Final answer:
The best action is 'a. Teaching phonics and decoding strategies together', as it aligns with the understanding that decoding and encoding are reciprocal skills that develop synchronously in the early stages of reading development.
Step-by-step explanation:
The action by elementary school teachers in the early grades that would best demonstrate an understanding that decoding and encoding are reciprocal skills that develop synchronously during the early stages of reading development is a. Teaching phonics and decoding strategies together. This approach aligns with the concept that learning to read and write involves a combination of phonics knowledge, which pertains to decoding and understanding the sounds that letters and letter combinations make, as well as the ability to encode, or spell, words correctly. This synchronous development is crucial for students to become proficient in both reading and writing, as they reinforce each other.
Emphasizing both skills simultaneously allows students to make connections between how words are composed and how they sound, further enhancing their literacy growth. By teaching these skills together, students are better prepared to not only read with understanding but also to express themselves clearly through writing. Moreover, incorporating phonics in teaching echoes the concept of acoustic encoding, where young children are taught through methods like song and rhyme, making content memorable. Applying such engaging and interactive strategies can help cement the reciprocal development of decoding and encoding in early readers.