SHARED READING When we review the strategies used to support learners in emergent literacy instruction, shared reading has a distinct focus separate from alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. The focus within shared reading is interaction , and helping students learn to actively engage throughout the shared reading experience. There are many helpful trainings available to support educators in guiding students during shared reading (CAR and CROWD models: https://www.share- dreader.org/professional-development/).
Epic Books (www.getepic.com) is a resource that is free to educators which contains a large library of books, videos, and audiobooks which can be filtered by age, reading level, genre, language, and more. Using the search tool, books can be located by focusing on a specific aspect of phonological awareness. While your comments about the text might initially be student led and driven, you can then expand upon those to include targeted comments focusing on aspects of phonolog- ical awareness (e.g. “I hear four words that start with “l” (focus on the sound it represents versus the letter) Ü Leroy, lizard, long, leap.” PREDICTABLE CHART WRITING Predictable chart writing, while a separate instructional strategy, can be used in conjunction with both alphabet knowl- edge and phonological awareness activities.
Unite for Literacy (www.uniteforliteracy.com) is a free online and app based resource that contains a large library of short picture books that come in more than 50 languages. Many of the texts within Unite for Literacy contain repetitive lines (e.g. “Where do ______ sleep?”“I can help _____.”) Repetitive lines can be helpful in providing learners with repetition with variety and allow focus on the fill-in phrase. For example, syllableness can be targeted for the different words used to fill-in the repeti- tive text (e.g. “Do you like crickets?”). Learners can pat, clap, fist bump, or high five the number of syllables with each fill-in word. A sample text from a book within Unite for Literacy. A cricket appears on the page with the text, “Do you like crickets?”The word “crickets” is underlined in red.
A predictable chart with the sentence stem “I found all the _____”
Day two (re-read the chart) is a great time to review the chart with a particular focus in mind. This might be a letter, word, or concept of print. This step can be easily overlooked in practice, but in our experience, can be one of the most important steps within predictable chart writing in terms of honing on specific skill sets. When we review the chart which contains a similar sentence stem (e.g. Bugs are ____), we can take these opportu- nities to focus on aspects of phonological awareness including counting the number of words in each sentence, identifying the number of syllables within the fill-in phrase, looking for rhyming words, or highlighting instances of alliteration. Raps and chants can also be used to re-read the chart. Note: While the above examples are specific to phonological awareness, shared reading and predictable chart writing also provide multiple opportunities to embed alphabet instruction. Within both components of comprehensive literacy instruc-
A sample text from a book within Epic books that focuses on alliteration.
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