STORY BUILDING AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
FOR KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE
Kathleen Ann Moore
B.S., California State University, Sacramento, 2007
PROJECT
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
FALL
2009
© 2009
Kathleen Ann Moore
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
STORY BUILDING AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
FOR KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE
A Project
by
Kathleen A. Moore
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Candace L. Goldsworthy, Ph.D.
__________________________________, Second Reader
Robert A. Pieretti, M.S., CCC-SLP
____________________________
Date
iii
Student: Kathleen Ann Moore
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for the project.
______________________ , Department Chair
Laureen O’Hanlon, Ph.D.
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
iv
___________________
Date
Abstract
of
STORY BUILDING AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
FOR KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE
by
Kathleen Ann Moore
Three Story Builder books and a parent handbook were designed to improve
literacy in students who are first learning to read, and students who are at risk of reading
failure. They can also be used to support phonological awareness and decoding skills in
students who are not struggling to read. These materials support and facilitate literacy
learning at home or in the classroom and in both individual and group settings. The
Story Builder incorporates color coordinated letter cards to tell a story. The student has
the ability to change the story by changing the colors used. Research strongly supports
that explicit training in phonemic and phonological awareness results in reading
acquisition, decoding skills, reading fluency, and spelling. Phonemic awareness and
decoding skills were the focus of the Story Builder book. Phonological awareness was
the focus of the parent handbook. Due to a lack of similar resources, and based on the
literacy research conducted, it was evident there was a need for such specific literacy
supporting materials.
___________________________ , Committee Chair
Candace L. Goldsworthy, Ph.D.
v
DEDICATION
This project is dedicated to my wonderful fiancé and family.
Thank you for your love and support.
Also, to current and future speech therapists and their students.
Read on!
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project could not have been completed without the help, support, and
encouragement of many people. Sincere thanks go out to the following people:
My mom, Robin Moore, who can write a novel in a month, for your support and
expert writer’s input.
My dad, Kevin Moore, who taught me in my childhood reading fluently is like
dancing, so we danced as we read.
My brother, Loren, for your artistic expertise and comical input.
My dear friend, Shannon Hinrichs, for the encouraging conversations and the
thoughtful box of inspiration.
Dr. Candace Goldsworthy, for your continued support and outstanding
motivation. “Keep on keeping on.”
Mr. Robert Pieretti, for your encouragement, optimism, and incredible support.
Last but certainly not least, thank you to my fiancé, Bryan Solari, for too many
reasons to list.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication ................................................................................................................... vi
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables .................................................................................................................x
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................1
Statement of Problem .............................................................................................1
Reading in General Education ............................................................................... 2
Reading and the Speech/Language Pathologist………………………………….5
Collaboration of the Teacher, Parents, and Speech-Language Pathologist…..…6
Purpose……………………………………………………………………..…….6
Definition of the Materials/How to use the Materials……………………………7
2. REVIEW OF RESEARCH ......................................................................................10
Literature to Support Success ................................................................................10
Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Reading……………….….10
Onsets and Rimes………………………………………….………………….…..13
Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………….....15
3. CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................17
Implication for future research .............................................................................18
Appendix A. Literacy Activities for Teachers, Parents, and Speech-Language
Pathologists, a Parent-Teacher Guide ................................................................... 20
viii
Appendix B. Activities for Developing Phonological Awareness Skills ................. 23
Appendix C. Story Builder Book .............................................................................. 27
References…………………………………………………………………..……......31
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Page
1.
Table 1 The 38 Most Common Phonograms………..………………………….. 29
2.
Table 2 Testing the Alphabet and Sound-Symbol Association ……………........30
x
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Statement of Problem
Learning to read and write is highly valued in today’s society. Many believe that
the proficiency with which one writes, especially during the early primary years, will lead
to the economic and future success of our nation. “Literacy competencies are the
gateways to knowledge across the disciplines,” (California State Department of
Education, 1997, p. 5). The California State Department of Education’s EnglishLanguage Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools (1997) states:
In addition to their regular school reading, by grade four, students read one-half
million words annually, including a good representation of grade-levelappropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary
literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade one, students
begin to make progress toward this goal. (p. 7)
Most students learn to read without difficulties; however, for 20 to 30 percent of
students, learning to read is difficult and challenging (Goldsworthy, 2003). Research on
learning to read found that students who get off to a poor start in reading rarely catch up
(Goldsworthy, 2003). A student who leaves the third grade not reading at grade level has
only a one-in-seven chance of ever reading at grade level (Goldsworthy, 2003).
Improving literacy in students who are struggling to read is critical for their future
success in education and future success in society. About 50 percent of young adults and
adolescents with a criminal record have a history of reading problems and about 50
percent of youth with a history of substance abuse have reading problems (Goldsworthy,
2003). A solid foundation in reading and writing is critical for obtaining a job, voting,
2
and reading a newspaper. Not addressing literacy issues as an early reader may lead to
lifelong consequences.
This chapter will focus on the following areas: (1) reading in general education
(2) reading and the speech-language pathologist (3) collaboration of classroom teacher,
parents, and the speech-language pathologist (4) phonological awareness, phonemic
awareness, and reading and (5) purpose.
Reading in General Education
Students are required to meet specific standards for reading. According to the
California Department of Education English-Language Content Standards for California
Public Schools (1997), students should acquire specific concepts and skills at particular
grade levels. Several standards set by the state of California are as follows:
Kindergarteners should be able to perform the following decoding and phonemic
awareness tasks:

Blend vowel-consonant sounds orally to make words or syllables.

Track (move sequentially from sound to sound) and represent changes in simple
syllables and words with two and three sounds as one sound is added, substituted,
omitted, shifted, or repeated (e.g., vowel-consonant, consonant-vowel, or consonantvowel consonant).
Kindergarteners should be able to perform the following decoding and word
recognition tasks:

Match all consonant and short-vowel sounds to appropriate letters.
3

Read simple one-syllable and high-frequency words (i.e., sight words).

Understand that as letters of words change, so do the sounds.
First graders should be able to perform the following phonemic awareness tasks:

Distinguish initial, medial, and final sounds in single-syllable words.

Distinguish long and short vowel sounds in orally stated single-syllable words (e.g.,
bit/bite).

Create and state a series of rhyming words, including consonant blends.

Add, delete, or change target sounds to change words (e.g., change cow to how; pan
to an).

Blend two to four phonemes into recognizable words (e.g., /c/a/t/ = cat; /f/l/a/t/ =
flat).

Segment single-syllable words into their components (e.g., cat = /c/a/t/; splat =
/s/p/l/a/t/; rich = /r/i/ch/).
First graders should be able to perform the following decoding and word recognition
tasks:

Generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns, including consonant
blends and long and short vowel patterns (i.e., phonograms), and blend those sounds
into recognizable words.

Read common, irregular sight words (e.g., the, have, said, come, give, of).

Read compound words and contractions.
4

Read inflectional forms (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) and root words (e.g., look, looked,
looking).

Read common word families (e.g., -ite, -ate).

Read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech.
Second graders should be able to perform the following decoding and word
recognition tasks:

Decode two-syllable nonsense words and regular multisyllable words.

Recognize common abbreviations (e.g., Jan., Sun., Mr., St.).

Identify and correctly use regular plurals (e.g., -s, -es, -ies) and irregular plurals (e.g.,
fly/ flies, wife/wives).
This project provides teaching materials for the classroom to provide a scaffold for
students who may be struggling as well as support literacy in other students who are
excelling. The California State Department of Education Framework for Reading
Instruction (1997) states that students who are struggling to meet standards for their
grade level should have the opportunity to receive differentiated instruction.
“Differentiated instruction aims to optimize learning opportunities and outcomes for all
students by tailoring instruction to meet their current level of knowledge and prerequisite
skills” (p. 17). Meeting one student’s needs should not take away from education of the
rest of the class. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 for a Free and
Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) mentions that every student should be allowed to
function and learn at their current level of knowledge while in the classroom.
5
Reading and the Speech/Language Pathologist
Addressing reading problems is well within the scope of the Speech-Language
Pathologist. The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association’s [ASHA] Scope
of Practice (2007) states, “Speech-language pathologists provide clinical services that
include the following: prevention and pre-referral, screening, assessment/evaluation,
consultation, diagnosis, treatment, intervention, management, counseling, collaboration,
documentation, and referral.” Furthermore, “Speech-language pathologists address
typical and atypical communication” including “literacy (reading, writing, spelling).”
Guidelines from ASHA’s Roles and Responsibilities of Speech-Language
Pathologists With Respect to Reading and Writing in Children and Adolescents (2001)
states:
It is the position of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
that speech-language pathologists play a critical and direct role in the
development of literacy for children and adolescents with communication
disorders, including those with severe or multiple disabilities. Speech-language
pathologists also make a contribution to the literacy efforts of a school district or
community on behalf of other children and adolescents. (p. 1)
ASHA’s Guidelines for the Roles and Responsibilities of the School-Based
Speech-Language Pathologist (2000) states:
Speech-language pathologists' knowledge of specific intervention techniques for
phonological deficits enables them to plan and support early intervention
programs focusing on training of phonological awareness in preschool and
primary grades. Training in oral and written language assessment and remediation
allows the speech-language pathologist to make valuable contributions in the
intervention of the full range of reading and writing disabilities. (p. 1)
6
Collaboration of the Teacher, Parents, and the Speech-Language Pathologist
Classroom teachers, parents, and speech-language pathologists can and should
collaborate to help support students literacy development. Speech-language pathologists
in school settings do not have enough time to create materials for reading, writing, and
oral-language. Parents lead busy lives as well, and having materials that are not only
ready to use, but also support the educational development that is taking place in the
school setting is beneficial for the parent and student. A teaching material that would
benefit all students that is completely developed and is easy to use is an efficient way to
increase such collaboration. These individuals each have full and busy schedules with
increasingly less time to plan lessons or activities, particularly those requiring many
outside resources. To help support the student’s literacy skills, the teacher, speechlanguage pathologist, and parent can work together using the same materials to support
the student’s literacy development.
Purpose
The rationale behind this project was to create materials that teachers, speechlanguage pathologists, and parents can use collaboratively as a tool to promote literacy,
increase interest in books, engage parents in reading with their child, increase phonemic
and phonological awareness and increase sound-symbol association.
7
Definition of the Materials/How to use the Materials
The Story Builder (a series of three books for students, for grades kindergarten,
first, and second, focuses on sound symbol association and sound blending) and Literacy
Activities (phonological awareness activities for teachers, speech pathologists, and
parents) was designed specifically to promote literacy by heightening phonological
awareness and decoding (or phonics) skills. Each of the three books contains word
families (or rimes), such as, “-at” and “-op,” which are printed on a page with laminated
letters (onsets), such as, “c-” and “m-,” that can be combined with a word family to form
a word. Changing the onset of the word changes the meaning of the word, which changes
the story.
The student can build his or her own story by manipulating onsets around the
page. Several different onsets are available on each page, each color coordinated. Using,
for example, all the yellow onsets in the book will tell one story, where using all the red
onsets throughout the book will tell a new story. Each of the three books was customized
to meet several of the California Standards for Language-Arts by grade level. Several
standards addressed in the three books include:

Understanding that as letters of words change, so do the sounds.

Reading common word families.

Adding, deleting, or changing target sounds changes words, (e.g., adding “b-” to
“-at” makes the word “bat,” while adding “c-” to “-at” says “cat”).
8
Accompanying the Story Builder book is a Parent-Teacher Guide (See Appendix
A), titled Literacy Activities for Teachers, Parents, and Speech-Language Pathologists,
which provide ready-made literacy activities for use with the student to improve literacy
skills by strengthening phonological awareness and increase sound-symbol association.
These activities expose the students to the sound structure of the English language and
orthography. The students are required to manipulate phonemes both by physically
changing the placement of the sound symbol on the page throughout the Story Builder
book and by mentally manipulating sounds in the phonological awareness activities in the
Literacy Activities guide.
The guide contains several adapted phonological awareness activities found in the
Sourcebook for Phonological Awareness, Children’s Classic Literature (Goldsworthy,
1998) (activities were adapted with permission from the author) along with original ideas
from the author of the project. Table 2 contains a supplemental activity to assess the
student’s current knowledge of the alphabet and sound-symbol associations.
Phonological awareness activities and literacy activities are included and align to the
California Standards for Language-Arts and Phonological Awareness and Decoding
Skills to introduce the knowledge and skills critical to the development and expansion of
literacy.
The books and activities may be used at home with parents, in the classroom, or
with the speech-language pathologist. While the activities have been designed to help
increase literacy in students who are first learning to read, and students who are at risk of
9
reading failure, they can also be used to support phonological awareness and decoding
skills in students who are not struggling to read. These materials are ideas to support and
facilitate literacy learning at home or in the classroom and in both individual and group
settings.
10
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RESEARCH
Literature to Support Success
This chapter will review literature regarding phonological awareness and
phonemic awareness training and its relationship with literacy as well as cover the
importance of the onset-rime unit. Specifically, topics covered here will include the
importance of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness as they relate to reading,
as well as how knowledge of the onset and rime units support reading, spelling, and
pronunciation of sight words.
Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, and Reading
Phonological awareness relates to the ability to reflect on an utterance and
manipulate the utterance, such as change the spoken message into words, syllables, or
sounds (Goldsworthy, 2004). As a student’s verbal speech progresses, they learn words
can be broken down into syllables and sounds. Although the English language only has
26 letters, there are 44 phonemes, or individual sounds. Students learn to add, delete or
move sounds around in words to change the meaning of the word or make a non-sense
word. This helps them become more aware that phonemes hold meaning.
Understanding that phonemes can change the meaning(s) of words and having
strong phonological awareness skills will help the learner lay the foundation needed to
add the next layer, which is the visual component. Connecting the auditory message (or
11
phoneme) to the visual component (the written letter), helps the reader establish a soundsymbol association. Sound-symbol association between the written letter and the sound it
makes is key in learning to read. “Phonological awareness typically has been linked to
the reading process; indeed, the term stems from early research which indicated that
understanding a word’s sound structure would enable the student to decode (or sound
out) a word in print (Gillon, 2004, p. 2). Goldsworthy (2001) cited reviews from Moats,
Furry, and Brownell (1998) calling phonological awareness “the best predictor of
learning to read in English between Kindergarten and second grade” (p.2). Students will
probably learn to read easily if they develop phonemic awareness in kindergarten
(Goldsworthy, 2001).
Gillon (2004) reported the following on phonological awareness:
A vast body of research employing differing methodologies and conducted in a
variety of alphabetic languages has convincingly demonstrated that a powerful
relationship exists between phonological awareness and literacy development.
Indeed, a child’s phonological awareness knowledge has been described as the
single best indicator of reading performance. (p. 1)
Research strongly supports that explicit training in phonological awareness results
in reading acquisition. On the contrary, deficits in phonological awareness result in poor
reading acquisition because of difficulties relating the alphabetic code to printed words.
“A child who is not able to apply phonological processing skills to phonological
awareness will be at a disadvantage that may persist throughout the school years”
(Goldsworthy, 1998, p. 3). In addition to reading, phonological awareness training is key
in the development of spelling acquisition (Goldsworthy, 2003).
12
Phonological awareness training positively affected reading and spelling in
students in kindergarten and first grade. In a kindergarten classroom, phonological
awareness activities lead to significant gains in phonological processing skills, which in
turn increased decoding and reading abilities; whereas students in the same curriculum
who did not receive this training did not show such gains. Students who read above age
level in first grade tended to come from classrooms in kindergarten where additional
instruction time was focused on helping students develop phoneme awareness
(Goldsworthy, 2001).
Research on phonemic awareness shows a strong correlation between phonemic
awareness and literacy learning (Savage, 2004). Phonemic awareness “refers specifically
to segmenting the sounds of the speech stream, (Goldsworthy, 2001, p. 85). “Phonemic
awareness can be considered to be at the highest end of a hierarchy of metalinguistic
skills that begins with the conscious awareness that sentences are made up of words and
culminates in an awareness that words are made up of phonemes, those small units of
sound that roughly correspond to individual letters (Goldsworthy, 2001, p. 85).
Phonemic awareness is more highly related to learning to read, a better predictor
of reading success, than such factors as general intelligence, reading readiness, and
listening comprehension (Savage, 2004). “A child’s level of phonemic awareness on
entering school is widely held to be the strongest single determinant of success that she or
he will experience in learning to read-or controversially, the likelihood that she or he will
13
fail” (Adams et al. 1998, p. 2). One of the primary factors that separated disabled readers
from typically-developing readers is phonemic awareness (Savage, 2004).
Onsets and Rimes
Knowledge of onset-rime units allows for a connection between spelling and
pronunciation for sight words. An onset is all single consonants or consonant clusters
that precede the first vowel in a word (Gillon, 2004). A rime, also called a word family
or phonogram, is “the first vowel in a word and all the letters that come after it,” (Settlow
& Jacovino, 2004, ix). For purposes of this project, the term “word family” will
primarily be used. In the word “bat,” for example, [b] is the onset and [at] is the word
family or rime.
Research suggests readers access the stored pronunciation of words with similar
spelling patterns rather than mapping each letter individually to its corresponding sound
(Gillon, 2004, p. 19). Rather than decoding a word phoneme-by-phoneme, new readers
can use their knowledge of the rime unit. “Knowledge of other words that have similar
spelling patterns and pronunciations may help such connections form. For example,
recognizing that the letters [a] and [t] together will always say [at] helps a reader to
pronounce the word cat because of its connection to hat, mat, and bat (Gillon, 2004, p.
19). It has been hypothesized that “phonological awareness at the onset-rime level
contributes significantly to the formation of an orthographic category of common spelling
patterns” (Gillon, 2004, p. 20). Using the onset-rime unit to teach the student how to
14
produce and identify rhyming words and segment or blend words should assist the
student in learning to read and spell new words through analogy to known words (Gillon,
2004, p. 20).
According to Lyon (2003), “Research suggests that the brain is a pattern detector,
not a rule applier” (p. 5). The brain finds familiar letter patterns the reader already
knows. “When the brain finds a word it cannot immediately recognize, it searches its
storehouse of known words to find familiar patterns that can be used to figure out the new
word” (Lyon, 2003, p. 5). Readers can quickly recognize parts of a word by accessing
words already known. For example, the word epistemological is likely not in your
regular oral or reading vocabulary, however a reader can take familiar word parts to
pronounce most or all of the word by accessing the parts of the word that are familiar.
Word families, or rimes, are useful in assisting teachers, parents, and speechlanguage pathologists to help the student decode words to read. “Research tends to
validate the confidence that teachers have placed in teaching phonics though
phonograms—it works!” (Rasinski & Zimmerman, 2001, p v). Fry found over 300
different word families that can be taught (Rasinski & Zimmerman, 2001, p vi). An
analysis of word families by Fry found the 38 (See Table 1) that are most common,
which can be used to decode 654 single-syllable words (Rasinski & Zimmerman, 2001, p.
vi). This project included 22 of the 38 most common phonograms throughout the Story
Builder book.
15
Definition of Terms:
The following definitions were selected for use because of their relevance to this
project.
Onsets:
All consonants or consonant clusters that precede the first vowel in a word
(Gillon, 2004). For example, in the word cat, [c] is the onset, and [at] is the rime
and in the word flat, [fl] is the onset, and [at] is the rime.
Phoneme:
The smallest unit of sound in the speech stream, an individual sound in speech.
Phonemic Awareness:
Phonemic awareness “refers specifically to segmenting the sounds of the speech
stream, (Goldsworthy, 2001, p. 85). Knowledge that sentences are made up of
words, and that these are made up of syllables, then further understanding that
words are made up of phonemes, and that those individual units of sound relate to
individual letters, (Goldsworthy, 2001).
Phonogram:
See word family definition.
Phonological Awareness:
Phonological Awareness “refers to an individual’s awareness of the sound
structure, or phonological structure, of a spoken word” (Gillon, 2004, p. 2).
Phonological processing:
16
“Using phonological information to process oral and written language,”
(Goldsworthy, 2001, p. 2).
Phonology:
Phonology is “understanding the speech-sound system and the sound patterns of
spoken language” (Gillon, 2004, p. 2).
Rime:
See word family definition.
Word family:
A word family is also called a Rime or Phonogram. “The first vowel in a word
and all the letters that come after it,” (Settlow & Jacovino, 2004, ix). “Rimes
should not be confused with the common term ‘rhyme,’” (Settlow & Jacovino,
2004, ix).
17
Chapter 3
CONCLUSIONS
This segment includes, in summary, the purpose, components, and use of the
project, as well as implications for future research.
The purpose of this project was to create materials that teachers, speech-language
pathologists, and parents can use collaboratively as a tool to promote literacy, increase
phonemic and phonological awareness and increase sound-symbol association.
The components include: The Story Builder, which contains word families (or
rimes) such as “-at” that are printed on a page with laminated letters, and (onsets) such as
“c-” and “m-” that can be combined with a word family to form a word. The student can
build his or her own story by manipulating onsets around the page. Accompanying the
Story Builder book is a Parent-Teacher Guide (See Appendix A Literacy Activities for
Teachers, Parents, and Speech-Language Pathologists), which provides ready-made
literacy activities for use with the student to improve literacy skills by strengthening
phonological awareness and increase sound-symbol association. The guide contains
several adapted phonological awareness activities found in the Sourcebook for
Phonological Awareness, Children’s Classic Literature (Goldsworthy, 1998) (activities
were adapted with permission from the author) along with original ideas from the author
of the project. Table 2 contains a supplemental activity to assess the student’s current
knowledge of the alphabet and sound-symbol associations. Phonological awareness
activities and literacy activities are included and align to the California Standards for
18
Language-Arts and Phonological Awareness and Decoding Skills to introduce the
knowledge and skills critical to the development and expansion of literacy.
The books and activities may be used at home with parents, in the classroom, or
with the speech-language pathologist. While the activities have been designed to help
increase literacy in students who are first learning to read, and students who are at risk of
reading failure, they can also be used to support phonological awareness and decoding
skills in students who are not struggling to read. These materials are ideas to support and
facilitate literacy learning at home or in the classroom and in both individual and group
settings.
Implications for future research
Future projects may expand the scope of reading levels to include pre-literacy or
preschool aged students through middle and junior high students. Lower level books may
include basic sound-symbol association tasks and early phonological awareness tasks to
increase a young student’s interest in books. Higher level books may include the
manipulations of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, etc. Future projects may include
fictional stories based on themes being taught in the classroom curriculum using
curriculum vocabulary.
Additionally books should be user friendly and be accessible to as many readers
as possible. Consideration should be given in choosing text colors to make the books
user friendly for a colorblind student. The size of manipulatives and text should be
19
considered if, for example, the student has poor fine motor skills. These books could be
expanded to include major and minor word families (phonograms) as well as expanded
vocabulary and syntactic complexity.
20
APPENDIX A
Literacy Activities for Teachers, Parents, and Speech-Language Pathologists, a ParentTeacher Guide
These activities were included to improve literacy skills by strengthening soundsymbol association. The following are lists of activities to help the student establish a
foundation in literacy and decoding skills.
Tips from the author: While reading the books, it is important to distinguish the
letter name from the letter sound. Identify consonants and vowels by the sound the
letter(s) make. For example, the letter [p] says /p/, and the letter [b] says /b/. Encourage
the student to verbalize the sound each letter makes as they read the stories to promote
sound-symbol association while creating different words.
Beginning Reading
Activities for Mastering the Alphabetic Code:
Have the student name the alphabet letter name and corresponding sounds they
make. Making cards with consonants, short vowels, long vowels, and consonant blends
is a great way to see what the student already knows. Tip from the author: cut 3”x5”
cards in half, punch a hole in one corner and attach to a ring. Label card one “#1” or
“start.” The cards will be in order and you can add cards as the student progresses, and
remove cards the student has mastered.
Starting with single letters (See Table 2), have the student name the letter and say
the corresponding sound. Many students are able to name most alphabet letter names and
21
corresponding sounds by kindergarten. Keep track of what the student already knows.
See Table 2 for a list of consonants and vowels to assess the student’s current knowledge.
Next, add to what the student already knows. Begin with commonly used
consonants such as p, t, b, s, m, and g. If the student knows most of the consonants and
vowels, add letter combinations such as: ar, oo, oy, bl, and sh (Henry, 2003). Add a short
vowel such as /a/ in “cat” or /i/ in “it.” The short vowel “a” combined with p, t, b, s, m,
and g can be blended to form many CVC words such as mat, map, pat, bat, am, tab, sap,
tap, to name a few (Henry, 2003). Henry (2003, p. 74) suggests this logical sequence for
introducing orthographic patterns: m, l, s, t, a, p, f, c, n, b, r, j, k, I, v, g, w, d, h, u, y, z, x,
and the vowels o and e.
Word Families
Teach the student the sounds that word families make (See Table 1). For example,
the combination of letters [a] and [t] together will say [at]. This segment of the word is
known as the word family or rime. Adding an onset such as [c] before the word family
will create the word, “cat.” The letters [o] and [p] together will say [-op]. Adding the
rime to the onset [h] will create the word “hop.” The brain finds familiar letter patterns
the reader already knows or has just learned. Instead of the student sounding out [a] and
[t] each time, s/he will establish a pattern that the two letters together make “at.”
Establishing a pattern will help the student become a more efficient reader.
22
Consonant Blends
Henry (2003, p. 74) suggests this sequence for introducing consonant blends: st-, sm-,
sn-, qu-, sl-, sp-, ay, sc-, sk-, -ff, -ll, -ss, -ck, sh, ee, bl-, cl-, ea, fl-, gl, pl-, y (as long /i/),
ch, plural –s, ing, ar, th (unvoiced), oy, all, th (voiced), br-, cr-, ow, dr-, fr-, gr-, pr-, tr-,
er, oo, -ed, -ang, ong, ung, or, ow, wh-, plural –es, -ink, -ank, -onk, -unk, a, sw-, tw, -mo,
nd, sk, ft, lk, ld, oo, ai, and oa.
1. Continue with more blends such as: spr, str, scr, spl, s, ie, ou, -tch, ea, oi, au, dge,
kn-, wr, ph-, -igh, ue, ew, ear, -augh, -ough, -eigh, wor, war, ui, ey, -ind, -ild, old, -ost, ei, gn, and –mb.
Sound Blending
Using small squares of paper, print a word family (rime) on several squares, and
print consonants (such as, p, t, b, s) or consonant blends (such as st-, or fl-, on small
squares of another color. (Sticky notes work well for this) Have the student mix and
match onsets and rimes, then read the words. Some words will be nonsense, or made-up
words (e.g. [sn-] and [-ost] makes “snost” or [k] and [og] makes “kog.” These words can
also be read aloud and identified as a real or nonsense word.
23
APPENDIX B
Activities for Developing Phonological Awareness Skills
Literacy Activities for Teachers, Parents, and Speech-Language Pathologists, is a
collection of ready-made literacy activities for use with the student. These activities were
included to improve literacy skills by strengthening phonological awareness abilities and
increase sound-symbol association. The following are lists of activities to help the
student establish a foundation in literacy, phonological awareness, and decoding skills.
While reading the Story Builder book say, “This says “___” (rhyme). When the
letters __ and __ are together they will say ___. What’s this say? This says, “____.” For
example, “This says, ‘op.’ When the letters [o] and [p] are together they will say ‘op.’
What’s this say? This says, ‘op.’”
Activities to increase phonological awareness and support literacy are as follows.
Approval granted by author to reproduce activities from the Sourcebook of Phonological
Awareness Activities: Children’s Classic Literature by C. Goldsworthy, Ph. D (1998).
Phonological Awareness Activities
Word Level:
1. Count Words
a. What to say to the student: “We are going to count words.* How many
words do you hear in this sentence (or phrase)?
24
* To teach word counting to a student who is struggling, use colored blocks, or
another visual to represent each word verbalized. Have the student touch each
block for each word they hear.
2.
Syllable Counting.
b. What to say to the student: “We are going to count syllables* (or parts of
words). “How many syllables do you hear in ‘________’?”
*To teach syllable counting to a student who is struggling, have the student clap
his or her hands to each part of the word or have him/her place his/her hand
under their jaw and count how many times the jaw drops while saying the word.
Phoneme Level
1. Generating words from the story that begin with a particular sound.
a. What to say to the student: “Let’s think of words from the story that start
with certain sounds. Tell me a word from the story that starts with the
sound /___/.” “Ex “The sound /g/.”
b. Note: Give letter sound, not letter name.
i. /p/: penguin, party, pretty
Related Activity: Have the student think of as many words as possible in the story
that begin with a certain sound. What to say to the student: “Tell me all the words you
can remember from the story that start with the sound /___/. (Stimulus sound)
2. Blending sounds in monosyllabic words divided into onset-rime.
25
a. What to say to the student:”Let’s put sounds together to make words. Put
these sounds together to make a word /__/ + /__/ (stimulus sounds)
“What’s the word?”
c + at
3. Matching rhyme.
What to say to the student: “We’re going to think of rhyming words. Which word
rhymes with ‘______’?”
4. Matching initial sound-to-word.
What to say to the student: “I want you to think about first sounds in words” (or
“What sounds words start with or begin with.” “Does ‘______’ start with /__/ or
/__/?” (stimulus sounds)
5. Supplying initial sound in words.
What to say to the student: “I want you to listen to two words I say then tell me
what sound is missing ‘_______, _____.’” (stimulus word) “What sound do you
hear in ‘_____’ that is missing in ‘______’?”
6. Substituting final sound in words.
What to say to the student: “We’re going to change sounds in words. Say
‘_____.’ Instead of /__/ say /__/.”
7. Identifying all sounds in words.
What to say to the student: “Tell me all the sounds you hear in the word I say.
What sounds do you hear in the word ‘_____’?”
26
8. Phoneme switching.
What to say to the student: “We’re going to change the first sounds in words. If
we change the first sounds in the words ‘red’ ‘cat’ we would say ‘ked’ ‘rat.’
27
APPENDIX C
Story Builder Book
See the separate book titled Story Building and Literacy Activities. The three
stories for Kindergarten, First, and Second grades are contained in this single bound
book. In the Story Builder, the book for Kindergarten grade level is referred to as Book
1, First grade is Book 2, and Second grade is Book 3. Grade levels are not referenced
directly in the book as to not discourage an older student (e.g., a third grader) from
wanting to read a story designed for a younger student because of the grade-level
reference.
Throughout the three books, the student changes the onset to change the meaning
of the word, phrase, or sentence. Samples from each of the books are as follows:
In Book 1 (Kindergarten) the story says: “The letters [a] and [t] together say
‘-at.’” The student can choose a [b], [h], [m], or [r] to add before [-at], which allows the
student to make four words, bat, hat, mat, or rat. The student turns to page and can do the
same activity to make a sentence, such as, “A bat with a hat, fell on a mat,” or “A hat
with a bat, fell on a mat.”
In Book 2 (1st grade), the student can fill in the onsets on the page to build many
different sentences using the same word family throughout the sentence. For example,
“May is a cat who naps on a cake” or “Jay is a bat who taps on a rake,” are two
possibilities.
In Book 3 (2nd grade), the student can change the words, phrases, and sentences to
28
change the meaning of the story. For example, the student could use onsets to match the
given picture by building the sentence, “A fish, crab, and shark heard the music.” The
student could build their own sentence that doesn’t match the picture, such as “A dish,
lab, and lark heard the the music.” The student can change the sound effects in Book 3 as
well, for example, “Beep, Bop” can become, “Zeep, Zop.”
29
TABLE 1
The 38 Most Common Phonograms
Listed are the 38 most common phonograms (or word families) in order starting with the
most common.
1.
–ay
11. –ot
21. –op
31. –ab
2.
–ill
12. –ing
22. –in
32. –ock
3.
–ip
13. –ap
23. –an
33. –ake
4.
–at
14. –unk
24. –est
34. –ine
5.
–am
15. –ail
25. –ink
35. –ight
6.
–ag
16. –ain
26. –ow
36. –im
7.
–ack
17. –eed
27. –ew
37. –uck
8.
–ank
18. –y
28. –ore
38. -um
9.
–ick
19. –out
29. –ed
10. –ell
20. –ug
30. -ab
Table by Edward Fry (Rasinski & Zimmerman, 2001, p. vi).
Word families in italics were used in the Story Builder book.
30
TABLE 2
Testing the Alphabet and Sound-Symbol Association
Directions to test consonants and vowel knowledge: Cut a 3x5 card in half widthwise.
Write one consonants or vowel on the card. Have the student name the letter and give
the corresponding sound(s) as a pretest. Optional: Punch a hole in one corner of the card
and attach with a metal ring. As the student masters consonants and vowels, remove
from the ring. The same task can be performed with the word families listed in the parent
handbook (See Appendix A).
Consonants:
11. j
Short Vowels*
Long Vowels*
1. m
12. k
1. a
1. a
2. l
13. v
2. e
2. e
3. s
14. g
3. i
3. i
4. t
15. w
4. o
4. o
5. p
16. d
5. u
5. u
6. f
17. h
7. c
18. y
8. n
19. z
9. b
20. x
10. r
21. q
st
*In 1 grade the student should learn to distinguish long and short vowel sounds in orally
stated single-syllable words (e.g., bit/bite) according to the California Department of
Education English-Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (1997).
31
REFERENCES
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2000). Guidelines for the roles and
responsibilities of the school-based speech-language pathologist. doi:
10.1044/policy.GL2000-00053
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2001). Roles and responsibilities of
speech-language pathologists with respect to reading and writing in children and
adolescents. doi: 10.1044/policy.GL2001-00062
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2007). Scope of practice in speech
language pathology. doi:10.1044/policy.SP2007-00283
California State Department of Education. (1997). English-language arts content
standards for California public schools. Sacramento, CA: CDC Press.
Gillon, G. T. (2004). Phonological awareness: From research to practice. New York:
The Guilford Press.
Goldsworthy, C. L. (1998). Sourcebook of phonological awareness activities:
Children’s classic literature. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group.
32
Goldsworthy, C. L. (2001). Sourcebook of phonological awareness activities:
Children’s Core Literature, Volume II. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing
Group.
Goldsworthy, C. L. (2003). Developmental reading disabilities: A language
based treatment approach, (2nd ed.). New York: Thomas Delmar Learning.
Goldsworthy, C. L. and Pieretti, R. A. (2004). Sourcebook of phonological awareness
activities: Children’s Core Literature, Grades 3 through 5, Volume III. Clifton
Park, NY: Thomas Delmar Learning.
Henry, M. K. (2003). Unlocking literacy: effective decoding & spelling instruction.
Baltimore, MD: Paul H Brooks Publishing Co.
Lyon, A., & Moore, P. (2003). Sound systems: Explicit, systematic phonics in early
literacy contexts. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Paulson, L. H., Noble, L. A., Jepson, S., & Van den Pol, R. (2001). Building early
literacy and language skills. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Rasinski, T. V., & Zimmerman, B. S. (2001). Phonics poetry: Teaching word families.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
33
Savage, J. F. (2004). Sound it out! Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Settlow, L., & Jacovino, M. (2004). How to increase phonemic awareness in the
classroom. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education.