Florida Center for Reading Research Activities

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Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness prepares children’s ears for manipulating words and sounds. It includes identifying and making oral rhymes, clapping out the number of syllables in a word, and recognizing words with the same initial sounds like mom and make.

Goals for Strong Readers

• Recognize rhyming words and create rhyming word pairs (top/pop).

• Tell the first and last sound they hear in a word.

• Show how many sounds are in a word using their fingers (cat = c-a-t = 3 sounds).

• Tell the number of words they hear in a sentence.

Reference: Strong Readers, Strong Leaders Mississippi Department of Education Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended. All images, articles, activities, audio, and video clips are the sole property of their respective owners.

Phonics

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds. This is the foundation for accurately being able to read a word.

Goals for Strong Readers

• Identify the sound each letter makes.

• Read CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant words) such as, t-a-p.

• Sound out each letter sound to blend into a word.

• Begin to spell words.

Reference: Strong Readers, Strong Leaders Mississippi Department of Education Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended. All images, articles, activities, audio, and video clips are the sole property of their respective owners.

Fluency

Fluency is reading text accurately and with understanding. It is necessary for building comprehension when reading independently.

Goals for Strong Readers

• Understand what is read.

• Accurately and automatically recognize words.

• Use appropriate expression while reading.

Reference: Strong Readers, Strong Leaders Mississippi Department of Education Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended. All images, articles, activities, audio, and video clips are the sole property of their respective owners.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a child’s knowledge of and memory for word meanings. A strong vocabulary improves all areas of communication—listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Goals for Strong Readers

• Learn and use new words through an array of activities.

• Build a large receptive vocabulary (words children understand when they are read or spoken to).

• Enhance expressive vocabulary (words children know well enough to use in speaking and writing).

Reference: Strong Readers, Strong Leaders Mississippi Department of Education Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended. All images, articles, activities, audio, and video clips are the sole property of their respective owners.

Comprehension

Comprehension is the ability to understand and critically think about a text. It is the purpose of skilled reading.

Goals for Strong Readers

• Tell events in order.

• Name the character and setting.

• Ask and answer questions about the text.

• Retell the most important points and key details of a text.

Reference: Strong Readers, Strong Leaders Mississippi Department of Education Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended. All images, articles, activities, audio, and video clips are the sole property of their respective owners.