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Literacy Resources

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

Phonological awareness is a skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language. This includes rhyme, syllables, identifying initial and final sounds, along with blending and segmenting sounds. Phonological awareness skills are completely auditory. You can practice these skills without knowing letter names or sounds.

What is Phonological Awareness?

RHYME

Everyday Rhyming Fun

  • Replace a word in a sentence with a silly rhyming word.
    • At dinner you could ask your child to, "Please pass the metchup." Then talk about how ketchup and metchup rhyme because they have the same middle and end sounds.
  • When reading a book that has rhyming words with your child, pause at the word that rhymes. See if they can fill in the blank. They often will.
  • Play "I Spy."
    • "I spy something that rhymes with call. Yes, it's a ball!"
  • Place objects that rhyme in a basket. Take turns finding two items that rhyme. With younger children, start with just 4-6 objects. As they become more skilled, you can increase the number of rhyming pairs in the basket.
Rhyming basket example

Roll and Rhyme Game

Rhyming Game/Song

SYLLABLES

  • Clap out syllables in words. You can also jump, tap, pat your legs. Get creative with the movement.
  • Talk like a robot to over annunciate the syllables in words.
    • "Do you want spa ghe tti?"

INITIAL & FINAL SOUNDS

Beginning sounds are easiest. Once a child is successful, you can try these activities with end sounds as well.

  • Play "I Spy."
    • "I spy something that starts with a /b/ sound. I spy something that ends with a /g/ sound."
  • Point out objects in books.
    • "Do you see the brown bear? Oh, I noticed brown and bear both start with a /b/ sound." "Can you find anything else on this page that starts with a /b/ sound?"
  • Gather some objects.
    • Ask your child to give you something that begins with a /l/ sound.

PRINT KNOWLEDGE

Talk with your child about how you hold a book and turn pages. Point to the words on the page as you read. Model that reading happens left to right and top to bottom.

VOCABULARY & LANGUAGE

Strive for Five

Example of 5 Conversational Turns

  1. Teacher/Parent asks child a question about a book they are reading.
  2. Child responds.
  3. Teacher/Parent re-states what child says, giving them praise for being correct and asking a new related question, or re-phrasing the original question to help them answer correctly.
  4. Child responds again.
  5. Teacher/Parents responds.

Strive for Five

The shREC Approach

ALPHABET KNOWLEDGE

Environmental Print

  • Create a menu of favorite foods and snacks. Have your child cut out labels from his/her favorite foods before throwing away the packaging. Glue the labels on to a piece of sturdy paper or carboard. Let your child pretend to be a server in a restaurant. They will be excited to "read" from the menu.

  • Point out familiar places when in the car. Ask them to read known signs, like "Stop", "Subway", "Menard's".

Educational Websites

Love for Literacy

When you need a little screen time, look for video versions of your child's favorite books. Here are a few titles we love: