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All About Teaching Reading & Writing
Taxonomy
Skill Explainer

6. Student Practice Activities for Letter Names and Sounds

Letter Names and Sounds Skill Explainer

The Simple View of Reading

Word Recognition x Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

Assessment

The process of measuring students' progress and providing information to help guide instruction

(active)
Word Recognition

The ability to see a word and know how to pronounce it without consciously thinking about it

Phonological Awareness

A group of skills that enable you to recognize and manipulate parts of spoken words

Articulation

Syllables

Onset-Rime

Phonemic Awareness

(active)
Phonics

A method for teaching children the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters so they can learn to decode and encode

(active)Sound-Letter Correspondence

Phonics Patterns

Common letter combinations found in words.

Short Vowels Skill Explainer
Closed Syllables Skill Explainer
Glued Sounds Skill Explainer
Open Syllables Skill Explainer
Spelling with 'c' vs. 'k' Skill Explainer
Consonant Digraphs Skill Explainer
Blends Skill Explainer
‘-ck’ Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
FLoSS(Z) Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
‘y’ as a Vowel Skill Explainer

Coming soon.

    Magic 'e' Skill Explainer
    Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' Skill Explainer

    Coming soon.

      R-Controlled Vowels Skill Explainer

      Coming soon.

        Vowel Teams and Dipthongs Skill Explainer

        Coming soon.

          '-tch' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
          '-dge' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer
          Consonant '-le' Skill Explainer

          Coming soon.

            Schwa Skill Explainer

            Coming soon.

              Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

              High-frequency words that have a part of their spelling that has to be memorized

              Irregularly Spelled High-Frequency Words

              Multisyllable Words

              Words that have more than one word part

              Prefixes

              How to add meaningful beginnings to words

              Suffixes

              How to add meaningful endings to words

              Language Comprehension

              The ability to understand the meaning of spoken words

              Reading Comprehension

              The ability to understand the meaning of printed text

              Text Considerations

              Characteristics of a text that impact the ease or difficulty of comprehension.

              Strategies and Activities

              How a reader approaches a specific text, depending on their purpose for reading

              Reader’s Skill and Knowledge

              The skills and knowledge a reader brings to the reading task that are necessary for comprehension

              Sociocultural Context

              Elements in a classroom that affect how well a child learns to read

              Fluency

              The ability to read accurately with automaticity and expression

              Fluency: Accuracy, then Automaticity

              Reading or decoding words correctly (accuracy) and reading at an appropriate rate (automaticity)

              Accuracy, then Automaticity Skill Explainer

              Coming soon.

                Fluency: Expressive Text Reading

                Reading characterized by accuracy with automaticity and expression

                Expressive Text Reading Skill Explainer

                Coming soon.

                  Writing

                  The act of putting thoughts into print using transcription and composition skills

                  Features of Structured Literacy

                  A systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading based on research

                  Students need lots of opportunities to practice sound-letter correspondence skills so that they can build accuracy and automaticity on the way to fluent reading. We've included five free printable student practice activities below. Please download and share them with your colleagues!  

                  Before your students begin the activities, make sure that they understand how to complete them. You can model the activities in a whole group setting or in a small group

                  Then they'll be ready to work on the activities independently ... at their seat, at a center, or in a small group. Keep an eye out for students who may need you to step in and scaffold. It's best to have a recording sheet or something that students will turn in so that you can ensure they are completing the activity correctly. Some may need quick, explicit, positive correction. Others may need additional instruction in this area.

                  Dominoes with Letter Names

                  Use this small-group activity with students to practice recognizing lowercase and uppercase letters, and reading letter names aloud.

                  Missing Letters

                  Use this activity with students to practice recognizing lowercase letters. Students can do it independently or with partners.

                  Alphabet Arc Letter Names

                  Use this activity with students to practice recognizing lowercase and uppercase letters, and reading letter names and letter sounds aloud. Students can work independently or in small groups.

                  Letter Sounds Bingo

                  Use this small-group activity to practice recognizing uppercase and lowercase letters.

                  Shaving Cream Fun!

                  Use this activity to help students practice lowercase letter formation and identifying letter sounds. This can be done in small groups or with a partner.

                  Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and three anonymous donors.