Supporting Phonemic Awareness in the Classroom

By Meaghan Geary Cryan

Final Project DirectionsAs a final project, you will develop plans for teaching phonemic awareness in your classroom, including plans for assessment procedures, analysis, and activities. This final project template will also include one example of a phonemic awareness assessment and analysis on a student.

Your plans should incorporate at least one of the technology tools explored in this course and include details for other types of phonemic awareness strengthening activities.

Complete this template as the course progresses. This template is due to your facilitator at the end of Session Six. At that time, your facilitator will review your final project and provide feedback for you in the Notes section.

GRADE: Preschool/Pre-K (mixed; ages 3 to 5 years)

SPECIAL NEEDS CONSIDERATIONS: Mackenzie: 4.5 yrs has a Moderate-Severe Phonological Impairment; above average receptive speech, no cognitive delay; fine and gross motor skills are developmentally appropriate; no social delays and/or concerns.

LESSON BLOCK LENGTH: 15 to 20 minutes per activity (an additional 5 minutes may be necessary for setup/ instructions).

IS PHONEMIC AWARENESS CURRENTLY BEING ADDRESSED IN YOUR CLASSROOM? IF SO, HOW?o Phonemic awareness is currently being addressed through a multitude of speech and language exercises and activities, such as:

1.SINGING WITH  RHYMES: "Down by the Bay" and "The Ants Go Marching“

2.SYLLABLE FUN:“Syllable Clapping/Counting” Activity: clap out syllables in each student’s name

3.READING RHYMES: Reading aloud books focused on rhyme, such as Dr Seuss: → Green Eggs and Ham’, ‘Hop on Pop’, ‘The Cat in the Hat’, ‘One Fish Two Fish” → I encourage “filling in the blanks” by pausing at the end of a sentence → Students will chime in to “fill in” the rhyme

•However, all past activities were rather informal Phonemic Awareness Activities, not deliberate, specific and structured.

•As we know from our readings, Phonemic Awareness Skill Instruction is more productive and effective when instruction is both deliberate and purposeful and targeted toward a specific skill (Yopp & Yopp, 2000; B&A)

•Therefore, we have already started to integrate a more goal-oriented, structured (yet playful and fun!!) PA Instruction into our course curriculum.

Part 1: General Information

Part II: Phonemic Awareness

PHONEMIC AWARENESS: A CRITICAL STEP IN READING DEVELOPMENT

While Phonemic Awareness skills can and should be developed prior to the introduction of printed text, Phonemic Awareness provides some of the most essential "building blocks" to a student's early reading development.

o PA is essential to learning to read in an alphabetic writing system b/c letters represent certain sounds or phonemeso PA is fundamental in mapping spoken word to print o PA gives students the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken word and also the understanding that words

and syllables are created through sequences of speech sounds/phonemes (Yopp & Yopp, 1992)

CURRENT ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY:Phonemic Awareness was not being formally assessed prior to this course. Going forward, my goal is to assess PA Skills at regularly scheduled intervals, as recommended (Phonemic Awareness, U of Oregon):

o All Student Goal: to assess all students at least 3 times per school year At-Risk Student Goal: 1-2 times per month

AT-RISK STUDENTS:Early indicators of students at-risk include failure to progress and master developmentally appropriate PA skills even after explicit, repeated, and (if necessary) direct instruction has been given overtime. Issues or delays in the following areas will be monitored closely:1) Group words with similar and dissimilar sounds (such as, hat, bat, car)2) Blend/segment words into syllables 3) Segment a word into a "sequence of sounds“ (decipher where phonemes end/begin)4) Detect, Delete and Manipulate phonemes in initial, final and medial positions 5) History of Speech and/or Language Disorder or Delay (especially, but not limited to, children diagnosed with Phonological Impairments)

FUTURE ASSESSMENTS: In addition to monitoring and observing each student’s skill level, I plan to assess all students at least 3 times per school year (Fall, Winter, Spring) and at-risk students 1-2 times per month.

Part III: Linguistic Components

Yopp & Yopp (2000) give an impressive review on a variety of clever, playful and skill-specific PA Activities. In addition, these activities are cost efficient and easy to integrate into most early education classrooms and/or learning centers. Below (Table 1) I have included some of my favorites:

Table 1: PA ACTIVITIES (YOPP & YOPP, 2000)

Activity PA Skill DescriptionSummary

Pre-AssessmentPrediction

“The Hungry Thing”

(Slepian & Seidler)

Rhyming Nonsense rhymes are clues; encourage children to predict rhyme or makeup new nonsense words.

Developmentally appropriate PA Skill for Pre-K, fairly easy to integrate, but unsure due to speech d/o

“Tikki Tikki Tembo”(Mosel)

Syllables:Segmenting

Clap out the syllables in boys’ names; then go around class, clap out syllables in own names

Easy to integrate, but may prove challenging for my students

“Down By The Bay”

(Raffi)

Rhyming Sing this familiar song, then encourage students to make up their own rhyme

Familiar song, easy to integrate, should prove to be beneficial to class

“Cock-a-Doodle-Moo” (Most)

Phoneme Manipulation

Story uses phoneme addition and substitution; make up other sounds for animals not included

Easy to integrate, will be enjoyable but more challenging PA Skills involved

This Table is based on my pre-assessment beliefs and activities of interest. Post-assessment and initial activities, I gained a better understanding of each student’s abilities and developed additional PA activities to integrate into our classroom curriculum. These activities will be addressed in following slides.

Part IV: Audio Recording Practice

Reflect on this practice. How do you imagine audio recordings will help you teach and your students learn about phonemic awareness?

Audio Recordings & Instruction: Audio recording can benefit instruction in a variety of ways. First of all, Audio recordings could play an extremely helpful role

in instruction and technology. o For example, on an iPAD Application, a student could listen to the audio recordings of phonemes while playing an educational

game.

• Then, the student could practice his own pronunciation by recording his voice onto the iPAD.

• Some apps, for example, “SmartyEars”, will ask the student to record audio files as part of the game/activity, and will then save the recordings in order for the teacher to review the student’s performance and to monitor progress.

Listening Skills & Phonemic Awareness: Listening Skills are a crucial component to the development of Phonemic Awareness.

• Just as an early reader must have visual acuity must develop in order to even begin developing Phonemic Awareness is listening. students explore speech sounds by hearing, feeling and seeing their characteristics and comparing and contrasting their properties.

•Topic: What PA Skills are most important? Why? When should these skills be taught?1st

Recording

•Topic: Practice pronouncing the 40 phonemes in the Applet. Record all phonemes.

2nd Recording

Part V: Student AssessmentWhich assessment will you be using on your student?

Audio Recording of Student Assessment

Assessment used: the Stratford Foundation Phonemic Awareness Assessment Tools (SFPAA) (complete version)

Student Profile:

Mackenzie is a 4.5 yr old girl diagnosed with a Phonological Impairment (moderate-severe)

Speech d/o is purely expressive (she does not have a receptive speech delay)

Her sound production disorder is thought, by some professionals, to be caused by Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

Speech and Phonemic Awareness:

Phonological Impairments are commonly explained as a child’s “underdeveloped system of language”

• Many speech pathologist find that this is due to a lack of Phonemic Awareness

• In addition, most children with diagnosed Phonological Impairments do not seem to realize that they are pronouncing sounds incorrectly and many show increased frustration and agitation when others cannot understand their speech, because to the child, it sounds correct

• However, in Mackenzie’s case, she is aware of her inability to pronounce certain sounds, but cannot physically correct herself due to a sound production issue (and/or CAS)

• Due to Mackenzie’s awareness of her distorted sounds and “unintelligible” speech, I am curious as to whether or not Mackenzie will struggle with Phonemic Awareness and early literacy skills like most children with her diagnosis

Audio Recording of Student Assessment:

Part VI: Assessment AnalysisPart 1: Rhyme Recognition

o The first assessment focused on rhyme recognition. Following the scripted instructions on the SFPA, I first explained what constituted a rhyme (matching final/end sound) and gave my student two examples of rhyming word pairs (cat-fat, gate-skate) and one example of a non-rhyming word pair (cat-dog).

o Although Mackenzie had a bit of difficulty keeping her eyes closed upon instruction, she enjoyed the “thumbs up, thumbs down” instructions, and identified all 8 pairs correctly (8 out of 8).

o Rhyming was clearly Mackenzie’s strength in the overall assessment. This was a welcomed surprise, as I was unsure of her ability to hear and recognize rhyme in the classroom!

 Part 2:Beginning Sounds: Phoneme Isolation

o The second assessment measured Mackenzie’s ability to isolate the beginning sound in a given word. Mackenzie struggled on this task due, in part, to her waning attention, and a number of other possible factors.

o First of all, unlike in the initial assessment, Mackenzie was instructed to repeat the word, in order to help her locate the initial sound. However, due to her speech disorder, she had trouble with this task and was openly frustrated when asked to repeat each word.

o Although she did answer 4/5 correctly, I am not confident she truly understood the exercise. She lacked focus, became fidgety and also kept repeating the phrases “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” from the first assessment.

o In addition, Mackenzie kept trying to introduce rhyming words to the exercise. Since we had been working on rhyming words over the past month or two, I think she was eager to show her mother/teacher that she had developed rhyme awareness!

Part 3:Beginning Sounds: Isolation and Matching

o In the final assessment, Mackenzie’s attention span was completely used up: she was exhausted and confused about the point of the activity. Either she did not understand or listen to the instructions, or she wanted to run the activity herself!

o This area proved to be an area of weakness for Mackenzie, which is not surprising given that she has had no explicit instruction regarding isolating phonemes (yet!).

In Future Assessments:

• In future assessments, I will be sure to assess her with breaks in between exercises. I will plan to assess Mackenzie once she has grown familiar with more than just rhyming. It will be interesting to see how she measures after the new Phonemic Awareness Activities are integrated into our “class curriculum.”

• Overall, what stands out to me most is that I need to be more patient and thoughtful of my student’s age and attention span.

• Furthermore, in my observations post-assessment, I was able to gain some perspective and realized the added struggles involved with assessing your own child. Not only did this present issues for me as the tester, but also for my “student”:

• First of all, I do not think that I ever would have “pushed” another student to complete all three assessments in one sitting. Although it was difficult for me to come to this realization, I am confident that, in the future, I will be more mindful of this and will be as patient and respectful to Mackenzie as I would be with any professional relationship.

• In addition, while listening to the recording of our assessment, I noticed that Mackenzie felt more pressure to achieve success than she would have with an outside tester. In a way, this was also hard for me to come to terms with because I would hate to think that I put too much pressure on my children. However, I do not feel that this is the case: in fact, I believe that most 4 year old children would respond in a similar manner, as parents mean an awful lot to them at this age!

• In the future, I will be cognizant of these observations and make sure that assessments are completed at a slower pace, in an encouraging, low-pressure environment!

Part VI: Assessment AnalysisContinued….

PART VII: STRATEGIES

• Complete Parts VII and VIII of your template

• After reviewing several kinds of phonemic awareness activities at your grade level, you will complete Part VII of your template by adding some select activities to your plan, while providing a rationale for the activities you've selected. You will also complete Part VIII that asks you to align your activities to the relevant Common Core Standards.

• Activity 4: Try out an activity with a student

• Try one of these activities with a student here. Note what went well, what could be changed, what materials were needed, how effective it was, and how the student enjoyed it.

LESSON PLAN SPECIFIC SKILLS TARGETED

PRODUCTS & PERFORMANCES

RELEVANT QUESTIONS

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES(MULTISENSORY)

1. LITERATURE:

Read aloud books that “play with

language”

ALLITERATIONS, RHYMING, NONSENSE WORDS,PHONEME MANIPULATION (ISOLATION, SUBSTITUTION, DELETION)

1) THE HUNGRY THING ACTIVITY

2) COCK-A-DOODLE-MOO

3) THE CAT WHO WORE A POT ON HER HEAD

1) WILL STUDENTS ALL UNDERSTAND THESE ACTIVITIES, GIVEN SPEECH AND AGE RANGE?

2) WILL THE PLAYFUL, FUN ATMOSPHERE RELIEVE STRESS OR FRUSTRATION?

INCREASE FUN & INTERACTION BY INTEGRATING ADDITIONAL LEARNING MODALITIES:

• EACH STUDENT CREATES HUNGRY THING PUPPET; THE STUDENTS COME UP WITH WORDS HE WOULD USE FOR VARIOUS FOOD ITEMS (CUT OUTS).

2. SONGS:

RHYMING, NONSENSE WORDS,PHONEME MANIPULATION (ISOLATION, SUBSTITUTION, DELETION)

1) DOWN BY THE BAY2) MISS MARY MACK3) OLD MACDONALD4) THE ANTS GO MARCHING(VARIATIONS)

1) DO I NEED TO INCLUDE A SONG FOCUSING MORE ON BLENDING SOUNDS?

MUSICAL, RHYTHMIC CLAPPING, KINESTHETIC, AUDITORY, ORAL, ENGAGING FOR ALL!

3. GAMES

ONSET-RIME, RHYMING, ISOLATING, SEGMENTING SOUNDS, SYLLABLES & SENTENCES

1) BINGO2) ELKONIN BOXES3) RHYMING GAMES4) POKER CHIPS5) PA PHONE6) HOPSCOTCH7) REWARD BIN!

1) HOW CAN I MAKE THESE GAMES AS FUN AS POSSIBLE, WITHOUT TAKING AWAY FROM THE EDUCATIONAL ASPECT?

PLAYFUL, ENGAGING, VISUAL AND AUDITORY, KINESTHETIC, SPATIAL AND REWARDING. MANY ACTIVITIES OF THIS NATURE LINK THE PHONEME SOUNDS TO THE VISUAL TEXT, THEREFORE ENCOMPASSING BOTH PHONICS INSTRUCTION AS WELL AS PA.

Table 2 displays the general activities we are currently integrating into our curriculum. Since there are too many to mention in just one slide, I have categorized by type of lesson plan.

Part VII: Strategies, cont.Include strategies you will use in your classroom here.• Activities and procedures:

• All activities will be carried out in a playful and fun manner, but with a deliberate goal in mind as the instructor. • Due to attention span, activities for Phonemic Awareness will be integrated into the daily routine.• Some activities, such as “The Hungry Thing” Puppet Making Activity, was quite easily integrated into our curriculum and

conducted during Arts & Crafts and took approximately 25 minutes to complete.• Other activities, such as songs and story telling, will be conducted during daily “circle time” and will take no longer than 15

minutes.• Extensions and modifications

• Based on the Common Core Standards and the guidelines presented to me in our readings, I will monitor each student closely to observe progress, strengths and individual limitations.

• If a child is even suspected to be at-risk in developing reading skills, then the child will benefit from early, basic phonemic awareness instruction taught explicitly and directly, with increased repetition.

• Furthermore, I will only introduce new phonemic awareness skills once the more basic skills, such as rhyming, sentence segmentation and syllable counting have been mastered. Given my small group size, I have already started to make a chart for each individual, and have been able to introduce more advanced PA Skills, like isolating beginning sounds, in a one-on-one environment with students who have already mastered the basics.

• Materials and resources needed• Most materials needed are easily accessible through the use of book stores, such as the Scholastic online book store and

through Amazon.com. For example, the following books were purchased using Amazon: “The Hungry Thing,” “The Hungry Thing Returns” and “The Hungry Thing Goes to a Restaurant” (all three books written by Jan Slepian & Ann Seidler), ‘Ten Cats Have Hats” and “The Cat Who Wears a Pot on Her Head”(both by Jean Marzollo) and “Cock-a-Doodle-Moo” by Bernard Most.

• Other resources were already present in the classroom, such as Dr. Seuss books for beginning readers (“Hop on Pop” and “Cat in the Hat”), as well as recommended readings like “Tikki Tikki Tembo” retold by Arlene Mosel and “Jamberry” by Bruce Degen.

• Additional Resources that we will continue to use are the LeapPad 2 (2) and the iPad 2 (1).• Websites used

• A number of online resources continue to be helpful, including Reading Rockets (for reference and activity ideas) and Commonwealth Learning Online Institute (for references and peer-reviewed research articles, as well as educational websites, such as pbskids.com).

Part VIII: Common Core Standards• Please list all relevant Common Core Standards here, as well as any of your state’s relevant Proposed Additional Standards

MA.PK.R.F.2 Phonological awareness: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).MA.PK.R.F.2.a Recognize and produce rhyming words (e.g., identify words that rhyme with

/cat/ such as /bat/ and /sat/).MA.PK.R.F.2.b Segment words in a simple sentence read or spoken.MA.PK.R.F.2.c Identify the initial sound of a spoken word and generate a list of words that

have the same initial sound.

MA.PK.S.L.5 Create representations of experiences or stories (e.g., drawings, paintings, constructions of blocks or other materials, clay models) and explain them to others.MA.PK.S.L.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

MA.PK.R.F.3 Phonics and Word Recognition: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.MA.PK.R.F.3.a Link an initial sound to the corresponding printed letter and a picture of an object that begins with that letter (e.g., link the initial sound /b/ to a printed “B” and to a picture of a ball).

Part IX: TechnologyCreate a Phonemic Awareness Activity using technology.

1.1) BRAINSTORMING PROCESS: Students will pick an appropriate, teacher approved “Word Family” based on instruction and examples

2) Our classroom will use the MY STORY APP available on the iPAD OR STORYJUMPER (storyjumper.com) on the COMPUTER, if iPADs are not available please visit storyjumper.com. For the purpose of today’s lesson, I will be focusing on the MY STORY APP.

• Summary of the App: “My Story is perfect for young students because it offers a simple set of features: drawing, voice recording, photos, and text for each page of an unlimited number of books. Kids can rearrange their pages, use 20 different colors with three different brushes, and start/stop recording with the tap of a button.” – MYSTORYAPP.COM

2.3) Using a Word Family list and teacher support, each student will create a Word Family book using the app. For example, the “at” family would be an easy word family for a beginner- in fact, my student Mackenzie is starting with this word family herself.

3.4) Student will create a basic story using the clipart and/or pictures provided in the app (I will make sure the proper clip art is available ahead of time.

4.5) Once the book is completed, each child will practice and record an audio component . In this component, the child will record her voice using the audio record feature. This component will help the student practice speaking and listening to develop a solid understanding for word families and Phonemic Awareness.

5.6) Once story books and audio recording is complete, we will publish the book and sit back and enjoy our story!

Activity: Online Story Books

Using an online story book creating program, each student will create a “Word Family Book”

Part IX: Technology Continued (Part 2)

Technology Resources:1) LITERACY APPS FOR STRUGGLING LEARNERS By Harvey Pressman and Andrea Pietrzyk; Central Coast Children’s Foundation, Inc.2) 6 iPhone, iPad, iTouch Apps for Teaching Children How to Read: http://www.iphoneandkids.com/2010/09/6-iphone-ipad-itouch-apps-for-teaching- children-how-to-read.html3) APPS FOR LITERACY INSTRUCTION: http://www.inov8- ed.com/2011/03/theres-a-special-app-for-that-part-7-apps-that-support-literacy- instruction/This site breaks literacy down into categories, such as phonics and reading fluency.4) ENCHANTED LEARNING WEBSITE (enchantedlearning.com)5) PINTEREST & FACEBOOK groups and/or recommended App pages are also a useful tool and help to keep one "up-to-date" as technology quickly advances!

Language & Literacy Apps that I personally recommend:1) iLearnWith Apps (iLearnWith.com):

•Offers cross-curricular apps developed by the same makers of PBS KIDS PLAY! And CBC WONDERWORLD learning programs (award winning programs). •Each student/child has his/her own profile and parents/teachers can monitor each child through Progress Tracking offered on the app.•There are also rewards given to the student as they progress, along with recommendations to advance to new levels of learning based on progress made!•My 4 year old really enjoys these in particular:

•Learn with Boing!•Ocean•Weather

•These applications have also come highly recommended, although I have not yet tried:• iWriteWords, iPlay & Sing, iKidsPlay

2)Lakeshore Apps:Lakeshore Phonics Tic Tac Toe GameLakeshore interactive Sound Sorting Game (Beginning Sounds)

3) GRASSHOPPER APPS (Grasshopperapps.com):•Sentence Maker•Bitsboard - APP OF THE YEAR•Rhyming Words

4) SmartyEars Apps (SmartyEars.com):•I have the Oral Motor App and Articulation Station•All Apps are made by a speech language pathologist, but I would think that there may be benefits in using the app for early Phonemic Awareness as well as early reading/literacy development•In one activity, children view a scene focusing on a letter in either the initial, medial or final position and can record their own voice making up a story.•I believe the option to listen to an audio of each word is available throughout the entire application, and the students are also given the option of recording their own voice saying each word, which they are then able to listen to themselves! •In addition, these apps offer parent tracking capabilities and exciting reward activities and prizes (there is a trophy case for each letter in initial, final and medial positions for each target sound in the Articulation Station App!)•The Articulation Station added a new feature which offers "homework sheets" to parents/teachers: these sheets list all of the words used in each scene to help aid in the student's progress outside the app itself.

5) Speech Journal•Speech Journal is a customizable voice recorder that lets you pair recorded messages with your own imported images and image sequences. Parents, teachers and speech-language pathologists can create customized picture sequences, multi-step picture schedules, articulation drills, expressive language exercises, multi-step directions, individualized social stories, sample conversations and more.

Part IX: Technology Continued (Part 3)

Part X: Reflection

Technology in our current curr iculum has centered around iPad appl icat ions, rather than on desktop/ laptop-based computer games. I would say that, on average, students have the opportunity to use the iPad for language-based games once dai ly : sessions on the iPad could last anywhere from 10 minutes to 25 minutes, depending upon the act iv i ty. While certain appl icat ions work best with adult support , there are also appl icat ions avai lable to the students which promote independent play as wel l . One of the best features to these appl icat ions is that they alow the teacher to set up a prof i le for each student and monitor student progress in specif ic areas. This not only al lows for independent play, but also keeps a more rel iable, quant i tat ive record of raw data and basic stat is t ics than I would be able to record on each indiv idual myself . Furthermore, many appl icat ions al low me to adjust the act iv i ty based on each chi ld’s level o f phonemic awareness.

• In addit ion to the iPad, each student has an indiv idual Leap Pad 2, which is a tablet designed specif ical ly for chi ldren ages 3 to 9 years of age. Similar to certain iPad appl icat ions, the teacher or parent can set up an indiv idual prof i le on each student and target specif ic sk i l l sets to monitor progress and record data. Obviously, this is an expensive resource and I real ize i t is not feasible in most c lassrooms, but I wanted to include this technology as i t is an integral technological component to my current curr iculum.

•Computer-Based Approach Interest ingly, my students have had very l i t t le exposure to technology without a “ touch screen” feature, which created a major obstacle as we tested the var ious recommended PA Act iv i t ies l is ted in Session 5’s Table. My students did not have the computer sk i l ls necessary to perform any of the act iv i t ies independent ly. I feel remiss in having not introduced my classroom to an actual computer and how to navigate using a mouse and a key pad. Since this wi l l prove to be an essent ial ski l l in their educat ion, I plan to incorporate computer sk i l ls into the curr iculum as wel l . I am conf ident that my “ tech savvy” students wi l l quick ly learn how to operate a desktop/ laptop computer, and there are an endless amount of playful, educat ional phonemic awareness and ear ly l i teracy games and act iv i t ies to unleash in this realm!

Another benef i t of using the computer as a technology tool is the student- teacher interact ion. My c lassroom enjoyed v iewing the act iv i t ies on a larger screen and working with one another to answer quest ions. As the teacher, I enjoyed being more engaged with the chi ldren as we played the games, s ince they were rely ing more on my instruct ion than i f they had been playing indiv idual ly on the iPad or Leap Pads. This al lowed me to answer any quest ions or confusion more readi ly, whereas on the iPad chi ldren sometimes just “guess” unt i l the answer is correct. I also enjoyed the f lashplayer capabi l i t ies and overal l speed using the laptop . Furthermore, the computer screen is much bigger and al lows the students and I to v iew the act iv i ty with more clar i ty, providing a much better v isual st imulus .

IN CONCLUSION, I THINK THAT THE COMPUTER WILL BE A USEFUL TOOL IN OUR CLASSROOM, AND WILL ALLOW FOR INDEPENDENT PLAY AS WELL AS SMALL GROUP INTERACTIVE LEARNING. AS THE

INSTRUCTOR, THE COMPUTER ALLOWS ME TO MONITOR AND CONTROL THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE MORE READILY, AND EXPANDS THE REALM OF ACTIVITY POSSIBILITIES. I AM INTERESTED IN WORKING MORE ON

VOICE RECORDING, CREATING OUR OWN CARTOONS OR ANIMATED “SHORTS” (MOVIES) AND “PUBLISHING” OUR OWN STORY BOOKS USING SELF-RECORDED AUDIO STORY TELLING.

I PLAN TO INTEGRATE COMPUTER-BASED GAMES INTO MY CURRENT CURRICULUM 2-3 TIMES PER WEEK, USING SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION .

Essay for Final Credit Requirements• Write a succinct three page essay about what you have learned, how you will apply the

knowledge, and reflect on how the CCSS is designed to increase student success.

I am truly impressed with the amount of academic knowledge and applicable instruction skills gained through this course. At the beginning of the course, I had a rather limited understanding  of Phonemic Awareness and was unsure as to whether or not one class could  train me thoroughly enough for me to feel comfortable instructing or assessing Phonemic Awareness professionally (or even privately, with my own children!).

• •Fortunately, the education and resources I have received during this course have exceeded my expectations. The excellent resources, readings, instruction and insightful class discussions have allowed me to acquire a confident level of understanding on the topics of Phonemic Awareness, the Common Core Standards and the development of early language and literacy skills in general.

• In fact, I am not only confident that I have developed a solid foundation on early reading development, but I am eager to learn more! The phonemic awareness activities we learned about in class were so readily accessible and developmentally appropriate for my “class” that I have already integrated PA instruction into the class curriculum and my family’s daily routine.

Essay for Final Credit Requirements

• Interestingly, as soon as we started to learn about the various skills involved in the development of phonemic awareness, I was able to apply it into our daily schedule in small but significant improvements in my student’s PA skills has already been observed!

• I think that the CCSS is designed to increase the student’s success by aiding the teacher in the instructional process. As discussed in the Yopp & Yopp (2000) article, the most effective method of teaching phonemic awareness includes intentional and deliberate instruction. The CCSS provide the foundation for me to build up my program and helps me to maintain the focus of the activity/PA skill at hand.

• PHONEMIC AWARENESS & AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

• Phonemic Awareness is the ability to think consciously about and perform mental operations on speech sound units such as segmenting, blending, deleting, and changing order of speech-sound sequences. In addition, Phonemic Awareness contributes tour knowledge of how words and sentences are formed, and that spoken words or syllables can be thought of as a sequence of phonemes.

• I think that the audio recording element offered in a wide variety of language apps available through iTunes will prove incredibly beneficial to my class curriculum. The auditory element of the speech sound is connected to the more basic oral motor activity by which the sound is produced.

• In addition, for a perfectionist like Mackenzie, voice recording can and should be used to practice, record and listen to the phonemes located within a word. This feature will also help me to monitor her PA skill level and advance her accordingly- or provide more direct support if she is struggling to understand a concept.

OTHER PA ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS 

• My classroom has already enjoyed many of the activities discussed in our readings, specifically the Yopp & Yopp article, which gives a great description of each activity based on targeted Phonemic Awareness Skill. My students and I have laughed our way through every book in the “Hungry Thing” trilogy and had a great time creating Hungry Thing Puppets and asking for creative and funny nonsense rhyming words for common foods (sproccoli for broccoli, pettuce for lettuce, etc)

RESOURCES & REFERENCES

• In conclusion, I think that one of the best features of the entire course was presenting us, the students, will various online resources. The amount of information and activities available online is phenomenal, and I feel more comfortable assessing which activities are safe & sound based on my reference back to the Common Core Standards for Pre-K and even Kindergarten!

• Thank you!

Essay for Final Credit Requirements