Modified/Extended Activities for Kit 1 - Book 05 Up in the Air

by Kim Kemen April 10, 2021

As parents and educators, we are always searching for ways to differentiate instruction for our children. I like to compare it to children learning to play a sport, like baseball. The child begins by hitting the ball off of a tee, then progresses to coach pitch, and then to regular pitching. The child builds on each skill. Reading is the same. We must always start with the foundations necessary to understand sounds and how words work. If a child is struggling, often they may have missed an integral part of the steps of learning to read. Our Ned & Patrick Series has books and activities that are prepared for a teacher or parent to use, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should do exactly the same thing with our Literacy Kits. A child may not be ready to group words by syllables if they have not been taught what a syllable is. In this blog, we give suggestions as to how to modify or scaffold the activities to meet your child wherever they are in this exciting journey of learning to read. We must build their confidence as we go!

Note: The activities in each book can be modified for a reader who may need extra support. Below are ideas to use with the activity cards for readers who may not be ready to attack the word cards independently. The activities will build skills necessary for successful reading. The extension activities are for readers who may need supplemental work. These consist of a list of words to enhance vocabulary. The words can be discussed orally in kid-friendly language. A child can use the words in spoken sentences or written sentences. There is also a list of comprehension questions to encourage deeper thinking about the stories. Again, these can be discussed to promote oral language or written responses can be created.

Modified Activity One: Phonics: Use the activity cards for this phonics exercise.

Give the child an activity card for a sound.
Have the child trace the letters with their fingers stating what is on the card and the sound that it makes.
For example: Give the child the /ai/ card. Model for them to trace the letters saying, “/ai/ says /a/, /ai/ says /a/, /ai/ says /a/.” *The repetition and kinesthetic piece of tracing will help embed the sound for the child.
An extension of this activity would be to have the child list the ways that they know to spell a particular sound.
For example: Can you write all of the ways that you know how to spell the long /a/ sound. A child could write a_e, ai, and ay. (There are actually eight ways to spell the sound of long a, but we must meet the children where they are.)

Extension Activity One: Words Worth Knowing (As they are used in the story.)

mate - to pair or be a part of a pair

sleek - smooth and glossy

mural - painting on a wall or ceiling

sliver - a long, slender piece of something

peer - to look at something closely

plains - flat land with no hills or mountains

Extension Activity Two: Questions Worth Asking:

What were the three places that Ned & Patrick visited on their hot air balloon trip?
Why do you think Patrick felt faint when the kids asked him to play in the basketball game? (Inferencing is an important reading skill. The child may infer that he was nervous. It is also good to encourage children to make connections, so you can ask if they have ever felt like Patrick?)
When Ned & Patrick visited the plains, why do you think the moon and stars were so much brighter than in the city?
Where might you like to travel in a hot air balloon?