Classroom Activity: An easy classroom activity that can be implemented to work on phonemic awareness is having the students identify the initial sounds of the words that are shown illustrated on a picture card in front of them. I will model showing the picture card and saying what the picture is outloud and then point to each letter of the word and speak the sounds. For example, if I see a picture of a hat, I will point to each letter and say "H-A-T". Then I will say that the intial sound I hear is "H". When the picture card is shown, the students will be asked what the picture is of and what is the first sound they hear when saying that word. For example, if the picture card shows a fish, the student should say “f-f-f-f-fish". This correlates with the phonemic awareness sequence of skills pictured above; the child will isolate the initial sound they hear and then when they add the ending of the word they are blending the sounds together. As the game goes on, and the child becomes more comfortable with hearing the initial sound of a word, you can have the child choose a picture card for the next part of the game. In this section of the game, the child will be told to pick a picture and segment the word sounds; for example, the word “fish” would sound like “f-f-f-I-I-I-shhhh".  A harder level of this activity would be asking a child to substitute the initial sound with another; this may make a silly word but that is part of the fun of manipulating sounds! For example, if the student chooses the fish card again, we could tell them to substitute the “f” sound with an “m” sound so the new word would be “m-m-m-mish". This may be a more difficult task for some children as it is on the scale of phonemic skills. This activity can accommodate for various learning needs in the classroom as it can be modified to only focus on specific levels of phonemic skills; if a student is not at the ability to segment or even blend sounds, then the game can only focus on isolating the initial sound that is heard and a student can work on this until they become proficient in the skill and ready to move onto the next. If a student is more advanced in phonemic skills, they can be asked to do more complex manipulations like adding or substituting sounds in a word.  

  

Classroom Activity: A simple phonics activity that can be done in the classroom is grouping the students into small groups of 4-5 students and playing a phonics dice game. The teacher will roll the alphabet dice (this can be dice with alphabet stickers on them as well!) and whatever the dice lands on, a student has to identify the letter and the sound that matches that letter. To make the game a little more challenging, the student can name a word that begins with that sound/letter. This is a great way for students to learn from each other and learn through repetition of matching letters to sounds and words. This activity can accommodate for various learning levels by limiting the letters that are found on the dice to only letters that have been introduced, or adding letters or letter patterns that have not been introduced or ones that are fairly new. If the students are not able to identify words that start with that letter or sound, they can be asked just to identify the letter and the sound it makes.  

Classroom Activity: A great activity that can increase a child’s fluency in early childhood education is rereading “classroom favorite” books; this can be done once a day, a few times a week, or even just once a week over a long period of time (Reading Rockets, 2020). Having the same book read to a child allows them to build a connection with the words being read and helps them remember the relevant vocabulary that is within the book. They can observe the illustrations, make connections to the words they are hearing and then try to read the story on their own. Even if they are just remembering the words rather than reading them, it makes the students excited to read and more confident in their literacy skills. They can begin to recognize the sight words within the story and become more fluent in reading them. This is great for students that are on different reading levels as the story can be specifically picked based on level of difficulty; if a child is at a lower level of fluency, they may need a shorter and more simple worded book or if the student is more advanced they may be more comfortable with a more challenging book with longer sentences. Setting aside time each day (whether it be at the end of the day or at morning circle) allows the children to build reading expectations and work daily on their fluency skills. The more they read, the more accurate they will become, the faster they can read, and more expression they can add as they learn the story and vocabulary.  

Classroom Activity: Vocabulary bingo is a great way to incorporate relevant vocabulary while having fun! The teacher can pick from a specific topic and then set up the bingo accordingly. The teacher will model how to find the correct square that matches the vocabulary word that was described and place their marker on the square. Once the line is filled with markers, the teacher will yell BINGO and recheck their card. The main object of this game is to ensure the students are listening to the definitions of the words and then able to make a connection to the picture or written word on their sheet. This activity can be modified to fit various learning needs as well. The bingo sheet can be created with pictures and words to help students recognize the word, the bingo sheet can be limited to 3-4 squares in a row instead of five for students that cannot sit as long or have limited vocabulary. This can also be done in multiple groups based on different abilities as well; if you have a group of students that have a more advanced vocabulary, those students can be placed in a separate group and bingo game.