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"Language is a natural part of the process of living; It is also used to 'store' the experience built up in the course of that process, both personal and collective. It is (among other things) a tool for representing knowledge — or, to look at this in terms of language itself, for constructing meaning. (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2015, p.3) As such, the flashcards incorporating "word of the day", benefits children repetition and memory skills.

This resource provides a series of one to two words flashcards using different themes that could be use as word of the day. For example, a set of flashcards provided are for the usage of classroom rules; using picture cues and words. By having several words at their disposal for describing an event, emotion or a place, they can expand on sharing their ideas and opinions by exposing themselves to a word each day.

According to the English language syllabus, Listening, Reading and Viewing are receptive skills which are required for the making of meaning from ideas or information. (English Language Syllabus, 2010, p. 16) It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as flash cards can be used in conjunction with word cards.

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“Reading is a precise process. It involves exact, detailed, sequential perception and identification of letters, words, spelling patterns and large language units.” (Goodman, 1967, p.1) This statement highlights that the central focus is on word identifications through the use of sight words.

This resource contains a collection of sight words games that provides children with opportunities to explore a variety of sight words through social play. It includes classic board games and traditional games, with a series of videos to guide teachers on how the games are played.

According to the victorian curriculum, "Early childhood professionals use integrated
teaching and learning approaches to: create physical and social environments that expose
children to learning experiences and physical activity, both indoors and outdoors in the natural world." (VEYLDF, 2016, p. 15) It aids in brain development as the games provided acquire logical and reasoning skills, boost critical thinking and gain spatial reasoning; helping with learning and children's communication skills.

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This collection of sight words games gives children opportunities to practice their sight words and build toward mastery while also keeping them engaged and having fun. In general, we recommend using a mix of recently introduced words and some older words for review. The games include:

A sight words variation on a classic game. Read words correctly to put down X or O markers and get three in a row.
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This collection of sight words games gives children opportunities to practice their sight words and build toward mastery while also keeping them engaged and having fun. In general, we recommend using a mix of recently introduced words and some older words for review. The games include: A sight words variation on a classic game.

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Research has shown that the
benefits of introducing visual literacy early in life; has provided scarcity of visual literacy programs for young children. "Effective readers use a range of strategies to create a match between the visual, structural, semantic and phonological cues." (Hill, 2012, p. 204)

This resources offers visual supports that are helpful for teaching and supporting literacy development. It offers ideas that may be useful for designing literacy lessons that are appropriate and challenging for learners in the inclusive classroom.

One of the strategies emphasise an ability to understand the composition and meaning of an image through interpretation and analysis.

According to the Singapore NEL Framework, children learn to recognise and ‘read’ environmental
print through their many experiences with it. (NEL, 2013, p. 48) This means that visual thinking helps children in highly developed self-expression and ordering of ideas, motivation and
engagement in a variety of subjects, self-image and
relationship to the world and self-reliance, independence
and confidence.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Luke (2003) had recently argued that contemporary socio-economic conditions, global change and an ageing teaching workforce mean that as a profession we now need "theory bursting, theory building and paradigm"(p. 61). (Comber & Kamler, 2007, p. 294) It could be derived that different sensory strategies during literacy activities should constantly promote student engagement.

This resource offers multi-sensory learning opportunities suitable for all types of learners; this includes tactile learners, visual learners and auditory learners. The series of activities involves making choices using their sensory. One example shows a picture of letter Y which involves gestural modality.

According to the Victorian framework, "Early childhood professionals use integrated
teaching and learning approaches to: use intentional teaching strategies that are always purposeful and may be pre-planned or spontaneous, to support achievement of well considered and identified goals". (VEYLDF, 2016, p. 15)

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This resource offers an example of making meaning from reading. In this resource, the teacher demonstrated strategies that are important for active reading. These strategies included making connections, predicting, questioning, visualising, inferring and critiquing, determining importance, monitoring and repairing understanding, and summarising (Gill, 2008; Fountas & Pinnel, 2006; Harvey & Goudvis, 2000; National Reading Panel, 2000).

Supported by Hill (2012), "encouraging children's awareness of their thinking as they read is essential for comprehension."

Through such technique, it also promotes dialogic discussion/ reading which is vital in increasing children's long term oral language development, scaffolding of children's emergent literacy and greater enjoyment of books. (Hill, 2012; Ministry of Education NEL, 2013)

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This activity is relatively versatile; building words from the same word family, beginning consonant words, onset and rime, blends and digraphs and other letter combinations. It can also help the child focus on alphabetic code, learning high-frequency words and word building. Through this activity, we help children understand the alphabetic principal. This is supported by Freebody & Luke (1990), which states that the role of a reader, code breaker, uses their knowledge of sound-letter relationships to decode print.

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This resource is one way to promote active reading and effective thinking strategies. Using a KWL Chart is complementary to the metacognitive approach of the cognitive learning theory (Ormrod, 2007). This means that children are aware and in control of one's thinking processes.

The KWL chart acknowledges students' prior knowledge, and layers additional information to create new learning concepts. The steps of KWL are "Know," "Want to learn" and "What I have learned." The first step "Know" can be initiated through discussion with students about what they already know about a topic. Through the second step of "Want to Learn", students might discuss what they want to learn from the topic. They can find specific questions which interest them and look for the answers as they read. The last step of "What I Learned" can help learners to understand and write what they comprehend from the reading. Through the use of the three steps, students are given the opportunity to process new information in ways that can be more effective to them.

According to Hill (2012), this strategy engages children in making personal connections between the text and their prior knowledge, support the development of higher level thinking skills, and is effective in developing an awareness of narrative and expository text structures.

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This resource offers an example of how each of the comprehension strategies of predicting, clarifying, summarising and questioning promotes comprehension of a text. Children are given demonstrations beforehand, and tasked to reciprocate the technique (Palincsar and Brown, 1986). As suggested by Hill (2012), puppets or cards can be used to identify the comprehension strategies and the use of it will produce more talk about the text, particularly for shy or reluctant children.

This is supported by the social constructivist theories of Dewey (1964) and Vygotsky (1978) which believes that learning is a social, collaborative and active process.

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This resource contain a book placed in a zip-lock plastic envelope with props that support language play and dramatic retelling of the story. This is supported by Freebody & Luke (1990), which states that the role of a reader, meaning maker, read to understand. After reading, children retell the story. A retelling provides useful information about their understanding of the characters and events in a fiction book.

As supported by Hill (2012), "Retelling is an effective comprehension assessment tool. It is effective in enhancing comprehension for both proficient readers and less proficient readers." In addition, retelling helps to promote oral language as well.

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According to the NEL literacy curriculum, "Children draw to represent their ideas. They often ‘read’ their drawings as if there were writing on them." (NEL, 2013, p. 13) This emphasises that affirm drawing could be an essential part of the curriculum at all levels for all subjects.

This resource provides a drawing platform to design models which helps children to explain and discuss their literacy reasoning, which assists in their reading and communication of visual concepts.

According to an online journal, "typical schools uses of new technologies are well documented, as are the mind-sets characteristics of how schools generally take up new technologies (Lanksherar & Knobel, 2003; Oppenheimer, 2003). (Bulfin & North, 2007, p.248) Hence, as a primary visual language, essential for communication and expression, drawing is as important as the development of verbal skills.

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skribbl - Free Multiplayer Drawing & Guessing Game

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skribbl - Free Multiplayer Drawing & Guessing Game

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skribbl io is a free multiplayer drawing and guessing game. Draw and guess words with your friends and people all around the world! Score the most points and be the winner!

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"Measures of preschoolers' levels of phonemic awareness strongly predict their future success in learning to read. " (Hill, 2012,  p. 134)

This resource offers the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading. It introduces the training of phonemic awareness and some suggestions for teachers and parents. It also offers classroom strategies to develop phonemic awareness.

According to Victorian Curriculum, Government of Western Australia, and Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework, phonemic awareness is one of the concepts in reading and viewing, which is to help children 'have the ability to identify the relationships between letters and sounds'.

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of individual speech sounds, or phonemes. A child's skill in phonological and phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

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Language play thus offers great aural opportunities for children to learn the meaning of words
as well as the sounds with which they are constructed. According to Hill, "Traditional nursery ryhmes can be used to talk about words that rhyme and words that begin with the same sound, and children can also clap the rhythm and clap the syllables in words." (Hill, 2012, p.148) Children need to understand that spoken words are composed of different sounds, or phonemes.

This resource offers well-known rhymes, songs and fingerplays that are modified. The children are encouraged to pay attention and identify words that has been swapped and substituted. Here is an example of the complexity of sounds and words in a simple rhyme being substituted,  "The wheel on the bus go round and round" is substituted to "The people on the bus go bumpety-bump ... " (move up and down with whole body)

Exposure to rhyming is an excellent strategy to help children develop phonological awareness. This is further supported in the NEL literacy curriculum, "Songs, rhymes and finger plays expose children to new vocabulary and help them to notice sounds and intonation patterns which develops their phonological awareness." (NEL, 2012, p. 39) Hence, oral language also builds vocabulary; when children know a word, they will more easily decode it in print materials, such as books.

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Hearing, clapping and dancing to syllabus

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Hearing, clapping and dancing to syllabus

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Children construct their own understandings as a result of opportunities to learn, they do not shy away from complexity, and they bring their unique stores of knowledge with them to school. (Clay, 2013, p. 637) This statement emphasises that children expand their literacy processes through increased skills based on their memory.

This resource provides a syllable song that is distinct and catchy. It  engages children through play movements (clapping, stomping and chomping with their arms), besides showing the words on screen. This syllable song is suitable for kinesthetic (visual) learners. The children will be able to engage with singing (auditory), seeing the words (visual) and dancing to the movements of each syllable (kinesthetic).

According to the MOE English language syllabus, "The EL Syllabus 2001 advocated: That the development of listening skills is as important as the development of reading and writing skills." (English language syllabus, 2010, p. 20). Thus,  developing wide syllable skills strengthened positive exposure to active reading and viewing through active participants as one of the component.

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Learn Syllables | Syllable Song for Kids | Clap, Stomp and Chomp | Jack Hartmann

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Distinguish between letters, words, pictures and parts of the book

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Distinguish between letters, words, pictures and parts of the book

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The development of word awareness happens through oral wordplay, as well as through exploration and exposure to print. This resource offers knowledge on possible relationships between home early literacy
experiences and children’s print awareness skills. It involves understanding the context of reading as well as knowing how to read letters and words. This is a start to fundamental milestone in younger students acquiring literacy.

As Hill mentioned, "reading involve understanding that the print replays a message and that printed words are read the same way each time, as well as knowing the difference between a word and a letter." (Hill, 2012, p. 164). This literature conveys a strong message as the concept of print becomes essential when considering word boundaries in reading and spelling. As such, the word walls provide a permanent model for high-frequency sight words.

By matching the words to the print, this help children see patterns and relationship in words. This is evident in the literature as it mentions, "Children need to have a clear understanding of new words so it is important for the teacher to provide children with "child friendly" definitions." (Beck et al. 2013) (Whorrall & Cabell, 2015, p.338) It is a step to building phonics and spelling skills which provides reference support for a child during reading activities.

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The segmenting placed mat could be used for a range of segmenting activities. (i.e, word, syllable, and sound segmenting) This interlinks with Hill's statement as she mentions, "At these early years, children attend to word matching, directionality, known words and locating new words." (Hill, 2012, p.171) This resource offers a series of games that serves as an interactive platform. The segmentation activity is an online phonics activity, which encourage children to listen what the narrator has read. Children will click and drag a word that shares the same middle sound.

Understanding the concept of a word develops from children exposure to this activity that helps to recognise how words; especially the functions words that are more abstract - appearing as separate entities. According to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework(VEYLDF), "Early childhood professionals should identify and implement the type and level of support or intervention that is required to demonstrate and improved children's learning and development." (VELYDF, 2016, p.12)

This highlights an important key point; as children learnt to track print, word segmentation is a start connecting meaningful words such as nouns and verbs in the sentences. (e.g. the, an, a, and to, off, etc) These are words that allow the child to form complete sentences.

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In Scholastic's "Segmentation" online phonics activity, young students listen to narrator read the word "house." Then students must click and drag a word that shares the same middle sound. They have three options:

Cute illustrations also make this fun activity visually appealing.

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Segmentation: An Interactive Phonics Readers Activity | Scholastic

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In Scholastic's "Segmentation" online phonics activity, young students listen to narrator read the word "house." Then students must click and drag a word that shares the same middle sound. They have three options: Cute illustrations also make this fun activity visually appealing.

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This resource depicts a reading corner with an inclusive of different types of texts. Types of texts include poetry, dictionaries, non-fiction, fables, fairytales, alphabet books, photograph albums, books made by the class, big books, recipe books, manuals, magazines, comics and many more.

It is important from the very beginning, children are introduced to a variety of books and a range of texts to read. According to Hill (2012), such reading corner is vital for encouraging independent or collaborative reading. In addition, according to Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework, with such a reading centre, it will also be able to cater to children with different interests and abilities and helps to nurture in them a love for reading. Gambrell (2011) also shared that to engage reluctant readers, allow them to have access to wide range of reading materials, make choices about what they read and to allow social interaction.

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Bookworm Heaven!: Creating a Classroom Library (Virtual Tour)

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This resource offers teachers an overview on the mechanics of having a Readers' Theatre. It suggests the roles of a teacher, and the preparation needed. It also offers implementation strategies, adaptation to other reading and viewing focuses as well as a video illustration of how such activity would work in a classroom context.

In Readers' Theatre, children can divide up the text to read aloud. They might read the direct speech of a character and have a narrator read the indirect speech.

This relates to reading and viewing, which is supported by the State Government of Victoria, and also Lev Vygotsky's Social Constructivist theory which states that human development is socially situated, and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others (Vygotsky, 1978; Jamarillo, 1996; Hill, 2012).

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Activity Description

Preparation:

1. Select a reader's theater script
You may wish to use an available script or adapt a narrative for a script

2. Photocopy one script for each student

3. Organize student groups

1. Assign a speaking part to each student within the group

2. Use flexible and mixed ability groupings

Implementation:

Session 1:

1. Read aloud the script
Have students follow along by reading their copy of the script silently

2. Share the student groups and speaking parts

3. Have small groups read through the script
Encourage students to sit in circles

4. Have groups reread the script
Encourage students to add expression, actions and gestures

Session 2:

Invite groups to perform in front of the class

Adaptations For

English Language Learners/ESL:

- Select an appropriate speaking part for the student

LD/Reading & Writing Difficulties:

- Have all students highlight their speaking parts
- Prior to the activity invite the student to practice reading his/her speaking part
- Select an appropriate speaking part for the student

Cultural Appropriateness & Diversity:

- Select a script that is culturally appropriate and includes a familiar topic

Differentiated Instruction:

- Select a script that includes a variety of reading levels
- Use flexible and mixed ability groupings

Related References

Source:
Worthy, J. (2008). Reader's Theater for Building Fluency: Strategies and Scripts for Making the Most of This Highly Effective, Motivating and Research-Based Approach to Oral Reading. Markham, ON: Scholastic Canada.

Evidence:
Young, C. & Rasinski, T. (2009). Implementing reader's theater as an approach to classroom fluency instruction. Reading Teacher, 63, 4-13.

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BALANCEDLITERACYDIET :: index :: Balanced Literacy Diet

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Select a reader's theater script You may wish to use an available script or adapt a narrative for a script Photocopy one script for each student Organize student groups Assign a speaking part to each student within the group Use flexible and mixed ability groupings Session 1: Read aloud the

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Reading aloud to children provides a powerful context for word learning (Biemiller & Boote, 2006; Bravo, Hiebert, & Pearson, 2007).

This resource offers an example of how a child's vocabulary can be extended through reading aloud. Firstly, the teacher selected three new words from the book and went on to read the book. While reading, she stressed on the 'new word' and got children to repeat the word. She then went on to explain the meaning of the 'new word' in everyday language and gave more examples in another context. After children have acquired the new word, they were asked to use the word in their own example and to say the word again.

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Read Aloud with Attention to Vocabulary - Tanya S. Wright

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This resource created with kids literacy in mind, offers a myriad collection of ebooks for children to read along with the narration, flipping pages at their own pace and most importantly, model the fluency. After listening to the story read to them, students can read the story and record themselves as they go. They can play back the book in record mode listening to their pronunciation, annunciation, voice, and rhythm. With such a system, children can get almost immediate feedback by teachers.

Supported by Hill (2012), "encouraging children's awareness of their pronunciation, enunciation, tone and expression as they read is essential for understanding of fluency."

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Fluency is fundamental. It is a bridge between the two major components of reading; decoding and comprehension. "Children who have difficulty internalising language rules for speaking may also have problems with other language rules needed for reading and writing." (Hamaguchi, 1995, p. 118)

This resource offers a series of poems that allows a child to make personal connections with poems. It extends to decoding the words from the poem. Readers need to group the words into meaningful phrases and, to make the words come alive when reading orally.

This statement is also further supported by hill, "Reading influences children's writing in several ways, as children tend to produce structures and language features of the texts they read." (Hill, 2012, p. 319) The use of good phrasing and expression will assist readers to construct meaning from printed words.