Phonemic Awareness & Remote Learning
UPDATED NOVEMBER 2020
Please note: Literacy Resources gives permission for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons to be recorded for remote learning instruction for students in your own school or school district. In order to preserve the fidelity of the curriculum and protect our copyright, we kindly request that all videos are shared privately with students, and they are not shared in public forums (i.e. public YouTube channels, Facebook, etc.).
During the 2020-2021 school year, administrators, educators and parents are planning for multiple scenarios for providing instruction each day. Will students attend school in-person? Will all learning take place remotely? Will instruction be a hybrid model with both in-person and remote learning? The only thing we do know is this school year will bring new learning opportunities for us all.
However, as uncertain as we may be, we know we must be prepared to provide students with the best possible education – no matter what the platform. Phonemic awareness is a foundational reading skill and a critical component of literacy instruction. While it would be ideal to implement the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons in person, we realize that there is a very real possibility remote learning will be a part of classroom instruction next school year.
Heggerty YouTube Playlists
During the school closures of this past spring, we provided online resources for teachers and parents. The list below provides an outline of the different levels of our curriculum and the week of lesson demonstrations available. These can be accessed through our YouTube channel. The playlist includes at-home learning videos to be shared with parents in both English and Spanish, lesson demonstrations for English PreK, Kindergarten and Primary and two full weeks of recorded lessons. The channel also includes Spanish sample lessons and one full week of Spanish PreK, Kindergarten and Primary recorded lessons.
- PreK - Weeks 12 and 26
- Kindergarten - Weeks 21 and 26
- Primary - Weeks 21 and 25
- PreK (Spanish) - Week 15
- Kindergarten (Spanish) - Week 15
- Primary (Spanish) - Week 13
In addition to the resources already provided, we are also sharing some additional resources, tips, and considerations should you need to plan for remote learning this upcoming school year.
Heggerty Lesson Videos
- Available for Pre-K, Kindergarten and Primary curricula in English and Kindergarten curriculum in Spanish
- Available by subscription only and lasts for the full academic year, expiring August 31, 2021
- Weekly video lessons can be shared in your remote learning lessons plans by copying and pasting each link so that students can participate in the activities provided while at home
- Subscriptions are per teacher
Recording Lessons for Asynchronous Instruction
Another option is to record the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons for your students, so they can engage in the lesson during asynchronous instruction. We know students love to see and hear their teacher when they are away from the classroom and the phonemic awareness lessons can be part of those connection opportunities with your students. If you will be recording videos for your students (yes, we give you permission to record and publish videos privately for the purpose remote learning) we have provided tips for recording below:
1. Setting up your recording
Lesson videos on our YouTube channel provide an example of how a lesson would be taught in a recorded video. When preparing to record your Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons, be in close proximity to your screen. This will allow students to hear you clearly and provide a visual model for the way we articulate sounds.
Additionally, you will want to make sure your hand motions are seen by your learners in a left to right progression. We want students to see the sounds in the same manner they will map print. This may require you to adjust settings on your virtual platform recording device.
2. Lesson format
After you hit record, begin teaching the lesson as if you were in your classroom with your learners.
- Use the same language and teach every component of the daily lesson plan.
- When providing instruction, provide the correct answer for students. This will allow them to confirm they were correct or, if they were incorrect, hear the correct answer.
- Teacher says word/word part/sounds, pauses for 2-3 seconds, and then provides the correct answer.
Example for blending sounds:
T: m - ee- t; ask students to repeat the sounds; pause 2-3 seconds
T: m - ee - t, meet
- Provide error correction for tasks that may be challenging for students.
Example for error correction:
When segmenting words with consonant blends, students often keep the two sounds of the blend together. They may segment the word flip into only 3 sounds: /fl - i - p/. When recording, provide automatic error correction for some of these more difficult tasks. After pausing and providing the correct answer, the teacher can say:“That was a tricky word. Watch me segment the word flip, /f - l - i - p/. Flip has 4 sounds, /f - l - i - p/. You try it: flip, (segment and say the sounds so students can say it with the recording). When we segment phonemes, we want to listen for all of the sounds we hear in the word.”
3. Teacher modeling for new skills or concepts
The Heggerty Phonemic Awareness lessons follow the phonological awareness continuum. All of our lessons begin with compound words, then move to syllables, onset-rime and then phonemes. If you encounter one of these transitions during remote learning, we suggest providing a model for students first following an I Do, You Do format. Explicitly tell students the units of language you will be working with and model the tasks for the first lesson of the week.
For example:
“We have been blending 2 small words to make compound words. Today, we are going to blend syllables. A syllable is a part of a word that has a vowel sound in it. We are going to blend syllables together to make words. Watch me. When I blend the 2 syllables nap - kin, the word is napkin.”
4. Pacing
Teaching Virtual Classroom Lessons for Synchronous Instruction
- Utilize small groups when possible. If you have the option to use breakout rooms (available in Zoom), this can provide the opportunity for individual or partner responses within the lesson instruction.
- When teaching to a whole class or large group of students, we recommend muting all but 2-3 students each day. To ensure you get to hear all student responses throughout the weeks, we suggest creating a weekly/monthly schedule in which you rotate the students you are listening to each day.
- While many students will be muted, you will still be able to see their responses by watching their mouth and observing hand-motions if they are using them.
- If listening to 2-3 students at a time presents a challenge, you may choose to assign one child to be a leader for the day for a whole skill or the whole lesson. Please note, that this option may not work for some students, due to ability or personality. If you choose to use the leader option, we recommend using it with students that have a firm grasp of the PA lessons and are comfortable responding to a whole group. For students that need more support, we recommend scheduling them to be unmuted for responses with 1-2 other students.
- Ask for visual responses: Phonemic awareness lessons are oral and auditory, and in a virtual classroom, students can use colored tiles, paper, or chips to represent the sounds they hear.
- Teachers can send Elkonin boxes home with students and students can point to the place they hear the sound. This is “phoneme location” and can be used when working with Onset Fluency and Isolating Final or Medial sounds in words.
- Ask students to use their fingers to show the number of parts or sounds they hear when segmenting words
- Students show thumbs up and thumbs down for rhyme recognition activities or when listening to a series of words that have the same or different initial, medial, or final sounds.
- Teach the 2 Early Literacy Skills separate from the PA lesson for asynchronous instruction:
- Record a video that shows letter cards and practices the letter names and sounds separately. Share this video with students for use during asynchronous instruction.
- Share a video for the nursery rhyme (for Pre-K and Kindergarten friends) Check out the Mother Goose Club on YouTube!
As teachers meet the new learning methods of this new school year, we are honored to be part of your classroom instruction. Phonemic awareness lessons are engaging and fun, and, no matter how the lessons are delivered, they continue to have a powerful impact on your students’ development as readers.
Please reach out to our literacy specialists with any questions at pd@heggerty.org
Thank you so, so much for this resource!
You are so welcome, Stacey!
Hello- I see you said the pre-k / kindergarten video lessons would be ready in August. Where do I find this and cost. I seen the first/ second one but not purple book.
Thanks,
Kellihemann
You can purchase the daily lesson videos in our online store: http://www.heggerty.org/shop. The cost is $79.99 per teacher for all 35-weeks of lessons and if you own our curriculum, we are offering a 50% discount in the price of the videos, so they are $39.99 per teacher. The PreK (purple book) videos are available: https://heggerty.org/product/daily-lesson-videos-pre-kindergarten/ Kindergarten and Primary videos are available as well.
How do you get the discount? My school purchased Heggerty last year, but how I do apply the discount for the videos?
The discount code is DAILYPA50 for teachers who have purchased the curriculum. It can be used at checkout for 50% off the daily lesson videos.
Are we still able to access the vowel teams cards for download? I can’t seem to find them and would like to be able to cut and paste them into a slide deck for small group work.
Thank you.
Hello Melissa,
The letter cards we previously had available were teacher created and used clip art and other images that may not have been licenced for our use. In addition to the images, there were some guide words we wanted to change. We have taken the letter cards down to review the images and guide words. We do plan have ABC cards available for download in the future!
Distance Learning support is great news for this K/1 DL teacher.
Glad we can help Sylvia!
If my district already purchased Heggerty books, do I get access to all the resources?
Hi Christina! We are planning to offer a significant discount on the lesson videos once they are released next month to customers who have already purchased the curricula. Otherwise, the price for access is as listed whether you have purchased the books or not. I’m truly sorry if that means these new products are not an option for you and your students. We have spent significant time, money, and resources developing these products (and will spend even more maintaining and supporting them) and we have tried to price them as fairly as possible for customers realizing that remote learning was not something any of us were planning on last year or for the school year ahead.
Are you going to have the lessons in English and in Spanish? And if I buy for a month do I have access to both?
Question: Is the subscription cost per level or do you get access to all levels at one price point?
Thank you for your question, Tambra.
The subscription cost is per teacher, per grade level, so you would not have access to all levels with one subscription.
What an amazing resource! Thanks!
You’re welcome Olive!
What are your thoughts on using the Heggerty assessments during distance learning?
The assessments can be used remotely. We revised the assessments to include 5 words instead of 10, so that they are easier to administer. The assessments are not required for all students, but rather can be used to monitor student progress with the skills. I would suggest using the assessments with a select group of learners.
My site is interested in purchasing the video lessons for Kinder and First Grade. How can I start the process? When will these lesson be available?
Hi Gursharan! Thank you for your question. If your school or district is interested in purchasing the Kindergarten and Primary video lessons, please email PD@heggerty.org and we will help you get the process started. Thank you!
I would love to purchase the daily videos! They are excellent and having this resource will free up my energy for other things. When will they be available? LAUSD begins on August 18th.
I am so excited about these videos! Is there a release date? My school starts in one week.
We plan to release the daily lesson videos in mid to late-August.
Where can I find the monthly subscription for $7.99?
Hi Lauren,
The digital subscriptions will be available for purchase on our website on Aug 18.
Thank you for your interest in the lesson videos!
Alisa
Hi,
I was introduced to your website through the M.A. Rooney Foundation. Will the video lessons and other resources be available for free still?
Thank you.
Kathy
Hello, Kathy,
We are glad you found us! We have video lesson demonstrations available on our YouTube channel playlists, as well as the hand motion videos. https://www.youtube.com/c/HeggertyPhonemicAwareness/playlists
Our assessments are available as a free download on our website as well: http://www.heggerty.org/downloads
The Daily lesson videos for all 35-weeks of the curriculum will require a subscription purchase.
Please let us know if you have additional questions.
Alisa
Hello,
I would like to purchase the monthly subscription of recorded videos for 2nd grade. Will I be able to have access August 19, 2020 to push out to the virtual learners?
Thank you for your interest in the daily lesson videos. They will be released in our online store on August 18.
Love the resources available for virtual teaching.
I enjoyed learning about this program. I’m sure my students will enjoy it and the movements.
I am really interested to see how this looks in our new virtual reality!! I loved using Heggerty in the classroom.
I enjoyed learning about your program. Thank you for all the resources.
This is great!
This is so cool of you guys … now we just need to figure out if we should go all digital or buy books (learned about your program this summer so haven’t used it yet with our students!) for staff members.
Can families purchase the virtual lessons for their children to watch at home?
Hi Andrea! Yes, families can purchase the videos for students to watch at home. We have temporarily removed the videos from our online store, but they will be available for purchase again by 8/25.
When will I be able to purchase the heggerty lessons for phonemic awareness?
Hi, thank you for your question! The Daily Lesson Videos will be available in our shop on August 25th: https://heggerty.org/shop/. You will also find other Heggerty curricula available for purchase there as well.
Hello! I was wondering if I could find out more about the digital lessons and where to purchase them. We have been using Heggerty in my district for the last couple years. I recorded my own Heggerty lesson for today so the kids can see me without a mask on teaching it, but would LOVE to have access to them through you. Thank you!
Hi! Thank you for your question and interest in the Daily Lesson Videos. You can learn more about this offering here: https://heggerty.org/blog/covid-19-and-our-plan-to-support-educators/. You will also find them available for purchase in our shop on August 25th: https://heggerty.org/shop/.
Are there sections left out of the video lessons or did the book change? I believe my book is dated 2015 at the bottom of the page. I just noticed that some words have changed and some sections are in different order or gone altogether.
Hi Christy,
The daily lesson videos for Kindergarten focused on the 8 Phonological and Phonemic Awareness skills. Marjorie included some of the sentences for Language Awareness and Letter Naming is provided in a separate video. We did update the curriculum and our 2020 edition of the Kindergarten lessons does have changes when compared to the 2015 version. We moved Substituting to the last skill and we waited to introduce rhyme production until a later week. We edited words used in the lessons as well, but we did not remove any skills from the weekly lesson plans. You can see sample lesson plans from the 2020 curriculum on our website: http://www.heggerty.org/downloads. Thank you for purchasing the videos!
Alisa
Hi!
I have the 2017 edition for kindergarten and Primary. Where can I find the downloads to the assessments for 2017. I noticed that some of the 2020 assessments have been shortened to only 5 questions per skill.
Thanks,
Julie
Hi Julie,
The assessments were updated with a reduced number of words based on teacher feedback and the posted assessments are the only assessments we currently have available. Many of the words stayed the same and the skills assessed are the same as well. These new assessments can be used with the 2015 version of the Kindergarten curriculum and the 2017 version of the Primary curriculum. The only difference on the assessment is the order of the skills – Substituting was moved to the final PA skill in the 2020 update of the curriculum and this is reflected on the order of the skills assessed.
Thank you!
Alisa
Hi I was wondering if I can purchase this for the purpose of homeschooling?
Hi Augustina! Yes! We have many homeschool families who use Heggerty and we think you will find it parent-friendly too! I recommend exploring our YouTube Channel: Heggerty Phonemic Awareness to get a sense of the curriculum and how to implement it. There you will find a few lesson demonstrations, as well as a brief overview of the curriculum. You can find our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeggertyPhonemicAwareness/featured.
I purchased the video lessons for Kindergarten. It only goes through week 12. When will we get the remaining lessons and how will we get those?
Hello Shonda! Thanks for your videos purchase. We finished recording the videos through Week 35 last week, so we will be sharing an updated document with links as soon as they are available.
Do I also need the pre school curriculum or can the video be enough?
The Preschool videos are a recorded version of the PreK written lessons. The videos are available until Aug 31, 2021, so if you would like to continue instruction with the Heggerty lessons next school year, then purchasing the curriculum is recommended. For this school year, the lesson videos can be enough.
How do I get the 50% off coupon code? My school purchased Heggerty for all of us last year. We are on the verge of going full remote and I would love to get the video resource.
Hi Leslie,
The coupon code for 50% off was available from August through October 15. The daily lessons are still available in our online store, but the discounted price is no longer available. https://heggerty.org/shop/ The cost is $79.99 per teacher for all 35 weeks of lesson videos.