Comprehension of written language depends largely upon the child’s effective use and understanding of oral language. Language experiences are a central component of good reading instruction. Children learn a great deal about the world, about themselves, and about each other from spoken language.

General instructional activities in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms that focus on listening, speaking, and understanding include the following: 

Poetry
Poetry is integrated into our thematic units for students to recite and sing. For the study of the five senses, the children recite:

Dellview Elementary-San Antonio, TX Kindergarten
Poetry
In first grade, oral language and reading skills are reinforced through the use of poetry binders. Each child brings a 1" or 1.5" ringed binder to school (part of the yearly school supply list). Once a week, each child is given a copy of one or more poems to read, recite, and illustrate. Thematic-based poems are emphasized in all academic areas.

Dellview Elementary-San Antonio, TX First Grade
Reading directionality 
Children look at a picture and model the some actions depicted in the picture. The picture has an arrow under it showing that the students move from left to right. The teacher touches the first picture and says, "This is what you do first." (The teacher models by touching her head.) She then says, "Show me what you do first." The children touch their heads. The teacher then says, "This is what you do next." (The teacher models by opening her mouth.) She then says, "Show me what you do next." The children open their mouths. The teacher repeats the activity. The teacher says to the children, "See if you can remember what you did first and what you did next. Show me what you did first." The children touch their heads. "Show me what you did next." The children open their mouths. The teacher then asks individual students to repeat the activity. This concept is reinforced as children work on written activities in which directionality is indicated by arrows moving left to right and top to bottom.

Wesley Elementary-Houston, TX Kindergarten
Class discussions with counselor 
The school counselor conducts sessions that enable children to express themselves while they practice their language skills and build their vocabulary. These sessions, called Magic Circle, are 30-45 minute sessions in which students are given the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions in words. The key to the Magic Circle session is communication. Besides expressing themselves, participants also become good listeners. Magic Circle also promotes a sense of honesty, respect, and willingness to accept others’ opinions.

Heights Elementary-Laredo, TX All Grades

An appreciation and understanding of the purposes and functions of written language are essential to motivate a child to learn to read. Children must become aware that printed language is all around them on signs, billboards, and labels, and in books, magazines, and newspapers, and that print serves many different purposes.

Reading and writing instruction that focuses on the use and appreciation of written language includes the following:

Life experiences 
The teacher presents a series of daily activities that revolve around the calendar posted in the classroom. She may begin with the days of the week or the months of the year. The teacher says, "Let’s say the months of the year." Children say, "January, February,…" The teacher may then ask, "How many months are in a year?" Even though the are printed on the board, Children are not reading them at this time. They are able to answer all of the teacher’s questions. Then the class moves to the letter-of-the-day activity, which requires children to provide words that begin with that letter. Children often give words that are familiar to them because of experiences out side of the classroom. (Letter m-a student may say McDonald's) Children are also able to "read" signs on the bathroom doors, exit signs, handicapped parking areas, stop signs, and school zones.

Wesley Elementary-Houston, TX Kindergarten
Interactive bulletin boards 
Word Wall: Students utilize word walls and thematic bulletin boards to aid them with their reading and writing activities. Words are categorized and alphabetized.

Dellview Elementary-San Antonio, TX First Grade
Poetry on charts 
Lines of a poem are written on sentence strips for students to read and recite. Sentence strips are placed out of order for students to place in correct order. (The teacher emphasizes beginning sounds, punctuation, and rhyming words!)

Dellview Elementary-San Antonio, TX Kindergarten
Multisensory activities: Writing in memory boxes (salt trays) 
Sound-symbol relationship is reinforced through use of visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile channels. Students simultaneously pronounce and write the letters in the salt whereby the sound, symbol, and directionality for visual and auditory memory is reinforced. The students say the sound out loud (a says /a/; /a/ is a) while forming the symbol in the memory box.

Nathan Adams Elementary-Dallas, TX Kindergarten
Language experience charts 
The teacher writes student-dictated responses to create: 

Nathan Adams Elementary-Dallas, TX First Grade
Print-rich environment school wide 
Children’s written work is on display throughout the building thus providing others the opportunity to see inside the classroom simply by walking through the halls. Teachers, parents, students, and guests to the building learn more new information and vocabulary from hall displays. Students’ works are recognized and praised during morning announcements.

Nathan Adams Elementary-Dallas, TX Kindergarten

Awareness that sentences are made up of groups of separate words and that words are made up of separate sounds is fundamental to the understanding that oral language is represented in written form. The ability to think about words as a sequence of sounds and to manipulate the individual sounds is an important step in learning to read an alphabetic language. In fact, research has shown conclusively that children’s phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of their success in learning to read.

The kinds of instructional activities that promote understanding and use of the building blocks of spoken language can be generally described to include the following:

Choral word blending 
We play a game with the students by speaking various words. We say each word in pieces, first the initial consonant, then the remainder of the word. Students chorally speak the entire word as a whole. For example, the teacher says, "/l/…unch." Students reply, "lunch." This can also be done with the help of a puppet. Pretend the puppet has difficulty saying the word as a whole, and the class’ job is to help the puppet say the word correctly. The reverse process can also be done with the puppet for practice with segmentation. The teacher says the entire word, and the puppet copies the teacher but omits the first phoneme. For example, the teacher says, "cow." The puppet relies, "ow." Students can then predict the puppet’s response to additional words.

Cedar Valley Elementary—Killeen, TX First Grade
Jingles, rhymes, and words 
We teach the children various songs and rhymes, such as "Willaby Wallaby Woo," "Apples and Bananas," and "Down By the Bay." Students are able to play with phonemes by substituting sounds to complete the lyrics as the class sings. In "Willaby Wallaby Woo" and Down By the Bay," students change the initial sounds of words to create rhymes at the end of phrases. Students predict and suggest new endings with each singing. In "Apples and Bananas, students substitute medial long and short vowel sounds. Students predict the words as they learn the song the first time, then practice further at later times.

Cedar Valley Elementary—Killeen, TX First Grade
Echo and blending sounds 
The teacher starts the game by saying sound /b/, and children repeat sound /b/. The teacher says another sound /a/. Children repeat that sound /a/. The teacher says another sound /g/. Children repeat sound /g/. Children blend all three sounds together to make a word. The teacher guides the activity by indicating with a signal whose turn it is to speak. Ex. The teacher says, "my turn." The teacher signals, "your turn."

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Echo a sound (lyric) 
The teacher says: "What’s the sound that starts these words: turtle, time, and teeth?" Students say: "/T/ is the sound that starts these words: turtle, time and teeth. With a /t / /t/ here and a /t/ /t/ there, here a /t/, there a /t/, everywhere a /t/ /t/. A /t/ is the sound that starts these words: turtle, time, and teeth."

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Nursery rhymes 
Children are taught various songs and rhymes, such as "Humpty Dumpty," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and "Little Boy Blue." These are usually introduced to the students using picture cards, puppets, and music with emphasis placed on the sounds and lyrics of the nursery rhyme being taught. Initial sounds, endings, and blends, as well as long and short vowels, are emphasized to allow the students to play with phonemes as they sing in class.

Heights Elementary—Laredo, TX Kindergarten
Following directions 
Students practice phonemic awareness through directional activities such as the Alphabet Toss. The teacher says a letter of the alphabet and tosses the ball to a student. The child says a word that begins with that letter. Then he/she says another letter and tosses the ball to someone else. Whoever catches the ball has to say a word that begins with the letter given by the person who tossed the ball. Students must listen carefully for the new letter and follow multiple directions to be successful at this game.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX First Grade
Songs and poems 
To enhance phonemic awareness and recognize short vowel sounds, we use vowel songs. One example that we use is a song to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" The song contains words with short /a/ sounds. There are verses that coordinate with each vowel sound. Ex.

Songs adapted from Carson Dellosa.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX First Grade 

Syllable bounce 
This game reinforces the syllable concept by bouncing a ball for the number of syllables in a word. With his/her eyes closed, ask a child to pick a picture out of a container. The child identifies a picture and bounces the ball the correct number of syllables. For instance, the child would bounce twice while saying slowly "pen-cil."

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Deletion of letters 
We play a game from the Lundberg Phonemic Awareness Manual called Spider’s web. This activity reduces words to beginning and ending sounds (not spellings). Children sit in a circle, and the teacher explains that sometimes when you take a sound away from a word, it makes a new word. The teacher gives the first word and rolls a ball of yarn to the first child. The child responds with the initial sound of the word given by the teacher (e.g., The teacher says "mice," and a student responds /m/). The first child holds onto the end of the yarn and sends the ball to the next child who responds with the new word (e.g., "ice"). Teacher says the next word as the ball of yarn is rolled to another child, creating a web. The children should practice with the spider web several times before doing the game. Playing the Spider Web game may be more manageable in small groups because less time is spent re-rolling yarn and distances are shorter. (Refer to the manual for a list of word possibilities.)

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX First Grade
Letter-sound relationships 
In kindergarten, Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar is excellent for teaching the /k/ sound. Have the children cup their hands to make a "c" and chomp it by slightly opening and closing the "c" and saying the /k/ sound. A fun art project for reinforcement is a button caterpillar with hole-punched leaves and a real twig.

 The poem "Alligator Pie" makes children hungry, so baking their very own alligator pie is an excellent opportunity to learn the /a/ sound. Children will never forget the /a/ sound! 

The hard /g/ sound is easy when children garden! They plant both vegetables and flowers—a feast for their eyes and their tummies. They also have a Guess What? Box and try to guess what /g/ item is inside. The children also do a number of activities with grapes: they make raisins from grapes; they perform a taste test on different varieties of grapes to identify their favorite; and they graph the results of their taste test. To create a class graph, each student colors and cuts out a picture of a cluster of grapes to indicate their favorite color (green, purple, red); each student’s cluster is pasted on a teacher-prepared graph to illustrate the results of the taste test.

Downs Elementary—San Benito, TX Kindergarten
Rhyming patterns 

Downs Elementary—San Benito, TX Kindergarten
Rhyming with seasonal characters 
This activity encourages multiple rhymes for words. For this game, children are seated in a circle, and the teacher has a seasonal cutout attached to a tongue depressor. The teacher begins by saying, "The snowman is looking for a rat." The cutout is passed to the next child who must make up a rhyme using the same sentence. "The snowman is looking for a hat." When the group runs out of rhymes, the teacher introduces a new word. (The snowman is looking for a log.) Cutouts can be changed during the (witch, turkey, Santa Claus, snowman, valentine, Easter bunny).

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten

Children must also become expert users of the building blocks of written language. Knowledge of alphabetic letters (graphemes) leads to success with learning to read. This includes the use, purpose, and function of letters.

Instruction that helps children learn about the essential building blocks of written language includes the following:

Journal writing 

Teachers write daily events on a large chart tablet as part of the "morning message" activity. Students read the message with the teacher, identify letters, words and punctuation. For journal writing, students have the option to copy the morning message or respond to a teacher-directed writing task that is related to a thematic unit being used that day. 

This activity enhances the students’ ability in identifying:

Dellview Elementary—San Antonio, TX Kindergarten
Sound-letter recognition incorporated into cooking and art activities 

Cooking. The target letter/sound is m. Brainstorm a list of foods beginning with the letter m that can be placed on Mr. Mm’s menu. Students name foods such as marshmallows, macaroni, meatballs, etc. Model write the foods on the menu and highlight the m’s with highlighting tape. Include the students in mixing Mr. Mm’s nix. The mix contains mints, marshmallows, M&M’s, and slices of Milky Way. Stress that we measure, mix, and munch.

Art. Duplicate a large uppercase and lowercase Mm on manila paper. The students cover the Mm’s with macaroni. The macaroni Mm is great for tactile learners to trace with their finger.

Zavala Elementary—Grad Prairie, TX Kindergarten
Alphabetic stamps 
Students use alphabet stamps and stamp the letters of their spelling or vocabulary words on a grid. They then cut each word out separately. Students can put the words in alphabetical order or sort them by the number of letters or by sounds. The words can also be used to form sentences.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX Kindergarten
Manipulative activities using clay and food products 

Nathan Adams Elementary—Dallas, TX Kindergarten
Alphabet flash cards 
The student uses alphabet flash cards to form words and sentences. Pocket charts are utilized for holding the cards. Emphasis is placed on the importance of creating clear, accurate sentences. Flash cards with punctuation marks are used for sentences.

Nathan Adams Elementary—Dallas, TX First Grade
Letter game 
Journey to Z (an alphabet strip is needed). Students choose how many letters that they want to say in order to be the first person to say z. Two students play the game. First student A, B; second student C, D; first student E, F; second student G, H, etc. The first person to say z is the winner.

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Poetry 
Poetry is integrated into our thematic units for students to recite and sing. Ex: As part of the study of the letter M, we use this poem by Myra Cohn Livingston—"Reflections."

Dellview Elementary—San Antonio, TX Kindergarten

Increasing awareness in children of the sounds of spoken language and their familiarity with the letters of written language prepares them to understand the alphabetic principle—that written words are composed of patterns of letters that represent the sounds of spoken words. Effective instruction provides children with explicit and systematic teaching of sound-letter relationships in a sequence that permits the children to assimilate and apply what they are learning.

Instruction that helps children understand the alphabetic principle and learn the most common relationships between sounds and letters includes the following:

Blending consonant plus vowel patterns 
Teachers use a Go Fishing game to provide students practice sounding out words with the C-V-C (consonant, vowel, consonant) pattern. Pictures that illustrate animals or objects that have names with a CVC pattern (hat, tub, mat, cat) are glued on fish-shaped cutouts with a paper clip attached. The name of the object is written below the picture. A child fishes with a small magnet attached to a string. The child looks at the picture and word and sounds out each phoneme. 

rat

r-a-t 

After the child sounds out the word, another child answers with a sentence: "you caught a _______." The child who answers is the next person to "go fishing," etc.

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Build a word 
Children are given a certain number of letters they will need to use to spell and build a given set of words. The teacher tells the children to spell "at," then to add a letter to make "sat." Then children are asked to change the/s/ to an /h/ and tell what new word has been built. This activity continues until a set of words is created. It is also possible to change the vowel and the ending consonant to create new words.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX Kindergarten of First Grade
Word Play
Each student is provided with a set of alphabet letter cards. The students put the letters in the correct sequence to form the alphabet. Then the teacher shows a picture of a simple word like "mop." The students and teacher say the word and then repeat it slowly, unblending the sounds. The students choose the corresponding letters from their alphabet to spell the word. When first learning the sounds, students may only choose the initial sound. Later they work on medial and final sounds until they can spell the entire word. This is an excellent way to help kindergarten students learn ABC order, letter recognition, sound-symbol relationships, sound position, and even word recognition.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX Kindergarten
Games and activities focused on alphabetic order 

Nathan Adams Elementary—Dallas, TX First Grade and Second Grade
Rhyming word families 

Nathan Adams Elementary-Dallas, TX First Grade and Second Grade
Individual wall picture cards 
The teacher utilizes brightly colored picture cards representing people, places, and objects. Picture cards are displayed either on the wall or on the chalkboard. These pictures are visible to all students. During a phonics activity, the teacher refers to these pictures and emphasizes initial letters with sounds. The children are asked to identify the letter with the respective sound by listening to the teacher and repeating the target sound. Children work individually, or in some cases, in cooperative working groups. Children are then asked to trace and write the letter on paper, allowing them to learn which printed letter goes with which corresponding sound.

Heights Elementary—Laredo, TX Kindergarten
Add-a-letter 
Teacher-made individual word-builder pocket charts are made from manila folders. Letters are placed in plastic bags. The teacher says a word ("bag"). Students say the word. The teacher tells the students to find the letters in the plastic bag to spell the word and place them in the word builder pocket chart. Next the teacher says the word "tag." Students find the letter for the /t/. Students remove /b/ and place /t/ in the word builder pocket chart.

Variation: Alphabet cereal is placed in bags. Butcher paper is placed on each desk. The teacher says a word. Students find the letters to spell the word and place them on the desk.

Ex. "fat" – find /f/, "cat" – find /c/

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten

Picture cards 

We use picture cards to play games with students. Often students match pictures that have the same beginning sounds and ending sounds. As we introduce the various letters, we play games to discriminate the new letter sound. The cards are used to match rhyming picture cards with a word card. We also clap out the picture and sort how many parts/syllables there are in the word. We make game boards using poster board to help assess the students’ understanding. The game boards are divided into nine sections with a letter sound in the center box. Students sort through the picture cards and match the picture card to the corresponding game board.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX First Grade
Letter tiles 

Whole Group Activity: To help introduce the vocabulary words in a particular story during circle time, the teacher uses magnetic alphabet letters and a cookie sheet to display them. Children help the teacher arrange letters to form a word. 

Small Group Activity (four to six students at a time): The teacher uses individual sets of cards for each student. The teacher models or pose problems to the group. Then each child will use his/her own sets of letter cards to respond to the teacher. 

Letter tiles are used to introduce and practice letter recognition, word families, and rhyming patterns.

Dellview Elementary—San Antonio, TX First Grade

Efficient decoding strategies permit readers to quickly and automatically translate the letters or spelling patterns of written words into speech sounds so that they can identify words and gain rapid access to their meanings. Children must learn to identify words quickly and effortlessly so that they can focus on the meaning of what they are reading. 

Research indicates that good readers rely primarily on print rather than on pictures or context to help them identify familiar words and to figure out words they have not seen before. For this reason, it is important that children learn effective sounding-out strategies that will allow them to decode words they have never seen in print. Some strategies of decoding instruction focus primarily on the relationships between sounds and letters; others combine letter-sound practice with word families, with word parts (Ex: onsets and rhymes), and with blending activities. More advanced decoding strategies focus on structural analysis, the identification of root words, and prefixes and suffixes. 

Instruction should introduce "irregular" words in a reasonable sequence and use these words in the program’s reading materials. It is important to realize, however, that essentially all words must become "sight words"—words children identify quickly, accurately, and effortlessly.

Blending 
Blending sounds together to make words is a critical step in reading. Blending practice begins as soon as the student knows two sounds. The teacher models the practice by pointing to the /a/ in "am" and saying /aaa/ (short /a/ sound) for two seconds, and then by pointing to the /m/ in "am" and saying/mmm/ again for two seconds. Students then say the sounds (holding each for two seconds as the teacher points to the letters). Students are then asked to say the word the "fast way." The students say "am." The teacher repeats the task and then allows individual students the opportunity to "sound out" a word.

Wesley Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten and first Grade
Teaching ending buildups

Children read the word (kiss) the "fast way" and the teacher says, "If this word is kiss, then this word must be kiiisss…," and points to the "d". Children say, "kissed."

Wesley Elementary—Houston, TX Third Grade
 In a similar activity, the teacher places a list of words on the board. She says, "you're going to read these words. Then I'm going to change each word." The students read the words out loud.

The teacher then adds "ed" to the end of each word. The students read the words.

The teacher may then erase the "ed" on every word or erase "ed" on some of the words and have the children read the list again.

Reading words the fast way 

Students read words (the fast way) in a column without sounding them out. This activity is designed to help build fluency and automaticity in reading.

Wesley Elementary—Houston, TX First Grade through Third Grade
Rhyming stories 
The teacher writes the word "at" on the chalkboard. Students sound out the word. The teacher writes (onset) "r" in front of word "at." the students sound out "rat." The teacher writes "cat" and says each letter aloud as she writes the word. The teacher reads "rat, cat," stressing the rhyme. The teacher asks, "What other words rhyme with rat and cat?" A sample response is "hat". When all of the words have been written on the board, the teacher tells the students that they can begin writing their story. Students dictate the sentences, and the teacher writes them on the board. The teacher reads the story and students tell the teacher the words that rhyme. The teacher underlines the rhyming words.  

The teacher reads a familiar nursery rhyme and writes the nursery rhyme on the board, omitting the rhyming word. The teacher reads the nursery rhyme and the students must supply the missing word. (The word must rhyme.)

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten

Word game to learn sight words 
Prepare a sign on poster board and laminate it on the classroom door.

Students say the password when entering the classroom every morning, after lunches and after restroom breaks. Words are changed on the door weekly. The teacher models sentences using the sight words. Students dictate sentences using these words. The teacher writes them on the board. Students illustrate these words in their journals. After the words are taken off the door, they are placed on the word wall.

Mading Elementary—Houston, TX Kindergarten
Nursery rhymes 
To promote literacy, nursery rhymes are utilized in the first grade classrooms to enhance expression and fluency. Additionally, they are used to reinforce family words for phonetic skill development. Nursery rhymes are available on large, colorful charts. A large, clear acetate cover is placed over the chart. Students use erasable marker to circle words that represent certain patterns as instructed by the teacher.

Downs Elementary—San Benito, TX First Grade

As children learn to read and write words, they become aware of how these words are spelled. Children’s increasing awareness of spelling patterns hastens their progress in both reading and writing. In the early grades, spelling instruction must be coordinate with the program of reading instruction. As children progress, well-organized, systematic lessons in spelling will be beneficial.

Activities for effective spelling instruction should include the following:

Handwriting activities integrated into reading lessons 
An array of handwriting activities used in the classroom are integrated into the reading lessons. The teacher correlates handwriting activities with story selections from our state-adopted textbook. In the primary grades, manuscript letters, words, and phrases that pertain to story selections are introduced simultaneously with the story. For example, "Miss Rumphus," a third-grade selection, contains various compound words. This is taken into consideration when the students are given a handwriting activity.

Heights Elementary—Laredo, TX First Grade through Third Grade

Response log 
For this activity, you can either use a spiral notebook or a folder with brads and notebook paper. Before the children read a story or before the teacher reads a story to the class, the children fold the paper in half lengthwise and make a prediction of what they think will happen in the story. Then they either listen to or read the story. Afterward they open the paper and write what actually happens in the story. 

This is a good activity to keep for a portfolio on the children’s growth, not only for reading comprehension but also for their writing ability. As the year progresses, the children will be making more accurate predictions and their response of the actual happenings in the story will be more complete. A spelling record can also be taken from this activity.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX First and Second Grade
Spelling lists follow specific phoneme patterns 
Spelling lists are taken from the basal reader. Ten additional words using the same pattern are added to the list. Students are given a dictation text where they write the words, cover it, write the words again, fold, and write from memory.

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX Second Grade
Journal writing 
Students write daily responses to the literature in spiral notebooks. The writing consists of thematic topics or responses to the literature used in the reading lesson. They are also given opportunities for free-choice writing topics.

Dellview Elementary—San Antonio, TX First Grade
Daily news in kindergarten 
Use a chart tablet to write one sentence that the child has dictated as his/her daily news. (Ex: Mary went to Six Flags with her family.) The words of the sentence should be written and spoken simultaneously. As the year progresses, the words should be sounded out and written simultaneously. Skills incorporated in daily news are: directionality, tracking words with a pointer, punctuation, capitalization, identifying how many words are in a sentence, word recognition, compound words, and vocabulary. 

Students enjoy reading the daily news throughout the year. Hang the daily news charts so that students can continue to read them. In the second semester classroom daily news traveling books (books taken home by one student, brought back the next day and taken home by another student) can be made. The students’ news can be typed on a page and illustrated. The pages are bound and sent home to be shared with parents.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX Kindergarten
Creation of reading and spelling dictionaries 
Prior to any writing activity correlated with literature, social studies, or science, we thoroughly discuss the material. As discussion progresses, the teacher records key words in either list form or as part of a semantic map. Children are asked to add words they may need to use in their writing, and the teacher records requests. Children refer to these word banks as they write, and the teacher may continue to add words as needed. This reading/writing "dictionary" is displayed throughout the year for future reference.

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX First Grade
Proofreading of creative writing 
Students are asked to write on a certain topic. Steps in the writing process are followed with an emphasis on proofreading skills. Proofreading marks are learned and used by the students when they proofread either their own written compositions or those belonging to classmates. Written composition topics are chosen by relating them to reading selections, by correlating them to thematic unit, or by relating them to a special school activity, such as Red Ribbon Week, Fire Prevention, Thanksgiving, or Career Awareness.

Heights Elementary—Laredo, TX Second Grade 

Stories are like fairy gold. The more you give away the more you have. *Polly McGuire

 Writing journals about reading selections 
Students are asked to keep a daily journal in which they compile a collection of stories. Some teachers have students use a spiral notebook for this; others make their own personalized booklet for each student. Upon reading a given story selection, either from the assigned textbook or from a library book, students are asked to write about details of the story, personal experiences similar to those in the story, characters and their emotions, the setting of the story, and their personal opinions about the story.

Heights Elementary—Laredo, TX Second Grade

Written language places greater demands on vocabulary knowledge among children than does their everyday spoken language. In fact, many of the new words children learn in a year are learned from concrete and meaningful experiences from being read to and as they read on their own. 

It is obvious that the number of new words children learn from reading depends upon how much they read and that the amount children read varies enormously. Therefore, it is important that teachers read aloud to children and encourage them to do a great deal of voluntary and independent reading. In addition, during reading instruction, children should be encouraged to attend to the meanings of new words.

Activities that promote the acquisition of vocabulary include the following:

Field trips with discussion following 
Following a field trip to a local farm, the whole class discusses the animals and farm-related equipment observed. After class discussion, each child chooses his/her favorite farm animal and illustrates the animal on paper. After completing the illustration, each child dictates to the teacher one thing he/she learned about that animal. The pages are collected and compiled into a class book. The children rotate taking home the class book to share and discuss with their families.

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX Kindergarten
Visual prompts used to develop expressive language 
We use pumpkins of various sizes and shapes during our fall unit to help develop expressive language. After much discussion, we have the students estimate the weight and circumference of a pumpkin. Children cut pieces of string the length they think will go around the pumpkin. Each child picks up the pumpkin and guesses how much it weighs while the teacher records each guess. The students are then given the opportunity to test their estimates by wrapping their string around the pumpkin. They must use their verbal skills to tell about their estimates. We weigh the pumpkin, and the students compare their estimated weight to the actual weight of the pumpkin. This is just one example of integration of curriculum (math, science, and language arts) to develop expressive language.

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX Kindergarten
Introduce new words in literature they are reading 
In grades PK-K, words are introduced with manipulatives using the student’s first language. The teacher describes the object being used and then the word is translated into English. In first-third grades, vocabulary words are introduced by teaching the sounds first, then the word itself, and finally how the word is used in context. I upper grades, new words are discussed within the context of the literature.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX PK through Third Grade
Idioms 
The G/T students at our school introduce idioms via live television to the student body. Any student who can define the idiom to an administrator and use it in context earns a chance to participate in a weekly drawing. Students are also encouraged to use the idioms in their daily conversation and writing.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX PK through Second Grade
Brainstorming word webs: spider and the fly 
A generic spider web is drawn on laminated tagboard. This web will be used throughout the school year. We use subjects from focus poems or Accelerated Reader stories to brainstorm important vocabulary. After the spaces in the web are filled in with the words, the words are used for guided reading. These words are constantly modeled during the week. Hence, they serve as the children’s vocabulary words.

Scotsdale Elementary—El Paso, TX First Grade
Developing social studies and science vocabulary: shared reading 
We use Activities Integrating Math and Science (A.I.M.S.) and PEACE literature to introduce science and social studies vocabulary. Activities from A.I.M.S. and PEACE are integrated into the daily shared reading time. Word banks are made using the subject vocabulary.

Scotsdale Elementary—El Paso, TX Second Grade

Written language is not just speech written down. Instead, written language offers new vocabulary, new language patterns, new thoughts, and new ways of thinking. Comprehension depends on the ability to identify familiar words quickly and automatically, which includes fluent reading, as well as the ability to figure out new words. But this is not enough. 

Comprehension also depends upon the understanding of word meanings, the development of meaningful ideas from groups of words (phrases, clauses, and sentences), and the ability to draw inferences. It also depends upon the demands of the text (its concepts, its density) and the knowledge the reader brings to the text. Students’ discussion of good books with their friends and classmates is one avenue for making these connections. 

Such discussions will help children to appreciate and reflect on new aspects of written language and on the wide, wonderful world of print. For children to receive the greatest benefit and enjoyment from their reading, they must receive comprehension strategy instruction that builds on their knowledge of the world and of language.

Summarize stories 
We teach summarization in three general steps: identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a story; storymapping; and role-playing. We have the students first begin to identify the beginning, middle, and end of familiar read-aloud stories. We always encourage the students to respond in complete sentences, and we write what they have dictated. As they become proficient at this level, we introduce simplified storymapping of the beginning, middle, and end of those same stories. In this way the students see the connection between a "map" and the story parts they have already identified. Again, we ask the students to formulate sentences using the storymap. We gradually expand the storymap by asking for one or two details for each section of the map and recording the responses. In this way, students easily see how to sequentially summarize a story, step by step. Finally, we ask students to retell the story as a specific character. This also allows us to introduce point of view.

Cedar Valley Elementary—Killeen, TX Second Grade
Identify character attributes 
We use many different ways of helping children identify character attributes. We use character graphs to more easily show students’ similarities and differences. The beginning stage is to graph the students in the classroom by physical attributes, allowing them to move into specific groups (brown hair, tied shoes). We talk about other kinds of attributes, such as emotions and behavior. We read a story and have the students brainstorm attributes of a given character. Then we might give the students a construction paper cube or covered box (cereal, waffle), and direct them to illustrate specific attributes such as feelings, favorite things/hobbies/games/food, or any other pictures that help identify the character. The next level of understanding involves the students comparing themselves to the character in that story, recognizing likes and differences. A good way to do this is to provide each student with a simple body outline. (It can be a diagram or students may trace each other’s body shapes.) Students divide the body into two halves (lengthwise) and record words and/or pictures of various attributes—the character on one half and themselves on the other. We have a discussion, identifying ways each is alike and different. This concept is finally extended to compare different characters within the story. Comparisons easily lead into predicting what a specific character might do based on his/her attributes.

Cedar Valley Elementary—Killeen, TX Second Grade
Predict outcomes 
We like to use story cards that contain an action picture to introduce predicting outcomes. Students are given a card and asked to tell a short story about it—and about what happens next. This helps students begin to understand that they m7ust use known facts to form their predictions. We often use cartoons with the last cell left blank so that students must predict the outcome. These are compared with the actual outcome. We ask students to change part of a familiar story and tell or write what might happen as a result. (What if the third little pig had been as lazy as his brothers?) We ask students to work cooperatively in groups of 4 or 5 to create stories. Each student in turn adds one sentence to the group story. The story comes to each student only once, but additional rounds can be added as the students become adept at group writing. As a culminating activity, we like to help the students write Pick-A-Path stories. This is best done in cooperative groups of 4 to 5 students. Each student is responsible for one event and two possible choices (outcomes). Only one choice for each event leads to a successful ending to the story. This activity reinforces the students’ understanding that logical predictions must be based on known facts.

Cedar Valley Elementary—Killeen, TX Second Grade
Thinking maps 
Thinking maps are simple graphic aids that demonstrate a pattern that assist the students in organizing their thoughts and ideas in a systematic way. There are eight graphic organizes and each map is based on one fundamental cognitive process (or thinking skill). For example, every student within every discipline uses the fundamental cognitive process of sequencing. The flow map enables students to organize the process of sequencing visually; students are taught how to use the flow map anytime they need to sequence information. In the lower grades, the teacher draws the pictures as students orally sequence the events. The students retell the events using the pictures. As they progress, they will draw their own pictures or write words. Thus, the thinking maps are eight tools for students to use. There is one thinking map for each basic thinking process.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX PK through Second Grade
Cause-and-effect relationships 
We use the multiflow thinking map to demonstrate that all the events in a story are interrelated. In the center of the map, the students write down a main event that occurred. Then, on the left side, they will write down the reasons why that event occurred (causes). On the right side, the students write down the different things that happened as a result of that event (effect). In this way, they are able to see a "chain reaction" of causes and effects and how they are all related to one another. If necessary, pictures can be used.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX PK through Second Grade
Use logic to problem solve 
Each week the librarian selects a problem of the week for grade levels K-2. Each grade level gives the students an designated time to find a solution to the problem. They use the different problem-solving strategies taught in the classroom such as making an organized list, looking for a pattern, and drawing a picture. Discussion of strategy used and solution follows. Teachers provide additional practice by giving the students a problem extension that restates the given problem with different data or a different question.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX All Grades
Thematic units 
Dive Into Adventure is one of our thematic units. To begin the unit, the classroom environment reflects an under water habitat with bulletin boards depicting various "watery" literature (Alistair Underwater, Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, The Rainbow Fish) and learning stations containing hands-on water related activities (shell sorts, sand dollar rubbings, sand sculptures). Reading areas with beach blankets and fish floats are available during sustained silent-reading periods. A wealth of books are displayed throughout the room and are accessible and readable for each student’s zone of proximal reading development. After the scene is set, teaching concepts correspond with the underwater theme. Mini-lessons on antonyms, synonyms, categorizing, mapping, graphing, sequencing, following directions, and details are taught with whale, sharks, or sea animal information. Writing includes paragraphs on whales, sharks, or other sea animals as well as acrostic poetry. Artwork accompanies the writings, and in these lessons, the focus is on listening skills and following directions. Writings and artwork are posted in the halls for all of the students to read and share. As a result of this creative unit, students and teachers have an "ocean" of fun learning to read, write, and share.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX Second Grade
Direct instruction of comprehension strategies 
The Question and Answer game is one way to make students more aware of the different kinds of comprehension questions and how to find their answers in print. After reading a selection, the teacher divides the class into 5 cooperative learning groups. Each group chooses a leader. The leader draws a card from a stack turned face down. Each card has one of the categories of comprehension question written on it. For example, one card will say "main idea," "detail," "sequence," "word meaning," "cause and effect," "feelings," or "fact and fantasy." The group then makes up a question about the selection for the category drawn. The question from each group is then posted on the board. Each group must discuss and write the answer to each question posted. Groups get one point for a correct question and one point for each correct answer to the questions on the board. To break a tie, the teacher may call on tying groups to prove their answer. The winning team receives a prize or an extra 10 minutes at recess.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX Second Grade
Extension activity 
"Sparkle words" are created to help students improve their reading and writing vocabulary. One simple way to create sparkle words is to use a computer word processor with a thesaurus capacity. You can enter humdrum, overworked words and access a large number of words with similar meanings. Another way to create sparkle words is to have the students generate a list of the words they commonly use in their writing. Then, as a class project, the teacher and students can brainstorm to add other words with similar meanings to the list. Advanced students may use a thesaurus to add to the word collection. An example of a sparkle word list might be afraid, scared, frightened, terrified, fearful, or alarmed. These word lists may be written on small poster board sheets and placed on the wall in the classroom where they can be easily seen and used when students are reading, writing, or speaking. Using these words daily becomes a painless way for students to increase their word power.

Atlanta Primary—Atlanta, TX Second Grade
Atlas, globes, and maps 
We correlate our social studies program with our basal reading program. Every time our classes read about any place on the earth, we locate it on an appropriate visual representation. One unit that is especially fun is the study of Africa (social studies) and African animals (science) that is integrated with Ann Jonas’ story "The Trek." Children have already learned the names of the seven continents. We trace a large pattern of Africa onto manila paper (12" x 18") with black crayon. Then the children paint the entire sheet with appropriate watercolor paints (not tempera). They include green for the rain forest, brown for the desert areas, and blue for the oceans. "Africa" is written on the continent in black crayon, and the oceans and the Sahara Desert are also labeled.

Dyess Elementary—Abilene, TX First Grade
Shared reading followed by discussion 
The teacher chooses from a form of reading such as read aloud, choral response, shared, or round robin. Shared reading, for example, is done in small groups with the teacher reading the entire story aloud, making predictions, and explaining character’s emotions and motivations to help facilitate comprehension of the story line. Next the teacher invites the students to read along with her either by reading the whole story or designated parts. Then the teacher rereads the story by modeling strategies and providing a think-aloud. Finally, the students reread the story independently and/or in partner reading.

Waitz Elementary—Mission, TX First and Second Grade
Newberry award novels 
At the fifth-grade level, teachers require their students to read three Newberry Award novels during the school year. The Semi-departmentalized setting allows the reading teachers to develop reading activities and provides opportunities for reading aloud. Reading skills are taught and/or reinforced through content.

Downs Elementary—San Benito, TX Fifth Grade
Sequencing 
The teacher writes the main ideas of a story onto sentence strips. After the story has been read and reread, the children can either in a whole group, a small group, or individually arrange the sentences in the proper order of the story. They can then go to the story and check themselves to see if they were correct. If not, they can then rearrange them in the proper sequence. This activity can also be sued as an assessment at the end of the lesson. If you choose, you might even want the children to write the sentences in center time. 

Another way for the children to sequence a story is to fold a manila sheet of paper in to fourths and let them write a sentence or draw a picture (or maybe both) in each quarter showing what happened first, second, next, and last in the story.

Zavala Elementary—Grad Prairie, TX First and Second Grade
Cause and effect 
To teach cause and effect, we often use books such as If you give a Mouse a Cookie, and have children identify the effect as we go along in the book. When we finish, we take manila paper and fold it in half. On the outside of it, we put a cause like dark clouds, and children have to open the book and write and draw what will happen—it will rain. 

To make a class book, we take seven or eight sheets of paper and fold each sheet so that they look like layers. Each child or group or children tell on thing that happens that would cause something else, patterning their idea after If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Moose Muffin, and The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash.

Zavala Elementary—Grand Prairie, TX First and second Grade

Instructional Materials
Spotlight Reading Schools use a wide variety of literature and other educational materials to promote beginning reading skills in primary and elementary school children. Listed below are samplings of the kinds of materials Spotlight teachers use in their classrooms. Specific questions about products may be directed to the publishers or to the Spotlight school contacts listed below.