Standard 2: Reading Foundations

Students will develop foundational skills for future reading success by working with sounds, letters, and text.

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize, think about, and manipulate sounds in spoken language without using text. 

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will identify and produce word sets that rhyme.

• Students will identify words sets that don’t rhyme.

• Teachers provide repeated experiences with rhyming texts, modeling identifying the rhyming words within the text.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to produce additional rhyming words to go in the rhyming sets identified in texts or rhyming sets given by the teacher.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to create rhyming words by changing initial sounds of words, then allowing students to give the right words. Example: “Today, we will have mocolate mudding for snacks.” Children call out the correct snack, “chocolate pudding”.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback when identifying and producing words that rhyme.

• Teachers model how to identify if words sets rhyme or don’t rhyme by comparing the rime or word family of each word in the set.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to distinguish rhyming sets and non-rhyming sets of words using spoken words or pictures cards.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback when identifying rhyming and non-rhyming sets of words. 

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

Florida Center for Reading Research:  Rhyme Activities (PDF) 

“Willaby Wallaby Woo” (webpage)

Oddity tasks (webpage)

Rhyming Games (webpage)

• Rhyming words have a word pattern that reflects the same sound sequence at the ends of words.

• At ages 3-5, children are able to identify spoken words that rhyme. By the ages 4-5, children will begin producing words that rhyme.

• Repetition of rhyming songs, poems, books, and fingerplays, help students begin to get the feel and rhythm for rhyming words.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.