Why Use Readiness Activities
Headsprout Early Reading assumes some basic skills. For example, in some activities, students are asked to select an arrow if the letters onscreen do not make the sound pronounced by the narrator. Success in such activities requires that students understand the concept of not. Students are also asked to speak out loud at various points in the program. Speaking out loud when asked to is important for learning and mastering the sounds and words taught as well as for developing reading fluency.
The Readiness Activities offer instruction and practice in these and other prerequisite skills. Students engage in activities they encounter in the online episodes with pictures—instead of sounds and words—so they can focus on learning to successfully engage in the activity without having to learn something completely new at the same time.
How to Use Readiness Activities
It is a good idea to project the activities and have the whole class participate in giving answers before students begin Headsprout Early Reading. This preparation will help familiarize students with what will be expected from them in the program. If some students need additional practice to develop skills, such as the concept of not, or need further encouragement to speak out loud, gather them into a small group and repeat the activities, focusing on the specific skills that students need help with. Activities can be repeated as many times as necessary to reinforce the skills.
Some students may need more individual practice. Although these activities cannot be assigned to individual students, you can open the activity on a student’s computer rather than project it and have the student complete the activity independently.
The following concepts and skills are taught and practiced within the Readiness Activities:
- Speaking aloud
- Understanding the concepts of not, first, next, and last
- Tracking and tapping from left to right and from top to bottom
- Distinguishing between pictures and printed text
