Struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade are likely to display later learning problems unless intervention is performed to help bring their reading skills up to grade level. Since much of the difficulty for struggling readers comes in word recognition, intervention is particularly helpful in the areas of phonics, phonological awareness, and knowledge of words on sight, as well as in vocabulary building and general comprehension.
Phonemic Awareness Resources from EFL
Phonemic awareness, or the ability to differentiate between the meaningful sounds of a language, is key to developing the ability to read. Among the intervention activities developed by EFL Playhouse to foster phonemic awareness are Alphabet Taboo, which focuses on letter-sound association; Alphabet Chants, which help students focus on the relationship between a letter and its sound; and Alpha Toss, a game which helps children identify the initial sound of a word.
Phonemic Awareness Activities from ReadWriteThink
ReadWriteThink offers a two-part intervention activity aimed at enhancing young learners' phonemic awareness through rhyming activities. Children are asked to come up with rhyming words, find pictures whose names rhyme with a given word, and match rhyming pictures. In the second part of the activity, children must find rhyming words to insert into the song "Down by the Bay," completing rhyming couplets.
Sound and Syllable Activities from the LACOE
The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) has available a series of activities relating to sounds and syllables which help promote young readers' phonemic awareness. Children learn how syllables make up words through counting syllables or clapping along with them. To learn to differentiate the beginning, middle and end sounds in words, the LACOE proposes a variety of singing exercises that involve consonant substitution, primarily at the beginnings of words. Another activity that promotes learning this differentiation is "I Say It Slowly, You Say It Fast," in which a teacher segments out the various sounds of a word and lets the students figure out how to put the word back together.
Phonological Awareness Activities from Songs for Teaching
Songs for Teaching has available for teachers dozens of songs that teach and reinforce concepts of word families, rhyme production and recognition and the concept of what a word or a syllable is. In addition, they have songs that help children learn to recognize, blend and manipulate syllables and phonemes.
Phonological Awareness Brain Teasers from Brain Connection
Brain Connection offers a whole array of online brain teasers and games aimed at building children's awareness of language sounds. These brain teasers include Slide, a memory game in which children must match language sounds correctly; Monkey Juggle, a game in which children must identify the one different sound in a group at a faster and faster pace; Bear Wear, a brain teaser that teaches the concept of the alphabet, with one sound matched to one letter; and Whappit, an auditory matching game involving the use of processed speech.
