Early Literacy Workbook

Activity 1 Assessment In learning to read, it is vital to determine a student’s current level of knowledge and to build upon that foundation. To determine the student’s current level of knowledge, this workbook includes two beginning assessments: Letter Names p. XXXXXX Letter Sounds p. XXXXX These two simple tests will give the student and tutor a clear picture of the student’s current level of knowledge. Each test includes a response sheet for the tutor to record any wrong responses by the student.

Instructions for the Assessments

1. The Letter Name assessment and Letter Sound assessment are not timed.

2. The student will give their responses to each item on the assessments. The student will read left to right, beginning with the first line, and then progress to subsequent lines.

3. Have the student point to each letter as they read. This will help the

tutor determine if the students has lost their place or is guessing.

4. During the Letter Name assessment, if the student gives a letter sound as a response the tutor can remind them once that they need to give the letter names. Similarly, if the student gives letter names during the Letter Sound assessment, remind them only once that they need to give letter sounds. There is a column on the response sheet for each assessment where the tutor can record sound responses during the Letter Names assessment, and name responses on the Letter Sound assessment.

What To Do With Testing Results If the student struggles to get any of the names or sounds in the first row of each assessment correct then simply stop the assessment and begin instruction with Activity 2 (page XXXXX). If the student knows some letter names and sounds, but misses more than 5 letter names, or 5 letter sounds (excluding errors on digraphs – th, ch, sh, ph), begin instruction with Activity 2 (page XXXXX). If the student misses less than five letter names or five letter sounds (excluding errors on digraphs - th, ch, sh, ph), but answers very slowly, begin instruction with Activity 2 (page XXXXX). If the student misses less than five letter names or five letter sounds (excluding errors on digraphs - th, ch, sh, ph), begin instruction with Activity 3 (page XXXXX).

Letter Names

a M l y O J R

k E q m S d T

Y D G Z u X N

p e W t Q w j

v r P i F H U

c n x h V S K

g I B z C o A

L b f

Letter Name Response Sheet

Letter

Incor.

Ans.

Gave

Sound

a

M

l

y

O

J

R

k

E

q

m

S

d

T

Y

D

G

Z

u

X

N

p

e

W

t

Q

Letter

Incor.

Ans.

Gave

Sound

w

j

v

r

P

i

F

H

U

c

n

x

h

V

S

K

g

I

B

z

C

o

A

L

b

f

Letter Sounds

r c t l z

p g m j u

b s f q y

x h a v n

k i w d o

e sh th wh ph

Letter Sound Response Sheet

Letter

Incor.

Ans.

Gave

Name r

c

t

l

z

p

g

m

j

u

b

s

f

q

y

x

h

a

v

n

k

i

w

d

o

e

sh

th

wh

ph

Activity 2 Letter Names and Sounds Based upon the student’s responses to the Letter Names and Letter Sounds assessments, the tutor can determine if they have a strong mastery of these important foundations for reading and writing mastery. Visual Letter Chart The first activity, working with the Visual Letter Chart is an important first step for learners who do not yet know their letter names or sounds. Each letter has a corresponding picture of something whose name begins with that letter. The items pictured were chosen specifically with adult English learners in mind. While it is a great foundational activity for beginning to master the letter names and sounds of the English alphabet, it is also a wonderful quick review that can be done prior to later word blending activities, or the reading of simpler text. Instructions: The student should “read” the chart so that each entry reinforces the letter name, the letter sound, and the name of the item that starts with that letter. A a

apple The student should read this entry in the chart as: A apple /a/ Letter name, name of picture, sound of letter The next entry would be:

B b

boy B boy /b/ letter name, name of picture, sound of letter The entries include the name of the picture in written form. This is useful for students who have mastered blending and are using this chart as a warm-up, however, very beginning learners should just be told the name that corresponds to the picture. If the student is struggling to learn a letter name or sound it can be helpful to teach them a hand or body movement that can serve as a memory anchor for the letter. For example, if the student is struggling to master the letter y, they can add the up and down hand movement of trying to get a yo-yo to climb its string. Many learners are visual and kinesthetic (helped by movement). If they are already saying the memory anchor (auditory) and you add a visual cue (the picture of a yo-yo), the addition of a movement can often be the last piece that makes learning that sound much easier. If the student still struggles with learning a letter name or sound it might help to find a memory anchor from their life. Does a family member or friend have a name that begins with that letter? Does the student or a family member of theirs enjoy a hobby that could help them remember the letter? For example, if a student struggles with the letter s, maybe the anchor could be “skateboard” if a son or daughter likes to skateboard.

Visual Letter Chart

A a

apple

B b

boy

C c

cat

D d

dog

E e

egg

F f

fish

G g

girl

H h

hat

I i

igloo

J j

jet

K k

key

L l

lips

M m

map

N n

nuts

O o

octopus

P p

pig

Q q

queen

R r

Ring

S s

sun

T t

tub

U u

umbrella

V v

vacuum

W w

web

X x

x-ray

Y y

yo-yo

Z z

zipper

Visual Digraphs Chart Digraphs are a special challenge in mastering English. They are letter pairs that make one sound. The digraphs in English are ch, sh, th, and ph. Frequent review of the Visual Digraphs Chart will help the student master these challenging sounds. As with the Visual Letter Chart, continued review of this chart is a helpful warm-up for students who have progressed to blending words or reading simple connected text.

Visual Digraphs Chart

Digraph Memory Anchor Hand Gesture

ch

tap chin with finger and say "ch-ch-chin"

sh

put index finger to mouth and say "sh-sh-sh"

th

tap the thumb and say "th-th-thumb"

wh

make a round, wheel-like shape with the hands and say "wh-wh-wheel"

ph

put hand to ear, thumb and pinkie extended, like talking on a phone and say "ph-ph-phone"

Letter Sound Flash Cards The letter sound flash cards allow the tutor and student to build upon the student’s initial letter sound knowledge in a quick and efficient way. The cards can be cut apart and glued to index cards, or used as is. Instructions:

1. Based upon the student’s responses to the Letter Sounds assessment,

choose five to seven letter sound flash cards (save the digraph flash

cards for practice once almost all of the regular sounds have been

mastered). In the group include two cards for sounds the student

missed on the assessment, and try to have the remaining cards of the

grouping be sounds that the student already knows.

2. Include one or two vowels in each grouping (a, e, I, o, u, y).

3. The tutor should point to each letter sound being read. They should

begin at the student’s pace, but as the student begins to recognize all

the sounds, push the pace a bit. After the student reads the sounds

correctly the tutor or student can mix up the flash cards.

4. Once the student has mastered the sounds in a grouping, the tutor can

encourage the student to look for words within the groupings. For

example, if the grouping is:

f i t s b o

the student may hear "fit" while saying the letter sounds. Three other words that could be created from these letters are "sit," "bit," and "fib."

5. Once the student has read all the sounds correctly in the grouping four

or five times, the tutor or student can replace two or three of the known

sound flash cards with flash cards of unknown sounds.

6. It is very useful for the tutor to keep detailed notes of the sounds

practiced, and any sounds that the student had trouble mastering.

Although the student may have mastered the sounds eventually during

a given tutoring session, those difficult sounds would be good

candidates for review during the next tutoring session.

Once the student had mastered all but four or five letter sounds they are ready

to move to Activity 3 (page XXXX).

a b

c d

e f

g h

(Intentionally left blank.)

i j

k l

m n

o p

(Intentionally left blank.)

q r

s t

u v

w x

(Intentionally left blank.)

y Z

ch sh

th ph

(Intentionally left blank.)

Activity 3 Blending – short a Once the student has mastered their letter sounds they can begin blending the sounds into short words. The vowels in all the words in this activity are the short a sound, like in “apple.” Activity: Read each sound first, and then blend into a whole word.

can

ham

fan

cat

mat

hat

map

pan

jam

bag

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -at word family

cat fat sat rat pat bat mat hat

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -an word family

can fan man pan ran tan van Dan

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -am word family

dam ham jam Pam ram Sam yam am

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -ap word family

cap gap lap map nap rap tap zap

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice.

-ad word family

bad dad fad had ad mad

pad sad

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice.

-ag word family

bag lag nag rag sag tag wag gag

Activity: Fill in the blanks with the missing letters. Read each word as you complete it.

ap

at

at

am

an

ag

an

am

at

an

Activity: Review the words with the short vowel a.

-at -an -am cat can dam fat fan ham sat man jam rat pan Pam pat ran ram bat tan Sam mat van yam hat Dan am

-ap -ad -ag cap bad bag gap dad lag lap fad nag

map had rag nap ad sag rap mad tag tap pad wag zap sad gag

Activity 4 Blending - short e Once the student has mastered their letter sounds they can begin blending the sounds into short words. The vowels in all the words in this activity are the short a sound, like in “egg.” Activity: Read each sound first, and then blend into a whole word.

bed

hen

pet

leg

men

jet

net

pen

egg

ten

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -ed word family

bed red fed led Ted Ned

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -en word family

Ben den hen men pen ten

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -et word family

bet jet let met net pet set wet

Activity: Read each word. If you can read the whole word, read each as a whole word. If you need to blend, sound out each letter and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word. The words can also be cut apart to create flash cards for easy practice. -eg word family

beg keg leg Meg peg egg

Activity: Fill in the blanks with the missing letters. Read each word as you complete it.

en

et

en

en

et

gg

en

et

eg

ed

Activity: Review the words with the short vowel a.

-ed -en -et -eg bed Ben bet beg red den jet keg fed hen let leg led men met Meg Ted pen net peg Ned ten pet egg set wet