Phonemic Awareness at Home
I know first-hand how difficult it is to teach younger children from a distance.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had plenty of students who have needed “home instruction” because of behavior or medical needs. The bottom line is, it’s not ideal no matter how much technology you have, but you can be an enjoyable and valuable piece of a child’s day!
That being said, little ones who can not yet read fluently pose a different challenge during virtual learning. You can’t just post a page number or a worksheet and expect any learning to happen. They are still learning to read, not reading to learn!
Phonemic awareness is a great basic skill to work on that is fun for kids! Making silly rhymes, mimicking the tempo and cadence of a poem, and even listening to songs are great ways to build phonemic awareness.
As a little “extra” icebreaker to phonemic awareness activities, WonderGrove has songs (some include extension lessons too!).
Here is Miss Flowers to show you a little more about navigating and searching through lessons.
To use music videos in your lessons, follow these steps!
Log on to WonderGrove Learn.
Scroll down to the bottom and look through the “music” section of videos.
Tell students to listen to the lyrics for rhyming words.
Other options: Tell students to listen for multi-syllable words, words that have certain “chunks” in them (CH, SH, OY, etc.).
Come up with your own rhymes, songs, or lists of words that meet the criteria discussed.
Janelle Vargo was an elementary intervention specialist for over ten years in Dayton, Ohio. She has been using WonderGrove animations and lessons for her students both in the resource room and inclusive classrooms since their creation. She currently works as an educational consultant. Janelle has written lessons and articles for private educational companies as well as consulting with companies and school districts looking to make their interventions simple, efficient, and meaningful to children.
She can be contacted at jvargo@wondermediagroup.net.