What is a Family Toolkit? How do I use it?

We believe families are an under-utlizied resource and partner.  As we all know, learning starts at home.  For too long, families have not been provided usable resources to support their own child’s reading development.  This toolkit is meant to provide you with real resources you can use at home with your child that will improve their reading skills.

Resources are broken down by ages and stages.  First, use the What is the Science of Reading tab to build your own understanding of how the brain learns to read.  Then, find the tab that matches your child’s age, read the overview and download the toolkit.  Interact with the resources and use them daily for 15 minutes with your child.

You can download the printable version of the toolkit here.

In this toolkit, you can find:

Checklist: This is a broad literacy skills checklist to see what your Kindergarten child should know by the end of Kindergarten. You can download the checklist here.

Kindergarten Checklist
This checklist is a simple outline of what your kid should know by the end of Kindergarten.  It is not all inclusive, it is simply a tool for you to understand where your child should be for specific focused skills related to the Science of Reading.
●        Recognizes individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words and can isolate and identify beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

●        Can blend two or more sounds to make a word or a compound word.

●        Can break simple words into their sounds (e.g., “cat” becomes /k/, /a/, /t/).

●        Can produce their own rhyming words when prompted.

●        Knows letter sounds for each letter of the alphabet.

●        Can read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words like “dog,” “cat,” and “run.”

●        Begins to read words with common blends or digraphs (e.g., “ship,” “chat,” “flag”).

●        Can read and follow along with simple sentences or early readers.

●        Read basic high-frequency words (e.g., “the,” “and,” “is,” “you”).

●        Sorts and categorizes words by themes (e.g., animals, foods, colors, shapes).

●        Can describe objects and concepts using descriptive words (e.g., “soft,” “round,” “big”).

●        Begins to use conjunctions like “and” and “because” to combine ideas.

●        Can answer questions about the characters, settings, and events in a story.

●        Can retell stories in order using key details (beginning, middle, and end).

●        Can describe who the characters are, settings and the main idea of a story.

●        Relates characters and events in stories to their own life experiences,

●        Can write all uppercase and lowercase letters legibly.

●        Begins to write simple sentences (e.g., “I like my dog.”).

Screener: A screener is a short assessment you can give your child that shows what they know and do not know of the Kindergarten literacy skills and can help you see growth over time.

Kindergarten Literacy Screener: Directions for Family

What is a literacy screener? A  screener is a quick assessment of the Kindergarten literacy skills that students know and do not know.  It is used to give you, as the family member, an idea of where your child is starting off and can help you understand how to support your student with their literacy skills.  The screener is testing skills your child has not learned yet and is simply a tool for you to understand where your child is and what they still need to learn by the end of Kindergarten.

What should the literacy screener not be used for? In no way should the literacy screener be used to judge your child and it is not meant to tell you whether they are behind or ahead of their peers.  They have not learned the skills yet! It really is just for you to understand where they are and what skills they need support with.  All the skills in the screener can be directly supported by you with the items in this toolkit!

Can I give the screener multiple times? One reason you might give the screener multiple times is for you as their family member to see your child’s growth throughout the year!  If you are giving it multiple times it should be at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year and the end of the year to see growth! Do not give it multiple times close together.  It takes time to build and learn these skills!

How long should the literacy screener take? The literacy screener should take right around 10 minutes! We would never want your child to be frustrated.

What should I do if my child does not know an answer? Say no problem and move on! We do not want children to feel frustrated! We know they have not yet learned these skills and it is just to see what they do and do not know.

How should I introduce the screener to my child? Say that you want to be able to support them with their reading this year because you love them and you know how important reading is! Tell them how excited you are to see what they learn in Kindergarten.  Tell them you are going to ask them some questions to see what they do and do not know! Say that they haven’t learned these yet so it is totally fine if they do not know! You just want to understand so you can help their teacher teach them by doing some work with them at home.

Should I score the screener? Use the scoring guide provided to take notes on what your child does and does not know so you can better support them and/or see their growth as the year progresses!

What else do I need to know? Make sure you find a quiet, distraction-free place to give the screener to your child!

Kindergarten Literacy Screener: Parent Script

Part 1: Letter Recognition

Time: 2 minutes

Materials: Letter flashcards (provided in the toolkit)

  • Instructions: Show your child each letter one at a time.
  • Prompt: “Can you tell me the name of this letter?”

Part 2: Letter Sound Identification 

Time: 2 minutes

Materials: Letter flashcards (provided in the toolkit, same as above)
Support Resource: Here is a video of the correct letter sounds! We as adults often don’t remember the letter sounds correctly, always! It is worth a watch to make sure you know what you are listening for.

  • Instructions: Show your child each letter one at a time again.
  • Prompt: “What sound does this letter make?”

Part 3: Phonemic Awareness (Rhyming)

Time: 2 minutes

Materials: None

  • Instructions: Say each pair of words aloud to your child.
  • Prompt: “Do these words rhyme?”
  • Word Pairs:
    • cat, hat
    • dog, log
    • cup, map
    • sun, fun
    • fish, chair
    • bird, star
    • book, cook
    • tree, car
    • mouse, cake
    • mop, top

Part 4: Beginning Sound Identification

Time: 2 minutes

Materials: Pictures of simple objects

  • Instructions: Show your child each picture.
  • Prompt: “What sound does this word start with?” (example: “What sound does ‘ball’ start with?” Correct Answer: /b/)
apple, /a/ ball, /b/ cat, /c/ dog, /d/ sun, /s/
fish, /f/ hatt, /h/ mop, /m/ pig, /p/ tent, /t/

Part 5: Concepts of Print

Time: 2 minutes

Materials: Any picture book you have in your home!

  • Instructions: Open to the first page in a book.
  • Prompt: “Can you show me where I start reading?”
  • Prompt: “Which way do I go next?”
  • Prompt: “Can you show me a letter?”
  • Prompt: “Can you show me a page?”

Kindergarten Literacy Screener: Scoring

Part 1: Letter Recognition
Scoring Directions Recording Space Where My Child is At
Put a small X through each letter your child does not know. A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I

J    K    L    M    N    O    P   Q    R

S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z

a   b    c    d    e    f    g    h    i

j    k    l    m    n    o   p    q    r

s   t    u    v   x    y   z

Mastery: Recognizes 20-26 uppercase and lowercase letters.

Emerging: Recognizes 10-19 letters.

Needs Support: Recognizes fewer than 10 letters.

What parts of the Literacy Toolkit support my child with letter recognition? The letter cards provided in the toolkit support this skill.
Part 2: Letter Sound Identification
Scoring Directions Recording Space Where My Child is At
Put a small X through each letter sound your child does not get correct. A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I

J    K    L    M    N    O    P   Q    R

S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z

Mastery: Identifies 20-26 letter sounds.

Emerging: Identifies 10-19 letter sounds.

Needs Support: Identified fewer than 10 letters.

What parts of the Literacy Toolkit support my child with letter sounds? The letter sound flashcards with parent prompts provided in the toolkit support this skill.   These should be practiced with the afterschool or weekend routine!
Part 3: Phonemic Awareness (Rhyming)
Scoring Directions Recording Space Where My Child is At
Check each word pair your child gets correctly. ○        cat, hat

○        dog, log

○        cup, map

○        sun, fun

○        fish, chair

○        bird, star

○        book, cook

○        tree, car

○        mouse, cake

○        mop, top

Mastery: Correctly identifies if 8-10 of the word pairs rhyme or do not rhyme.

Emerging: Correctly identifies if 5-7 of the word pairs rhyme or do not rhyme.

Needs Support: Correctly identifies if 0-4 of the word pairs rhyme or do not rhyme.

What parts of the Literacy Toolkit support my child with phonemic awareness? The games described in the In the Car Routine are meant to help your child build phonemic awareness skills.
Part 4: Beginning Sound Identification
Scoring Directions Recording Space Where My Child is At
Check each beginning sound your child gets correct. ○        /a/, apple

○        /b/, ball

○        /c/, cat

○        /d/, dog

○        /s/, sun

○        /f/, fish

○        /h/, hat

○        /m/, mop

○        /p/, pig

○        /t/, tent

Mastery: Correctly identifies 8-10 of the beginning sounds.

Emerging:  Correctly identifies 5-7 of the beginning sounds.

Needs Support:  Correctly identifies 0-4 of the beginning sounds.

What parts of the Literacy Toolkit support my child with phonemic awareness, beginning sound identification? The games described in the In the Car Routine are meant to help your child build phonemic awareness skills, including beginning sound identification.
Part 5: Concepts of Print Awareness
Scoring Directions Recording Space Where My Child is At
Check each question your child gets correct. ●        “Can you show me where I start reading?”

●        “Which way do I go next?”

●        Can you show me a letter?”

●        “Can you show me a page?”

Mastery: Correctly answers all 4 questions.

Emerging:  Correctly identifies 2-3 of the questions

Needs Support:  Correctly identifies 0-1 of the questions.

What parts of the Literacy Toolkit support my child with concepts of print? These skills are addressed through nightly reading as described in the Bedtime Routine.

Routines: These are general routines that you can use with your child to build and support their literacy skills.

Kindergarten Routines

Research shows that Kindergarten attention spans are between 10-18 minutes! It does not take long to support your child’s literacy development.  Below are routines you can engage in with your child to advance their skills and knowledge. All the resources you will need can be found in this toolkit!

After School or Weekend Routine

 

Have 10-15 minutes after school or on the weekend to practice literacy skills with your child? Follow this routine.  Family tutoring and support in literacy can exponentially drive students to become better readers.

Beginning of the Year Middle-End of the Year
Time to Spend: 10-15 minutes Time to Spend: 10-15 minutes
●        Use letter sound flashcards to practice letter sounds (7 minutes)

●        Practice name writing where the first letter is capital and the rest are lower-case (3 minutes)

●        If time, you can play the games mentioned in the car routine below. (1 minute)

●        Use CVC flashcards to practice reading CVC words (3 minutes)

●        Use the Decodable Texts to practice reading (10 minutes)

●        Use the other Kindergarten activities to support literacy development!

○        High frequency words

○        Writing worksheets

Car Ride Routine

Time to Spend: 5 minutes
In the car is a great time to play phonemic awareness games with your child! See below for examples.

●        Rhyme Time: Play a rhyming game. You say a word and then your child has to say a rhyming word! (It can be fun to keep going back and forth rhyming until you run out of words that rhyme!)

●        Word Play: Play beginning, middle, and end sound word games. See examples below.

○        “I am going to say a word and ask you questions about it!  Dog.  What is the first sound in the word dog?” Correct answer: /d/, “What is the end sound in the letter dog?” Correct answer: /g/

○        “The word is dog.  What is the first sound in the word dog?” Correct answer: /d/, “Awesome! What is another word that starts with the /d/ sound?”

●        Say it Fast: Play a say it fast word game. Take a word and say the word one phoneme (letter sound) at a time.  For example, you might say /b/ /u/ /g/ and ask your child to say the word!

●        What Word?: Play a changing sound word game! Say a word like game and ask your child what new word you might get if you switch the /g/ sound in game to the /s/ sound?  The right answer here would be same! You can do this with any word you can think of!

Bedtime Routine

Time to Spend: 10 minutes
Read your student a book before bedtime – any picture book will do!  Use your Imagination Library books as a good place to start.

●        Read the title of the book. Ask “What do you think this book is going to be about?” “Is this story going to be fiction (pretend) or nonfiction (about real people and things)? How do you know?”

●        Read the story.  Stop at some pages to ask questions related to the story.

○        Example: If a character feels sad on a page, you can ask “When are times that you feel sad?”

○        Example: If there is a page about leaves turning colors because it is Fall, you might ask “What is happening with the trees outside right now? Are the leaves turning colors?”

○        Example: If there is some suspense, you might ask, “What do you think is going to happen next?”

●        Ask follow up questions. At the end of the story you can ask your child:

○        “Did you enjoy the story? Why or why not?”

○        “What happened in the story?”

○        “Who was your favorite character?”

○        Any other question that naturally relates to the book!

 

What are flashcards used for?  Flashcards are a great way to practice literacy skills with your child! Cut out the cards and use them as practice.  Brain research shows the more we repeat practicing, the more children (or adults!) will remember the things we practice.

We can use flashcards to teach new things but mostly, we use them to practice skills we have already learned!

Sets of Kindergarten Flashcards

How should I use these flashcards?  Flashcards should be used during the after school and/or weekend routine.

  1. Use the screener to determine what your child is ready for! At the beginning of the year, most Kindergarteners should start with letters, learning their letters and sounds.  These flashcards go in order of progressing skills. For example, if your child struggled with some of their letter sounds – start with using one every few days they did not know and a short time reviewing the ones they do.
  2. Print the flashcards.  Cut down the middle and fold them in half. (The script will appear on the back of every card.)
  3. There are How To instructions with each flashcard set! Make sure to read those before you get started.
  4. You do not, and should not, do every flash card every time.

Flashcards should be used for around 5 minutes!

What is a decodable text?  A decodable text is a book or story that mostly uses letter sounds and patterns that students have already learned.  This way, when students read they don’t need to guess what a word is – they can decode it (or sound it out!)  Practicing reading with decodable texts allows students to practice their phonics skills.

How should I use a decodable text with my student?

Preview the Text Read the title together.

Ask: “What might this text be about?”

Read the Text Allow your child to read out loud to you.  They should be able to read *most of the text independently.
What should I do when my child is stuck? Is your child stuck on a CVC word with sounds they already know? If so, ask your child to sound out the word.  Support them where they might be stuck on sounds.  Then, they should blend the sounds together to make the word.  After, have them repeat the word.

Is the word your child stuck on an irregular word, sight word or have sounds/patterns your child does not know yet? No problem. Read the word out loud to them.

Comprehension At the end of the text, ask your child to either draw a picture or verbally tell you “what was this text about?”
Order of Decodable Texts Use the decodable texts that match the letter sounds your child is working on or has learned.  They are, for the most part, in a usable order.

Kids should not read decodable texts that include letter sounds they have not yet mastered.

Decodable Text (Books and Passages) Links

Letter Sounds: m, s, t, b, a, n, d, p, c, k, i, r, f, s, g, k, o ●        Pat

●        Sit

●        A Nap

●        Nan

●        Sid and Dad

●        Sig, the Pig

●        I Sit, I Tap

●        Tim Sat

●        Tan-Tan

●        Don Gets a Dog

●        Pit-Pat

●        Tam and Tad

●        Miss Sid

●        Kip is the Best Pup

●        The Pin in the Map

●        The Pit

●        Sam and Pam

●        Tom and the Fan

●        The Cat Can

●        Is It A?

Letter Sounds: l, h, w, j, u, v, y, e, qu, x, z ●        Pet Vet

●        Kip Has a Nap

●        Zac the Dog

●        Rick the Duck

●        The Pup

●        Gus the Dog

●        A Bug on the Bus

●        Ten on the Bed

●        I See

●        Pet Cats

●        Cubs in the Den

●        The Big Hut

●        The Red Cat and the Rat

●        The Drums

●        Lost in the Lab

●        Slugs on the Plant

●        The Jet

●        Yams! Yum!

●        The Jet

●        The Box

●        Do Not Quit

●        What is a Vet?

●        Zip the Tent

●        Nan’s Pet

●        The Wet Dog

●        Deb and the Pen

●        Kip in the Sun

●        A Hog in the Mud

●        Kip the Owl

●        Dogs in Hats, Dogs in Bows

●        The Big Box

CVC words ●        A Drip in the Sink

●        A Happy Hen

●        A Mad Cat

●        Red Sand

●        Sant the Ant is Ill

●        A Bug in a Mug

●        Wolf Pups and Mom

●        A Snug Bug

●        My Little Hut

●        Happy Birthday Mom

Kindergarten High Frequency Word List

What are high frequency words? High frequency words are words that are used a lot in text that students read but are not decodable (they do not follow the regular “code) or are not decodable yet.  Therefore, students will need to learn these words in order to read text independently.

●        the

●        a

●        see

●        I

●        by

●        my

●        to

●        go

●        am

●        at

●        no

●        is

●        and

●        you

●        it

●        he

●        she

●        me

●        with

●        are

●        was

●        be

●        do

●        look

●        they

●        we

●        have

●        some

●        or

●        as

●        that

●        our

●        what

●        where

●        were

●        who

●        why

●        would

●        how

●        all

●        into

●        because

●        again

 Kindergarten Activities and Worksheets

CVC Word and High Frequency Word Practice

Sick of flash cards? Here are some other ideas to practice letter writing, name writing and CVC words.

  • Rainbow Writing: Have your student write their words following a rainbow color sequence for each letter, using markers, crayons or colored pencils! They can trace words or spell them on their own when you give them orally!
  • Use sand or salt! Have your student practice writing or spelling their CVC words or high frequency words in sand or salt.
    • Directions: Set up the salt or sand on a cookie sheet or something similar to avoid a mess etc. Have your child use their finger to draw the letters, name or words in the sand or salt.
  • Use shaving cream! Have your student practice writing or spelling their CVC words or high frequency words in shaving cream.
    • Directions: Set up some shaving cream on a cookie sheet, a cleanable surface, etc. Have your child use their finger to draw the letters, name or words in the shaving cream!
  • Use letter magnets! Have your student practice spelling CVC words with letter magnets on the fridge or a cookie sheet.
    • Directions: Give your child a CVC word out loud and have them use the magnets to spell the word.
    • Link: Here is a link to buy letter magnets for less than $10.

Writing Prompts and Practice

Using knowledge of their letter sounds to write words is just as important as using them to read words!  Use the student writing page to have your student respond to a writing prompt by drawing a picture and using their knowledge of letter sounds to label the picture.

Your child will definitely not be able to spell every word correctly and that is totally okay! We are looking for them to spell CVC words and high-frequency words correctly by the end of Kindergarten but otherwise, they should spell inventively using their knowledge of letter sounds.  For example, they might spell the word phone “fon” and that would make sense  at this stage of their literacy development!

Writing Prompt Ideas

  • What was the best part of your day?
  • What was the worst part of your day?
  • What did you do this weekend?
  • What is your favorite animal?
  • What do you like to do at the park?
  • What do you like to do at school?
  • Tell me about your family.
  • What is the weather like outside today?
  • What is your favorite thing to play with?
  • What does it look like outside in Summer? In Winter? In Spring? In Fall?
  • Tell me about your classroom.
  • What would we find at a farm?
  • If you were a superhero, what would you be able to do?

Kindergarten Writing Worksheet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beginning, Middle and End Activity

Directions: Cut out the picture cards and place them in order from beginning to middle to end.

 

Beginning Middle End
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kindergarten Name Writing Worksheet

Model writing your child’s name on the top set of lines, nice and neat.  Then, have your child practice writing their name, using your model as a guide!