RICA Domain 2: "Word Analysis"

TC Name: Heather Taylor

RICA Domain: Word Analysis 

RICA Competency: Phonemic Awareness 

Grade Level: Kindergarten 

Any Additional Descriptors: Mainstream

INSTRUCTION:

I observed Mrs. X, teaching phonemic awareness to her Kindergarten class.  The day I observed phonemic awareness, the letter the class was focusing on was “M.” To begin the day, Mrs. X, gave a lesson on the letter “M” through sound isolation. She would give the class a word, such as “mittens,” and ask them what the beginning sound was. When the class responded with /m/ as the answer Mrs. X also incorporated a total physical response (TPR), by rubbing her stomach emphasizing the /m/ sound. The children caught on quickly and then copied her motion. Incorporating TPR was especially important for the one ELL student, in the class. He was able to catch on quickly once he saw his classmates all making the same motion. After modeling the TPR for /m/ in the word mittens, Mrs. X continued to give the children words such as “muffin” and “mailbox” and asked them what the sound of the beginning of the word was. The students continued to respond with making the sound /m/ and incorporated the movement of rubbing their stomach. At the same time Mrs. X was teaching sound isolation, she also was teaching to sound identity. She did this by giving the students several different words that started with the sound /m/, but that was the only shared sound. A few of these words included “moon,” “make,” and “mustache.” After she stated these words she asked the students what sound all of the words had in common. Again, when they made the /m/ sound they all incorporated the TPR movement of rubbing their stomach. This promoted understanding and interaction. 

Moving on to incorporating more letters into her phonemic awareness lesson, Mrs. X, then dismissed the class to the “letter chart” which is a pocket chart located in the back of the classroom labeled with every letter of the alphabet. Each letter also has an attached pocket. She passed out cards with different pictures and words on them and every student was to approach her with their card and tell her which pocket they wanted to put it in. Before they could put it in the pocket they had to sound out the word and blend it with another word. Therefore, blending was an additional technique Mrs. X, used in her classroom. Once they got it correct either independently or with guidance, Mrs. X dismissed the student to their desk to complete an activity. 

The activity reverted back to the day’s letter “M.” The students were given a worksheet which contained several different pictures. The pictures included a moon, mailbox, drum, hammer, and several more. The goal of the assignment was to have the children, on their own or with a partner, circle which pictures began with the /m/ sound. Not only did this activity allow the students to isolate the /m/ sound they were also able to blend the rest of the word on their own. 

Once students completed the first worksheet, they were give a paper with the outline of an “M” and an “m.” The students were directed to say the letter on the sheet and the sound that it makes. After, they were to trace the letter seven times with different color crayons and then they could glue macaroni on the letter. This was a fun and engaging way to continue the lesson of phonemic awareness. 

While the students were completing their worksheets, Mrs. X circled the room specifically focusing on and helping students who were struggling with the worksheet. By allowing the students to work independently, she was able to focus on those students who needed extra help. 

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

Mrs. X has a variety of support for her students to learn phonemic awareness in her classroom. For example, she has posters with pictures of people making sounds such as “th” and “sh.” She also has a visible alphabet with corresponding animals (for example, a lion is pictured next to the letter “L”), a pocket chart of letters (the same one as referenced above), along with other visual cues the students can look at to make connections between phonemic awareness and words.