Age/ Grade Range:

Pre-K to Kindergarten (ages 3-6)

Milestones:

• Knows the front and back of a book (3-4 yrs)

• Follows text left to right, top to bottom (by 4-5 yrs)

• Matches spoken word to printed words (kindergarten)

• Instructional Strategy

  An effective way to teach print concepts is through the use of Big Books during shared reading. The teacher models directionality by pointing to each word as it is read, highlighting reading from left to right and top to bottom. Students will be asked to identify parts of the book such as the title, cover, and where reading begins. This strategy helps children understand how print works and how to handle books.

  The National Early Literacy Panel (2008) highlights that directly modeling print concepts in read alouds helps build the foundational skills children need for reading.

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Use picture books with large, clear text, and engaging illustrations for ELs.

• Provide books with tactile features or visual clues like color-coded punctuation or spaces for students with dyslexia.

Milestones:

• Recognizes rhyming words (around age 4)

• Claps and counts syllables (4-5 yrs)

• Can tell beginning or ending sounds in words (Kindergarten)

Age/Grade Range:

Ages 4-7, (PreK to 1st grade)

• Assesses rhyming, syllables, and sound identification. (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), n.d.)

  
  

Sorting Games:

• Use picture cards to match rhyming words.

Research Based Instructional Strategies

Rhyming:

Changing sounds in songs or rhymes is a simple way to build phonological awareness. This helps kids get ready for phonics, spelling, and reading. By taking popular rhymes and changing the beginning sound, kids learn to play with sound and hear how words are made up of different parts.

"Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily;
Life is but a dream

Bow, bow, bow your boat
bently bown the beam.
Berrily, berrily, berrily, berrily;
Bife is but a beam.

Sow, sow, sow your soat
sently sown the seam.
Serrily, serrily, serrily, serrily;
Sife is sut a seam."

• Using picture bingo cards to help students build phonological awareness by matching rhyming words on their Bingo card. This helps EL students connect the word they hear with a visual which helps them grasp the rhyme and remember the vocabulary.

Students with Dyslexia

• Using multisensory tools such as blocks, chips, or sticks so students can physically move something for each syllable or sound they hear.

• Using the word sunshine would result in two chips or blocks being pushed forward, one for "sun" and the other for "shine". This approach helps them internalize how words are made up of different parts.

Milestones

• Isolates beginning or ending sounds (by age 5)

• Blends and segments simple CVC words (Kindergarten)

• Can erase or swap sounds in words (Kindergarten to 1st grade)

Age/Grade Range:

• 4-7 yrs (Kindergarten to 1st grade)

Research Based Instructional Strategies

• The "Say It, Move It" strategy can be used to help students with segmenting words into sounds. Using the word "cat", they move one chip for each sound- /c/, /a/, /t/. It is a hands-on and effective strategy, especially for those who need extra support with hearing individual sounds.

• Ehri et al. (2001) founds that activities like "Say It, Move It" really help students develop a strong phonemic awareness.

• EL students do best with visual supports and repetitive, predictable text to help them understand how books and print work. Books with strong pictures and routines like pointing to each word during shared reading make it easier for them to connect spoken and written language (National Institute for Literacy, 2008)

Students with Dyslexia

• Elkonin boxes with blocks or colored token can be greatly effective in helping students with dyslexia see and feel each individual sound in a word. It is great for segmenting, blending, and manipulating phenomes (Moats, 2020)

Milestones:

• Recognizes at least 10 letters by age 4 (NELP, 2008)

• Can name all uppercase letters and most lowercase by the end of kindergarten

• Matches letters to the beginning sounds of familiar words, "D" for "dog" (Adams, 1990).

Age/ Grade Range:

• Pre-K through Kindergarten (ages 4-6)

Research Based Instructional Strategies:

• To help students build better letter naming knowledge, it's helpful to use song, visuals, and hands-on activities. Connecting each letter to a picture or key word, like "m" for monkey, makes it easier for children to remember both the letter's name and what it looks like. Fun activities like tracing letters in the sand, using magnetic letters, or singing alphabet songs give students many ways to practice and make the letter names stick.

• Adams (19190) and Echevarria et al. (2017) both highlight how the use of visuals, music, and movement can really strengthen letter recognition.