• Blending: Combining individual sounds to form words (e.g., /h/ /a/ /t/ = hat)

• Segmenting: breaking words into individual sounds (e.g., cat= /c/ /a/ /t/)

• Manipulating: can add, delete, or substitute sounds within words (e.g., changing "hat" to "cat" by substituting the /h/ sound for /c/)

To support your early learner to learn phonemic awareness at home, you can play "I Spy" with sounds by focusing on the initial sounds of the object such as "I spy something that starts with /s/" and continue with a new sound supporting your young learner with encouragement and positive feedback.

1. Sound Scavenger Hunt:

Choose a letter and have students find objects around the classroom or school that begins with that sound. This is activity is hands-on and engaging, allowing students to actively listen for and identify sounds in spoken words.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing visual supports, using simplified language with clear instruction repeated as needed, modify the task by letting some students identify less objects, while some may look for more, allowing students to touch or manipulate the object they find to support sensory integration for learning enhancement, and provide assistive technology like speech-to-text or visual timers.

2. Rhyming Games:

Practicing rhyming as a whole group in an interactive setting by identifying rhyming words or having students create their own rhyming pairs. Rhyming is a foundational skill in phonemic awareness and it helps students to understand the sound structure of words.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing explicit instruction which means the teacher show students how to identify rhyming words by pointing out the similar sounds at the end of words, providing visual aids such as pictures or graphic organizers, scaffolding by using simple rhyming words first then gradually increase the complexity when understanding is shown, and use movement, gestures, or manipulatives to reinforce the rhyming sounds.

Have students match each picture object to it's corresponding letter. This will help students learn letter and sound recognition. Flashcards can also be used to have students match them to their corresponding sounds or words. This activity can be done in small group, whole group, or independent practice.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing explicit instruction showing students examples of matching each object to the corresponding letter, providing visual aids on the smart board so students can use it as reference of correct practice after teacher's explicit instruction, modifying the task for individual learning needs, and provide enough time for all learners to attempt the activity, offering feedback and positive praise through effort and ability.

2. Hands-on:

Have students trace letters in sand or mold the letter with playdough while saying the corresponding sound.

• These activities can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing explicit instruction which means the teacher models how to do the letter tracing in the sand or how to mold the letter with playdough using the document camera for best display quality for all students to see, provide visual support by leaving the examples during explicit instruction up on the board for students to use as reference and practice, modify task for sensory needs, simplifying or taking away if overwhelming and have an accommodation ready if needed, provide enough time for all learners to attempt and practice activity, as well as providing feedback and support during activity.

One home strategy that is fun and engaging, is to hide letters around the house and have your child find them and say the sound to you. Provide positive praise or kind corrective feedback if needed to keep your child feeling proud and engaged in the home activity.

• Reading: words a child needs to understand when reading.

• Listening: words a child needs to understand when listening to others speak.

• Speaking: words a child uses when talking.

• Writing: words a child uses when writing.

Each day, the teacher can introduce a new word that is age-appropriate for learning levels and have students use it in a sentence or draw a picture that is represents it. This can be done in a whole group, small group, or in an independent practice.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing visual aids to represent the vocabulary word, provide words walls with pictures, and allow students to demonstrate their understanding in different ways.

2. Story Time:

The teacher can introduce new words within a story and discuss their meaning during and after, supporting real-life connection, recall, retelling, and repeating to support students retaining the vocabulary understanding.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing the story on a document camera displayed largely for best viewing and visual support, using simplified language and age appropriate description of the word, read aloud with expression using different voices and pacing to support engagement, and if needed pre-teach the vocabulary so students can pick up on it and build background knowledge.

This practice exposes your child to vivid and endless language and new words. Take the time to define the new word in a kid-friendly way and support visual connections by pointing at the picture or word while discussing with your child the meaning. Focus on positive feedback, joy for reading, and give them choice on stories and their interests.

Guided by the teacher, students read a passage aloud together while focusing on reading with expression and maintaining a consistent pace.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing visual aids such as graphic organizers or pictures associated with the text, provide pre-teaching and explicit instruction by introducing key vocabulary and concepts before the reading practice to support comprehension of the text, provide simplified versions of the text in small group form to support lower reading level students who need extra support.

  
  

2. Echo Reading:

The teacher can read a passage or sentence aloud with expression and then have the students repeat the same passage or sentence, wanting them to imitate the teacher's pace and intonation.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing modeling of multiple examples of fluent reading before students practice echoing the text, providing visual supports such as highlighting key words and finger-pointing cues to support guided reading, provide individualized instruction and feedback to students struggling, and offer a different reading levels of the same text to meet individual learning needs.

Reading Log Ideas:

• A large poster where they record the book information and/or color in part of a picture for each book they read until the whole picture is complete with the total of books at the end.

• Reading long paper chain where each chain represents a book finished.

• Book sticker chart

Teacher has students engage in a structured discussion from a text that they've read, where they first need to think about the question to themselves, then discuss it with a partner, and finally share their ideas with the whole class. This activity supports and promotes critical thinking, active listening, and collaborative learning of a text and key themes.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by using visual aides and simplified language for ELs and struggling learners to facilitate participation, provide focused and short questions with clear expectations and often repeat to enforce the expectation and guidance, allow students to choose how they are able to participate either with written, drawn, or verbal responses, and lastly you can provide graphic organizers or sentence framing to help students to structure and outline their thoughts.

2. Storytelling with Visuals

The teacher has students engage in a creative activity to demonstrate their understanding of a story by creating a visual representation. This could be a comic strip, storyboard, or a drawing, and then they share their work with the class. This activity supports student expression of their understanding while catering to various abilities and learning styles.

• This activity can be differentiated for students with exceptionalities by providing graphic organizers to help structure their ideas, use simplified language and visual cues to facilitate participation, provide sentence starters or pre-selected vocabulary words to help students be able to express their ideas, and encourage exploring more complex themes for students who are advanced.