1. Sound Sorting: Provide picture cards (bat, ball, cat). Students sort by beginning sound.

   • Differentiation: Use fewer pictures with clear visuals for struggling learners; use blends or digraphs for advanced students.

2. Phoneme Blending Game: Say sounds slowly (/c/ /a/ /t/) and students blend to form cat.

   • Differentiation: Give physical counters for ELs and students with exceptionalities to tap sounds; challenge advanced learners with multisyllabic words.

🏡 At-Home Activity: Play “I Spy Sounds” (“I spy something that starts with /b/”).

• Why it helps: Encourages listening for sounds in daily life, building early phonological skills.

🌐 Family Website: Reading Rockets: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

• Why it helps: Provides videos, games, and activities parents can use at home to strengthen sound awareness.

√ Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching reading is rocket science, 2020: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. American Federation of Teachers.

√ Snow, C. E., & Juel, C. (2005). Teaching children to read: What do we know about how to do it? In Snowling & Hulme (Eds.), The Science of Reading: A Handbook (pp. 501–520). Blackwell.

1. Word Building with Letter Tiles: Students build CVC words (e.g., cat, dog).

   • Differentiation: Use color-coded vowels for struggling readers; ask advanced learners to create blends or digraph words.

2. Phonics Hopscotch: A hopscotch grid with letters or words. Teacher calls a sound, students hop to match.

   • Differentiation: Use letter-sound match for beginners; whole words or multisyllabic words for fluent readers.

🏡 At-Home Activity: Build words using magnetic fridge letters.

• Why it helps: Makes letter-sound practice hands-on and engaging in daily routines.

🌐 Family Website: Starfall Phonics

• Why it helps: Provides interactive, family-friendly phonics practice with games, songs, and stories.

1. Interactive Read-Alouds: Pause to discuss 3–5 key words from the story.

   • Differentiation: Use visuals or gestures for ELs; challenge advanced learners with synonyms/antonyms.

2. Word Wall Activities: Add new words with pictures; students draw or use in a sentence.

   • Differentiation: Provide sentence stems for learners needing support; encourage advanced students to write original stories with word wall terms.

🏡 At-Home Activity: Create a “word jar” with new words from books, TV, or conversations.

• Why it helps: Encourages families to notice and use new words in real-life contexts.

🌐 Family Website: PBS Kids Vocabulary Games

• Why it helps: Offers playful, interactive word games that reinforce classroom learning.

1. Echo Reading: Teacher reads a sentence aloud; students repeat with expression.

   • Differentiation: Provide shorter sentences for emerging readers; encourage advanced readers to lead groups.

2. Reader’s Theater: Students read and act out story scripts.

   • Differentiation: Assign smaller roles or highlight text for struggling readers; challenge advanced learners with narrator roles.

🏡 At-Home Activity: Family members take turns reading aloud, modeling expression and pacing.

• Why it helps: Builds confidence and shows that fluent reading is enjoyable.

🌐 Family Website: Storyline Online

• Why it helps: Provides professional, expressive read-alouds children can imitate to improve fluency.

1. Think-Pair-Share: Students discuss story events with a partner before sharing with the class.

   • Differentiation: Use visual prompts or sentence starters for ELs and exceptional learners; extend with “why” or “how” questions for advanced students.

2. Story Maps: Students draw or label characters, setting, problem, and solution.

   • Differentiation: Provide templates for students needing structure; let advanced students create predictions or alternative endings.

🏡 At-Home Activity: After reading, families ask: “What happened first? Next? Last?”

• Why it helps: Builds sequencing and comprehension skills in everyday reading.

🌐 Family Website: Into the Book

• Why it helps: Provides interactive comprehension strategies like summarizing, inferring, and making connections.