The Literacy Annex

In school-language, onsets and rimes make up a big part of many words. Children are taught to use onsets and rimes as they begin to learn to read and write small words. Below you'll see what they are and just how simple they are to teach. If you are home schooling your children or just supplementing their kindergarten, first, or second grade instruction, you'll find these to be quite valuable. Check it out! Onsets and Rimes Working with onsets and rimes allows children to learn to break words apart and put them back together. It also shows them how to substitute different onsets and rimes to make new words. This is a great way to teach word families and help them to see patterns within words. For example, in the word “dog”, the consonant “d” is the onset and “og” is the rime.   You can then make word tiles containing various onsets (consonants) and different rimes so that your children can learn to manipulate the sounds to form new words. Below is a list of some of the comm

Below you'll find a step-by-step set of directions for using reader's theater. It can be used with any book or poem or you can even make up your own scripts. I've also added a quick rhyme that I turned into a script so you can see just how easy it is to create. This script is a fun one because you can actually also use it when jumping rope with your child. Yes, I know, you may not jump rope but it is a great way to exercise the body and the mind. Enjoy! Reader’s Theater   1.     Select a text to convert to a script or use a pre-made script. When working with heterogeneous groups you will be able to assign the reading parts based on the skill levels of the students. Generally you will want groups of no more than five. 2.    Once a script has been selected and the reading parts have been assigned, read the entire script to the students using the appropriate intonation. 3.    Locate difficult vocabulary within the text and reread the sentences that contain th

Reading really can be a natural process if you begin to immerse your child in language from the time he or she makes an entrance into the world. (I am going to use the female pronoun here just to be concise but this goes for boys and girls!) By singing songs to your child, talking to her in the car, the grocery store and just about anywhere you go- your child will begin to develop the foundation for learning to read and write well. I know this first step sounds really simple, and guess what?? It is! I have raised two readers of my own and now have a five year old grandson who is also a reader. If that doesn't sound like a very good set of credentials, I've also been a teacher and teacher educator since 1987 and my doctorate is in this field. I will say that you don't need a college degree to teach your child to read; you just need the right tools and a fun spirit. So.... let's get this blog started and talk to each other about literacy- and I do mean talk because ha