Professional Learning Community Materials

Module 2: Phonological Awareness (Sessions 4-6)

Everything a preschool teacher needs to participate in this PLC including: an overview of the sessions, the five-step process for each session, a session schedule, self-study readings, activities to complete during and between sessions, slides with space to take notes, reproducible materials, and a glossary.

Facilitator Guide

Everything a facilitator needs to guide a team of preschool teachers through emergent literacy PLC sessions including delivery options, how to prepare for each session, a structured plan for each session, and slides with speaker notes. Given the rich content of emergent literacy instruction addressed in these materials, the ideal facilitator will be an educator with an understanding of emergent literacy, good communication skills, and the ability to relate well to adult learners.

Facilitator PowerPoint Presentation

Slides for the facilitator to project during each session. Slides for Sessions 4–6 are included in this PowerPoint presentation.

Videos

The videos include preschool teachers applying evidence-based language and literacy instructional practices and animations exemplifying literacy concepts. The videos and their key points are below. Video links and key points are also found in the Facilitator Guide and PowerPoint presentation.

Video 1: The Literacy Tree: A Representation of Foundational Literacy Skills

Key Points About the Video

Phonological awareness is a foundational skill that children will need when, in later grades, formal reading instruction begins.
Children who have good print knowledge skills and well developed phonological awareness can quickly understand the connection between the phonemes (the sounds) and the graphemes (the letters). This will help them benefit from phonics instruction in later grades.
Decoding skills support the development of reading fluency, and reading fluency is a bridge to reading comprehension.
Strong oral language skills and vocabulary knowledge support reading comprehension. When children hear a lot of words and know the meanings of words, they are more likely to understand what they read in later grades.

Video 2: Phonological Awareness Continuum

Key Points About the Video

Phonological awareness is an overarching term that is used to explain several levels of the sound structure of language. There are four levels on the phonological awareness continuum: word, syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme.
Children will enter preschool with diverse levels of phonological awareness.
The entire phonological awareness continuum does not need to be taught in preschool. The goal is for children to progress along the phonological awareness continuum throughout preschool. The phoneme level is typically not developed in preschool.
It is important to determine where each child is on the phonological awareness continuum and explicitly teach each children at their current level in small groups to help them make progress along the continuum.
Phonological awareness is not sequential. Children do not need to master one level on the phonological awareness continuum before moving to the next level.

Video 3: Small Groups in Action

Key Points About the Video

During center time, the teacher reinforced what was learned in previous phonological awareness lessons by providing a syllable puzzle piece activity at an independent center and by practicing syllables during discussions at the kitchen center.
The assistant was consistently engaged with the children. She taught a small group of children and engaged in conversations with them.
While teaching in small groups, the teacher/assistant always faced the other children in the classroom. The children she was working with faced her with their backs to the rest of the activity in the classroom. This allowed the teacher/assistant to be aware of what was happening in the classroom and allowed the children in the small group to focus on the instruction led by that teacher.
The teacher and assistant can discuss their classroom observations and observations during small-group instruction to determine how to maximize child engagement during center time.
Children changed centers by moving their picture to the center of their choice on the class center board. Centers were labeled by pictures with Velcro on the back.
Children placed completed artwork and other activities in a hanging file folder on the wall next to the center board.
To implement small groups in a smoothly run classroom, teachers must explicitly teach expectations and routines and provide many opportunities for children to practice the routines. During the days (or weeks) of practicing classroom routines, instead of teaching a small group, the teacher provides specific feedback to children as they work in small groups, pairs, and independently. Once children can engage in center time productively, then the teacher starts to teach small groups during center time.

Video 4: Word Level Phonological Awareness Lesson

Key Points About the Video

Scaffold example: The teacher held each picture up one at a time as she prompted the child to say each word. Then, the teacher put the pictures together and modeled how to say the words together. Finally, the teacher monitored as she provided the child an independent turn.
Scaffold example: The teacher separated the two pictures and prompted the child to say each picture's name. Then the teacher brought the pictures together and modeled how to say the two words together. She had the child repeat the word.
The teacher was very patient and allowed children ample time to respond.

Video 5: Syllable Level Phonological Awareness Lesson

Key Points About the Video

Scaffold example: When the child said there were two syllables in banana, the teacher asked her to try again and tapped the syllables with her.
Other scaffolds:
- When the child called the octopus a squid, the teacher told her the name of the picture (octopus). Then, tapped and had the child identify the number of syllables in octopus and the number of syllables in squid.
- The teacher used encouraging and specific words when providing feedback.
- When the children could not remember the word syllable, the teacher cued them by saying, /s/.
- The teacher was enthusiastic and warm.
- The teacher smiled and laughed with the children.
The pace of the lesson was just right because the children were actively engaged in the activity and on task throughout the lesson.

Video 6: Onset-Rime Level Phonological Awareness Lesson

Key Points About the Video

Scaffold example: When the child said that book and house rhyme, the teacher said the onset and rime for each word separately for the child to hear that the middle and end of the words do not rhyme. She said, "/b/ /ook/, /h/ /ouse/. They don't rhyme because they don't sound the same in the middle and the end, book, house."
Other scaffolds: This may have been the first time the children did this task. The teacher did a lot of modeling and explaining, which these children needed. She was also enthusiastic and gave specific and encouraging feedback.
The pace of the lesson was just right because the children were actively engaged in the activity and on task throughout the lesson.

Video 7: Phoneme Level Phonological Awareness Lesson

Key Points About the Video

Scaffold question 1: When the child was going to place the domino in the car backpack, the teacher pointed as she said, "This is car and it starts with a /k/ sound and deer starts with /d/." The child immediately corrected herself by placing the domino in the deer backpack.
Other scaffolds:
- When the child said, "d" the teacher responded, "That's the letter, what's the sound?"
- When the child called the comb a hairbrush, the teacher said a hairbrush has a handle.
- "I like how you thought about the first sound in comb and matched it to the first sound in car."
- The teacher used encouraging and specific words when providing feedback.
- The teacher gave high-fives to children.
The pace of the lesson was just right because the children were actively engaged in the activity and on task throughout the lesson.
The teacher was very patient and allowed children ample time to respond.

Video 8: Phonological Awareness Throughout the Day

Key Points About the Video

During small-group instruction, the tasks were blending (putting together) and segmenting (pulling apart) spoken words at the syllable level. Here are two examples of where (setting) and how (task) the teacher reinforced phonological awareness at the syllable level throughout the day.
- During read-aloud, the children segmented syllables in words from the story (sweeper, beeper, limousine).
- While waiting in line, the children segmented syllables in animal words (horse, alligator, gorilla).
Here are three examples of where (setting) and how (task) the teacher reinforced phonological awareness at the word level throughout the day.
- During the read-aloud, children blended and deleted the compound word, everybody.
- During lunch, the children blended and deleted compound words (corndog, popcorn).
- During recess, the children blended and deleted compound words (football, sidewalk, motorcycle).

Video 9: Phonological Awareness and Considerations for Intensive Instruction

Key Points About the Video

The teacher used:
- An explicit instructional routine (I Do, We Do, You Do).
- Visual prompts in the form of picture cards that represent the words.
- Positive reinforcement (e.g., "Kiss your brain!").
- Immediate corrective feedback.
- Simplified directions as needed.