School Success Begins with Building Language Skills

Weave all learning activities into the fabric of play.

Model language: read stories/poems, conversation, combine talk/play.

Phonological awareness – The ability to play with language by rhyming, isolating the beginning or ending sound of a word, deletion and substitution of parts of a word, or breaking a word into syllables. Print is not involved. Activities include:

• Identify environmental sounds
• Rhyming
• Onset sound
• Combining compound words - pop…corn, cow…boy, mail…man
• Segmenting compound words - pancake, subway, sunshine
• Closure
  • Mary had a little ---
  • fla…sh, slee…p; f…ish, s…and
• Deletion
  • Say “cowboy”. Say it again, but don’t say “cow”.
  • Say “sand”. Say it again, but don’t say “s”.
• Substitution
  • Say “sand”. Say it again, but say “b” instead of “s”.

Phonemic awareness – Understanding that words and syllables are made up of speech sounds, which are represented by alphabetic symbols or letters. Activities include:

• Alphabet: sequencing and recognition, alphabet strip
• Segmenting sentences, syllables and sounds of words
  • I see a dog. Ja…cob, Jen…ni…fer, Juan c…a…t, sl…ee…p
• Blending sounds into words
  • s…ee…d, s…ai…l, m…a…n, t…o…p
• Pronunciation

Systematic, explicit phonics – Direct instruction in the sound-symbol correspondences, with practice reading and spelling sounds in isolation, in the context of words, and in sentences.

• Sound-symbol connection
  • Consonants: s t b m l d n p k j v z f
    c g r h qu w x y
  • Vowels: a i o u e
• Alphabet strip

Multisensory reinforcement – Practice using three pathways of learning through eyes, ears, and sense of touch. Students simultaneously see the letter(s), hear the sound, feel how it is formed with their lips, tongue and throat, and feel the form as the sound is traced or written.

• Manipulation
• Tracing, writing
• Speaking, listening

Writing

• Pre-writing activities
• Shapes, sizes, colors
  • Feeling, identifying, sorting, sequencing
• Cutting out pictures/shapes, puzzles, clay, assembling toys
• Activities that require pinching – games with pegs, tongs, tweezers
• Coloring books
• Forming letters
  • Upper and lower case
  • Top down and counter-clockwise

Comprehension

• Picture comprehension
• Listening comprehension
• Reading comprehension
• Questions to ask:
  • Factual- Where did she find the lost puppy?
    When did the boy get to school?
  • Predictive- What do you think he saw?
    How long will it take to build the wall?
  • Open-ended- How would you have solved that problem?
    What was your favorite part of the story?
• Retelling

Building Vocabulary

• Speaking/conversing
• Listening
• Reading

Numbers and Counting

• Count by one’s, ten’s, five’s, two’s - forward and backward
• Read and write symbols for numbers
• Number strip
• Games and manipulatives

The Sonday System and how it works

Adjustments for diverse learners

• Second language learners
• Learning difficulties

Bibliography

• Adams, J.A., Foorman, B.R., Lundberg, I., Beeler, T. 1998. Phonemic Awareness in Young Children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
• Hall, S.F., & Moats, L.C. 1999. Straight Talk About Reading. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books.
• Kavenaugh, J.F., (ed.). 1986. The Language Continuum from Infancy to Literacy. Parkton, MD: York Press.
• Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S., Griffin, P. 1998. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
• Torgesen, Joseph, Ph.D. 1999. Phonological Awareness: A Critical Factor in Dyslexia. Baltimore, MD: The International Dyslexia Assn.