Phonics: "refers to the knowledge of letter sounds and the ability to apply that knowledge in decoding unfamiliar printed words"(readingrockets,n.d).

Vocabulary: is the scale of words a student is able to understand and use in the correct setting, based on how the words are being used in a sentence.

Fluency: Fluency is the "ability to read with speed, understanding, and accuracy. Yet it’s more than information extraction, it’s the skill that allows us to ‘follow’ a text, picture its descriptions, and hear the auditory expression of words in our heads even when reading silently"(Best,2018).

Comprehension: is a students ability to understand the who, what, where, and why of a text.

Phonemic Awareness in the Classroom

Activity 1: Engaging in a game of Wibbly Wobbly Woo rhyming song. Each student will have the opportunity to sing the song with their name and replace the first letter in their name with any letter that the teacher is focued on. The song could say Wibbly Wobbly Wyler an elephant sat on Tyler.

Activity 2: Engage a the rhyming game. Teachers can write words on the board that rhyme and include at least one word that doesn't rhyme. Students will read each word and listen to how they sound. They will then select the word that doesn't belong in with those rhyming words.

Differentiated activity: Both activities can be altered to meet each student's needs. Teachers can scaffold these activities by slowly repeating rhymes and word names. Teachers can also present these activities through different modes such as YouTube videos, flash cards, or magnetic letters.

Home activity & website: Families can sing a fun phonemic awareness song, such as Apples & Bananas, at home. They can use YouTube to find a version of this song that fits their needs. All of the activities mentioned above can help students develop their phonemic awareness because they are fun and engaging ways that can be done as a group, individually, and with their families. Being able to learn a topic those multiple means of representation and environments helps the content being taught become memorable and helps them to extend their learning to the next level.

Activity 1: Students will listen and sing along to the chicka, chicka, boom, boom song. This song allows children to hear and see alphabet letters.

Activity 2: Students can engage in a of I spy as a group. The teacher can say I spy something that begins with the letter B or the letters that they are focusing on.

Differentiated activity: Activities can be adjusted to meet every student's needs by doing things like using interactive books to follow along too, or allowing students to play I Spy in pairs.

Home Activity and website:

Parents can assist their child with building their phonics skills by timing their students to see how many letters and sounds they can identify in one minute every night. Google Classroom is a great resource for teachers to upload activities that students can work on at home. Ex. students can engage in a game that requires students to select the correct letter that corresponds to the picture that is displayed. The activities mentioned above will help ensure that students have mastered letter and sound recognition. These activities can be done in school and at home through repetition, which will ensure students have mastered these skills and will ultimately lead them to blending and reading words.

Activity 1: Students can engage in a game of vocabulary bingo. Teachers will have vocabulary words written on the bingo boards. Teachers will read the definitions of each word. Students will determine which word matches that definition by putting a counter on the square. Whoever gets 5 correct in a row will win the game.

Activity 2: Students can engage in vocabulary charades. Students will act out the vocabulary words, and the remaining students will have to guess the word.

Differentiated activity: These activities can be tailored to fit the individual needs of students by using hand-over-hand instruction during bingo, if needed and having shy students engage in charades with a partner or in smaller groups.

Home activity and website

Parents can help their child study their vocabulary word list to help them prepare for the upcoming vocabulary test. They can engage in an activity such as a vocabulary scavenger hunt. An online platform that could be used to support this learning activity is called Spelling City. The activities that are mentioned above can help students build their own vocabulary and gain an understanding of a variety of words.

Activity 1: Students can engage in listening to audiobooks. This is a great way for students to hear content being read in a variety of tones and learn words.

Activity 2: Students can engage in reading groups with one another. This is an inclusive way to get students of mixed abilities involved in reading and understanding what they read.

Differential activity: Headphones can be provided to students who may struggle with focusing. Students who may need additional help with reading may be placed in a group with the teacher for one-on-one help with reading.

Home activity and website: Families can support their child's fluency by reading a bedtime story every night to their child. A website that may help with fluency is the Fluency and Fitness website. This is a great website that provides brain break activities for students, while allowing them to engage in fluency activities such as name the CVS word and name the letter. These activities mentioned above can help students with letter and sight word recognition. Teachers can also scaffold students through these activities that may need additional help by using a one-on-one method, by partnering with those students who may require additional support.

Activity 1: Students should be provided the opportunity to explore with reading materials other than books. These items could be magazines, comic books, song lyrics, recipes, or even newspapers. These everyday items make reading fun, upbeat, and capture students' attention. Providing a variety of reading materials will motivate students to want to read.

Activity 2: Incorporating the use of graphic organizers is another great strategy for comprehension awareness. This helps students visualize the words they are reading. The connection between visual aids and words, help bridge the comprehension gap for students.

Differentiated activity:

These activities could be adjusted to fit the needs of students by allowing students to bring in reading materials written in their home language or allowing them to draw their own pictures on their graphic organizers. Both of these strategies work to help personalize students work, while still keeping the intended lesson incorporated.

Home activity & website:

A great comprehension awareness activity for families to incorporate at home would be for parents to share their favorite stories from their childhood or family stories that have been passed down through generations. Children are able to listen, ask questions, answer questions, and make connections through an activity like this. This is also a great bonding activity that can lay the foundation for listening and comprehension development. The nightzookeepers website is a useful tool that provides lessons, games, and challenges that promote comprehension awareness. This tool can be used in the classroom as well as at home. The activities mentioned above give parents and educators fun, exciting, and out-of-the-box ideas to foster children's comprehension skills.