EXPERIMENTING
READING/
PRINT AWARENESS
xx
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