Kindergarten Literacy Instruction
Click here to be redirected to: Mass DESE Kindergarten Literacy Standards | ||
Literacy Component Link for more explanation | What It Looks Like In Our Classrooms | Tips & Resources for Families |
Phonemic Awareness instruction occurs in whole group and small group lessons. Instruction is typically associated with hand gestures, movement and Elkonin boxes. Lessons include rhyming as well as isolating, segmenting, adding, deleting, substituting and blending sounds. | Florida Center for Reading Research - Phonological Awareness | |
Phonics instruction occurs in both whole group and small group lessons. Instruction involves learning letter names, sounds and print formations through play, games and multi sensory activities. Children apply letter sound knowledge to decode texts. Children are also taught to recognize sight words automatically as they occur in texts. Tools often include letter tiles, cubes, decodable texts, white boards and visuals. | 10 Ways to Help Your Child With Phonics | |
Fluency instruction occurs in a variety of settings throughout the school day, including whole group and small group lessons. Instruction involves shared reading, music, poetry, decodable texts, repeated readings and partner reading. | ||
Vocabulary instruction is embedded throughout the school day, with a focus on oral expression. Instruction involves intentional teaching of vocabulary words found in reading experiences such as read alouds and reading groups. Picture cues and print models are important tools at this stage. | ||
Comprehension instruction occurs whenever students listen to and talk about texts. Teachers use texts grounded in a variety of genres, cultures and perspectives to build students’ background knowledge. Teachers model how to make connections to text and how to visualize stories as they unfold. Instruction occurs during whole group lessons, small group lessons, partner reading and teacher/student conferences. | ||
Writing instruction across all grade levels involves direct, systematic instruction in responding to text and writing across genres, even in kindergarten. As student development evolves, writing moves from oral expression with an adult scribing, to independent writing through illustrations, followed by written expression through print. Inventive spelling is appropriate as the emphasis is on idea development and creativity. | ||