EXPERIMENTING READING/ PRINT AWARENESS

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Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences and sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 1.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to identify rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words, participate in rhyming games, and repeat rhyming songs and poems.

Teaching students about rhymes and rhyming sounds involves teaching them about patterns of spelling in words and patterns of sounds in words. To help students examine common patterns in words, draw their attention to the order of letters in words. Center the discussion around onsets (all letters that come before a vowel) and rimes (the vowel and all letters that follow). According to the Carolina Literacy Group, rimes can be divided into a hierarchy of three levels: Easiest: it, ay, in, ap, ill, an, ack, ip, ing, at, ore, ug, ell; More difficult: aw, ide, ake, ock, unk, ick, oke, ank, ice, ash, ump, ink; Most difficult: ine, ain, ate, ail, est, ale, ight, ot, uck, eat, op, ame 1. Rhymes can be taught to students by teaching hand clapping games or jump rope rhymes such as “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”, “A Sailor Went to Sea”, “Cinderella Dressed in Yellow”, etc. 2. Give students cut out of frame or spyglass. Using a familiar poem, have students’ frame words that rhyme by placing their “frame” or “spy glass” around the specific rhyming words. 3. Assist students in substituting rhyming words in familiar poems.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Familiar rhymes Cut out frame or spy glass

Adaptations: • •

Hand clapping games may be facilitated hand-over-hand for students with physical disabilities. Record stanzas of jump rope rhymes into sequencing voice output devices (e.g., StepBy-Step from Ablenet).

Experimenting E-1

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 2.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will perceive differences between similar sounding words (e.g., “coat” and “goat”, “three” and “free”).

1. Purchase or make rhyming dominoes that have a picture and corresponding word on each end. Have the students play dominoes, matching words that rhyme.

2. Make cards for concentration game using words that rhyme and the associated graphics. Make an equal number of cards with rhyming words. Assist students in playing “Concentration”.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Flip books Dominoes

An All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet) can be used to allow a student with a physical difficulty to participate. Place rhyming words from the above activities on an overlay. Allow the student to activate the spinner to select a word for other students to rhyme.

Experimenting E-2

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 3.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to attend to the beginning sounds in familiar words by identifying that the pronunciations of several words all begin the same way (e.g., “dog,” “dark,” and “dusty”).

1. Assist students in creating a word wall in the classroom. Divide into a column for each letter in the alphabet. Have students put words studied each week on the word wall, categorizing by beginning letter. 2. Given an assortment of words, have children sort words by initial consonant sounds. 3. Prepare a number of different type bingo games that emphasize initial letters. For example: Word to Word Bingo. Bingo cards are divided into one or two columns initially with the sound at top and corresponding words written below. Make separate cards that have the same words on them.

Experimenting E-3

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Place matching flash cards on the table. The student draws a card, reads the word, determines what the initial word is and places the flashcard on the matching word. VARIATIONS: Word to Letter Bingo. Print letters at the top of columns on cards. Leave spaces under letters are left blank. Make flashcards from words the student can read that begin with the letter onat the top of the columns. Follow the same procedure as Word to Word Bingo explaining to the students how to place words in the column under the letter that starts like the word. Symbols or miniature objects can also be used to play the game in the same way.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Word cards Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome (Oelwein, 1995)

Make a portable word wall out of a file folder, paper communication board or multilevel speech output device.

Experimenting E-3

T.E.K.S. (K.5) The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

4. The student will recognize upper and lower case letters in print.

1. Purchase or make 2-piece puzzle set that has an upper case letter on one side of the puzzle piece and the lower case letter on the corresponding puzzle piece. The puzzle can be placed in the puzzle center or at a reading table where the students can put the pieces together with supervision. 2. On a spinner put the uppercase letters around the outside of the spinner. Provide a set of corresponding letters on flashcards. Have a student spin the spinner, identify the uppercase letter where the spinner lands and locate the corresponding lower case letter on a flashcard. VARIATION: Put lowercase letters on the spinner and the uppercase letters on the flashcards.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Upper/lower case puzzles Spinner Magnetic letters

Program multi-location speech output devices with the names of upper and lowercase letters.

Experimenting E-4

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student demonstrates expanding knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 5.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to identify some high-frequency sight words.

1. Make a variety of lotto game sets. Include topics such as: classmate names, familiar logos (food packages, Disney characters, road signs), classroom objects, etc. Divide each card into the desired number of spaces. Print words and symbols in the spaces. Make an additional set of matching flash cards to use for playing the game. VARIATION: a. Write printed words on the lotto game card and make symbols or pictures for each printed word to use as markers. b. Put pictures or symbols on the lotto game card and use printed word flash cards as markers. 2. Use flash cards with class member names to assign daily “jobs”, identify lockers or cubbies, select partners during activities, etc. 3. Use the same word flash cards and matching symbol flash cards mentioned above to play “Concentration”.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Class lists Word cards Lotto games Pictures and symbols

Adaptation: • •

Place all labels low enough for students. Record vocabulary words used in lotto games into multi-location voice output devices.

Experimenting E-5

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student develops concepts, acquires new words, and increasingly refines his/her understanding of words he/she already knows. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

6.

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to make some letter/sound matches in isolation.

1. Purchase or make a “Feely Meely” box. Put a variety of objects in the box. Have a student choose an object, name it, and tell the beginning letter. 2. Provide clay. Instruct student to form a given consonant. Let the student use the rest of the clay to make various things which have names beginning with that sound. 3. Print letters on an envelope. Put corresponding objects in a box. Student chooses an object and puts it in the correct envelope. 4. Make a clothespin/letter game by printing letters on clothespins. Prepare words that begin with each letter and scatter the words. Have students find all words with same beginning letter and clip cards together with clothespin that has same letter. Store in a box in alphabetical order with the clothespins sticking up so letters show.

Adaptations:

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

• Envelopes Shoe box Clay Styrofoam cups Markers Clothespins Variety of objects for “Feely Meely” box Feely Meely box

Students who are unable to verbally say letter names can use a paper communication board or multi-location speech output device for indicating letter names/sounds.

Experimenting E-6

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student uses letter-sound knowledge to decode written language. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 7.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will understand that letters represent sounds within words.

1. Make a Slide-Through game, so that the initial consonant matches up with the wordfamily ending to make a word. b d f p r w

i

g

Place this on a bulletin board with picture symbols of all the words that can be made using the word family (ex: big, pig, wig, dig, rig). The student moves the word-family ending up or down the consonant strip to form a word, reads the word and finds the appropriate picture symbol. 2. Assist class in constructing a simple poem about a subject with which they are familiar. The rhyming words at the end of each line should belong to the same word family. Make large flashcards with picture symbols and the corresponding words from the word family. Arrange the flashcards so that students can see them.

Experimenting E-7

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Use a cloze method to assist the students in identifying an appropriate rhyming word for each line. For example:

dig

fig

big

Clifford is a red dog that is (big). For breakfast he age a (fig). In the garden he likes to (dig). The teacher will have to make up rhymes that focus on the desired word family. Other examples might include “Cat in the Hat,” “Frogs on a Log,” etc. 3.

Using the previous activity and word family, review the rhymes each day. As students become familiar with the poem, give each student a small pocket chart.

i

g

Each student should have the letters from the rhyming words in the poem with the consonants in black or blue and the vowels in red. Have each student make the portion of the word that rhymes in his/her pocket chart. Tell the students that Clifford had a fig for breakfast and have them add the appropriate letter for the /f/ sound in fig.

Experimenting E-7

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) 4. Using the poem in Activity 2, allow students to write one sentence from the poem per page. Have students illustrate the page. Bind into a small booklet that students can take home to share with parents.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Consonant Slide-Through game

•

Activity 1 can also be done with the All-turn-it spinner (Ablenet). Initial consonants can be written on the small inside wheel and the word family endings can be written on the large outside overlay. Activities 2-4 can be adapted for use with IntelliKey Overlay Maker and IntelliTalk (IntelliTools). The overlays created may contain teacher-made poetry lines, the onsets and rimes, etc.

Onsets b d

Experimenting E-7

Rimes f

i g

T.E.K.S. (K.6) The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an understanding that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

8.

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will manipulate sounds in spoken words (phonemic awareness).

1. Write letters to be used on index cards. Set up 2 stations. At the first station the student give a card with a letter written on it. At the second station set up a variety of objects or pictures that start with the letters given to the students. For example the student starts at the first station with a letter card, such as D. He/she goes to the second station and picks up an object or picture that starts like the letter such as a stuffed DOG. The student goes back to the starting point with the card and the object or picture. Students take turns with other letters that are being targeted. 2. Develop a word wall to teach highfrequency words. The teacher selects four or five words each week and adds them to a wall or bulletin board. Words may be presented alone or with a picture symbol. The word wall grows throughout the year, with words and symbols placed on the wall under the first letter of each word. Word walls can be used for a variety of activities, such as reviewing endings, making sentences and word sorts. A portable word wall can be made on a file folder. Students participate with the teacher in adding words under the correct letter on the word wall and reviewing them several times during the week.

Experimenting E-8

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) 3. Organize a hunting trip around the classroom. For example, if a student’s name is Bob and he is learning that the B is for Bob, take him around the classroom on a “B” word hunt. When the student finds something that starts with a B, tag the item with a Post-it Note or an index card For example if Bob finds a book, have him tape a B to the book. As students become familiar with the letter, introduce other letters in the same mannor. EXTENSION: After all objects are labeled with the appropriate letter, have students look for the letter card in the classroom. For each card found, have student put a penny in a jar. When finished, count the pennies to find out how many words have been located.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Index cards Markers File folders Pictures/symbols Objects associated with letters Post-it Notes

Some students may need physical assistance to participate in the relay activity. An object or picture choice board may be used to assist students in choosing the object associated with the letter sound in the relay game.

Experimenting E-8

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student develops an extensive vocabulary. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 9.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will identify words that name persons, places and things, and words that name actions.

1. Using a classroom bulletin board, make a chart with the following categories: PERSON PLACE THING ACTION

Make flashcards with words for persons, places, things or actions. Add a picture symbol for each word. Have students work together to place the flashcards in appropriate categories. 2. From a story with which the students are familiar, make word cards with picture symbols for persons, places, things, actions. Some suggestions for books include The Snowy Day, Millions of Cats, The Polar Express, Arthur’s TV Trouble, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Henry Huggins, Ramona the Pest, etc. Put the words in a bag or a box. Have students, one at a time, choose a word; decide if it is a person, place, thing or action; and place it in the correct category on the bulletin board in Activity 1.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Bulletin board Word cards with symbols Familiar story books

Program a multi-location voice output device with messages to indicate “that’s a person,” “that’s a place,” etc

Experimenting E-9

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

1. The student will begin to identify rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words, participate in rhyming games, and repeat rhyming songs and poems.

Teaching students about rhymes and rhyming sounds involves teaching them about patterns for spelling words and patterns of sounds in words. To assist students in examining common patterns in words, draw their attention to the order of letters in words. Center the discussion around onsets (all letters that come before a vowel) and rimes (the vowel and all the letters that follow). (Onsets are all letters that come before a vowel; rimes are the vowel and all the letters that follow.) According to the Carolina Literacy group, rimes can be divided into a hierarchy of three levels: Easiest: it, ay, in, ap, ill, an, ack, ip, ing, at, ore, ug, ell; More Difficult : aw, ide, ake, ock, unk, ick, oke, ank, ice, ash, ump, ink; Most Difficult : ine, ain, ate, ail, est, ale, ight, ot, uck, eat, op, ame 1. Create a rhyming words book. Give students pages of the book with a picture on each page. The student finds a picture that rhymes from a catalogue or magazine, and glues it on page. Laminate each page and bind together. Suggestions for rhyming pairs might include: hat and cat, book and cook, coat and boat, hen and pen, bag and flag, he and she, socks and blocks, bell and shell. Students can then read the book to another student, place it in the classroom library, or take it home to read to parents.

Experimenting M-1

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) 2. Reference the rhyming concepts used in the F.A.C.E.S. Math Module in Money E-4 (constructing coins). 3. For students who have experience with rhyming words and sounds, play rhyming bingo. On each card place pictures that rhyme with pictures on the caller’s cards. When the caller says a word such as “boat”, the student finds a picture of “coat” or “goat” and puts a marker on it. 4. Devise a circle game to encourage students to make rhyming words. With students sitting in a circle, the teacher says a line, such as “I don’t want to sit on a door. I think I’d rather sit on the _____,” allowing a student to fill in the blank with the rhyming word, “floor.” Roll a ball to the next student and give him/her a sentence such as “I had to stand in the hall . When I did, I had a _____(ball).” That student rolls the ball to the next student who will supply a rhyming word. The game continues until all students have had a turn.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Pictures of rhyming words Rhyming bingo cards

An All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet) can be used to allow a student to “call out” the words during rhyming bingo game.

Experimenting M-1

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2. The student will perceive differences 1. On the classroom floor create a grid containing word families that will be a between similar sounding words (e.g., reference much like the word wall. “coat” and “goat,” “three” and “free”). Endings of the word families should head each column of words in the word family. The grid itself can be made using colored tape, and the cards with the word and picture can be taped to the floor or covered with clear Contac paper so that it stays on the floor. ig big pig wit fig jig

ug bug hug lug tug slug

it sit hit fit bit mit

an fan pan man can ran

(Refer to “Reaching for Resources” section for word family list.) This grid can be used as a reference or a game grid for “Bean Bag Toss,” “Simon Says,” etc., as word families are taught and practiced. 2. Assist students in reading and/or writing an age-appropriate story with rhyming repeated lines. The text should be accompanied with symbols for key words. Assist students in noticing and identifying rhyming words. An excellent resource for stories of this nature is Reading Activities Project for Older Students (RAPS) (Musselwhite, 1993) which includes stories such as “Perfect Pet,” “Going to a Party”, etc.

Experimenting M-2

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued)

3. Make bingo cards for familiar word families. The bingo cards should have blank squares under heading’s with the word family (ig, ug, at, an, etc.). The caller cards should have a word from the word family with an accompanying symbol (big, hug, cat, fan, etc). The caller will call out the word; the players will place a token under the appropriate column (if “big” is called, the player puts a token under the “ig” column).

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome (Oelwein, 1995) Floor word family grid Index cards Colored tape Picture symbols Teacher-made bingo cards

•

Voice output devices can be programmed to indicate that words rhyme don’t rhyme or they can be programmed to say that the words sound the same or they sound different. Repetitive lines can be programmed into voice output devices.

Experimenting M-2

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 3.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to attend to the beginning sounds in familiar words by identifying that the pronunciations of several all begin the same way (e.g., “dog,” “dark,” and “dusty”).

1. Since students need to associate the meaning of a word with the abstract connecting words, those words should be displayed with a picture symbol so that all children can find them when reading and writing. The words and picture symbols can be displayed as a classroom word wall or on a bulletin board, with new words added throughout the year. •

•

•

•

Since many struggling readers need more than a visual cue, just displaying words on the wall is not enough. It is necessary to have the students review the words several times a week. The following steps may help the review be as successful as possible. Limit the number of words on the word wall by being very selective about words that are added each week. Include only those words that occur frequently in students’ reading and writing. Gradually add words to the wall, adding no more than five during a week. Words should be grouped by the first letter. Display words so that all students can see them easily. Write the words in large black letters, using picture symbols with the words. Use a variety of colors for words that are easily confused, such as “for” and “from,” “that,” “them,” “they,” “ this,” etc.

Experimenting M-3

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) •

•

Have students practice the words by chanting them and writing them Variety of activities to review the words, so that the words are familiar and improvements in spelling are continually seen.

By consistently reviewing the words on the word wall and using the words in a variety of activities, all students should be able to learn the words that are used frequently.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Word wall Picture symbols

•

“Portable Word Walls” can be created for students who use voice output devices. “Portable Word Walls” can be made using an individual file folder that matches the classroom word wall. The student uses the “portable word wall” by pointing. “Portable Word Walls” can also be added to a computer or AAC device-based word prediction library. (Emergent Literacy Success, Musslewhite and King-DeBaun, 1997, pg. 138)

Experimenting M-3

T.E.K.S. (K.5) The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

4.

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will recognize upper and lowercase letters in print.

Research reports that letter identification is related to success in beginning reading; however, it is not always a true prerequisite to early reading success. Various emergent literacy activities such as reading to the child, using predictable books, the languageexperience approach, various types of writing experiences, and the learning of environmental print can precede direct instruction in letter names. Teaching letter names to students with mental retardation is frequently a very difficult task. Students need to know letter names in order to begin spelling. In teaching letter names it is important initially to target only one letter at a time, especially if the student seems to have great difficulty. If 2 or 3 letters are taught at the same time, it is important to select letters that do not resemble each other (e.g. “e,” “y,” “h”). It is also important for the student to learn the proper terms for the letters in terms of “capital” and “lowercase.” Do not use the terms “big” and “little” because many students will mistake letters that are ascenders such as “b” and “k” as “big” letters since they are tall. When learning most new skills, students with mental retardation require meaningful and consistent repetition of each letter name with over-learning in order to successfully learn this important developmental skill.

Experimenting M-4

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) 1. Puzzles may be used to assist the student in matching each capital letter with its corresponding lowercase letter. Print each pair of letters on an index card. Cut apart each pair using a different patterned cut each time. Have the students work alone or in pairs to match and name each pair of letters. 2. The following website includes a concentration type game for matching capital and lowercase letters: www.dositey.com/language/mgamelet.htm

This same type of game can be made using index cards. 3. Provide the student with various pages from a newspaper or magazine. Assist and encourage students to locate and circle or stamp a target letter or letters. An alternative activity is to let the student cut out the target letter or letters and paste them on a sheet of paper to form a collage.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Letter puzzles Concentration letter game Magazines and newspapers Markers, scissors, glue, paper

Adaptations: • •

Adapted stamps and scissors Touch screen for computer game

Experimenting M-4

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student demonstrates expanding knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 5.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will begin to identify some high-frequency sight words.

1. Create a “Name Bingo” game using students’ names. Write student’s names in varying locations on game cards. As the caller reads each name, the students locate the name on their card and cover it with a marker. VARIATION: Use high-frequency vocabulary words that students encounter on a regular basis. (i.e., community locations, campus locations, school vocabulary, etc.) 2. The teacher should frequently read ageappropriate stories which have predictable or repetitive lines to students. After several readings, students should be encouraged to “read” the repetitive lines while the story is being read out loud. One reference for ageappropriate books for teenagers is Reading Activities Project for Older Students (RAPS) (Musselwhite). A comprehensive list of book titles is included in the “Reaching for Resources” section of this module. 3. Using a classroom job chart, assign job responsibilitiesto students on a daily basis. Job responsibilities may be listed along with picture symbol representations. Students’ names may be written on individual cards so that they can be moved to various job responsibilities. Adaptations:

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Name and vocabulary bingo

•

Age-appropriate books with predictable or repetitive lines

Picture symbols Reading Activities Project for Older Students (Musslewhite, 1993)

•

An All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet) will allow students to be the caller for a bingo game. Voice output devices may be used to record student names for bingo or story lines from age-appropriate books

Experimenting M-5

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student develops concepts, acquires new words, and increasingly refines his/her understanding of words he/she already knows. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

6. The student will begin to make some letter/sound matches in isolation.

1. Teach students how to play the “I’m going on a trip and I’m going to take…” memory game. As each student takes a turn, help him/her repeat the phrase, “I’m going on a trip and I’m going to take …”. At the end of the phrase each student will name all of the preceding objects listed alphabetically by other students and then name an object, which begins with the next sequential letter of the alphabet. (e.g. “I’m going on a trip and I’m going to take apples;” “I’m going on a trip and I’m going to take apples and butterflies;” etc.) Often students will need picture symbols to make choices as well as a visual display of the alphabet. 2. The class will create an alphabet book with one page per letter of the alphabet. Words can be taken from students’ names, family names, rooms in the building (gym, library, etc.), fast-food restaurants, favorite foods, animals, etc.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Picture symbols Alphabet chart

Use picture symbols and/or a voice output device for key phrases and choices for memory game.

Experimenting M-6

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student uses letter-sound knowledge to decode written language. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 7.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will understand that letters represent sounds within words.

1. “Making Words” is an activity that allows students to make words. Provide students individual envelopes with letters needed. Vowels should be written in red; consonants should be written in black. Puts Uppercase letters on the flip side of lower case letters. The teacher will need flashcards that correspond to the letters provided to students and a pocket chart displayed so that the group can see each step as it is done. Letters needed for this particular activity include g, n, r, s, and t. Model each step for the students, allowing them to do the same steps with their individual letters. Show and have the students take two letters to make “so.” Have them change one letter to make the word “no.” Have them change a letter again to make “no” into “go.” Tell the students that they are now going to make some three-letter words. Have them add a letter to “go” and make the threeletter word “got.” Have them change just the first letter so that “got” becomes “rot.” Now change the first letter so that “rot” becomes “not.” Have the students leave the three letters but change the order of the letters so that “not” changes to “ton.” Again change the first letter of “ton” so that you have the word “son.”

Experimenting M-7

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Have students make four-letter words. Have them add a letter to “son” to make “song.” Next take away all letters and start over by making the letter “sort.” Have the students keep just those letters but change their position to change “sort” into “rots.” The next four-letter word is “torn.” Have the students take out all letters and make the word “torn.” Again take the letters out and make the word “tons.” Have the students change the last letter to make “tong.” Now, tell the students that they are going to make a five-letter word. Have them add one letter to “tong” to make “tongs.” Have the students clear their letters to make the next five letter word “snort.” Ask if anyone has figured out what word can be made with all six letters. Have the students use all of their letters to make “strong.” Any group of letters can be used to form words in this manner by identifying letters needed and words that are common to the letters that are provided. It is helpful to use words that are seen regularly in community settings and to use illustrations for words that are commonly encountered in daily activities or in the community.

Experimenting M-7

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) VARIATION: For students that need a much simpler activity, make words using word families, changing only the initial consonants or only the final consonants. 2. Using the same letter set or a similar letter set as in activity #1, play “I Am Thinking of Something.” Tell students that you are going to write down a word, but it will be hidden so that they cannot see it. Give them clues to assist them in figuring out the word. Show and tell the students the initial letter of the word to be guessed. After showing them the letter, ask students what sound it makes. “I am thinking of a utensil used in the kitchen that starts with the letter (t) and is used at a salad bar to pick up lettuce or other items for a salad. Provide picture symbols with the printed word as possible choices. Review suggestions to be sure that it starts with the proper phoneme and uses the letters given to the students. After students suggest “tongs,” make the word using the letter set given to the students.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Letter sets for making words Pocket chart display Envelopes Flashcards

Adaptations: • Program multi-location voice output devices with letter sounds equivalent to the letter sets other students are given. • IntelliKeys and Overlay Maker (IntelliTools, Inc.) can be used to make “making words” overlays. • Program multi-location voice output devices with possible choices for guessing items in the “I am thinking of something” activity. Experimenting M-7

T.E.K.S. (K.6) The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an understanding that spoken language is composed the sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

8. The student will manipulate sounds in spoken words (phonemic awareness).

1. Assist students in developing tongue twisters which target a specific sound. The teacher can use books and poems to help students focus on specific sounds. There are a number of resources to support teachers in locating books that highlight phonic elements. For example, when the teacher is reading about big boys, she/he stops and says, “there is something interesting about this page… Listen, Big Boys.” The teacher points out that those two words have the same sound, then writes them on the board, one below the other. Next the teacher calls out “Bobby, come up here” and writes Bobby’s name under the other two words and looks at the class with an open mouth. If students volunteer that Bobby also starts with a /b/, she compliments the student on their good eyes and ears and then announces that they are going to try to make up a tongue twister about Bobby. The teacher starts out, “Bobby is a big boy and he wears black…” The teacher pauses and encourages the students to fill in the sentence ending. By the time the students are finished, they may have a tongue twister like “Bobby

Experimenting M-8

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) is a big boy who wears black boots and carries a blue book bag with a blueberry bagel.” The teacher writes the whole tongue twister on the board so that all students can try it out. Tongue twisters can be built and reviewed throughout the year and bound together to make a book complete with illustrations that can be kept in the classroom library. 2.

Throughout the year keep recipes that are prepared by the students. Keep recipes in a binder, alphabetized by first letters. Keep a copy in the classroom kitchen center and make a copy for students to take home toward the end of the semester or year.

Recipes can be tied into phonemic awareness activities to highlight a specific sound. For example students may prepare a bagel that has blueberry jam on it for morning snack or may prepare bacon and eggs with blueberry muffins for breakfast. Each of these recipes would be categorized behind the /B/ page in the cookbook.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptation: •

Classroom cookbook Phonemic focused books

Create sound-specific communication overlays for use by students who do not speak, (e.g. include sound specific words….boy, books, bagel, blueberry, etc.)

Experimenting M-8

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student develops an extensive vocabulary. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

9. The student will identify words that name 1. Expand the word wall described in persons, places and things, and works that Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness Ename actions. 9 so that it will include amounts and descriptions as well as people, places, things and actions. people

places

things

actions

amounts

descriptions

Display the word wall in a prominent location in the classroom. In addition to the flashcards made in Experimenting Reading Print Awareness E-9, add flashcards with colors, number words, words from recipes, names of people and places in the community, direction words (stop, walk, exit, men, women), and words from grocery lists. 2. Using the flashcards and bulletin board from the previous activity, put the flashcards in a bag or box. Have students choose a word, read it and decide the correct category, and place the flashcard on the word wall in the appropriate location.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Bulletin board for word wall Word cards with picture symbols Empty bag or box

Program a multi-location voice output device with messages to indicate category identification (e.g. “that’s a number word,” “that’s a descriptive word,” etc.).

Experimenting M-9

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

1. The student will begin to identify rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words, participate in rhyming games, and repeat rhyming songs and poems.

Teaching students about rhymes and rhyming sounds involves teaching them about patterns of spelling words and patterns of sounds in words. To help students examine common patterns in words, draw their attention to the order of letters in words. Center the discussion around onsets (all letters that come before vowel) and rimes (the vowel and all letters that follow). According to the Carolina Literacy group, rimes can be divided into a hierarchy of three levels: Easiest : it, ay, in, ap, ill, an, ack, ip, ing, at, ore, ug, ell; More difficult: aw, ide, ake, ock, unk, ick, oke, ank, ice, ash, ump, ink; Most difficult : ine, ain, ate, ail, est, ale, ight, ot, uck, eat, op, ame 1. Use lyrics from familiar songs and simple poems. Create a word bank by writing each rhyming word on an index card. Display each of the cards in the word bank so that each student can see and access the card. Write and display individual lines of the song or poem that end with words that rhyme. For example: Mama said, “Don’t eatwithyourfingers.”“OK,”said Ridiculous Rose, so she ate with her t o e s !

Experimenting H-1

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Leave a blank for the last rhyming word. Allow students to choose a word from the word bank and either place the card with the word in the blank or to write the word in the blank. VARIATION: Use a school cheer in the same way that lines from a song or poem were used.

2. Using lines written for a school cheer, assist students in re-writing the cheer with alternate rhyming words. VARIATION: Choose a familiar children’s poem. Provide a word bank of alternate rhyming words. Assist students in substituting alternate rhyming words to make a nonsense poem.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Lyrics from songs, poems and school cheers Index cards Chart paper Sentence strips

•

Words from the word blank may be placed on an eye-gaze display or topic communication board/voice output device. Alternate rhyming word choices may be placed on eye-gaze display, topic communication boards/voice output devices.

Experimenting H-1

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds) Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2. The student will perceive difference 1. Using songs with students is a way to between similar sounding words (e.g., support literacy development. Writing your “coat” and “goat,” “three” and “free”). own songs allows language and text to be made highly visible. By writing songs, text is presented in a left-to-right format. While the use of melody supports memory, repetition allows words to be displayed multiple times. Examples of songs which contain similar sounding words might include:

Do Your Chores (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star) Do your chores do every one. Do your chores until they’re done. Do your chores, do all you see. Do your chores, one, two, three. Do your chores, do them well. Do your chores and you’ll fell swell.

Walmart Song (to the tune of Skip to My Lou) Walmart is where you buy a coat. Walmart is where you buy a boat. Walmart is not where you buy a goat. I like shopping at Walmart.

Experimenting H-2

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Walmart is where you buy a rug. Walmart is where you buy a mug. Walmart is not where you buy a bug. I like shopping at Walmart.

The Hearse Song Don’t you ever laugh as the hearse goes by, for you may be the next to die. They wrap you up in a big white sheet from your head down to your feet. They put you in a big black box and cover you up with dirt and rocks. All goes well for about a week, then your coffin begins to leak. The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout. They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, they eat the jelly between your toes. A big green worm with rolling eyes, crawls in your stomach and out your eyes. Your stomach burns a slimy green, and pus pours out like whipping cream.

Experimenting H-2

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) You spread it on a slice of bread, and that’s what you eat when you are dead. So next time you see the hearse go by, watch out! You may be the next to die!

The Ants Go Marching The ants go marching one by one. Hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching one by one The little one stops to suck his thumb And they all go marching, marching on today. The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching three by three The little one stops to sing with me And they all go marching, marching on today. The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching four by four The little one stops to shut the door And they all go marching, marching on today. The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching five by five The little one stops to run and hide And they all go marching, marching on today.

Experimenting H-2

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching six by six The little one stops to carry sticks And they all go marching, marching on today. The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah (Twice) The ants go marching seven by seven The little one stops to look to heaven And they all go marching, marching on today. The ants go marching on…marching on today The ants go marching on…marching on today The ants go marching on.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Picture symbols Chart paper Poster board Word cards Markers

•

Experimenting H-2

Use picture symbols to represent main words in rhymes and song boards. IntelliPics, Overlay Marker, and IntelliTalk may be used to reproduce an activity which will be accessible with a switch or alternate keyboard. See “Phunny Phonemecs” activity in the Activity Exchange section of www.intelitools.com.

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an awareness that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

3. The student will begin to attend to the 1. Use songs to emphasize words that beginning sounds in familiar words by begin with the same sound. One song identifying that the pronunciation of several suggestion is: words all begin the same way (e.g., “dog,” “dark,” and “dusty”). Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, Mutilated monkey meat, Little birdies’ dirty feet, Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, and I forgot my spoon. 2. Use simple tongue twisters to emphasize words that begin with the same sound. Display the tongue twister on a chart along with visual symbols for each word. Allow students a way to indicate recognition of identical beginning sounds in each word. Examples of typical tongue twisters include: •

A big bug bit a big bear.

•

Seven Santa’s sang silly songs.

•

Two trains travel together to toy land.

•

Jolly jack o’lanterns jump for joy.

Challenge students to help make tongue twisters for each holiday or season.

Experimenting H-3

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) 3. Organize student names (either first or last name) by beginning letter. VARIATION: File book titles, words from word wall, etc., by beginning letter.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Chart paper Markers Picture symbols Tongue twisters Camp songs List of student names

•

Use multi-location voice output devices to program lyrics to songs, tongue twisters, etc. Use alternate keyboards such as IntelliKeys (IntelliTools) to allow students a way to access song and tongue twister lyrics and work with student names.

Experimenting H-3

T.E.K.S. (K.5) The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

4. The student will recognize upper and 1. Old Maid Letter Name Game lowercase letters in print. Print uppercase and lowercase letters on separate blank cards. Make a card with an “Old Maid” on it. Students take turns picking a card from the stack and saying the letter name on it. If the student says it correctly, he/she is able to keep the card. If incorrect, the card goes back into the pile. If the student picks the “Old Maid” card, he/she must put all cards back into the pile. The winner is the student with the most cards. 2. Use a lotto game to reinforce recognition of upper and lowercase letters. Provide a game card with an uppercase letter in each section. Make corresponding game cards with lowercase letters. Turn cards face down. Each student takes a turn by turning over a card that is face down. If the student has the corresponding uppercase letter on his/her game card, the student places the lowercase letter on the card. VARIATION: Provide each student a game card with uppercase letters. Turn cards with lowercase letters face down. Have students take turns matching lowercase letters to uppercase letters on individual game cards.

Experimenting H-4

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued)

3. What’s in a Name? Use magnetic letters to make students’ names on the board. Begin by using only capital letters: KELLY. Gradually change to using both capital and lowercase letters: Kelly. Gradually add words from the community (Walmart, Target), fast food restaurants (McDonald’s, Burger King), etc. Students build the words by recognizing the letters and matching the sequence of letters.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Blank cards Markers Lotto game Magnetic letters

• •

Letter names for upper and lower case letters may be recorded into a multilocation voice output device. A limited number of upper and lower case letter cards may be displayed on an eyegaze frame. Various talking word processing software may be used to “speak” letters as they are typed..

Experimenting H-4

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student demonstrates expanding knowledge of concepts of print. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

5. The student will begin to identify some 1. Identify words frequently encountered in high-frequency sight words. the student’s environment, such as: • personal data that appears on documents; • direction words to operate tools, appliances, equipment and switches; • information found on safety signs, size labels, price tags, other signs and labels; • instructions written in simple notes; • information found on maps, menus and recipes; • information from store directories and schedules; • direction words written on equipment, games, toys and items to be assembled; • key words found on employment applications and forms; • written information found on bills, time cards, and store receipts. 2. Natural environments provide the best setting for teaching and practicing high frequency sight words. Some of those environments might include: • grocery shopping; • walks in the community to locate direction words; • public transportation; • store directories; • shopping in a variety of settings; • doing laundry;

Experimenting H-5

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) • • • • • •

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Picture symbols Key word lists

playing games or using recreational equipment; cooking, planning meals, etc.; craft projects, sewing projects; job sites, service learning sites; restaurants of all kinds—fast food, sit down, cafeteria’s, vending machines; utilizing all types of community services (post office, library, beauty salon, barber shop).

Adaptations: • •

Provide picture symbols along with words. Program vocabulary words into voice output devices.

Experimenting H-5

Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines: The student develops concepts, acquires new words, and increasingly refines his/her understanding of words he/she already knows. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

6. The student will begin to make letter/ sound 1. Provide a simplified telephone directory matches in isolation. containing the names (and photographs, if needed) of students in the class. Using the telephone directory, ask each student to locate a specific student’s name by giving the first sound only. For example, the teacher might ask a student to locate the telephone number of a student whose name begins with /M/. The student would find “Mark’s” name. Include telephone numbers for familiar places in the community.

2. Provide a variety of games using lettersound matches. • I Spy : Give students a sound (such as /b/) and ask him to find something in the room that begin’s with that sound (book). Students can challenge each other to find an item first. Utilize the classroom word wall. • Bingo : Provide students game cards with pictures. Call out a sound such as /K/. If a student has a picture of a “kite,” he places a game marker on the picture.

Experimenting H-6

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) •

•

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Adapted phone book Card game (teacher made) Trivial Pursuit game (teacher made) Picture symbols

Lotto: Make sets of cards with corresponding sounds and pictures. Students turn over two cards, attempting to match the picture and sound. Trivial Pursuit : Make a game board or adapt a commercially made game board. As students land on squares to draw a card, the card can ask the student to name one room in his house that starts with /K/ (kitchen).

•

• •

Program student’s name and location names into voice output devices. An All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet) may be used to allow students with physical limitations to “choose a card” while playing games. An easy-access word wall may be made on a file folder so that it may be close to the student. A word wall may also be programmed into a high-tech voice output device.

Experimenting H-6

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student uses letter-sound knowledge to decode written language. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

7. The student will understand that letters represent sounds within words.

1. To emphasize familiar sounds and word families, make a card game to be played like “Go Fish.” On half of the cards put a consonant; on the other half of the cards put a word family ending and a picture. For example, one card would have “b”, the other card would have “_ug”” and a picture of a bug. Students play the game by asking for a consonant sound to complete the word that describes the picture. For the example above, the student who has the card with “_ug” and a picture of a bug will ask another student for a /b/ to make the word “bug.” 2. Challenge students to combine consonants with word-family endings to make words. Provide two dice in a covered container. On one die put a consonant on each side. On the other die put a word-family ending on each side. The student shakes the container with the dice and “spills” the dice out of the container. The student combines the consonant on top of the die with the word-family on the other die. He/she then reads the word that is formed and identifies it as being a word or not being a word.

Experimenting H-7

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued)

3. “Simon Sounds It Out” software (Don Johnston) to learn sounds and wordfamilies, build words, practice, discriminate and recall words.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Go Fish game (teacher made) Dice game (teacher made) “Simon Sounds It Out” software (Don Johnston) •

The “Go Fish” and “Dice” games may be adapted for students with physical limitations by using the All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet). Word families may be placed on outer overlay and beginning sounds may be written on the inside overlay. “Simon Sounds It Out” software may be used with a Touchwindow, adapted mouse, and switch access.

Experimenting H-7

T.E.K.S. (K-5) The student orally demonstrates phonological awareness (an understanding that spoken language is composed of sequences of sounds). Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE 8.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

The student will manipulate sounds in spoken words (phonemic awareness).

1. Provide variety of easy word games for students to participate in. Simple crossword puzzles, word searches and trivia quizzes can provide student’s opportunities to match, identify, locate, and construct simple familiar word. The following web sites feature easy word puzzles which are age-appropriate and adaptable. www.abcteach.com/EasyPuzzles/wordsearches.htm www.abcteach.com/EasyPuzzles/crosswords.html www.funtrivia.com www.x-word.com (crossword compiler)

2. Using the concept found in Making Words, (Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall), identify target words that come from current classroom activities or Community Based Instruction. Display all letters needed to make the target word in a pocket chart. Have individual students take turns manipulating the letters to make words that are found within the target word. Provide each student in the group the same set of letters so that each student can follow along by making the same words as the leader. For example the target word may come from direction words : E L E V A T O R

Experimenting H-8

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) Words that can be made from ELEVATOR include to, or, at, rot, dot, let, eat, vat, vet, real, role, elevator. All students make the words and read each word. Other categories of words might include days of the week, months of the year, current holidays, student names, places in the community, foods, clothing, etc.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS Letter cards Letter tiles Ziploc bags for letter storage Easy crossword puzzles Easy word searches Easy word trivia games

Adaptations: • • • •

Adapted letter stamps Adapted card holders Eye-gaze frames for letter display IntelliKeys (IntelliTools) and Overlay Maker software (IntelliTools) may be used to allow students an alternative way to identify and construct words.

Experimenting H-8

T.E.K.S. (K.7) The student develops an extensive vocabulary. Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

9. The student will identify words that name 1. When reading a chapter book aloud to students, check for understanding after each persons, places and things, and words that chapter by labeling a cube with the name actions. following elements: Characters (people), setting (places) and events (actions). Use symbols with the words to assist students in reading the elements on the cube. Ask the first student to roll the cube and read the instructions on top of the cube. If the top says “Name one character,” the student names one character in the chapter. When the question is answered, have another student roll the cube and answer the question on the top of the cube. 2. Use an adapted classroom telephone directory to allow students opportunities to locate familiar places, people, and things. 3. Create a classroom job chart which contains spaces for “who,” “where” and “what.” Allow students to participate in identifying student names, job places, and job actions in order to indicate job responsibilities. An example of the job chart may look like: Who Billy Cindy Sam

Where Classroom Library Classroom

What Dust Push cart Clean board

4. Play a variation of “Charades” to reinforce the concepts of people, places, things and actions. In a box place several symbols with words for each of the named elements. One student reaches into the box and pulls out a symbol and word. If the student pulls out the symbol and word for “action,” he/she must think of an action word to pantomime, such as “jumping up and down” for the action symbol and word. The student who identifies the action chooses Experimenting H-9

Area: Experimenting Reading/Print Awareness

OBJECTIVE

TEACHING ACTIVITIES (Continued) the next symbol and word. That student may choose the symbol and word for “thing.” The student must then think of a “thing” (such as train) to pantomime. Play continues until all students have had an opportunity to pantomime at least one element in the box. 5. Place each student’s name in one container. In another container, place an assortment of action words. Use picture symbols to supplement the action words if necessary. Each student selects one name and one action. He/she then will direct that student to perform the designated action.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Adaptations: •

Picture symbols Chapter books Cube (teacher made) Adapted telephone directory Classroom job chart Name/action cards Containers

•

•

Use an All-Turn-It Spinner (AbleNet) in place of the cube in Activity #1 An All-Turn-It Spinner may be used in Activity 3 by writing student names on inside overlay and job actions on the other overlay in order to select classroom job responsibilities. The All-Turn-It Spinner may be used to select student names and actions in Activities 4 and 5.

Experimenting H-9