Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.  Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work.  They must understand that words are made up of speech sound, or phonemes.  Phonemes are smallest parts of sound in a spoken word that make a difference in the word's meaning.  For example, changing the first phoneme in the word hat from /h/ to /p/ changes the word from hat to pat, and so changes the meaning.  (A letter between slash marks shows the phoneme or sound the letter represents.)  Phonemic Awareness can be developed through a number of activities, including asking children to:

• identify phonemes
• categorize phonemes
• blend phonemes to form words
• segment words into phonemes
• delete or add phonemes to form new words
• substitute phonemes to make new words
• come up with rhyming words

Phonemic awareness is important because it improves children's word reading, reading comprehension, and  helps children learn to spell.  Research has shown that it is directly related to later reading success.

Learning rhyming words and understanding that words have sounds and using those sounds to make new words is the goal for this area.

Phonics

Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language.  Phonics is  knowing the name of a letter and the sound it represents.  This instruction is important because it leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle--the systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds.  Phonics instruction significantly improves children's word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension.  It is most effective when it begins in kindergarten or first grade.

Identifying the letters of the alphabet and associating their sound will be the goal in this area.

 

Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to words we must know to communicate effectively.  Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening.  Your child will have 5 of these words to know and use weekly.  They do not have to recognize it in print, but should be able to use the word correctly in speaking and understand it when it is heard.  Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print.  Vocabulary can be developed indirectly when children engage daily in oral language, listen to adults read to them or read on their own.  It can be developed directly when children are explicitly taught both individual words and word learning strategies.

Use the 5 oral vocabulary words daily with your child at home.  Ask him/her to use the word in a sentence.  Again, they don't have to recognize the word to read, but be able to tell you what it means and use it meaningfully in a sentence.

Expanding your child's oral vocabulary by learning and using new words is the goal for this area.

Comprehension

Comprehension is the reason for reading.  If readers can read the words, but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading.  Good readers have a purpose for reading.  They read to find out how to use something, to gather information about something, as a requirement, or for pleasure.  Good readers think actively as they read.  To make sense of what they read, good readers engage in a complicated process.  Using their experiences and knowledge of the world, their knowledge of vocabulary and language structure, and their knowledge of reading strategies, good readers make sense of the text and know how to get the most out if it.

During read alouds, strategies will be taught to children to help them better understand what is being read to them.  Each week there is a specific comprehension strategy and skill being taught.

 

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read a text (or letters or high frequency words) accurately and quickly.  When fluent readers read, they recognize words automatically.  They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read.  Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression.  Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking.  Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.  Because fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words, they can focus their attention on what the test means.  Fluency develops gradually over considerable time and through substantial practice.  Reading fluency can be develooped by modeling fluent reading and having children engage in repeated oral reading.  Read to your child daily.  Read the same books over and over again. 

This year, fluency will be developed in reading the letters of the alphabet and the high-frequency words.   Being able to recall letters and words automatically is the goal for this area.