This is an ongoing series of lessons to teach the 26 letters of the alphabet through functional skills that can be used on a daily/weekly basis building on and transferring to other educational task. These lessons incorporate coloring, marking, painting, cutting, pasting, creating, listening and following directions.

This unit is designed to develop foundational skills needed to prepare students for learning and making meaning of a variety of text types. The unit will provide students with opportunities to listen to and explore a variety of everyday print materials such as storybooks, poems, and informational texts to engage in interactive discussions of the messages and meaning of texts. This unit teaches students that they are readers and have a vital role in their classroom community.

Students will continue practicing routines necessary for learning:
• Working productively in the meeting area
• Working with a partner to Think-Pair- Share
• Book handling and learning about the parts of texts
• Selecting texts for independent reading
• Using everything in the classroom for reading support

Students demonstrate their letter/sound knowledge by working with name cards and sharing observations about their classmates names, giving teachers an opportunity to assess knowledge in a meaningful context.

Students will learn about similarities and differences within the classroom and with our families.

Students will learn to identify their own emotions and those of others.

Students will learn that different cultures have different ways of welcoming or greeting others.

Students will learn that welcoming the ways others are different and the same helps them feel they belong.

This module focuses on best practices for instruction on alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness.  Explicit Instruction and the Cycle Approach to teaching letters and sounds are highlighted.  Instructional strategies and tools to extend literacy instruction to students with complex communication needs and physical disabilities are discussed.  English Language Art Common Core Standards are provided, along with research on instructional strategies to address the standards. 

An emergent reader is a young child who is in the early stages of learning to read. They are developing foundational reading skills and becoming aware of how written language works. Emergent readers rely on visual cues, context, and basic letter-sound knowledge to make sense of the text as they gradually build their reading abilities.  Emergent reading is defined as all of the behaviors and understandings of learners of any age that precede and develop into conventional reading. (Koppenhaver, Coleman, Kalman & Yoider 1991; Sulzby, 1985)Emergent reading strategies include providing opportunities for shared reading, self-selected reading, accessing various types of text, and building background knowledge. What if a student cannot hold a book and turn the pages of a book?  What if a student is non-speaking, how will they participate in reading experiences?  This module provides ideas for removing these barriers to provide rich emergent reading experiences for ALL students.