“Concept of Word develops subconsciously as children become aware of boundaries between words by listening to spoken language” 

~Lucy Hart Paulson, author of LETRS EC

Concept of Word      level 1-2

CHAT GPT - Concept of Word 

Teaching the concept of word (COW) to preschool children is essential for early literacy development. It helps them understand that spoken words correspond to written words and prepares them for reading. Here are some engaging activities to reinforce this concept:

1. Finger Tracking with Repetitive Text

• Use books with repetitive phrases (e.g., Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?).

• Read aloud while pointing to each word so children see the connection between spoken and written words.

• Have children point to each word as they "read" along.
  
  

2. Sentence Strips & Word Matching

• Write simple sentences on strips (e.g., "I see a cat.").

• Cut the sentence into separate words.

• Say the sentence aloud and have children reassemble the words in order while pointing to each.
  
  

3. Clap and Count Words in a Sentence

• Say a simple sentence (e.g., "I like dogs.").

• Have children clap for each word to hear and feel how many words are in the sentence.

• Write the sentence and point to each word as you say it again.
  
  

4. Hopscotch Word Game

• Write a short sentence on the ground (chalk outside or paper indoors).

• Have children hop from word to word as they say them aloud.
  
  

5. Word Spacing with Playdough or Blocks

• Write a simple sentence on a strip.

• Cover spaces between words with playdough balls or blocks.

• Read the sentence and remove each playdough piece as children point to and say each word.
  
  

6. Pocket Chart Word Building

• Write a simple sentence on a chart.

• Mix up the words and have children rearrange them in the correct order.

• Encourage them to point and read along.
  
  

7. Song and Chant Word Tracking

• Use songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle" or nursery rhymes.

• Write a line on a board and point to each word as you sing.

• Let children take turns pointing to words as they sing.
  
  

8. Sentence Puzzles

• Print a sentence and cut it apart.

• Have children reassemble the sentence and track the words while reading.
  
  

9. Magic Pointer Reading

• Give children fun pointers (magic wands, small toys, or popsicle sticks).

• Read a simple sentence together while they track each word with their pointer.
  
  

10. Word Jump Game

• Place words from a sentence on index cards.

• Say a sentence and have children jump to the correct word as they hear it.

Phonemic Awareness Transition (Putting two words together to make a compound word)

#1.  Display and review one at a time the large picture cards of the following compound words: 

1. doorknob                      2. seashells                        3. blackberries

4. starfish                                5. footprints                    6.  butterfly   

7. raindrops                          8. grasshopper                     9.  sailboat 

#2. Put the picture cards away.  Tell the children you are going to say two words and they will put the two words together to make a new word.

#3.  Verbally pause between the two words in a compound word. Give the student time to say the compound word.  Show the picture card when the child says the compound word or use the picture card as a way to scaffold for the child if they are having difficulty.

Example:   grass        hopper =   grasshopper

Concepts of Spoken Word

Sentence Segmentation Game

• Students can hop over object such as a row of blocks for every word they hear in the sentence or any movement you’d like them to do.

• You could cut the sentence apart and put the words on popsicle sticks. Give the words to a few students and have them line up to put the sentence back together. All students can count how many words are in the sentence by counting their friends that are standing.

Phonological Focus: Syllable Blending: Be mindful that syllable blending is taught before syllable segmenting. This means that you provide the parts (syllables) of a familiar word and children produce the word. 

Example: Class Names Guessing Game~ Say a child’s name slowly in parts and ask the children to guess who it is. Show a picture of the child to confirm students’ responses. Increase the challenge by saying the parts very slowly. Decrease the challenge by saying the parts more quickly. Once children have an understanding of blending, you may begin incorporating blending and segmenting. LETRS EC manual pg. 111- 115 

Concept of Word-Syllable 

ODL 15c - level 3

Introduce Syllables

Students who can sort big and little words consistently and independently are ready to be introduced (or reintroduced) to syllables. This should be done in a small group until the whole class has a firm grasp of concept of word. Show a picture of a big word like caterpillar or elephant. Tell children we see one elephant, but the word has three mouth drops. Words can be divided up into each part, or each mouth drop. Model then practice with several big words: 1) pound the word 2) put hand under chin to feel the mouth drops 3) clap with each mouth drop.

(As we all know, children are very literal thinkers, so this approach ensures understanding that the size of a word has to do with its sound, not the literal size of the object. ~WTW for Pre-K)

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS-SYLLABLE SEGMENTATION: Syllable Segmenting: the ability to analyze the components of a word and pull them apart into syllables. Blending and segmenting are opposite skills. However, unlike combining rhyming and alliteration activities, blending and segmenting activities go hand and hand very nicely (pg. 113, LETRS Manual).

Once children can blend syllables, they will benefit most when we ask them to “put the word together” and “take the word apart” interchangeably. Children will develop a deeper understanding that they are manipulating language using meaningful words, not just a rote task with units of sound.

Best Practices

• Implement at the beginning of PAC Time as the phonological activity (2 minutes)

• Decide on your kineme (gesture/movement)

• Focus your first instructional presentation at the Exposure and Explanation teaching stage: 

Teacher: Thinks Aloud   

Children: Listen, Join in, Repeat

                     Student Acquisition Stage: The child learns a new skill.

• Provide explicit instruction: I Do, We Do (Part of “I Do, We Do, You Do Instructional Process)

• Use visuals/words from one category, i.e. clothes, names, foods.

Instructional Resources:

• Chin Drops (Segmenting)

• Chop Chop (Segmenting)

• Syllable Walk (Segmenting)

• Syllable Sort (Segmenting) 

• Syllable Puzzles (Blending)

• Compound Words (Blending)

• Tap and Blend (Blending)      

Syllable Blending/Segmentation

Syllable Hopscotch

The students will pick a picture from the pile, the teacher can say the word segmented (ham-bur-ger), the student will jump on the hopscotch board for every segment they hear and blend the word at the end (hamburger).

Concept of Word - 

ODL 15c 

Concept of Word Mid- Trimester Check

You do not need to complete every prompt with every child. Use your ongoing data and observations to inform your starting point. Children could move chips to practice the actual task during this check, or you may check for understanding through pounding words, counting words, jumping words, etc. 

This would be an easy transition check.

NOTE: If a student can respond correctly to three sentences in a category without support you can assume they have mastered that level.

M=modeled

#=how many times they pounded

Phoneme Isolation      level 8

Phoneme Isolation of Initial Sound

Alphabet Sorting Cards

·     Letter stomp: Put a few (2-4) letters on the floor, have the students pick a picture and tell you the beginning sound, then have them find the letter that makes the sound and stomp on it.

·     Letter Race: Place 2-3 letters on the floor and have 2 teams of students. Give each student a picture, once they are able to tell you the beginning sound (help students that need it) they can fast walk to put their picture under the corresponding letter and the next student can start.

Phonemic Awareness Transition (Guess My Word: Beginning Sounds)

#1.  Display and review one at a time 4 large picture cards that are related to your current “study”.  (See examples below)

1. boots          2. scarf         3. hood       4. gloves

#2.  Select 2 pictures to leave displayed.  Say: “ I’m getting my mouth ready to say one of these words.  Guess the word I am going to say.”   Exaggerate the beginning sound of one of the words.   /b/ Am I getting ready to say boots or scarf?   Continue to give two picture choices as children match the beginning sound to the correct picture. 

Differentiation:

• For children who have difficulty identifying the word, have them focus on your mouth as you say each word.

• For children who are proficient with selecting from 2 words, add another picture card to choose from during the transition (3 picture cards)

Chat GPT Onset-Rime Activities for PreK Students

Teaching onset-rime (the initial consonant(s) and the vowel + ending of a word) helps preschoolers develop phonemic awareness and prepares them for reading. Here are some fun, hands-on activities to reinforce this concept:

1. Sound Sliders (Moving Letters)

Materials: Index cards, sliders (paper strips with letters)
How to Play:

• Write a common rime (e.g., -at) on an index card.

• Use a paper strip with different onsets (b, c, f, h, m, p, r, s, etc.).

• Slide the strip to change the word (bat, cat, fat, hat), reading each aloud together.
  
  

2. Onset-Rime Hopscotch

Materials: Chalk (for outdoors) or floor tape (indoors)
How to Play:

• Write different onsets (e.g., b, c, s, m, r) in one row.

• Write common rimes (e.g., -at, -og, -in, -op, -et) in another row.

• Kids hop to an onset, then hop to a rime, blending them together to form a word (e.g., b + at = bat).
  
  

3. Word Family Puzzles

Materials: Word cards cut into puzzle pieces
How to Play:

• Write words like sun, run, fun, bun and cut them into two pieces (onset & rime).

• Mix up the pieces and have children match them together to form words.

4. Onset-Rime Picture Sort

Materials: Picture cards with common word families (cat, hat, bat, rat)
How to Play:

• Say the word and have children sort the pictures based on their rimes.

• Example: Put "cat" and "hat" in the -at group, "dog" and "log" in the -og group.

5. "Guess My Word" Game

How to Play:

• Teacher slowly says a word by stretching the onset and rime (e.g., "c...at").

• Students blend the sounds together and say the full word.
  
  

6. Spin & Rhyme Wheel

Materials: A paper wheel with onsets and another wheel with rimes
How to Play:

• Spin the onset wheel and the rime wheel separately.

• Say the new word formed (real or nonsense) and decide if it’s a real word.
  
  

7. Silly Onset-Rime Songs

How to Play:

• Sing simple songs using onset-rime patterns:
  "If you know the word ‘bat,’ change the first sound, that’s where it’s at!"

• Change the onset in each verse (cat, hat, mat).

8. Mystery Bag Onset-Rime Sorting

Materials: A bag with objects or pictures
How to Play:

• Pull out an object (dog) and say its rime (-og).

• Have kids find or say words with the same rime (log, frog, hog).

Elkonin Boxes - Pushing sounds in words

Some of your students are confused with identifying the beginning sound in words. One instructional strategy to explicitly teach students how to identify the first sound in a word is to show them how you use Elkonin Boxes to sound out the individual phonemes in CVC words. 

Because this is an advanced strategy, you would teach it at the Exposure & Explanation stage. You would model how to slowly articulate the word and push the sounds into the boxes. Then you would point to the first box and say, “What was the first sound in the word …?”

Video demonstration

Research: 'stretching' the sounds in words

The research behind stretching words (continuous blending) is grounded in phonemic awareness, decoding skills, and fluency development in early reading instruction. Several key studies and literacy frameworks support this approach:

1. Phonemic Awareness and Blending

• Research by Adams (1990) in Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print emphasizes that children must develop phonemic awareness—understanding that words are made up of individual sounds (phonemes).

• Studies show that blending phonemes smoothly (rather than isolating them) helps children hear and recognize words more easily (Ehri, 2005).
  
  

2. The Science of Reading & Structured Literacy

• The National Reading Panel (2000) identified phonemic awareness and phonics as essential components of effective reading instruction.

• Their findings highlight that continuous blending (stretching sounds) is more effective than segmenting because it aligns with how speech naturally flows.
  
  

3. Orthographic Mapping & Word Recognition

• Ehri’s (2014) theory of orthographic mapping explains how learners move from decoding words sound-by-sound to recognizing them automatically.

• Stretching words reinforces connections between phonemes and graphemes, helping readers store words in long-term memory.
  
  

4. Cognitive Load & Working Memory

• Sweller’s (1988) Cognitive Load Theory suggests that breaking sounds apart (e.g., "s-a-t") creates more mental effort, making it harder for young readers to blend them into whole words.

• Stretching sounds helps reduce cognitive load by allowing learners to process words as meaningful units instead of fragmented pieces.
  
  

5. Speech-to-Print Alignment

• Studies on speech processing (e.g., Liberman et al., 1974) show that oral language is continuous, and speech sounds are naturally blended.

• Teaching reading in a way that mimics natural spoken language (e.g., stretching sounds instead of isolating them) improves fluency and comprehension.
  
  

6. Effectiveness in Dyslexia Intervention

• Research by Moats (2010) and Shaywitz (2003) on dyslexia highlights that explicit phonemic blending techniques, like stretching words, help struggling readers decode more efficiently.

• Programs like Orton-Gillingham and LETRS use continuous blending as a key strategy for building strong decoding skills.