Curriculum

A Lesson for the ou/ow Sound

April 8, 2021 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Teaching phonics can be boring, but it is actually one of my favorite things to teach. I enjoy helping my students “break the code” of reading. But, if you do not find ways to make learning phonics fun, your students will be BORED OUT OF THEIR MINDS!

This lesson is one of my absolute favorite ways to review the ou/ow sound and make it FUN for your students!

GRAB THEIR ATTENTION by wrapping your head in a bandage. I have even had teachers reach out to me after doing this lesson that told me they brought in crutches or a neck brace that they had at home. You can go completely over the top, or very simple. Trust me, all I do is wrap this gauze wrap around my head, and they are hooked!

BE VERY DRAMATIC as you explain to your students that they will have to read through the clues to figure out what happened to you. You can hide the clues around your classroom or just open each one to read to the class.

AFTER YOU READ EACH CLUE and look for the ou/ow words in the clue, the students will write or draw their predictions on the included paper. I always call on the students to share their predictions after each clue with the class. They are so creative, and often times, absolutely hilarious. In the past, they have predicted that I was hit by a pizza delivery man, a rock fell off a cliff and landed on my head, a dog attacked me and knocked me over, and even scratched by a rabid squirrel. I have them share their new or adjusted predictions after each clue.

AFTER THEY FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED, they can use the sequencing organizer to write about it. This lesson is perfect for working on making predictions, organizing a story, and retelling a story in the correct sequence.

IT REALLY IS SUCH A FUN LESSON AND ONE THAT I WILL CONTINUE TO DO YEAR AFTER YEAR!

You can check out this whole lesson by clicking on the picture below.

If you need more ou/ow diphthong activities, click HERE.

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Improve Reading Fluency with Text Phrasing

February 15, 2021 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Prosody is one of the three main components in reading fluency. It relates to the expression used while reading. Beginning readers typically read word by word and do not use expression when reading aloud. A fluent reader will read in phrases instead of one word at a time. One way to improve prosody in reading fluency is to work on text phrasing.

Text phrasing is the ability to group words together while you are reading. This helps reading to sound more like a normal speech pattern. It also helps increase reading speed, and ultimately, comprehension.

How to Improve Fluency with Text Phrasing

Your students need to hear fluent reading as much as possible. Every time you read aloud a book to your class, they are hearing appropriate phrasing with expression. Along with read alouds, you will also want to model fluent reading with text that they have in front of them. Have them follow along in stories or reading passages while you read them fluently with appropriate text phrasing and expression. I also love using the website/app, Epic, because it has some great “Read to Me” books.
Demonstrate how to read with appropriate text phrasing by working together to physically mark where the phrases should be while reading. A very common way to mark phrasing is with a / for a pause within a sentence, and // for a pause at the end of a sentence. Nursery rhymes and poems are perfect for this.

Little Miss Muffet / sat on a tuffet / eating her curds and whey //

Along came a spider / and sat down / beside her / and frightened / Miss Muffet away //

Miss Muffet came back / to sit on her tuffet / when the spider was gone //

She ate all the food / and was in a good mood //

Then, / she started to yawn //

Use echo reading to practice reading fluency. The teacher will read a sentence or a phrase from a sentence. The student(s) will repeat it using the same expression and phrasing. For example, read each phrase and have the students repeat after you.

My big brother

loves to read

books about animals.

Then, put the phrases together to read the whole sentence with appropriate phrasing.

My big brother loves to read books about animals.

Work on rereading to practice text phrasing. These Fluency Sentences are great for individual or small group practice. The students begin by reading each word. Then, they reread using phrasing. Finally, they read the entire sentence. Click on the picture below to check these out.

Need more ideas for improving reading fluency, check out this blog post as well, Improve Accuracy While Reading.

Improve Accuracy While Reading

January 2, 2021 by Jodi 2 Comments

We all know that reading fluency is an important part of becoming a good reader, but there are many components to fluency. One of those important pieces of reading fluency is accuracy. Having good accuracy is the ability to read the text with very few or no mistakes. Accuracy truly is the most essential skill of reading fluency. If a child is “reading” a passage quickly, but they are skipping over or changing every other word, they are not getting the full meaning and will not be able to comprehend what they have read, which is the main purpose of reading.

This post contains affiliate links. Items purchased from these links do not cost you any extra money, but they do help to support this blog.

There are many factors that go into improving accuracy.

First and foremost, students need to be able to decode and read words quickly. Explicit phonics instruction is so important in improving accuracy when reading. If students cannot quickly decode words, they will continue to struggle while reading. Students also need to be able to quickly read undecodable sight words in order to improve their accuracy.

Develop letter-sound fluency. Students must know letter sounds quickly.
After students are fluent with letter sounds, they need to know how to blend them together to read decodable words.
Students need to be able to quickly recognize and read sight words.

Strategies and Tips for Improving Accuracy

Use letter sound timing sheets and word timing sheets to help students increase their fluency. Grab these FREE Letter & Word Timing Sheets.
Practice sight word fluency.
Use fun pointers, finger highlighters, highlighter strips, etc. to help students stay focused on the word they are reading.
Encourage students to look for parts they know in a word.
Do not let students practice reading words incorrectly. If you are focusing on accuracy, immediately stop a student when they mispronounce a word. Say the word correctly. Then, have the student repeat that word before continuing.
Teacher Tap Method – While listening to a student read, tap a pencil or your finger on the table when the student makes a mistake. When they hear the tap, they will go back and reread to fix their error. Praise the student for the correction.
Students need to listen to themselves read. If they do not know that they are making mistakes, they will not be able to fix them. Whisper Phones are great for letting students hear themselves read. It’s also very helpful to record them reading and have them listen to it.

Here are some materials that I use in my classroom to help students with improving accuracy in their reading.

PHONICS READING MATS

SENTENCE TREES

FLUENCY PHRASES

As students become stronger at reading sight words and phonetically spelled words, they will not have to invest all of their thinking into decoding. They will be able to transition into improving their reading comprehension.

Making the Connection Between Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

November 1, 2020 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Teaching beginning readers is such a challenging job, but it is so rewarding to watch things start to click for our little readers. Our students need to be able to make the connection between phonemic awareness and phonics. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in a word, whereas phonics is the relationship between the sounds and letters. With our young readers, we have to make sure to build a strong foundation with these beginning reading skills.

I wanted to share an easy and engaging activity for you to try with your students to help build that connection between phonemic awareness and phonics.

This post may contain some affiliate links. Items purchased from these links do not cost you any extra money, but they do help to support this blog.

You will need:

mini erasers, cubes, or some other type of manipulative in 4 different colors
Velcro circles or construction paper circles in the same 4 colors
Dry erase boards and markers
Free Download (included later in this post)

Phonemic Awareness to Phonics Lesson

Place 4 colored circles on the floor next to each child. (I used red, orange, yellow, and green.) Give each child a dry erase board, a marker and eraser, and the 4 colored manipulatives. (I used red, orange, yellow, and green mini-erasers.)

Project the slide show (free download at the end of this post) and have students stretch through the sound for the picture. Then, they will stand up and jump onto a circle for each sound.

After they jump the sounds for each word, they will place an eraser, or other manipulative, on their dry erase board. Then, they will write the corresponding letter for each sound. It truly is an effective way for your students to make those connections between the sounds they hear and the letters to write.

If you’d like to download the FREE slideshow with the pictures that I used for the lesson, click on the picture below. For more phonemic awareness activities, you may want to check out my Phonemic Awareness at your Fingertips packet.

Could you see this working in your classroom?

Distance Learning for Guided Reading and Small Groups

September 26, 2020 by Aubree Malick Leave a Comment

As we’ve all settled into our “new” school year, that could look different in many classrooms across the country. One thing I wanted to focus my attention on was my struggling readers. I wanted to be able to provide high quality reading instruction to my small group students even if that was remotely. Here are some great tips that you can use if you are teaching virtually and want to still provide guided reading support to your small groups.

What technology should I use?

Depending on what your district is using to meet with students, I would suggest Zoom or Google Meet. When you use the “gallery view,” you can view all of your students just as you would at your small group table.

Utilizing Google Classroom has been so helpful for me and my students. I have found that sticking with one or two core platforms for my students to access their reading materials has been the key. Students are able to get into the flow of lessons, where to find things, how to interact/engage, and the same can be said for the parents.

Digital Activities

You’ll also want to have a good set of leveled texts that you can display for your students. You can use this 1st Grade Guided Reading Bundle and share your screen with the students.

Involving parents in the guided reading process

Parents may not know what to do with the book you send. You will want to include some tips as students read, directions and some sample questions they can ask their reader. Parents can ask them to talk about the title and make some predictions about the story and take a picture walk before reading.

You can ask the parents to help you with the assessment. Parents can upload or send a video of their child reading a leveled text or reviewing sight words. You can also ask them questions like:

Was the book too easy, on level, or did it seem hard?
Could your child answer the questions after they read the book a few times?
Was there anything else you noticed as your child read the book?

Want more resources for your guided reading lessons? My 1st Grade Guided Reading Bundle will be a great addition to your classroom this year whether you are virtual, hybrid or in person. You can save so much time planning your small group reading lessons each week! Each Guided Reading packet includes 4 differentiated nonfiction passages, and 4 differentiated fiction passages. The passages include a lesson plan example, vocabulary cards, pre-reading activity, 3 levels of reading passages with vocabulary words and comprehension questions, a comprehension graphic organizer, and a writing response page. You can grab the passages here!

Quick and Easy Phonemic Awareness Activities

July 17, 2020 by Aubree Malick Leave a Comment

If there is one thing I know to be certain about teaching reading instruction, it’s that students need many opportunities to learn and practice their phonemic awareness skills. Phonemic awareness sets the foundation for efficient readers and writers. Because time is always limited, I wanted to give you some phonemic awareness activities that you can use with your students that are quick and easy to implement.

Segmentation & Blending

Some of my favorite activities to practice segmenting and blending are materials that most teachers already have in their classroom. Give students a small ball of Play Doh.

Pro tip: allow students a small set amount of time to play with the Play Doh before your instruction begins. Then let them know that once that time is up, the Play Doh becomes a learning tool and we have to use it appropriately.

Tell your students a word and have them pull out smaller balls to determine how many sounds are in the word. Then, your students can touch each part with their finger and then blend together. Super simple, but effective and easy! You can do these activities with chips, unifix cubes, sticky notes, etc. Students can push down on the objects, push forward, drag their finger underneath or just simply touch to show the segmenting/blending.

Phoneme Deletion & Substitution

You don’t need to have anything fancy for this! This is a great skill for students to practice through listening. The best way to work on deleting is to say a word and then ask your student to remove the beginning or ending sound. You can also use unifix cubes for visual learners and have students delete or substitute new sounds.

Rhyming Words

A fun, interactive game to play with students is to use a beach ball and ask students to come up with a word that rhymes with your given word. You will pass to a student, and then they can continue to pass around the ball, each coming up with an additional rhyming word.

Phoneme Isolation

A great way to practice phoneme isolation is to have your students identify which sound you are stating. For example, if you were practicing CVC words, you can have a 1, 2, 3 card for students to show you which sound you isolated.

Putting It All Together

I have used this Phonemic Awareness at Your Fingertips pack for years! This assessment and activity packet is perfect for small group instruction. The packet includes assessments and editable checklists for each of the phonemic awareness skills, which makes tracking super easy. You will also find numerous engaging activities for practicing each of the phonemic awareness skills with your small groups including onset and rime, phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, phoneme deletion, phoneme substitution. You can grab the pack here!

I hope that you and your students find these phonemic awareness activities fun and engaging! When you can start incorporating practice on a daily basis, your students will be well on their way to building their phonemic awareness skills!