Phonics Activities:

• Letter-Sound Hunt: Write letters on sticky notes and have children find objects starting with those sounds.

• Word Building: Use magnetic letters to form words.

• Phonics Hopscotch: Write words with different phonics patterns on the ground.

• Flashcard Sort: Sort words based on familiar sounds.

Helping children become strong, confident readers starts with understanding the five key components of reading instruction. These components—Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—are critical building blocks for literacy.

Lexia. (n.d.). Science of Reading Pre-K-12 Learning Solutions | Lexia. https://www.lexialearning.com/

Story Retelling Activities

• Encourage children to retell a story in their own words.

• Encourage question time by asking "who, what, where, when, why, and how" questions.

• Encourage children to relate a book to their own experiences.

• Encourage drawing a comic strip summarizing a story's main events.

Five (5) components of reading :: Read Naturally, Inc. (n.d.-b). https://www.readnaturally.com/research/5-components-of-reading

Lexia. (n.d.-b). Science of Reading Pre-K-12 Learning Solutions | Lexia. https://www.lexialearning.com/

Science of Reading | Amira. (n.d.-b). https://amiralearning.com/science-of-reading

• "Sound Sorting Game": Sort pictures of words based on beginning, middle, or ending sounds. Differentiation: For emerging learners focus on beginning sounds. For advanced learners, isolate middle and ending sounds.

• "Build-a-Word with Magnetic Letters": Use magnetic letters to build words based on phonics patterns. Differentiation: For early learners, provide word models. For advanced learners, challenge them to change one letter to create a new word.

• "Echo & Choral Reading": Use simple sentences with picture cues. For struggling readers, provide short, simple sentences. For fluent readers, read independently and partner up.

• "Word Detective": Read a story and "hunt" for new words. Differentiation: For younger learners, provide a list of words with matching pictures. For older learners, create a word map.

• "Story Retelling with Puppets": Use puppets or props to retell the main events. Differentiation: For early learners, use simple stories with repetitive phrases.

Supporting Rhyming Skills in Children

• Play rhyming games to encourage children to identify rhyming words.

• Have children clap out syllables in words.

• Practice breaking words into individual sounds and blending them back together.

• Use tongue twisters to highlight beginning sounds.

Activities:

• Rhyming Game: Encourage children to create rhyming words.

• Syllable Clapping: Encourage students to clap out syllables.

• Sound Swap: Encourage children to change the first sound of a word.

• I Spy Sounds: Play "I Spy" using beginning sounds.

Vocabulary Activities for Children:

• Picture Word Match: Match pictures to new vocabulary words.

• Word Jar: Daily addition of new words for sentence use.

• Act It Out: Teaching new words through action.

• Story Word Hunt: Reading aloud for specific words.

Fluency Activities

• Echo Reading: Reading a sentence aloud and repeating it with expression.

• Reader’s Theater: Assigning characters from a story and reading their parts aloud.

• Speed Read: Time students reading a passage to improve speed without sacrificing accuracy.

• Whisper Reading: Reading a short passage to oneself before reading aloud to a partner.

Science of Reading | Amira. (n.d.). https://amiralearning.com/science-of-reading

Lawrence, J. F., Knoph, R., McIlraith, A., Kulesz, P. A., & Francis, D. J. (2021). Reading comprehension and academic vocabulary: exploring relations of item features and reading proficiency. Reading Research Quarterly, 57(2), 669–690. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.434

Video

Reading Programs. (2019, February 11). Reading Comprehension - everything parents need to know [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9UGAcNHxE

Book

The Reading Strategies Book 2.0. (2023, January 3). Heinemann Publishing. https://www.heinemann.com/products/e13267.aspx#fulldesc

Podcast

Corujo, J. (2024, May 22). Podcast: Building Vocabulary to Increase Reading Comprehension with Abbey Behnke. Hmhco.com. https://www.hmhco.com/blog/building-vocabulary-to-increase-reading-comprehension-with-abbey-behnke-in-wi-on-teachers-in-america?srsltid=AfmBOorgGdxqrT0juOgwWaJBrZk6PUXP7rdOqXbnFk0YVAFt1TZD5lpC

Resource for ELL learners

Colorín Colorado. (n.d.-b). Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/

Resource for students with Dyslexia

Jpiersol. (2024, April 15). Teaching Strategies for Students with Dyslexia. School of Education Online. https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/teaching-strategies-students-with-dyslexia/

Resource for students with special needs

Special education resources. (n.d.). United Federation of Teachers. https://www.uft.org/teaching/students-disabilities/special-education-resources

Resource for student with gifted and talented

Ahlquist, D. (2024, July 24). How to ensure that gifted students grow as readers. The Great Books Foundation. https://www.greatbooks.org/how-to-ensure-that-gifted-students-grow-as-readers/

Reading Tips for Increasing Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency

Reading Rockets is well-known for providing research-based strategies to support early literacy. Their video series, featuring reading experts answering real questions from families, is an excellent way to help parents build their children’s phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency skills at home.

Video Series on Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency

• Focuses on helping children hear, identify, and play with individual sounds.

• Discusses understanding the relationship between letters and sounds for decoding words.

• Advocates for fluency in reading for improved comprehension.

• Families can use videos for advice sharing, home literacy games, and reinforcing school learning.

National Education Association & Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Reading Tips for increasing phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency | NEA. https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/reading-tips-increasing-phonemic-awareness-phonics-and-fluency

Bilingual Site Features

• Content available in English and Spanish for Spanish-speaking parents.

• Reading Tips for Parents in 11 languages for parents to help children improve reading.

• Culturally Responsive Instruction information for reading activities.

Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/

Vocabulary Learning Activity

Fill-in Passages/Matching Activity

This activity is designed to reinforce vocabulary understanding and text comprehension by allowing students to interact meaningfully with keywords from a passage.

• Choose a short text for vocabulary learning.

• Create word cards with vocabulary words.

• Fill in the blanks activity: Students read the passage and match words to definitions.

• Self-check option: Students write correct answers on the back for independent learning.

• Differentiation for Different Learners:

• Emerging learners: Use pictures and words for visual support.

• Developing learners: Provide sentence clues and discuss choices with a partner.

• Advanced learners: Write sentences using vocabulary words, explain word choice, and add synonyms or antonyms.

Predicting Activity

Making predictions before, during, and after reading helps students engage with the text, activate prior knowledge, and refine their thinking as they gather new information.

Pre-Reading and Reading Strategies

• Pre-Reading: Use a 'Scavenger Hunt' to scan the text for clues, such as title, headings, pictures, bold/italic words, and first/last sentences.

• During Reading: Revise or confirm predictions based on new information, allowing students to justify changes using textual evidence.

• Post-Reading: Reflect on the story's outcome and discuss why predictions changed and how clues helped.

Differentiation for Different Learners

• For Emerging Readers: Use sentence stems and pictures, and read the title and first sentence aloud.

• For Developing Readers: Use a structured graphic organizer and allow paired discussions.

• For Advanced Readers: Use multiple pieces of evidence, challenge them to predict the theme or author's purpose, and introduce misleading clues.

Vocabulary Learning Activity

Fill-in Passages/Matching Activity

This activity is designed to reinforce vocabulary understanding and text comprehension by allowing students to interact meaningfully with keywords from a passage.

• Choose a short text for vocabulary learning.

• Create word cards with vocabulary words.

• Fill in the blanks activity: Students read the passage and match words to definitions.

• Self-check option: Students write correct answers on the back for independent learning.

• Differentiation for Different Learners:

• Emerging learners: Use pictures and words for visual support.

• Developing learners: Provide sentence clues and discuss choices with a partner.

• Advanced learners: Write sentences using vocabulary words, explain word choice, and add synonyms or antonyms.