child%20might%20read.

Why it’s helpful: This website offers simple, bilingual strategies for growing vocabulary through conversation, reading, and play. It is accessible and inclusive for diverse families.

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Subscribe to Growing Readers!Have Growing Readers delivered each month right to your inbox! (In English & Spanish) Sign up here >All parents want their child to do well in school. One way to help your child is to help them build their vocabulary. Beginning readers use knowledge about words to help them make sense of what they’re reading. The more words a reader knows, the more they are able to comprehend what they’re reading or listening to.Talking to and reading with your child are two terrific ways to help them hear and read new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words (“The book says, ‘The boy tumbled down the hill,’ and look at the picture! How do you think he went down the hill?”) are easy, non-threatening ways to get new words into everyday talk.Sharing a new word with your child doesn’t have to take a long time: just a few minutes to talk about the word and then focus back on the book or conversation. Choose which words to talk about carefully — choosing every new word might make reading seem like a chore. The best words to explore with your child are ones that are common among adult speakers but are less common to see in the books your child might read.When introducing new words to your young learner, keep the following four helpful hints in mind:First, provide a simple, kid-friendly definition for the new word:Enormous means that something is really, really big.Second, provide a simple, kid-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life:Remember that really big watermelon we got at the grocery store? That was an enormous watermelon!Third, encourage your child to develop their own example:What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That’s right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge.Lastly, keep your new words active within your house.Over the next few days and weeks, take advantage of opportunities to use each new vocabulary word in conversation.Take the time to share new words and build your child’s vocabulary. You’ll be enormously glad you did!For more resources, see:Parent Tips: VocabularyDownload this article as a PDF document.

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Repeated Reading

Choose a well-loved book and take turns reading pages, or have your child read it repeatedly over several days to build speed and confidence.

Why it helps: Familiarity boosts confidence and fluency. This is why repeated reading is so important. It helps students to develop proper phrasing and expression, which both help build students' reading abilities (Shanahan, N.d.). Children with processing delays can use audiobooks or practice one page at a time.

Website for Families:

Storyline Online

https://storylineonline.net/

Why it’s helpful: This website offers high-quality, expressive read-alouds by actors. Children can hear fluent reading modeled with emotion and pace, which supports all learners including those with reading or language difficulties.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Story Retell Box

Before or after reading, look at the pictures and talk about what’s happening. After reading, ask your child to retell the story using the pictures.
Why it helps: Builds understanding, sequencing, and oral language skills. This activity is great for visual learners and kids with limited expressive language because they can point, draw, or use gestures to retell.

Website for families:

Reading Rockets- Target the Problem: Comprehension

https://www.readingrockets.org/helping-all-readers/why-some-kids-struggle/target-problem/comprehension

Why it’s helpful: This site offers clear, family-friendly guidance on building comprehension skills through conversations, questioning strategies, and shared reading. There are many articles on this website that is catered to helping students with reading comprehension. It includes practical tips, printable activities, and suggestions for children with reading challenges or exceptionalities. It's updated regularly and trusted by educators.

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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.

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Play a game of “I Spy” using beginning sounds. For example, “I spy something that starts with /b/” (book, blanket, etc.). You can increase difficulty by asking for ending or middle sounds.
Why it helps: This game helps build auditory discrimination skills and phoneme awareness without needing print materials, great for families of all backgrounds. Children with exceptionalities can participate using picture cues or by pointing instead of speaking.

Website for Families:

PBS Kids-Sound Games

https://pbskids.org/skillsville/games/sound-it-out

Why it's helpful: These interactive and no-prep games help children hear and play with sounds in a fun, low-pressure way. They are perfect for young learners and adaptable for those with speech or developmental differences.