Kindergarten Activity No. 63 : Word Awareness

Word Awareness

Listening and speaking are very important in a child’s development. Sounds are all around us.  Before a child learns to speak, they listen and respond to sounds around them.  These sounds prepare them for speech. Listening to spoken language helps children develop speech and language. Language acquisition starts with being aware of single words and understand their meaning.  It is very important that we make our children aware of the individual words in a sentence. This teaches them that words work together to form sentences and they have to follow a specific order to make sense. Reading to your child is crucial for language development.

 

Listen for the word

 

Listen for the word, is a word awareness activity. This activity will help your child develop his listening skills. Choose a story to read to your child, and while reading the story choose a word and ask your child to clap each time s/he hears the word.

1. Start by telling your child what they are expected to do.
2. Read the book through to get your child familiar with the story.
3. Choose a word from the book, for example, if you are reading ‘Three Little Pigs’, choose the word ‘wolf’.
4. Tell your child that every time s/he hears the word wolf, s/he has to clap.
5. Stress the importance of listening attentively and to pay attention to all the words s/he is listening to.
6. To make the task easier for your child put an emphasis on the word chosen, in this case on the word ‘wolf’.

At first the child may find this activity a bit difficult but by time and practice it will become easier.

Reading to your child is crucial for the development of his/her listening skills, communication skills and pre-reading skills.

Reading to your child helps:

• develop a strong bond between you and your child,
• develop his/her visual memory skills,
• develop strong literacy skills,
• develop his/her overall confidence.

The more you read to your child, the more enthusiastic about reading s/he becomes.  Reading also helps reduce screen time.

 

Ms Maria

K 2.2