+ Alphabet knowledge Sight words Phonemic Awareness Reading at home Building Language and Literacy at Home Preschool and Kindergarten Family Night November 3 rd, 2014
+ Children s own names and highly salient environmental print are often the sources of initial letter learning. - Vukelich & Christie, Building a Foundation for Preschool Literacy, 2004 n In preschool and kindergarten, we focus a lot on alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness to develop children s understanding of language and how we can hear, read, and write it. n Alphabet knowledge is naming, writing, and saying the sounds of letters. Our starting points are environmental print (language in the environment, like signs and ads) and the children s names (the most meaningful letters to a child J). n Phonemic awareness is hearing, identifying, and orally playing with the sounds in words. Our starting points are nursery rhymes and songs as well as activities to work on beginning (and later middle and ending) sounds in words.
+ How can you help your child with their alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness? n You already do! J Every time you sing a song or make a rhyme, make up some funny words (like the banana-fana song), listen as your child reads signs in the car, or point out letters to your child, you are helping! n Some other fun activities are in your bag and handout. Here are a few more n Clothespin names n Play doh letters n Letter matching
+ Kindergarten Reading Readiness Alphabet Recognition What is Alphabet Recognition? One of the most vital skills needed for Kindergarten students is alphabet recognition. This means that students are able to recognize letters by sight. Children who can recognize letters quickly have an easier time learning about the sounds associated with letters. Working on letter names and letter sounds prior to entering Kindergarten will allow for your child to have a jump-start in their education. How can I help develop alphabet recognition at home? There are many different ways to help your child learn the letter names and sounds at home. A few ideas are provided for your convenience. Make an Alphabet Caterpillarwrite each letter of the alphabet on a paper circle (small paper plates work great). Mix the circles up and have your child put the letters in order on the floor to create a caterpillar. Add pipe cleaner antennae and legs for fun. Alphabet Concentration-write all the letters of the alphabet on index cards (upper and lowercase). Flip them over on the table and have your child look for matches. Hide-and-Seek-Hide letters throughout your house and have your child find them and read them. Squirt and Spell-Squirt shaving cream onto a cookie sheet and have your child write letters in the shaving cream. Letter Hop-With chalk, draw lilypads on the ground. Write letters in the middle of the lilypads. While you say a letter, have your child jump to the lilypad with the letter in it. Continue the game until your child has jumped on all the letters. Letter Races-Write letters on index cards and place them upside down in a stack. Have your child go through and read the all the letters quickly while you time them. Keep track of the times and challenge your child to beat their previous time. BINGO-Make a 4x4 grid and put a different letter in each box. Call out letter names while your child tries to get 4 letters in a row. Phonemic Awareness What is phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness is the ability to manipulate spoken sounds in words. Phonemic awareness includes: rhyming, blending, substituting sounds, segmenting sounds, identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds, adding sounds, and deleting sounds. Phonemic awareness is the most powerful predictor of success in learning to read and spell. The development of phonemic awareness prepares children for the next phase of beginning reading. How can I help develop phonemic awareness at home? Rhyming: Read nursery rhymes to your child and talk about the rhyming words. Ask your child to find objects that rhyme with a word you say. Rhyme words with your child s name. Blending: Play a listening game with your child. You can tell your child that you are going to say a word broken into parts and that you would like him/her to put the sounds together to make the word. Begin with simple one syllable words and gradually increase if your child is ready. Make sure you pause between the sounds. Example: /c/ /at/ Once your child is comfortable blending 2 sounds, they can break down the word into smaller parts. Example: /c/ /a/ /t/ Segmenting: Play I SPY with your child and have him/her find the object that starts or ends with the sound you have chosen.. Collect familiar objects around your house and place them in a brown paper bag. Next, have your child pull an object out of the bag and have them tell you the first or last sound of the object. Websites: www.getreadytoread.com www.starfall.com www.scholastic.com/parents/play/ www.pbskids.org/wordworld Kelly Bachewicz
+ Word learning takes place in many small steps. You don't learn a word all at once. It takes repeated encounters with a word to bring it to a point where you own it. - William Nagy, Seattle Pacific University, 2005 n At the end of preschool and especially throughout kindergarten, we focus a lot on sight words, also known as popcorn words because they pop up everywhere! n These are words that usually don t follow regular phonics rules, so children need to memorize them (such as the, as, have). n While alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness give children the building blocks for decoding language, sight words give children fluency. Knowing these words helps them read faster so they don t have to stop and figure them all out. This takes A LOT of practice!
+ How can you help your child with their sight words? n Practice, practice, practice! Children need hundreds of encounters with sight words to remember them! n Some fun activities are in your bag and handout. Here are a few more n Find them as you read n Scavenger hunt n Play doh words
+ ABC order: Write your words in alphabetical order. Word Sort: Sort your words by vowel sounds, patterns, syllables, etc. Repetition: Write your words 3 times each Sentences: Write a sentence for each spelling word. Word Art: Draw a picture and write your words in the picture. Story time: Write a short story using all your words. Creative Letters: Write your words by cutting out letters in an old newspaper or magazine and glue them on a paper. Pyramid: Write your words adding or subtracting one letter at a time. The result will be a pyramid shape of words. Good Clean Words: Write your words in shaving cream on a counter or some other surface that can be cleaned safely. Handwriting: Write each word 3 times in your best handwriting. Cheer your words: Pretend you are a cheerleader and call out your words! Sound Words: Use a tape recorder and record your words and their spelling. Then listen to your tape, checking to see that you spelled all the words correctly. Choo-Choo Words: Write the entire list end-to-end as one long word, using different colors of crayon or ink for different words. Flashwriting: In a darkened room, use a flashlight to draw letters in the air. Timer: Get a timer. Set it for 3 minutes. See how many times you can write your words before the timer goes off. Scramble: Have a parent scramble you spelling words. You unscramble them. Chalk: Write your words outside using sidewalk chalk. Letters: Write each word as many times as there are letters in the word. Out loud: Spell your words out loud 2 times to a brother or sister, mom or dad. Trace Around: Print your spelling words neatly. Take a colored pen and draw an outline around the word, closely following the shapes of the letters. Close your eyes and remember the shape. Colorful Words: Use two different color pens to write your spelling words. Use one color to write the consonants and the other for the vowels. Military spelling: Do jumping jacks, as you clap say a letter to spell your words. Finger Tracing: Use your finger to spell out each of your words one letter at a time on your Mom or Dad s back. Then it s YOUR turn to feel and spell. Try to guess the word. Practice Test: Have an adult give you a practice test. Scratch n' Sniff: Write letters with glue on paper, and then sprinkle with Jell-O. Makes a super scratch n' Sniff when tracing over the letters. Computer Words: Have your child type their spelling words ten times each on the computer. Use different colors and fonts and print it out! Words-in-words: Write your word and then write at least 2 words made from each. Snap and Spell: Snap on each letter, clap when you say the word at the end. Create an activity: Can you think of a fun way to do your spelling activities? Try it out.
+ Children whose parents read to them at home recognize letters of the alphabet and write their names sooner. - C.W. Nord, J. Lennon, B. Liu & K. Chandler, Home Literacy Activities and Signs of Emerging Literacy, 1999 Children who are read to regularly by parents become early readers and show a natural interest in books. -van Ijzendoorn Bus and A.D. Pellagrini, Joint Book Reading makes for Success in Learning to Read: A Meta Analysis in Intergenerational Transmission of Literacy, 1995 n Alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, and sight word knowledge all come together when you read at home regularly!
+ How can you help your child while you read at home? n Read often n Talk to them about what you re reading n Read a variety of texts n Read their favorites over and over J n Some fun activities are in your bag and handout. Use the bookmark to help as you talk to your child about books you are reading together!
+ Questions to ask your child while reading nonfiction (information) text =================== What is the main idea of the text? What did you learn from reading the text? Are there any words that you do not know what they mean? What are some new words that you learned? Do you have any questions after reading this? Were there any important features (charts, diagrams, pictures) that were important? Where could you find more information about this topic? Did you like this text? Why or why not? Questions to ask your child while reading fiction text ================= Who is the main character? What was the setting? What was the problem in the story and how was it solved? What do you predict will happen next in the story? Why do you think the author chose that title for this story? Do you like the title of the story? Why or why not? Can you think of a different title for the story? Which character from the story would you choose to be your friend? Why? What part of the story was the most exciting? Why? Did you like the end? Why or why not?
+ Parents are a child s first and most important teacher, and have already taught their children many things prior to entering school. - Ran and Ramey,1999 We hope we were able to add to the amazing things we know you already do with your children at home. Thank you so much for sharing your children with us each day!
+ All quotes used in this presentation can be found at http://literacyconnection.wcpss.net/resources/citations%20quotes.html