English Language Arts
Also, see our STAR English Language Arts Newsletter attached to the STAR's Home page!
Spelling FUN (Grades 1 - 4)
Spelling words can be very fun to practice! Spelling can actually increase your child’s reading skills. Here are some exciting, multi-sensory activities that you can do with your child to help practice their spelling words. Enjoy!
-Write each spelling word in shaving cream, lotion, or soap
-Use play-dough to form each word
-Use magnetic letters on a cookie sheet
-Form the words using Wikki Stix
-Write spelling words in sand
-Use Popsicle sticks to form each spelling word
-Use different colors to trace each spelling word to create RAINBOW WORDS
-Spelling City: Try out motivating activities at www.spellingcity.com
-SkyWriting: “Write” each spelling word in the air
Written by your Spelling Strategy Team,
Kristen Graveline, Special Educator and Holly White, Special Educator
Building the Foundation of Reading: Phonemic Awareness
(Grades K - 2)
What is phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. Children must first understand that words are made up of separate speech sounds that can be blended together to make words before they can make sense of using the alphabet to read and write. Research has identified phonemic awareness and letter knowledge as the best two indicators of how well a child will learn to read during the first two years of school (National Reading Panel 2000). Children who develop strong phonemic awareness skills at an early age are more likely to become fluent readers and better spellers than children who do not.
Here are some phonemic awareness activities to support the development of these skills at home:
-Identify whether words rhyme (hat, mat; sun, bug)
-Provide a word that rhymes with another (“Tell me a word that rhymes with sun?”)
-Blend syllables into a word (cup-cake “cupcake”; m-a-p – “map”)
-Clap or count syllables in a 1 to 3 syllable word
-Segment sounds in a 2-3 phoneme word (“Tell me the sounds in ‘hat’. Child: /h/ /a/ /t/)
How can I help my child develop good rhyming skills?
-Read books and poems that focus on the rhythm of language and rhyme. Books such as “Hop on Pop” or “Sheep in a Jeep” help children pay attention to sounds in words.
-Give your child a noisemaker (such as a whistle). Tell your child to make noise if you say two words that rhyme (cat, cup; sit, mitt)
-Play word games such as “Guess My Word.” “I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with_________? Can you guess my word?”
Other phonemic skills to work can be - clapping out syllables (parts of words) and identifying the sounds in beginning, middle and end of words (remember not the letter name, have them provide the sound that they hear).
Written by your Phonemic Awareness Team,
Angela Consigli, Former Speech and Language Pathologist,
Michelle Goldberg, Speech and Language Pathologist and
Holly White, Special Educator
ENCOURAGE WRITING
Diary/Journal: Spark interest in writing by having your child keep a journal or diary. Your child can write about his or her fun and exciting experiences. After writing, have your child illustrate their journal entry.
Book Reviews: After reading a book, your child can write a book review and share their thoughts about the book. Your child can write about their favorite characters or parts of the story.
Keep a Scrapbook: Scrapbook new adventures and experiences, near or far. Did you try the new ice cream shop down the road? Did you go to the zoo and learn about new animals? Did you try a new sport or activity? After visiting new places, have your child write reviews of their adventures and create a summer scrapbook. Encourage your child to record their thoughts and experiences. Kids can add things like menus, ticket stubs, museum tour maps, autographs and hiking trail maps to accompany their reviews. If you have a digital camera and printer, your child can include photos as well. Many scrapbook materials can be found at a local craft store.
DIVE INTO READING
Encourage your child to read. From reading to your child, listening to books on tape, or reading at the beach, your child can increase their reading skills. Here are some ways to engage your child in reading:
- Go to your Local Library: Encourage your child to browse through the library to find interesting books to read. While you are at the library, ask your librarian about special events, educational videos, and audio books available.
- Start a Neighbourhood Book Club: This is a great way to get your child involved in reading. Get together a group of your child’s friends and find a book that they can all read together. Set-up meeting times where children can discuss their reading. As an added bonus, warm weather can inspire some fun meeting places too: a tent, a park, or picnic blanket in the backyard. This is a valuable activity that encourages great discussions and supports critical thinking skills.
- Integrate reading into everyday activities: (1) watching TV with the sound off and closed captioning on, (2) reading directions for how to play a new game, or (3) helping with meals by writing up a grocery list, finding things in the grocery store, and reading the recipe aloud for mom or dad during cooking time, (4) read the back of the cereal box during breakfast.
Comprehension Trick: Braidy
(Grades 1 - 4)
Comprehension of a story is as important to reading as decoding. One tool that we use to help our students retell a story and check for comprehension is Braidy. The students enjoy using Braidy to retell a story. See the Resource section of the STAR's home page for an attachement of a bookmark of Braidy that you can cut out and use with your child to help him/her retell stories at home.
The parts of Braidy and specific questions you can ask your child are as follows:
| Braidy’s head represents the main characters of the story and at least one character trait (what are they like?) for each. Who is the main character in the story? Who are the supporting characters? |
| The star represents for the setting of the story. Where and when does the story take place? |
| The sneaker represents the story kick-off. What is the problem in the story? What event put the story in motion? |
| The heart represents how the main characters were feeling about the kick-off. How does the character feel about the problem? |
| The hand represents the character’s plan to solve the problem. What is the character’s plan to resolve the problem? |
| The beads stand for each event in the story. You may have more events than beads but not too many more. |
| What happened in the story? |
| Explain using first, then, next, and finally. |
| The bow represents the wrap-up or the solution of the story. How did the character resolve the problem? |
| The heart represents the characters feelings at the end of the story and the colorful ribbons represent the possible themes/lesson of the story. How does the character feel at the end of the story? Themes: What did the character learn? What could we all learn from the story?
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Braidy Tips by your Comprehension Team, Amy Kindl, Former South Special Educator and Keri Rooney, Special Educator
Literature Question Prompts
Questions to ASK within, about, and beyond the text
(Also see the Resource section of the STAR home page for an easy print version.)
Thinking Within the Text |
What was the problem in the story? What did _____ do to solve the problem? What happened in the story? How did the story end?
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Thinking Beyond the Text | |||
Tell me some ways ___and ___ are alike/different. Tell me how ____ felt when ___. Why? Why is it important for___? How does ____ change? What does ___ learn? How do you think ____ felt when (or about) _____? Why do you think _____? Can you give an example from the book?
Make a prediction about ____. How
do you know something is going to happen here?
What does the writer say that makes you think that? What is a question you still have about ____? What lesson did ____ learn? What was the value of ____ to _____?
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