Do you know the difference between phonemic awareness and phonics instruction? To be completely honest, I did not realize these two were different until my second year teaching Kindergarten. I thought the two terms were interchangeable. Let’s talk about the difference between phonemic awareness vs phonics instruction and HOW we
You’re nearing the end of the year, hooray! Now that your students are writing independently, this is the perfect time to add more creative writing activities to your lesson plans. I love using the end of the year and summertime as a focus for our writing time, it gets your
It’s almost the end of the year and your Kindergarten students have learned so much! It is amazing how far they have come, especially in the area of phonics. At the start of the year, they were just learning their letter sounds, and now they are blending CVC words, or
Should you be using worksheets in Kindergarten? YES! Worksheets don’t have to be just busy work or boring. There are plenty of ways to make them meaningful, hands-on, and fun. Here are a few simple ways to make phonics worksheets more engaging for your students. Build fine motor skills with
Teaching phonemic awareness daily is the best way to get your students decoding effectively and becoming strong, confident readers. There are many different skills you will want to focus on with your phonemic awareness instruction. Your students will catch on to some skills quickly, while others take a lot of
Teaching middle sounds in words can be a challenge for your students, especially when it comes to distinguishing short vowel sounds like /e/ and /i/. Stretching out a word slowly to isolate and identify that tricky middle sound takes practice and the right strategies. If you’re looking for ways to
If your students are struggling to blend CVC words, you are not alone. In fact, this is one of the most common phonics problems that arise when teaching students how to read. Your students are able to say each sound of a CVC word, like /c/ /a/ /p/, but when
When teaching phonics in Kindergarten, it is so important to incorporate phonemic awareness practice within phonics skills. In taking some time to work on identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds in a CVC word, my students have always been more successful and confident when it comes to reading and spelling
One of the most strategic parts of teaching is grouping your students into center groups. Do you group them by skill, ability level, or who will work well together? You want your students to be able to work well together, but also be able to utilize practicing specific skills during
