High-frequency words are words that occur most frequently in written material and do not follow phonetic rules or, as we say in the EL Education curriculum, "don't play fair." Due to this fact, it is important that students are able to navigate these words with ease to improve their reading fluency and comprehension. While high-frequency words on their own don't carry much meaning, they are essential to sentences and help students gather meaning. Below you will find five activities for each day of the week that teachers can do with students or parents can do with their children at home as high-frequency words are being introduced cycle by cycle.
- Read it, say it, write it, read it again
- Use high-frequency words in sentences (oral and written)
- Read a list of high-frequency words and time yourself on fluency (keep running list)
- Search for high-frequency words in sentences/poems and underline them
- Fishing for high-frequency words (one person reads the word aloud, other students find the word in a stack of other high-frequency words)
Instructional Practices
The instructional practices listed below summarize the instruction that accompanies the skills that are being taught in this cycle for the respective grade level. Teachers should review these routines for guidance on how to teach the skills and patterns reflected in the microphase.
Lesson 126
- Engagement Text: This text serves to pique students' interest in the Decodable Reader, introduced in Work Time B, by incorporating the topic and words from this cycle into an engaging read-aloud.
Lesson 127
- Poem Launch: Students hear/read a poem that includes keywords for each letter introduced in the cycle. The verses incorporate new high-frequency word(s) and words that feature the cycle's new graphemes (letters) and phonemes (sounds). This poem is used throughout the cycle for different purposes.
- Mystery Word (Clues to the Mystery Word and Introducing the Mystery Word): Students explore the already introduced poem for a new purpose: searching for a "mystery" high-frequency word. Students are given clues about the number of letters in the word and then search for words with the same number of letters, encouraging student inquiry. They also listen for a word as the teacher reads the words of the poem, clapping when they hear it. This practice is a vehicle for introducing Kindergarten high-frequency words that students will later see in poems and Decodable Student Readers.
Lesson 128
- Poem: Articulatory Gestures: Students use articulatory gestures to support their learning of letters from the current cycle. The teacher might provide students (or partners) hand mirrors to see their mouth movements as they pronounce each phoneme.
- Interactive Writing: Students apply their growing knowledge of letter-sound connections to writing words by working on a shared sentence. Students apply their knowledge of high-frequency words and letter-sound knowledge to spell familiar words and also practice correct letter formation and punctuation.
Lesson 129
- Phonemic Blending and Segmentation: Students segment and blend single-syllable words with three phonemes. This practice continues to refine students' ability to focus on and analyze the sounds within words.
- Chaining: Students begin by identifying each phoneme they hear in a CVC word and connect each of those sounds to the letter (grapheme) that matches it. Once they have encoded the word in this way, they then decode it by making each individual sound and blending them to pronounce the word.
Lesson 130
- Assessment and Goal Setting (during cycle assessments): Students take on-demand assessments at the end of each cycle. Teachers score immediately to track students' progress and possibly revise their personal goals for the module accordingly.
Cycle Word List
In Modules 3 and 4, Kindergartners work on phonemic segmentation and blending and are introduced to decoding and encoding VC and CVC words, as well as words with digraphs. This cycle continues to review patterns introduced in prior cycles (short vowels) and introduces the r-controlled vowel sound.
The following list provides examples of words with patterns from this cycle. Note that the last five words include words with initial or final consonant blends. Students who are ready to segment individual sounds within spoken and written words with initial blends and r-controlled vowels can use words from this list (or similar). For the full cycle overview with word list, Cycle-at-a-Glance, and teaching notes, download the cycle overview.
Engagement Text and Decodable Readers
The text listed below can be utilized to reinforce the skills taught in the cycle. Teachers can use the text to have students apply their learning during small group work or teacher-led groups. By focusing on the skills/patterns being taught, students can apply their learning to text. A list of activities to consider with the text are listed in the activity section.
He follows the sounds to a restaurant where some humans are playing and listening to the music. One is playing a saxophone, another is playing the piano, and another person is playing drums. There are other instruments, too. The people call the music “jazz.”
The next day, Josh cannot get this jazz music out of his mind.
He wants to make music, too. He searches through the trash for instruments. As he searches, the lid of the tin trash can comes crashing down. The sound it makes when it hits the ground is like the cymbals of the drum set from last night! He will use the lid as an instrument.
He finds a stick and imitates the drummer from the jazz band. He taps the lid with a steady rhythm.
Chip walks through the alley and says, “What is that noise? Are you ringing a bell?”
“No, I am using the lid as an instrument. I am playing jazz.”
“Can I play, too?” asks Chip.
Josh looks around and sees a pot next to the restaurant trash can. “Yes, you can use the pot as a drum! We can play together just like real jazz musicians!”
Chip finds another stick and starts to follow the rhythm Josh is playing with the lid. Then Ben the rat shows up. He does not want to play an instrument, but he likes to whistle and hum. He uses his voice like an instrument. “Tap, tap, thud, thud, whistle, hum…” “I never thought a pot, a lid, a cat, and two rats could sound so great! Jazz is fun!” says Chip as they continue to make music together.