Primary Centers Parent Tips

Hi, I’m Staci Kaplan, the District Literacy Coach for Kindergarten and First Grade! With over 30 years of experience in education, I am passionate about helping children become confident readers and writers.

In my role, I partner with teachers to strengthen literacy instruction, analyze student progress, and support the needs of all learners. Together, we use research-based practices to build strong foundations in reading, writing, and oral language.

I believe every child deserves the opportunity to experience success as a reader and writer. Throughout the year, I’ll share practical tips and activities to help families support literacy development at home. I look forward to getting to know your children and celebrating their growth!

In kindergarten, children begin building an important foundation for reading called phonemic awareness. This is the ability to hear, identify, and work with individual sounds in spoken words. Before children can successfully sound out words in print, they need to understand that spoken words are made up of individual sounds.

Three important phonemic awareness skills are:

• Sound Identification: Hearing and recognizing individual sounds in words. For example, ask your child, "What is the first sound you hear in sun?" Your child should respond /s/, not the letter name S.

• Blending: Putting individual sounds together to make a word. For example, when you say /m/ /ă/ /p/, your child blends the sounds together and says map.

• Segmenting: Breaking a spoken word into its individual sounds. For example, when you say fish, your child identifies the three sounds: /f/ /ĭ/ /sh/. Notice that sh represents one sound!

These skills help children understand how sounds work in words, preparing them to connect sounds to letters through phonics. As children learn these connections, they begin to decode (sound out) words when reading and segment sounds when spelling.

The wonderful thing about phonemic awareness is that you can practice it anywhere! Playing simple sound games while driving, walking, or preparing dinner helps strengthen the skills your child needs to become a confident reader and writer.

Play "I Spy" at home, in the car, or while shopping! Give your child clues about an object and ask them to listen for its beginning or ending sound.

• "I spy something we wash our hands with that begins with /s/." (soap)

• "I spy something red that begins with /ă/." (apple)

• "I spy something we read that ends with /k/." (book)

Encourage your child to say the sound they hear, not the letter name.

Tell your child that you are going to say a word in a silly, stretched-out way. Their job is to put the sounds together to figure out the mystery word!

• /d/ /ŏ/ /g/ → dog

• /s/ /ŭ/ /n/ → sun

• /f/ /ĭ/ /sh/ → fish

Start with two- or three-sound words before moving to longer words. Remember to say the individual sounds, not the letter names!

Gather a few LEGO bricks, pennies, or small counters. Say a word and have your child move one object for each sound they hear.

• map → /m/ /ă/ /p/ (3 sounds)

• fish → /f/ /ĭ/ /sh/ (3 sounds)

• bike → /b/ /ī/ /k/ (3 sounds)

Have your child touch each object while saying the sounds. Remember, we are counting sounds, not letters!

Use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or letters written on small pieces of paper. Say a simple word, such as map. Ask your child to stretch out the word and listen for each sound: /m/ /ă/ /p/.

Have your child choose the letter that represents each sound and place the letters in order to build the word.

Once the word is built, ask your child to point to each letter, say its sound, and blend the sounds together to read the word.

For an extra challenge, change just one sound!

• map → mop

• mop → top

• top → tap

When children practice hearing, identifying, blending, and segmenting sounds, they are strengthening the skills that support reading and spelling. Connecting these sounds to letters helps children apply what they hear to the words they read and write.

A few minutes of playful practice each day can make a meaningful difference!

As your district literacy coach, I am here to support teachers, students, and families! Strong partnerships between home and school help children grow as readers and writers. If you have questions about your child’s literacy development or would like ideas for supporting learning at home, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I look forward to working together to help every child succeed!

Staci Kaplan

908-918-2100 Ext: 6116

skaplan@summit.k12.nj.us