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NES ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
SUBTEST 2026|COMPLETE EXAM SET
WITH ANSWERS AND RATIONALES
Teachers can promote emergent literacy skills when they: - correct-answer -
Model what readers do when they read a text aloud.
Point to words as they read.
Explain what the punctuation is for.
Encourage students to take part in the reading activity (pointing to the words, or
turning the pages).
_____ _____ _____, the idea that written letters and letter patterns can be used
to represent speech sounds. - correct-answer -the alphabetic principle
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Learn letter names. - correct-answer -Children learn letter names by singing songs
and by reciting rhymes. They also learn letter names as they see them in their
own names, in the names of family members, and in familiar contexts such as
signs, t-shirts, cereal boxes, television commercials, and other environmental
print.
Learn letter shapes. - correct-answer -Children learn letter shapes as they play
with blocks, plastic letters, alphabet books, and computer games.
Learn letter sounds. - correct-answer -Children best learn the sounds letters
represent (individual phonemes) in relationship to letters. Activities that ask
children to segment beginning sounds can be played with puppets, I Spy riddles,
or identifying objects that have certain beginning sounds. Teachers typically
exaggerate beginning letter sounds and ask students to listen for and mimic those
sounds. Follow up activities ask children to match letter sounds to pictures.
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Reading Fluency - correct-answer -the ability to decode a printed text easily,
accurately, expressively, and at an appropriate rate
phonics - correct-answer -teaching reading by training beginners to associate
letters with their sound values
syllabication - correct-answer -forming or dividing words into syllables
automaticity - correct-answer -the ability to recognize words quickly, effortlessly,
and accurately
Competency 2 - correct-answer -requires an understanding of effective
instruction in phonics and word analysis skills to support the development of
reading fluency.
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prosody - correct-answer -the study of poetic meter and the art of versification
Systematic sight word instruction - correct-answer -is focused on promoting
students' automatic recognition of words that occur with the highest frequency in
texts, including words that follow regular phonics patterns as well as those that
do not.
Phonics knowledge - correct-answer -is knowledge of the correspondences in an
alphabetic language between letters or letter patterns and the sounds of spoken
language represented by those letters (i.e., grapheme-phoneme relationships).
suffix - correct-answer -an affix that is added at the end of the word
prefix - correct-answer -an affix that added in front of the word
NES ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
SUBTEST 2026|COMPLETE EXAM SET
WITH ANSWERS AND RATIONALES
Teachers can promote emergent literacy skills when they: - correct-answer -
Model what readers do when they read a text aloud.
Point to words as they read.
Explain what the punctuation is for.
Encourage students to take part in the reading activity (pointing to the words, or
turning the pages).
_____ _____ _____, the idea that written letters and letter patterns can be used
to represent speech sounds. - correct-answer -the alphabetic principle
,2|Page
Learn letter names. - correct-answer -Children learn letter names by singing songs
and by reciting rhymes. They also learn letter names as they see them in their
own names, in the names of family members, and in familiar contexts such as
signs, t-shirts, cereal boxes, television commercials, and other environmental
print.
Learn letter shapes. - correct-answer -Children learn letter shapes as they play
with blocks, plastic letters, alphabet books, and computer games.
Learn letter sounds. - correct-answer -Children best learn the sounds letters
represent (individual phonemes) in relationship to letters. Activities that ask
children to segment beginning sounds can be played with puppets, I Spy riddles,
or identifying objects that have certain beginning sounds. Teachers typically
exaggerate beginning letter sounds and ask students to listen for and mimic those
sounds. Follow up activities ask children to match letter sounds to pictures.
,3|Page
Reading Fluency - correct-answer -the ability to decode a printed text easily,
accurately, expressively, and at an appropriate rate
phonics - correct-answer -teaching reading by training beginners to associate
letters with their sound values
syllabication - correct-answer -forming or dividing words into syllables
automaticity - correct-answer -the ability to recognize words quickly, effortlessly,
and accurately
Competency 2 - correct-answer -requires an understanding of effective
instruction in phonics and word analysis skills to support the development of
reading fluency.
, 4|Page
prosody - correct-answer -the study of poetic meter and the art of versification
Systematic sight word instruction - correct-answer -is focused on promoting
students' automatic recognition of words that occur with the highest frequency in
texts, including words that follow regular phonics patterns as well as those that
do not.
Phonics knowledge - correct-answer -is knowledge of the correspondences in an
alphabetic language between letters or letter patterns and the sounds of spoken
language represented by those letters (i.e., grapheme-phoneme relationships).
suffix - correct-answer -an affix that is added at the end of the word
prefix - correct-answer -an affix that added in front of the word
