Reading is Fundamental

Help us succeed by learning to read. I am a kindergarten teacher who teaches in title one school. My school has about 2,000 students. This is a high number of students for an elementary school. There are 17 kindergarten classrooms that our limited resources have to be shared among. Having so many students makes it difficult to gain access to materials in a timely manner. Along with this, there is no additional support for kindergartners, outside of the classroom learning experience.

In order for students to be successful readers, they need to have some knowledge of sounds and the way letters work together to form words. As it is now, we have no materials outside of paper and pencil to practice these skills. My students are very energetic and will not sit long with a paper and pencil activity. I need a practical way to teach my students letter/sound recognition, develop phonemic awareness, and practice the use of sight words.

With the CVC Word Work Center, Vowel Teaching Tubs, and Creating Sight Word Center my students will be heading in the right direction to becoming successful readers. These activities allow the students to work independently, at their own level and pace. The word work center and vowel teaching tubs provide hands-on word building skills and vowel sound recognition that can be adapted to fit the needs of the learner. Four or more students can use these centers at a time. The activities also have components that makes it easy for advanced and struggling learners to use simultaneously. As they develop the knowledge of how letters and sounds work together, they will be able to build and use words in order to become successful readers. In the sight word center they will be able to use their knowledge of phonemes to create sentences and practice reading words in context.

These activities will have a profound impact on the lives of my students as readers. Thank you for helping us learn to read in an engaging and exciting way.