Kindergarten Countdown
What direction do readers move through text in English?
Left to right, top to bottom
What’s one way to help children differentiate letter shapes?
Use tactile materials like sandpaper letters or tracing activities
What’s a compound word? Give an example.
A word made of two smaller words, e.g., “sunflower”
What’s one way to engage children during a read-aloud?
Ask questions and encourage predictions, etc.
What does it mean when we say a word “carries meaning”?
It represents an idea, object, or action that can be understood
What’s the difference between a letter and a word?
A letter is a single character in an alphabet, while a word is a combination of letters that forms a meaningful unit of language. In essence, letters are the building blocks of words
Name a fun activity to teach uppercase vs lowercase letters.
Multiple answers can be correct! Matching games with letter cards or alphabet puzzles, etc.
Clap and count: How many words are in “The dog ran fast”?
Four words
How can you support children in reenacting a familiar story?
Use puppets, props, or act out scenes together
What’s a synonym for “happy”?
Joyful, cheerful, glad
Why are spaces between words important for young readers?
They help distinguish where one word ends and another begins
What’s the difference between a letter and a number?
Letters represent sounds; numbers represent quantities
What’s one way to teach rhyme recognition?
Multiple answers are correct! Read rhyming books and ask children to identify rhyming pairs, etc.
Where will be planning all of these literacy skills for our students?
MRT
What’s an antonym for “big”?
Small, tiny, little
What punctuation mark tells us a sentence has ended?
A period (.)
Match the letter “B” to its lowercase version and sound.
Lowercase: “b”; Sound: /b/ as in “ball”
Blend this onset and rime: “c” + “at” = ?
“cat”
What’s a good question to ask after reading a story?
“What was your favorite part?” or “Why do you think the character did that?” other answers accepted as well.
How can you help children use new vocabulary in different contexts?
Introduce words during play, reading, and conversation, and encourage repetition
Act it out: Show how you would help a child recognize punctuation in a storybook.
Point to punctuation marks while reading aloud and use expressive voice changes to show their meaning
Challenge: Create a mini lesson plan for teaching three letter sounds.
Example: Use objects that start with /m/, /s/, /t/ and let children match them to the letters M, S, T
Sound match: Find two objects in the room that start with the same sound.
Example: “ball” and “book” (both start with /b/)
Name 3 phonological awareness skills that the STAR early literacy test assesses.
1.Understand two words make a compound 2.Recognize with aid rhyme/sound repetition
3. Clap and count the words in a given sentence
4. With support, blend onsets/ rimes: one-syllable words
5.Recognize and match sounds
6.Distinguish sounds and phonemes
How can we motivate the children to read?
Multiple answers accepted:
1. Listen to/join in with simple stories/poems
2. Engage with texts read aloud; answer questions
3. Select and interact with books independently
4. Know that literacy texts are read for enjoyment