Science of Reading Padlet by Ashlee LaRue

What is Letter Knowledge?

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-15 15:22:10 UTC

Letter knowledge is the understanding that each letter has a name, shape, and corresponding sound. This foundational literacy skill supports the alphabetic principle, phonics, and early reading development. This section includes resources and examples of instructional strategies to teach letter names, shapes, and sounds to early learners.

Found on Teachers Pay teachers

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-15 15:24:24 UTC

Letter and Sound Video

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-15 15:27:01 UTC

Source: Jack Hartmann Music

Reflection

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-15 15:28:54 UTC

Letter knowledge is a vital early literacy skill that lays the groundwork for decoding, writing, and spelling. As I worked through the lesson objectives and explored instructional strategies in the Teaching Reading Sourcebook, I realized how intentional we must be in teaching both letter names and sounds—not just through songs or practice, but through meaningful experiences. This knowledge will help me structure stronger early literacy lessons in my future classroom by balancing direct instruction with playful, engaging activities.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-27 17:45:22 UTC

What is it?

Phonological Awareness: The ability to recognize and work with sounds in spoken language, including rhyming, syllables, and onset-rime.

Phonemic Awareness: A subset of phonological awareness that focuses specifically on identifying and manipulating individual phonemes (sounds) in spoken words.

Visual Representation

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-27 17:47:55 UTC

Found on The Daily Alphabet

Sample Teaching

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-27 17:48:42 UTC

Activity: Elkonin Boxes (Sound Boxes)
Students move a token into a box for each sound they hear in a word (e.g., /d/ /o/ /g/ for “dog”). This supports phoneme segmentation.

Reflection

ashleehenwood — 2025-06-27 17:50:10 UTC

This week’s module helped clarify the difference between phonological and phonemic awareness. I used to think they were interchangeable, but now I see how phonemic awareness is just one part of the broader category of phonological awareness. Understanding this distinction helped me better match classroom activities to the correct skill. As a future teacher, I plan to intentionally build both skill sets using tools like Elkonin boxes, rhyming games, and blending/segmenting activities to support early literacy development.

Phonics

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-13 20:46:29 UTC

Phonics is the method of teaching reading by helping students understand the relationship between letters and the sounds they make. It focuses on decoding words by sounding them out, which is a critical skill for early readers. Phonics instruction helps build foundational reading skills by teaching patterns and rules that make up the English language.

Phonics Visual Example

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-13 20:52:28 UTC

Sample Teachings and Sample Resource

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-13 20:58:42 UTC

Focus skill: Consonant Digraphs - sh, th, ch, wh, ph

Student will be able to identify and read words with common consonant digraphs and use them in oral language and writing.

https://youtu.be/WP1blVh1ZQM?si=v80jZcLVUAlX-KV5

All rights belong to Jack Hartman for this video provided.

Reflection

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-13 21:05:04 UTC

Through this learning, I've gained a deeper understanding of what phonics is and why it plays such a critical role in early literacy instruction. Phonics helps students connect letters to sounds and gives them the tools they need to decode unfamiliar words. I used to think phonics was just about memorizing letter sounds, but I now realize it’s about building a strong foundation that supports both reading and writing.

Irregular Word Reading - What is it?

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-18 17:14:10 UTC

Irregular words are words that do not follow common phonics patterns, so students cannot always sound them out.

Visual Representation

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-18 17:16:53 UTC

Credit belongs to Trive Ed Services

Sample Teaching

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-18 17:18:14 UTC

This video demonstrates how to teach irregular "heart words"

Reflection

ashleehenwood — 2025-07-18 17:19:49 UTC

I learned that irregular words can be challenging for students because they don't always follow the phonics rules. Using strategies like heart words and daily review helps students remember these words more effectively. I plan to incorporate regular practice and multisensory activities to support my students in becoming confident and fluent readers.

Multisyllabic Words

ashleehenwood — 2025-08-04 02:10:59 UTC

What are they?

Multisyllabic words are words that have more than one syllable.

A syllable is a single, unbroken sound of a word that contains a vowel. For example, the word banana has three syllables: ba/na/na

Why Multisyllabic Words Matter

ashleehenwood — 2025-08-04 02:13:20 UTC

Understanding multisyllabic words is essential for reading fluency and comprehension. As children progress in their reading development, they encounter longer, more complex words. Teaching students how to decode these by breaking them into syllables improves their ability to read words, increase vocabulary, and strengthen overall.

Strategies for Teaching

ashleehenwood — 2025-08-04 02:15:22 UTC

Syllable Division Rules: Teach students how to break words between syllables

Syllable Types: Introduce the six syllable types

Chunking: Have students cover parts of the word to focus on one syllable at a time

Affix Study: Teach common prefixes and suffixes

Clapping Syllables: Use physical movement to help students hear each syllable

Word Sorts: Group words by number of syllables or syllable types

Examples of Multisyllabic Words

ashleehenwood — 2025-08-04 02:16:44 UTC

2 syllables: Tiger, Window, Paper

3 syllables: Animal, Holiday, Remember

4 Syllables: Calculator, Celebrate, Vocabulary

5+ Syllables: Responsibility, Individuality, Unintentionally

Personal Reflection

ashleehenwood — 2025-08-04 02:18:21 UTC

Before diving into this topic, I didn't realize how many strategies are available for teaching this topic. I now understand the importance of teaching syllable types and division patterns, especially for students who struggle with longer words. In my future classroom, I plan to use clapping techniques, visual word chunking, and affix instruction to support my students in becoming confident readers.