Early Literacy Part 2 - Reading and Viewing

This is part 2 of our Early Literacy ideas. Click here to start from the beginning.

I have curated some ideas of what you can offer at home if your child asks for literacy-based activities. Below you will find the activities for the element 'Reading and Viewing'.

If you want to read more about Speaking and Listening click here and for writing here.

Reading and Viewing

Reading starts with phonological awareness and phonics knowledge. Most people who ask me for tips are looking for activities on phonics knowledge. Still, it is so essential to focus on phonological awareness first.

Phonological awareness is the term used to describe the awareness of the constituent sound of spoken words, which can be distinguished in three ways: by syllables, by onset and rime (first sound and and rest of the word), and by phoneme. (smallest unit of speech)

Phonemic awareness is the awareness of phonemes, which is essential for students to understand the relationship between speech and print (and therefore, to read and write).

Children learn from being read to, reading with others, and reading to themselves. Reading is everywhere; spend some time together to explore a variety of reading materials such as magazines, posters, street signs, and recipes.

Here are some play-based activities you can set up at home.

Goal: Your child can orally blend and segment:

- words with two and three syllables (hopp-ing),
- onset and rime to say a word (m/um)
- two or three phonemes together to make a one-syllable word (s-u-n).

Activity 1: Create a blend and colour game with the Hey Doodle reusable placemats. One person cuts the word into pieces (segments: c-a-r or Sh-ip etc.), and the other person colours the word they meant after saying it aloud. Take turns in segmenting and blending.

Activity 2: Play segmented Snap with one of the Snap or Memory game sets. Each time you place a card down, you need to sound it out in syllables. (fla-min-go) This is a great activity to repeatedly sound out the same words and become familiar with breaking up words in syllables.

Goal: your child can say the most common phoneme (sound) for single letter graphemes (letter) and applies this knowledge to decodable texts.

Activity 1: Play Alphabet Lotto. Choose which side of the board you play on and try and be the first player to find all the cards that match the letters or pictures on your lotto board. There are 4 different ways to play: matching picture to picture, letter to picture, picture to letter, or letter to letter! The different play styles develop with children's ability, from a simple picture matching lotto to a more complex picture to letter matching.

Activity 2: Play memory with The Alphabet Sound Match Set. This set has 26 pieces of a-z pictures and 26 pieces of a-z letters (reversible with uppercase letter on one side and lower-case on the other). Or use them for a giant game of memory match. Need a smaller game? Select a few sounds/letters to focus on and play memory match with fewer pieces. 

Activity 3: Hide a few of the Lowercase Letters Standard Font in an empty box or under a silk. Let your child pick one letter without seeing it. Can they feel which letter it is? What sound does that letter make? Can you make a funny sentence with that letter? (m: The mad mice moved up the magic mountain).

Goal: your child can blend phonemes of taught graphemes to decode VC (at) and CVC (bat) words and applies this knowledge when reading decodable texts.

Activity 1: Do the word building challenge with the Spin-and-Read Blocks. Ask your child to make a word; how many turns does it take to get there? Who can do it in the least amount of turns? These educational blocks encourage learning through independent play and self-empowerment. Each of the 5 wooden rods features one vowel and a set of consonants that rotate. Children can discover how they can control words through manipulating these blocks, thus allowing them to see words transform, such as changing CAT < HAT and HAT < BAG.

Activity 2: Play a game of Letter Fun Puzzle. Both players have a player board. Take turns picking up a letter. Can you make a word with your letter? Who can fill their board first? Alternatively, you can decide you HAVE TO place the letter on your board. Can you make a real word by placing the letter? Yes? You get the point. No? Have a giggle at the funny nonsense words you created.

Activity 3: Play a board game or puzzle. There is a wide range of games available for beginning readers. Have a look at Initial Consonants Dominoes, Three Letter Word Puzzle, or Match and Spell. All these games have the option to be completed individually or played with multiple people.

Activity 4: Make words with cut-out letters from magazines. Glue them on a large piece of paper and create your own word poster. Draw matching pictures next to your words.

You can do so many activities that don't need any materials. What letters and words do you see when you drive to preschool? Go to the library and pick a bunch of new books. Talk about the stories, the language used, and the words in the story.

Want to learn more? Click here for more about Speaking and Listening click here and for writing here.

- Written by Lisa from @life.with.moon.and.co