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Welcome to the essential components of the science of reading digital bulletin board. I have created this to fill you in on what we are doing in class, as well as provide ideas for you to help your student continue his/her/their learning at home. Please, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Ms. Nguyen
email@email.com

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1. Five-finger retell- After reading a short story out loud, have students raise their hands and share each of the five things about the story:
Characters, setting, events, beginning, and end
2. Mind movies- Near the end of a story, have students close their eyes and create a mental picture of the scene, encouraging them to use all 5 senses. Ask questions like, "What does it smell like?" and "Which words help you to know that the character was sad?"

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1. "The Echo Game"- Pair students with their high school "best buddy" and grab a book that is appropriate to the child's reading level. Have the older best buddy read a sentence aloud, making sure to use accurate pronunciation and pauses.  Have the younger student repeat the sentence. Repeat this game every few pages as you read.
2. Choral Reading- Give students each a copy of a short story, containing mostly CVC and sight words. Ask the class to read out loud at the same pace.

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1. Word of the day- Each day, come up with a new word to introduce and incorporate throughout the day in lessons, transitions, and more. On Fridays, students get to pick one of the words from the week and write a story using it.
2. Missing word- Write a sentence on the whiteboard, leaving one word missing. Ask students, "what word is missing"? and give them a few minutes to think to themselves, pair up, and share. This helps get their creativity flowing.

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1. Alphabet scavenger hunt- have students line up with a partner and give them a letter of the alphabet. As students are walking through the hallways, have them spot things that start with that letter and remember 3+ words. Come back to class and have students share what they found. Have students emphasize the letter and the sound it makes while sharing.
2. Word roller- gather a ball and alphabet flashcards. Have the students sit in a circle, flip over a flashcard and roll the ball to a student. As the student receives the ball, they must say a word that begins with that sound. Do it a few times with each letter before moving onto the next. Great way to get students out of their seat.

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1. Clapping names- introduce students to the concept of syllables by having them clap and count the syllables in their own and classmate's names
2. Phoneme addition and deletion- using picture cards, hold up the card and ask students to say the word but drop the first sound. For example, if you were holding up a mat, the student would say 'at'. For phoneme addition, ask students to add a sound to the beginning of the word. For example, and -> sand

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A word that is made up of a consonant, vowel, and consonant sound. For example, pug, rat, and hut are all CVC words. Start with words like these if your child is just beginning to learn phonics and/or is struggling.

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Family story time! Share a favorite story about your childhood, using descriptive language about the people, places, and things. Give the child an opportunity to ask questions.

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Recording Studio- A great way to build students' fluency is to record them reading and listen to it! When students listen to their reading, they are given the opportunity to listen back and hear what they sound like.
Open the record app on your smartphone or use an online recording platform, and get recording!

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READ a variety of books with your child! This may seem obvious, but reading (especially nonfiction and informational books) introduces children to a plethora of new and interesting words. If your child seems confused about a sentence or word, provide a simple, kid-friendly definition of the word. Reinforce this knowledge by using the word in the following days. Using rich vocabulary with your children is one of the best ways to expand their word bank.

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Blending play-doh:
Materials: Picture cards (sent home with student), Play-doh
Place a picture card in front of your child and ask them:
What do you see?
How many sounds can you hear?
For example, if the word was 'hat', the child would construct three play-doh balls- /h/ /a/ /t/. As they blend the three play-doh balls together, this represents how individual phonemes come together to form a word!
Supports all learners, but especially our hands-on kiddos! Have your student ask Ms. Nguyen if you don't have any play-doh at home.

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Using chalk, write words in large letters on the street or sidewalk. Have your child walk, hop, or skip over the letters as they sound out the word. Great way to get kids moving :) Have your child ask Ms. Nguyen if they don't have any chalk at home.

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HOMER Blog I The essential early learning program for ages 2-8. Try it free!

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Research shows that for children to become enthusiastic, fluent readers, they need a firm grasp of phonics and the alphabetic code. That's where phonological and phonemic awareness - the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words - come into play.

Having said that, we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin. And as a parent, you may or may not have even heard the term "phonemic awareness" before.

Good news! We're here to break down the concepts of phonological and phonemic awareness and show you how you can use them to encourage a love of reading in your child.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

As we mentioned above, phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds. Put another way, it's a concept that deals with how we understand the function of sounds, specifically, phonemes.

A "phoneme" is the smallest possible unit of sound in a language. Every word we use is made up of a combination of phonemes. These sounds blend together to form words.

The easiest way to understand phonemic awareness as a concept is by playing around with words yourself (and with your child, but we'll get to that part later.)

If you take a simple word like "ball" and change the beginning sound from a /b/ to a /t/ sound, you get a different word - tall - with a completely different meaning.

Phonemic Awareness Vs. Phonological Awareness

Phonological and phonemic awareness have a good bit of overlap, which can make the two ideas confusing! We're here to simplify them and show you how these technical terms are actually fun, important parts of your child's reading journey.

Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes different skills your child will encounter while on their journey to becoming an enthusiastic, engaged reader. These are:

Really, phonological awareness is all about groups of sounds and how they relate to each other. Combining and playing with multiple syllables, or even the amount of words in a sentence, is the meat and potatoes of phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness, by contrast, focuses on single sounds - or phonemes. The same skills can be used to engage your child's phonemic awareness.

From a practical standpoint, the fact that phonological and phonemic tasks are so closely related means you can utilize the same blending and sound-swapping exercises; if you'd like your child to focus on phonemic awareness specifically, simply use the exercises with individual sounds.

Examples

Maybe you're thinking to yourself: well, that's about as clear as mud. We hear you!

For the sake of your child's learning, don't sweat over working on these phonological and phonemic skills as individual, separate components. The distinction is mostly academic. Our examples will help you work both at once.

Singing nursery rhymes or silly songs is a great place to start! This will build your child's phonological and phonemic awareness skills by allowing them to play with and manipulate sounds and words.

Why Is Phonemic Awareness Important?

Phonemic awareness is one of the first skills your child will need in their toolbelt for reading, which, of course, is an important part of learning. It's also one of the first steps to building their confidence with sounds (and, later, words!).

Phonemic awareness is an effective tool for helping your child become an engaged, self-motivated reader in the future. A child with a healthy foundation of phonemic awareness stands the best chance to read with fluency and for fun!

Jumping straight into matching up sounds with letter forms may seem like the obvious first step. Your instincts are on the right track; that's an important part of helping your child learn to read!

But another way to help your child with phonemic awareness is to focus on listening skills - such as isolating individual sounds, blending them together, and then moving sounds around to create new words - will help your emerging reader get to their end goal.

As you're working with your child, keep in mind that phonemes may take a while for kids to grasp. That's okay! You can relax knowing that phonemic awareness will come with time and exposure.

How To Encourage Phonological And Phonemic Awareness

You've probably realized by now that when it comes to helping your child develop a love of reading, phonemic awareness is important. But that doesn't mean it has to be boring or difficult!

At HOMER, we believe in learning that's fun and functional for your family. We don't want the prospect of helping your child with their phonemic awareness to feel intimidating.

That's why we're here to share tips for encouraging phonemic awareness in a way that is engaging, stimulating, and educational for your child (without eating up all of your wind-down time as a family!).

The good news is that phonemic and phonological awareness practice can be incorporated into your family's busy lifestyle while allowing you to help your child build their reading confidence and bond with you at the same time.

The best way to build up your child's awareness of sounds in words is to play easy and fun games together. Light-hearted and entertaining activities will keep your little one happy, calm, and excited to learn (without really knowing they're learning in the first place!).

Hearing Rhymes

This one is probably part of your routine family life already. You may not have realized it, but by singing along to nursery rhymes with your child, you're already engaging their phonological awareness!

Exposure to rhymes is the easiest and first step to your child learning to manipulate sounds. And who doesn't love an old-fashioned sing-along in the middle of afternoon traffic or Sunday morning chores?

If you want to focus on your child's phonemic awareness skills more specifically, you can encourage them to make rhymes by only the beginning sound in a word.

For example, you could start with the word "rat." Your child might reply with the word "hat." On and on you can go together!

Differentiating Rhymes

Helping your child distinguish what words do or don't rhyme is an important introduction to a more advanced phonological concept - how changing the letter of a word also changes the sound and meaning.

For this exercise, play a rhyme game. You'll say three words, two of which rhyme and one that does not. Make sure you play up the silliness so your child understands that you made a mistake (one that they will be confident to fix!).

For example, you could say "cat," "bat," and "dot." Then ask your child to pick out the word that doesn't rhyme. Once they gain enough confidence, try and see if they can do it back to you.

Producing Rhymes

To help your little one learn to make their own rhymes, try saying a sentence and asking them to finish it with a word that rhymes. For example: In my bag, I have a ___ (rag).

You can play up the fun in this activity by seeing which one of you can come up with the silliest rhymes. And since you're mainly focusing on listening skills for this activity, the words you come up with don't even have to be real!

Recognizing Sounds

As adults, we take it for granted, but recognizing the beginning and ending sounds of words is really important for emerging readers!

Try saying three words that begin or end with the same sound and asking your child what sound they share. For example: l-l-leg, l-l-lamb, l-l-lint.

You can also change it up by inserting a word that does not belong in the sound group and have your child yell out which word is wrong.

Using the same example, you could say "leg," "lamb," "lint," "mud." once your child hears the wrong sound, they have to shout it out! How many times can your child catch you?

Creating And Associating Sounds

This is where the old I-Spy game comes in handy. Start by saying, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with an /r/ sound."

Have your child answer with something around you that begins with that sound. And while you're playing, remember that at this stage, you're focusing mostly on sounds, not the traditional letter name.

Make sure to give lots of praise and cheers when your child gets it right!

Blending Sounds

This one can be a lot of fun with the right twist! For example, pretend you're a robot who has come to Earth and is trying to learn the English language. Ask your child for help with a certain word in robot-speak.

Break down the sounds in a word and tell your child you don't know what the word is. Ask them to repeat it in robot talk (example: /c/a/t/), and then ask them what word you are saying.

This will help them practice blending different phonemes together to create a single word with a single meaning.

Phonemic Awareness: The Takeaway

Phonemic awareness is an important first step on your child's journey toward a lifetime love of reading, writing, and learning!

Remember: Your child's ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes (sounds) all make up their phonemic awareness. The more your child is able to play around with rhymes and break apart sounds the stronger their phonemic awareness will become!

And while it's crucial to introduce your child to phonemic awareness concepts early in their life, it's much more important to do it in a way that doesn't stress them (or you!) out.

That's why we offer kid-powered, play-based activities designed by learning experts to help keep your child entertained and learning. If you're not sure where to start, try our learning quiz to discover where your child is on their learning journey.

All in all, we encourage you to keep it simple: play phonemic and phonological awareness games for a few minutes as you go about your day. The more fun you have with it the more your child will as well.

If your child ever seems overwhelmed by what they're learning, feel free to take a break. Confidence comes with time and practice.

After all, there's no pressure for them to read Shakespeare any time soon. We know that sound by sound, word by word, with one success following another, your child will soon be on the road to reading Macbeth and other literary delights!

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Phonemic Awareness: A Simple Guide for Parents - HOMER Blog

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Research shows that for children to become enthusiastic, fluent readers, they need a firm grasp of phonics and the alphabetic code. That's where phonological and phonemic awareness - the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words - come into play. Having said that, we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin.

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Building vocabulary is key to helping children make sense of the words they are reading. Learning new words starts when babies are born and continues throughout life. A strong vocabulary helps to increase a child's chance for academic success.

Below you will find 9 tips families can use at home to build a young reader's vocabulary.

Have Conversations

Talk with your child every day. By talking and listening, your child will build oral language and vocabulary.

Example: Talk about your child's school day. Ask her to describe the highs and lows of her day at school. Prompt her to explain details of what happened, how she felt, and the ways her classmates or teacher reacted.

Involve Your Child

Cooking, gardening, or other activities around the house provide opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary words.

Example: If your child is helping make cookies, you can introduce cooking terms (measure, cups, teaspoons, etc.) while showing him what the words mean.

Use Big Words

You don't always have to use "easy" words when speaking with your child. Show him there are different, fancier ways of saying words he already knows.

Example: Descriptive words such as "heartbroken" and "upset" can be used in place of the word "sad."

Go for a Walk

The great outdoors provide many opportunities for children to discover and learn. Going for a simple walk around your neighborhood can help your child learn and use new words.

Example: Point out different vehicles you might see. You can discuss types of cars, different sizes (mini, large, humongous), or the purpose of each type of vehicle (delivery vehicle, bus, ambulance, family vehicle).

Talk About Books

While reading with your child, make sure to discuss the story.

Example: Use a variety of words to describe characters or events from the story. If your child comes to a new word, talk about the meaning and try to explain it in a way your child can understand.

Tell Stories

Telling stories is an engaging way to get your child talking and asking questions, which is also strengthening her vocabulary.

Example: Tell your child about when you were young. Talk about trips you might have taken or how school might have been different when you were young.

Sorting and Grouping Objects

By putting objects in groups, children can learn new words that label the category. You also can discuss the ways in which items in the groups are similar or different. Toys are great for sorting and grouping.

Example: Ask your child to group a set of toys by color. Next, ask him to arrange the toys by size. Other examples include sorting clothing for the laundry or items in your recycling bin. Ask what the items have in common, what he would name the groups, and how he would tell the groups apart.

Keep Track of New Words

Help your child be aware of learning new words, by keeping track of them at home.

Example: One way to keep track of words is to keep a running list of them. You might do this by creating a word wall at home. Simply write new words on index cards and display them on a wall in your home where you are likely to see them often and be reminded to use them when talking with your child.

Make Meaning of Words through Art

Use drawing, painting, or acting to help your child learn new words.

Example: Have your child create a drawing to represent a new word she has learned. Also, have your child act out the meaning of the word. These are fun ways to help your child remember new words.

Building vocabulary is critical to your child's reading success. You can use these 9 tips to help your child learn new words in fun and easy ways.

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9 Tips to Build Your Child's Vocabulary at Home

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Building vocabulary is key to helping children make sense of the words they are reading. Learning new words starts when babies are born and continues throughout life. A strong vocabulary helps to increase a child's chance for academic success. Below you will find 9 tips families can use at home to build a young reader's vocabulary.

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A list of phonics apps that you can download at home! If you don't have a smart phone or tablet available, we are happy to rent your student one from the library.

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Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. Children are taught, for example, that the letter ‘n’ represents the sound /n/, and that it is the first letter in words such as nose, nice, and new. We’ve found grea…

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Fluency is essential for academic success and brings more joy and satisfaction when reading.

But what is fluency in reading?

In this blog post, we'll discuss

what fluency in reading is,

Its main components

and practical strategies you can implement today to help your child become a more fluent reader.

After reading this post, you'll understand how to help your child become a better reader and make them feel more confident in their ability to comprehend and understand their reading material.

Reading fluency is the ability to read quickly, accurately, and with proper expression.

It involves recognizing words rapidly, understanding their meaning, and reading them with expression. Good reading fluency allows readers to comprehend texts more quickly and easily.

There are 3 components of reading fluency:

1. Accuracy

2. Speed

3. Prosody

Accuracy

Accuracy is the ability to read words correctly and without making mistakes.

This means that your child must be able to accurately decode words, recognize sight words, and understand the meaning of the words.

When measuring accuracy, a child is typically asked to read a passage out loud and then have someone score the reading. The scorer looks for errors in the words as they are read and counts them.

The accuracy score is then based on the number of errors.
For example, if a student reads a passage that contains 100 words and makes three errors, the accuracy score would be 97%.
When a child can read accurately, they can focus on understanding the text they are reading and make connections between the words and ideas instead of focusing on decoding the words on the page. This helps them build their comprehension skills to make sense of what they are reading more easily.

Oral fluency in reading comprehension

The two skills are closely related. To understand written text, kids must be able to accurately and quickly decode words.

Fluent readers can recognize words and phrases quickly, so they can focus on the meaning of the text instead of struggling to identify individual words. Additionally, they can process the text more quickly and efficiently, so they can better comprehend the author's meaning and remember the information.

Students who can read quickly, accurately, and with expression will be more likely to understand the text they are reading.

Overall, reading fluency is an essential factor in reading comprehension because it allows the reader to

recognize words more quickly and accurately

process the text more efficiently

stay engaged with the text

draw meaningful connections between the different parts of the text.

Reading fluency helps readers to read more quickly and accurately, which increases their understanding of the material.

As discussed earlier, fluency also helps develop strong reading comprehension skills essential for academic success.

Here are some of the main benefits of reading fluency:

Improved confidence in reading

Increased comprehension and understanding of complex texts

Increased ability to read aloud with expression

Improved speed of reading

Improved ability to retell stories

Improved ability to make inferences

Increased ability to identify and pronounce new words

Increased ability to self-correct mistakes

The challenges faced by non-fluent readers can be divided into three main areas:

Comprehension

Decoding

And fluency

Comprehension

Comprehension refers to the ability to understand a text's main ideas and details.

Non-fluent readers may have difficulty comprehending the text due to its complexity or lack of familiar words. They may also struggle with inferring meaning from the text, as they may not be able to recognize context clues or pick up on the author's tone.

Decoding

Decoding is the ability to recognize and pronounce words accurately.

Non-fluent readers may struggle with identifying words due to poor phonemic awareness or difficulty with sight words. They may also have trouble pronouncing words correctly due to challenges with phonics.

Reading fluency

Non-fluent readers may struggle with this due to difficulty decoding words and comprehending the text.

They may also struggle with maintaining a steady reading rate or varying their speed to match the meaning of the text.
Non-fluent readers face many challenges, but with the help of teachers, tutors, and parents, they can become more successful readers.

Signs to look out for when identifying fluency problems. If your child:

Struggles to decode unfamiliar words

Reads with choppy or monotone intonation

Requires frequent pauses and rereads

Takes longer than expected to read

Struggles with accuracy

Difficulty understanding and recalling content

Difficulty comprehending text

Difficulty expressing ideas and opinions about the text

Implement assisted reading.

Assisted reading is an instructional technique that involves you reading a text aloud to your child while they follow along silently.

During assisted reading, you'll pause periodically to allow your child to read a sentence or a phrase out loud.

This helps them become more familiar with the text and gain confidence in their reading abilities. It also allows them to recognize words more quickly and better understand the material.

Practice phonics and phonemic awareness

Practicing phonics and phonemic awareness in a systematic, explicit way with a home-based reading program will improve a child's reading fluency by providing them with the foundational skills necessary to read accurately and quickly.

Through this approach, children learn the relationship between sounds and letters and can identify the sounds in words.

This will help them decode the words they read and recognize them more quickly, enabling them to read more fluently.

By practicing phonics and phonemic awareness, children will become more confident in their reading abilities, allowing them to take on more challenging reading materials.

Audio tools to support reading fluency

Audio tools can help with reading fluency by providing auditory feedback and support.

For example, audiobooks and online reading applications can help children practice reading aloud by providing them with a model to follow. Many audio tools also feature text-to-speech technology, which can help children with pronunciation, intonation, and pacing.

Some audio tools include games and interactive activities to help your child understand and use new vocabulary words.

Using audio tools, your child can gain confidence in their reading skills and become more fluent.

Provide positive reinforcement and encouragement

When your child receives praise for their reading, it shows them that their efforts are being acknowledged and encourages them to keep improving.

Praise also helps to create a positive atmosphere for your child to continue to read.

Have your child practice reading with a timer

Timing your child as they read a passage encourages them to read more quickly and accurately as they try to beat their personal best times.

With practice, your child can become more confident in their reading skills and increase their reading speed. Additionally, this can be an enjoyable way for your child to track their progress, which can help motivate them to continue to strive for improvement.

Have your child practice reading aloud with expression

When a child reads with expression, they can more accurately pick up on the author's intended meaning, tone, and emotion.

This helps to engage their critical thinking skills and encourages further exploration of the text. Reading aloud with expression also enables a child to monitor their own reading and identify any errors or mispronunciations they may have made.

This helps to build their self-correction skills and fluency in reading.

Reading aloud with expression helps build a child's reading fluency by increasing their speech rate, comprehension, and understanding of a text. It also helps to build self-confidence in their reading abilities.

With expression and inflection, a child can better comprehend the text and make connections between the words, sentences, and paragraphs.

In conclusion, parents need to take steps to ensure their children's reading fluency.

By implementing the strategies outlined in this post, parents can help their children learn to read with confidence and accuracy, thus setting them up for success in the future. Taking the time to work with your child on reading fluency can be an enjoyable experience for both parent and child.

It can make a significant impact on their reading abilities.

Next Post: Why fluency is important

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What is Fluency in Reading? A Fluency Guide for Parents

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Fluency is essential for academic success and brings more joy and satisfaction when reading. But what is fluency in reading? In this blog post, we'll discuss what fluency in reading is, Its main components and practical strategies you can implement today to help your child become a more fluent reader.