Our Learning (Literacy)

Phonemic Awareness

We began working on phonemic awareness on September 16. Please note that reading and writing go hand in hand. Most often, children will become fluent readers before becoming fluent writers. However, the two go hand in hand and the skills we learn for reading are necessary skills for writing. Please look at the list below to see what we have been working on. We talked about how letters have names, like we do, but they also have a sound that they say (these are called phonemes). The slant marks on either side of the letter are called “virgules” (/_/) and they indicate the sound that they make. Letters are either vowels or consonants. The placement of their tongue, whether the mouth is open or closed, and whether we blow through our teeth change the sound of the letter. Formulation of the sounds (articulation) is important when speaking, but it is important in reading and writing as well.

The literacy bag has a hearing phone, a mirror, and a reading finger (which will be used later in the year). The hearing phone helps to amplify the sound and the mirror helps student to ensure proper mouth formation, which include the tongue placement, lip formation, and how the air is traveling. Sometimes air comes just from our mouth making a softer sound (such as /s/ or /f/) or it comes from our lungs passing the vocal cords which make the sound louder as it vibrates through our vocal cords.

Letter Sounds/Phonemes

Reading individual sounds (phonemes) helps from left to right is the beginning stage of reading.

As of Oct. 5, we have been practicing making words (real words and nonsense words) remembering to go left to right picking one letter from the first column, one letter from the middle column, and one letter from the third column. Then they read it back to me. This skill is important as the beginning stages of reading, but it is also important when we are trying to sound out words to spell unfamiliar words.

/a/ (short vowel sound as in apple) (mouth wide open, tongue is in the mouth but visible)
/s/ (as in snake) (teeth clenched and lips open)
/m/ (as in mitten) (lips are together like we are humming)
/l/ (as in leg) (tongue is out touching our upper front teeth)
/f/ (as in feather) (top upper teeth are over our bottom lip and blow)
/n/ (as in nest) (face is scrunched and make a nasally sound)
/o/ (short vowel sound as in octopus) (mouth is open make)
/t/ (as in teapot) (the air gets pushed out of the mouth quickly)
/p/ (as in pig) (the air gets pushed out of the mouth quickly)
/u/ (short vowel sound as in up or umbrella)
/d/ (as in dog)
/c/ (hard c as in cat; usually goes with the round vowels and many consonants)
/k/ (as in kite; has the same sound as “hard c” sound)

Letter Formation

On September 16, we began learning proper letter formation. Printing letters is an important skill to have as it helps guide the students in becoming fluent readers (reading and writing left to right, up to down) and better writers. Proper letter formation is important in printing to ensure that there are no mix ups (b and d, and e and g, are often written interchangeably which inevitably gives incorrect spelling errors). At the moment, we are focusing on lower case letters but will move onto upper case letters later on in the year.

To help the students remember the correct order, these are the sayings we have been using. Please be reminded that we are not learning the letter formation in order of the alphabet, but in conjunction with our phonemic awareness. In our class, we refer to the lower-case letters as being “short”, “tall”, or “hang down”. The “tall” letters (capital letters and numbers included) touch the top and bottom lines, and cut through the middle-dotted line, “short” letters touch the middle and bottom lines, and the “hang down” letters start from the middle line, pass the bottom line and have part of the letter hanging down like our legs hang off of a chair. My reason for teaching lowercase letters first is because most of the letters in print form are lowercase letters, whether we are reading or writing. Uppercase letters are at the beginning of the sentence, at the beginning of proper nouns, and in a title book, article, poem, chapter, etc. We have practiced printing in the air, printing on someone’s back, and then practicing them on a lined sheet. Please encourage your child to print from left to right, from up to down, so prepare and practice reading.

a – circle, line down (short)
s – down and around from side to side (short)
m – line down, up and over, up and over (short)
l – tall line down (tall)
f – up and over, tall line down and cross (tall)
n – line down, up and over (short)
o – down and around and back to the top (short)
t – tall line down and cross (tall)
p – line hang down and around (hang down)
u – down and around and straight back down (short)
d – circle, tall line down (tall)
c – down and around and stop (short)
k – tall line down, slant down to the left, slant down to the right (tall)

Sight Words (High Frequency Words)

These words, known as “high frequency words” or “sight words,” are words that are common in many books we read. Becoming familiar with these words will help in the decoding process of reading. These words are posted on the word wall in the classroom and are what I call the “secrets to reading”, This will help your child build reading fluency and writing. Please note that the words that are bolded and italicized are words that do not follow the phonemic rules and cannot be sounded out. They have to be recognized for easier decoding and fluency. The notation “pp” denotes “pre-primer” which are words that are found in board books and books we have read to our children since they were born. I refer to sight words as “one of the secrets to reading and writing.”

Homophones

Words that sound the same but are not spelled the same or have the same meaning are called homophones. The first part of the word “homo” means the same and the latter part of the word “phones” refers to anything that refers to sound.

a
and
away
big
blue
can
come – this word does not follow the magic e rule and the o makes the sound of a /u/short vowel
down – has “ow” which makes a “pinch me sound ow”
find – this word does not follow the closed syllable rule
for– this word is used to indicate the place someone or something is going to or toward. This word is a homophone (words that sound the same but are completely different words)
funny
go
help
here
I – This word is used when referring to oneself. It is either a letter or stands alone as a word (one of two words in our English language that is a letter or stands alone). When it stands alone, it is always in uppercase.
in
is
it
jump
little
look
make
me
my
not
one – this is for the numeral 1; we hear /w/ /u/short vowel /n/; This word is a homophone (words that sound the same but are completely different words).
play
red
run
said – this word does not follow the rule. We actually hear a short vowel in the middle of this word. Also, this word is an irregular verb as it doesn’t follow the past tense rule (present tense is ‘say’)
see
the – this word does not follow the rule. We hear a voiced /th/ but the e makes a /u/ or /a/ sound.
three
to – this is used in directional content (I am going to the store.; This card is to Mary.) This word is also a homophone (words that sound the same, have different spellings, and are completely different words).
two – this is the numeral 2. This word is a homophone (words that sound the same, but are completely different words).
up
we
where – this is the asking the directional question. We also talked about how we see the word ‘here’ inside the word, but we do not say the w sound and here together. This word is also a homophone (‘wear’)
yellow
you
all – in this word, the a makes a short vowel o sound
am – this word only goes with ‘I’
at
ate – this word is a homophone (please see the photo and explanation above)
be – this word is a verb and is related to “am”, “is”, “are”

Ms. S. Sokugawa