Definition: “Phonemic Awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, called phonemes” (Reading Rockets, n.d.). Phonemic awareness is a foundational reading skill. Instruction teaches students to hear and work with the sounds in spoken words. Daily instructional time should be devoted to helping students learn to isolate sounds, blend, segment, and manipulate large units of languages as well as individual sounds in spoken words.

ACTIVITY (1): Rhyme Repetition Activity

I will explain to the students that rhyming words have the same middle and final sounds. I will say two rhyming words and have the student say the words back to me.

Example:         Teacher: Hop, Mop                 Student: Hop, Mop

                        Teacher: Fun, Run                  Student: Fun, Run

                        Teacher: Cut, Nut                   Student: Cut, Nut

                        Teacher: Hit, Sit                     Student: Hit, Sit

                        Teacher: Fat, Hat                    Student: Fat, Hat

Adaptations: I can repeat the terms multiple times and break the word down into rhyme and onset after announcing the word in full and pointing out the part of the word that sounds the same for students with learning delays and for those who are more advanced, I can provide them with more complex words: words with more phonemes.

ACTIVITY (2): Initial Phoneme Isolation

I will instruct the students to listen for the first sound they hear in words. I will explain to them the first sound comes at the beginning of the word. Then I will say the word and have the student say it back to me and tell me the first sound they hear.

Example:         Teacher: Fall               Student: Fall, /f/

                        Teacher: Nice             Student: Nice, /n/

                        Teacher: Door             Student: Door, /d/

                        Teacher: Cup              Student: Cup, /c/

                        Teacher: Talk              Student: Talk, /t/

Adaptations: For students with exceptionalities, I can provide them with visual support by showing the sound card to the student with learning delays and for those who are more advanced, I can provide them with more complex words: words with more phonemes.

At Home activity: Initial Phoneme Isolation Activity using Elkonin Boxes

As an at-home activity, I will provide students with word and sound cards and Elkonin boxes with a colored chip with instructions for parents as to how to complete this activity with their child.  Using the Elkonin boxes, parents will introduce the word to their child and then repeat the word using onset and rime, and every time the parent states the initial sound, they will place the colored chip in the first square representing the initial sound.

Website Resources for Parents: https://heggerty.org/parents/

Explanation of How Phonemic Awareness Benefits Learning: Rhyme and initial phoneme isolation help children learn about words, sounds, and language formation, develop reading and writing skills, and provide a secure foundation for early learning.

Activity (1): Decoding Words in a Sentence

After reviewing major letters and sounds and high-frequency words, I will provide students with a sentence on the whiteboard. I will ask the students which words they recognize in the sentence. Then I will have selected students go up to the whiteboard circle the word they recognize and say the word aloud until all the recognized words are circled. As a group, we will name all the words that were circled. Next, we will decode each word that wasn’t circled. I will ask the kids to say aloud the sound of the letter I place a dot under. Then they will blend the sounds together while I draw a line through the dots: connecting the dots. As a group, we will read the sentence again adding the word that we just decoded. We will continue the last three steps until we have decoded all the unknown words. The last step has the students fully read the sentence.

Adaptation: For those students with exceptionalities, I will have students who need more help decoding a word, use their arms to help them isolate and blend the word. It is important to allow students to use familiar techniques if they are unable to complete the task using the newer method. For those students who are advanced, I will allow them to develop their own sentences, put their responses on the board, and read the sentences to the whole class.

Activity (2): Building Sentences using the Word Wall

This activity is designed to follow the reading of a short story. I will ask the students to respond to a question that the students will answer in a full sentence. I will give all the students a personal dry-erase board to write their sentences. I will instruct the kids to use the word wall to identify and spell words they need to place in the sentence. On the whiteboard in front of the class, I will start the sentence using the answers the students provided. When it is time to write a high-frequency word, I ask the students to refer to the wall and find the word. Once they find the word, they are to raise their hand. I ask them to go to the word wall and point out the word they want to use in the sentence, name the word, and spell it aloud using the word wall. I will then write the word in the sentence and as a whole class re-read the sentence with the new word. As we progress through the sentence the student will be writing the sentence on their personal board. I will continue to add more complex words to the sentence and repeat the process every time we need to add a high-frequency word to the sentence. When the sentence is complete, we read the sentence in its entirety.

Adaptations: For students who find it difficult to find the word on the wall I will identify a particular alphabet they should look under to find the word that is needed for the sentence.

At Home activity: I will have parents use two decks of cards on of pictures that start with each letter of the alphabet and the other with beginning consonant sounds.  Then choose from the deck of cards with three distinct opening consonant sounds. Take the sounds /b/, /s/, and /t/ as an example; the corresponding images on the cards may be images of balls, babies, spiders, sunflowers, trains, and trees. In this activity, parents will have their children sort picture cards by the sounds they make at the beginning of each word, and then by the sound that they make at the end of each word. Raising the difficulty level comes once the child has gotten the hang of sorting picture cards by beginning and ending sounds. The next step is to have students sort the pictures based on the vowel pattern, which represents their middle sound. Words like "team," "peas," "seal," "heel," and "kneel" have the vowel /e/. The terms toad, road, coat, and boat all contain the vowel /o/. At some point, parents can introduce the idea of sorting cards based on the first digraphs to their children. Examples are the sounds /ch/ for chair and /sh/ for sh and shell.

Website: https://www.abcmouse.com/abc/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAhomtBhDgARIsABcaYykMifu-93VLad6wmav5Zgfgqiwd-mv55WaaC3yBSzDMouoES_3lu-QaAmk-EALw_wcB&utm_campaignid=74598314&utm_adgroupid=3147319634&utm_adextensionid=&utm_targetid=kwd-102917823&utm_matchtype=b&utm_network=g&utm_device=c&utm_devicemodel=&utm_creativeid=592094655811&utm_placement=&utm_adposition=&utm_geo=US&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhomtBhDgARIsABcaYykMifu-93VLad6wmav5Zgfgqiwd-mv55WaaC3yBSzDMouoES_3lu-QaAmk-EALw_wcB

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Explanation: As children begin to learn new sounds and words, this game gives them practice matching familiar pictures with those sounds and words. Once students have completed this activity, they will have a visual connection to help them learn the terms. Eventually, they will be able to identify the sounds and words without any help.

Simply put, words and their meanings are the building blocks of a new vocabulary. The development of a child's reading skills is facilitated by the acquisition of a larger vocabulary. The capacity to decode words and comprehend what is being read are two components of reading proficiency.  The more a child learns about new words, the easier it is for them to decode them and understand what they mean.

Activity (1): Storytime

Before reading the story, I will have a list of 3 words that will be found throughout the reading. These words will help the students better understand the reading.  I will introduce these words to the students. I will follow these steps for introducing each word: pronounce the word, ask the students to repeat the term, make use of images to set the term in context, and define the word. I will start the reading of the story. While reading aloud, I will point out each new term as they appear in the story. In order to reinforce what the kids have learned; I plan to review the vocabulary through a Q&A session after we finish reading the story. I will use visual aids, hand motions, and additional discussion to assist the child in understanding the word in context.

Adaptations: I will provide each student having difficulties with grasping the new terminology with a custom visual aid card with the word and corresponding image on the same side. Before and after the reading, the students can refer to these cards.

Activity (2): Compare pictures using adjectives

I will show the class a set of cards before we begin the activity to ensure they are familiar with the images we will be using. Then I will start by teaching the class that adjectives are words that describe another word. Any (noun) person, place, animal, thing, or idea can be described using adjectives. "I like red shirts" and "I eat chocolate cake" are a couple of examples of what I'll tell them next. After that, I will draw a picture of and write the words "silly face" on the board and explain that "silly” is an adjective that describes the face. Next, I'll design a few more faces with different emotions—an angry face, a sad face, and a happy face—and write descriptions of each, being sure to highlight each adjective. I will then tell the class that I will be describing one of the pictures in the set and want them to tell me which image best represents the adjective I described. As an example, I'll put a picture of two dogs side by side and ask them to identify the smaller dog. I will restate their response and then inquire as to what word is the adjective, the word used to describe the "dog." I will remind them that "dog" is an animal and that adjectives describe people, places, animals, things, and ideas. Ask them to tell me the word that describes the dog, and then wait for them to answer. I will go on to the next set of images once I have the right response. I will continue through the set of pictures until I know for sure that they have a firm grasp on the meaning of adjectives.

Adaptations: This is a verbal activity so for those students who are struggling to understand, I will write the adjective and nouns on the whiteboard to give them a visual of the words being used and explain further how the adjective describes the noun it is modifying. Those students who are more advanced will have an opportunity to identify more complex nouns and their modifiers

At Home activity: Along with an instruction sheet, I will send the children home with an assortment of cards that have 5 photos, 5 adjectives, and 5 noun cards. Adjectives and nouns are all part of the pictorial vocabulary, and students will be challenged to pair them up.

·      Picture cards: small dog, muddy boots, long rope, pink rug, cold day

·      Adjective cards: small, muddy, long, pink, cold

·      Nouns: dog, boots, rope, rug, day

Website: https://www.beginlearning.com/parent-resources/adjectives-for-kids/#:~:text=Adjectives%20add%20important%20flavor%20to,would%20be%20bland%20and%20boring.

Explanation: Children can benefit from this exercise in expanding their vocabulary and developing their capacity for articulate expression. Adding more detail into sentences is another goal of this activity, which is also a sentence-building exercise.

Activity (1): Speedy Alphabet Arc

“Students match letters of the alphabet to the Alphabet Arc in a timed activity. 1. Place the Alphabet Arc and set of letters on a flat surface. Place the timer at the center. 2. The student sets the timer for one minute. Chooses a letter, names it (e.g., “P”), and places it on the corresponding letter on the Alphabet Arc. 3. Continues until the timer goes off. Repeats the activity attempting to match all letters in less than one minute. 4. Self-check” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Adaptations: Match lowercase alphabet letters to the Alphabet Arc in three minutes or less. Complete the partial Alphabet Arc in three minutes or less.

Activity (2): Make a Match

“Students match the initial sounds of words to letters while playing a timed memory game. 1. Separate initial sound picture cards and letter cards. Place cards face down in different rows. Place the timer at the center. 2. Students set the timer for one minute. Taking turns, students select a picture card and a letter card. Name the picture and say its initial sound (e.g., “tire, /t/”). Name the letter and say its sound (e.g., “t, /t/”). Determine if the initial sound of the picture matches the selected letter. 3. If there is a match (e.g., tire, “t” letter card), pick up cards, place them to the side, and take another turn. If cards do not match (e.g., cat, “b” letter card), return cards to their original positions and allow your partner to take a turn. 4. Continue until the timer goes off. 5” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Adaptations: For students having difficulties I will provide additional support using medial and final sound picture cards and correspondence letter cards to guide students.

At Home activity: “Place the letter cards face down in a stack. Place the YES and NO header cards face up next to each other. Place the timer at the center. Provide each student with a YES and NO graph. 2. Working in pairs, student one sets the timer for one minute and tells student two to “begin.” Student two selects the top card, names the letter, and says its sound (e.g., “p, /p/”). 3. If correct, place the card in a pile under the YES header card. If incorrect, place it in a pile under the NO header card. 4. Continue until the timer goes off. Graph the number of cards in each pile in the corresponding columns on the student sheet. 5. Together, name the letters and say the sounds of the cards in the “NO” pile. 6. Reverse roles and repeat the activity attempting to increase speed and accuracy. 7. Continue until student sheet is complete” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Website: https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade#sca6

Explanation: These activities and resources will help students gain speed and accuracy in recognizing letters and sounds. When they start to learn to read simple words, children will eventually be able to sound them out by recognizing the different sounds in a spoken word.

Activity (1): Build a Sentence

On the table place five word cards labeled “who,” “action,” “what,” “function,” and “punctuation” in a row.  “Provide each student with a stack of cards with corresponding words like “Sally”, “swim,” and “beach.” Working in pairs, students select a card from each stack and place them in sentence order (i.e., “who,” “action,” and “what”). Read the words on the cards (e.g., “Sally swims beach”). Identify and insert function words and punctuation cards needed to make a meaningful sentence (e.g., at, the, “.”). Read the sentence (i.e., “Sally swims at the beach.”) and record it on paper. If the sentence is silly, put an “X” next to it. 5. Continue until at least five sentences are recorded” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Adaptation: If students are having difficulties, I will provide additional support by adding a word card to the sentence and having them continue with the rest of the sentence.

Activity (2): Sentence-Picture Match

“Place picture cards vertically down the left side of the pocket chart. Place sentence strips face down in a stack. Taking turns, students select a sentence strip and read it. Determine which picture on the pocket chart corresponds to the sentence and place the sentence strip next to that picture. Continue until all sentences and pictures are matched” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Adaptation: I will provide multiple sentences that can match the sentence. This will provide the students with more chances to select the correct match, building their confidence and improving learning.

At Home activity:

“Place text at the center. Provide the child with a student sheet. The child reads the text with a parent. The child names a character in the story and writes the name in the center square of the student sheet. The child draws a picture of the character above the name. 4. The child writes words that describe the character’s appearance and actions in the “frame” on the student sheet. Continue each step until the student sheet is complete” (The Florida Center for Reading Research, 2021).

Website: https://appbooka.com/blog/reading-comprehension-activities

Explanation: Students will develop their sentence-building and character-description skills. Also, they'll be able to identify key parts of the text.