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Phonics is a teaching method that helps children connect written letters with spoken sounds, enabling them to decode words. To support phonics, teachers should explicitly teach letter-sound relationships, use phonics games like word-building activities with magnetic letters, encourage children to decode unfamiliar words instead of guessing and provide books with predictable letter-sound patterns.

Phonics Activities:

• Letter-Sound Hunt: Write letters on sticky notes and have children find objects starting with those sounds.

• Word Building: Use magnetic letters to form words.

• Phonics Hopscotch: Write words with different phonics patterns on the ground.

• Flashcard Sort: Sort words based on familiar sounds.

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The Five Essential Components of Reading: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

Helping children become strong, confident readers starts with understanding the five key components of reading instruction. These components—Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—are critical building blocks for literacy.

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SplashLearn Blog – Educational Resources for Parents, Teachers & Kids

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5 Components of Reading for Early Learners

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Learn about the components of reading & how parents and teachers can support children’s reading development through targeted activities and practice.

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Lexia is a research-based reading program that helps children develop essential literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Parents can incorporate Lexia into their daily routine by setting up a quiet, distraction-free space for reading, monitoring progress through the Lexia dashboard, reinforcing skills with hands-on activities, combining Lexia with traditional reading, making reading interactive and fun, and encouraging a growth mindset. Parents should set up a regular Lexia routine, monitor progress, reinforce skills with hands-on activities, and encourage perseverance by reminding them that learning takes time and praising their effort.

Lexia. (n.d.). Science of Reading Pre-K-12 Learning Solutions | Lexia. https://www.lexialearning.com/

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Comprehension is the ability to understand and interpret what is being read. It allows children to analyze, predict, summarize, and connect ideas within a text. To support comprehension, ask open-ended questions, encourage children to retell stories in their own words, use graphic organizers like story maps, and make connections between books and real-life experiences.

Story Retelling Activities

• Encourage children to retell a story in their own words.

• Encourage question time by asking "who, what, where, when, why, and how" questions.

• Encourage children to relate a book to their own experiences.

• Encourage drawing a comic strip summarizing a story's main events.

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An overview of Phoneme segmentation and blending. (2024, February 9). Reading Universe. https://readinguniverse.org/skill-explainer/phonemic-awareness/phoneme-segmentation-and-blending/an-overview-of-phoneme-segmentation-and-blending

Five (5) components of reading :: Read Naturally, Inc. (n.d.-b). https://www.readnaturally.com/research/5-components-of-reading

Lexia. (n.d.-b). Science of Reading Pre-K-12 Learning Solutions | Lexia. https://www.lexialearning.com/

Science of Reading | Amira. (n.d.-b). https://amiralearning.com/science-of-reading

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Developmentally Appropriate Classroom Activities for Each Reading Component

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Developmentally Appropriate Classroom Activities for Each Reading Component

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Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Activities

• "Sound Sorting Game": Sort pictures of words based on beginning, middle, or ending sounds. Differentiation: For emerging learners focus on beginning sounds. For advanced learners, isolate middle and ending sounds.

• "Build-a-Word with Magnetic Letters": Use magnetic letters to build words based on phonics patterns. Differentiation: For early learners, provide word models. For advanced learners, challenge them to change one letter to create a new word.

• "Echo & Choral Reading": Use simple sentences with picture cues. For struggling readers, provide short, simple sentences. For fluent readers, read independently and partner up.

• "Word Detective": Read a story and "hunt" for new words. Differentiation: For younger learners, provide a list of words with matching pictures. For older learners, create a word map.

• "Story Retelling with Puppets": Use puppets or props to retell the main events. Differentiation: For early learners, use simple stories with repetitive phrases.

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child at the table with reading activites

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Phonemic awareness is a child's ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. It is auditory and does not involve written letters. It is a strong predictor of reading success, as children who develop this skill can more easily blend and segment sounds, helping them decode words when they begin reading.

Supporting Rhyming Skills in Children

• Play rhyming games to encourage children to identify rhyming words.

• Have children clap out syllables in words.

• Practice breaking words into individual sounds and blending them back together.

• Use tongue twisters to highlight beginning sounds.

Activities:

• Rhyming Game: Encourage children to create rhyming words.

• Syllable Clapping: Encourage students to clap out syllables.

• Sound Swap: Encourage children to change the first sound of a word.

• I Spy Sounds: Play "I Spy" using beginning sounds.

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Vocabulary refers to the words a child knows and understands, and a more extensive vocabulary improves reading comprehension. To support vocabulary, read aloud, discuss new words, teach words in context, play word games, and encourage children to use new words in sentences.

Vocabulary Activities for Children:

• Picture Word Match: Match pictures to new vocabulary words.

• Word Jar: Daily addition of new words for sentence use.

• Act It Out: Teaching new words through action.

• Story Word Hunt: Reading aloud for specific words.

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Fluency is the ability to read text accurately, at a natural pace, and with proper expression. It is crucial for understanding text meanings, as it allows readers to focus on understanding the text without decoding every word. To support fluency, model reading aloud with expression, have children read the same passage multiple times, encourage paired reading, and use audiobooks.

Fluency Activities

• Echo Reading: Reading a sentence aloud and repeating it with expression.

• Reader’s Theater: Assigning characters from a story and reading their parts aloud.

• Speed Read: Time students reading a passage to improve speed without sacrificing accuracy.

• Whisper Reading: Reading a short passage to oneself before reading aloud to a partner.

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Amira Learning is a tool that helps parents support their child's reading development at home by providing real-time feedback and personalized instruction. It helps children build fluency, comprehension, and confidence in reading. To use Amira, establish a daily reading routine, encourage active participation, track progress, set goals, expand vocabulary with fun activities, strengthen comprehension skills, balance digital and print reading, and make reading fun by acting out stories, using silly voices, or creating drawings. This approach helps children develop a love for reading beyond digital tools.

Science of Reading | Amira. (n.d.). https://amiralearning.com/science-of-reading

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nea National Education Association

Reading Tips for Increasing Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency

Reading Rockets is well-known for providing research-based strategies to support early literacy. Their video series, featuring reading experts answering real questions from families, is an excellent way to help parents build their children’s phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency skills at home.

Video Series on Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency

• Focuses on helping children hear, identify, and play with individual sounds.

• Discusses understanding the relationship between letters and sounds for decoding words.

• Advocates for fluency in reading for improved comprehension.

• Families can use videos for advice sharing, home literacy games, and reinforcing school learning.

National Education Association & Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Reading Tips for increasing phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency | NEA. https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/reading-tips-increasing-phonemic-awareness-phonics-and-fluency

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Journal Article

Lawrence, J. F., Knoph, R., McIlraith, A., Kulesz, P. A., & Francis, D. J. (2021). Reading comprehension and academic vocabulary: exploring relations of item features and reading proficiency. Reading Research Quarterly, 57(2), 669–690. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.434

Video

Reading Programs. (2019, February 11). Reading Comprehension - everything parents need to know [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9UGAcNHxE

Book

The Reading Strategies Book 2.0. (2023, January 3). Heinemann Publishing. https://www.heinemann.com/products/e13267.aspx#fulldesc

Podcast

Corujo, J. (2024, May 22). Podcast: Building Vocabulary to Increase Reading Comprehension with Abbey Behnke. Hmhco.com. https://www.hmhco.com/blog/building-vocabulary-to-increase-reading-comprehension-with-abbey-behnke-in-wi-on-teachers-in-america?srsltid=AfmBOorgGdxqrT0juOgwWaJBrZk6PUXP7rdOqXbnFk0YVAFt1TZD5lpC

Resource for ELL learners

Colorín Colorado. (n.d.-b). Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/

Resource for students with Dyslexia

Jpiersol. (2024, April 15). Teaching Strategies for Students with Dyslexia. School of Education Online. https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/teaching-strategies-students-with-dyslexia/

Resource for students with special needs

Special education resources. (n.d.). United Federation of Teachers. https://www.uft.org/teaching/students-disabilities/special-education-resources

Resource for student with gifted and talented

Ahlquist, D. (2024, July 24). How to ensure that gifted students grow as readers. The Great Books Foundation. https://www.greatbooks.org/how-to-ensure-that-gifted-students-grow-as-readers/

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Colorín Colorado is a bilingual website offering resources for Spanish-speaking parents and educators to assist English Language Learners (ELLs) become successful readers, especially for families with communication or cultural challenges.

Bilingual Site Features

• Content available in English and Spanish for Spanish-speaking parents.

• Reading Tips for Parents in 11 languages for parents to help children improve reading.

• Culturally Responsive Instruction information for reading activities.

Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/

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As a parent, there are many ways that you can help your child succeed every single day! These bilingual parent resources offer tips on helping your child learn to read, succeed in school, and learn a new language. They also provide information about the U.S. school system and share ideas on how to build a relationship with your child's teacher and school.

In addition, you can find fun reading tips and games, bilingual booklists, ideas for using the public library, and videos of children's authors, illustrators, and musicians. Resources are organized by topic.

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As a parent, there are many ways that you can help your child succeed every single day! These bilingual parent resources offer tips on helping your child learn to read, succeed in school, and learn a new language. They also provide information about the U.S.

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Vocabulary is crucial for reading comprehension and plays a fundamental role in children's language acquisition through both direct and indirect learning experiences.

Vocabulary Learning Activity

Fill-in Passages/Matching Activity

This activity is designed to reinforce vocabulary understanding and text comprehension by allowing students to interact meaningfully with keywords from a passage.

• Choose a short text for vocabulary learning.

• Create word cards with vocabulary words.

• Fill in the blanks activity: Students read the passage and match words to definitions.

• Self-check option: Students write correct answers on the back for independent learning.

• Differentiation for Different Learners:

• Emerging learners: Use pictures and words for visual support.

• Developing learners: Provide sentence clues and discuss choices with a partner.

• Advanced learners: Write sentences using vocabulary words, explain word choice, and add synonyms or antonyms.

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Reading comprehension involves decoding text symbols and understanding the meaning of words and sentences, requiring two interconnected abilities: word reading and language comprehension.

Predicting Activity

Making predictions before, during, and after reading helps students engage with the text, activate prior knowledge, and refine their thinking as they gather new information.

Pre-Reading and Reading Strategies

• Pre-Reading: Use a 'Scavenger Hunt' to scan the text for clues, such as title, headings, pictures, bold/italic words, and first/last sentences.

• During Reading: Revise or confirm predictions based on new information, allowing students to justify changes using textual evidence.

• Post-Reading: Reflect on the story's outcome and discuss why predictions changed and how clues helped.

Differentiation for Different Learners

• For Emerging Readers: Use sentence stems and pictures, and read the title and first sentence aloud.

• For Developing Readers: Use a structured graphic organizer and allow paired discussions.

• For Advanced Readers: Use multiple pieces of evidence, challenge them to predict the theme or author's purpose, and introduce misleading clues.

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Vocabulary is crucial for reading comprehension and plays a fundamental role in children's language acquisition through both direct and indirect learning experiences.

Vocabulary Learning Activity

Fill-in Passages/Matching Activity

This activity is designed to reinforce vocabulary understanding and text comprehension by allowing students to interact meaningfully with keywords from a passage.

• Choose a short text for vocabulary learning.

• Create word cards with vocabulary words.

• Fill in the blanks activity: Students read the passage and match words to definitions.

• Self-check option: Students write correct answers on the back for independent learning.

• Differentiation for Different Learners:

• Emerging learners: Use pictures and words for visual support.

• Developing learners: Provide sentence clues and discuss choices with a partner.

• Advanced learners: Write sentences using vocabulary words, explain word choice, and add synonyms or antonyms.