Having fun with phonological awareness

HAVING FUN WITH PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

By,Mark Smith &Jenny Kwong Shuk WahIPG, Gaya Campus

A Continuum of Complexity Of Phonological Awareness

Less ComplexActivities

More ComplexActivities

Rhyming songs

Sentence segmentation

Syllable segmentation & blending

Onset-rime blending & segmentation

Blending, segmenting & manipulating individual phonemes(phonemic awareness)

From Chard, David J & Dickson, Shirley V. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines

1.Rhyme

Example Variation

Row, row, row your boatgently down the

stream.Merrily, merrily, merrily,

merrily;Life is but a dream

Ba, ba, black sheep

1.1 Sing to the tune “if you’re happy and you know it…”

Did you ever see a cat /be∂/ in a hat /tʃe∂/?Did you ever see a cat / be∂ / in a hat / tʃe∂/??No, I never, no, I never, no, I never, no, I neverNo, I never saw a cat/ be∂ / in a hat / tʃe∂/?.

Variations:A mouse in a house.A bear in a chair.An owl drying off with a towel.

1.2 Rhyme Through Movement

One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, fourFive potatoes, six potatoes, seven potatoes,

more

Task:In small groups, children sing the rhyme while

passing around an object. The child holding the object at the end of the

rhyme (on ‘more’) must then state a word that begins with the same initial sound. i.e. /p/

Example: Vary with other food names such as banana /b/, papaya /p/, tomato /t/ etc.

1.3 Make a Rhyme

Example Variation

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Jump aroundTeddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Touch the ……….Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Open the boxTeddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Pull out the ……..Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Bake a cake.Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,Swim in the ……… .

Pussy Cat Daddy Dog Speedy Spider Coco Cow Henny Hen

2.Sentence Segmentation Level

Teacher cuts out green lily pads and places on classroom floor.

Children then hop the number of times they hear words in a sentence dictated by the teacher.

Alternative: Children clap the number of words heard in a sentence.

Task: Practice some short sentences with your partner. Have them clap the number of words they hear. Swap roles.

2.2 Sentence Segmentation Level

Model Practise

1. Good morning children.

2. How are you today?

3. I am fine thank you.

4. What is your name?.

5. Tomorrow we are going to town.

6. Ahmad is working very well today.

1. Ned has a newt in his net.

2. Penny has a penguin in her pack.

3. Sally has a seal on her seesaw.

4. Tom has a tiger in his tent.

5. Alex has an ox in his box.

6. Yousef has a yak on his yacht

7. Zara has a zebra in her zoo.

3. Syllable Level

Objective: Students will be able to define

syllables and recognise how many syllables are in a word

‘Mark’ : clap once (one syllable) ‘Jenny’: clap twice (two syllables) ‘cucumber’: clap thrice (three

syllables)

3.1 Syllable LevelName Game Write all of the children’s names on index

cards and place in a basket. Sit in a circle and pass the basket from one

child to the next when the music begins. When the music stops, whoever is holding

the basket pulls out a card and reads the child’s name on the card.

The class repeats the name and claps out the number of syllables or parts as they say the name (e.g. Jen-ny has 2 claps.

3.2 Syllable Manipulation

Model Practise

‘Sabah’. What would the word say If I took off the ‘Sa’?

Elicit: It would say ‘bah’ and now we only have 1 syllable.

Say robot without the ro

Say table without the ta

Say potato without the po

Say cucumber without the cu

Other Examples??

Source: Blevins (1997: 58)

4. Onset-Rime Level

Onset is the beginning sound in a

word or syllable and rime is the ending sound.onset rime word

/k/ /at/ cat/s/ /un/ sun

4.1 Developing Limericks

Guided Practice

Model

Mat There was a young boy

called …Who had an overly large …When it chased the …It shook the …So Mat got rid of the …

In groups use the following words to make up your own limerick.

Siti, mouse, kitty, house/in/

SharingNow read your poem

aloud to your friends.

4.2 Creating Rhyming PoemsModel Extension of Variations

Using the word family chart developed by the children, create simple rhyming poems.

Eg.My Cat

My cat is very fat.He should be chasing the rat.

But instead he sits on the matAnd expects a pat. Oh, my cat is very fat.

/in/ /ip/ /op/ /ick/ /eck/

5.1 Phoneme Identification

5.2. Phoneme Matching

Possible Activities: Teacher distributes pictures to students who must then

match the pictures according to the teacher’s instructions. Snap.. Card Game.

Initial (beginning) sound

Final (ending) sound

Middle sound

5.3. Phoneme Substitution

The Teacher has students listen as he/she says a CVC word eg. ‘bug’.

“How many magnets will I use?” (3) …. “Let’s count…”

“What about if I change the /b/ to a /m/? What is the word now? …

“Now lets try ‘dad’. How many sounds do you hear? (3) … So, how many magnets? (3) …

“Do you hear any sounds that are the same?” (d)… So our beginning and ending sound will be the same colour.

TASK: In pairs, use magnets to practice the above procedure with other 3 letter words. E.g. ‘bat’ ‘top’ ‘fat’ etc.

5.4. Phoneme BlendingExplain to children that you are going to say a word

in parts. (Robot Talk) You want them to listen carefully, and then say the word as a whole. i.e. blend the sounds.

For e.g. If I say /m/ /a/ /p/, you would say….. ‘map’.What about if I say /t/ /o/ /p/ ?

TASK: In pairs practise the above procedure with the

following words. Remember not to show your ‘student’ the letters.

Practice e.gs: /m/ /o/ /p/, /f/ /i/ /t/, /s/ /u/ /n/, /c/ /a/ /t/.

5.4 Guess It!

Place picture cards in a bag and draw out one picture at a time. Tell the children I can see a /k/ an /a/ and a /t/.

Show the picture card for children to check their response.

Teaching points: Commence at easier level first e.g. Onset-

rime and gradually increase difficulty level. E.g. I can see a /c/ /at/ BEFORE I can see a /c/ /a/ /t/.

Invite children to be the ‘teacher’.

5.5. Phoneme SegmentationInvolves children segmenting the sounds they hear in an oral

word.

Teacher Dialogue: I’m going to say a word and I want you to listen very carefully and tell me all the sounds you hear in that word.

For e.g. If I say the word ‘mop’ you would say /m/ /o/ /p/.

Understand?

TASK: In pairs , role play a teacher and student using the following words:

/Hi/, /it/, /so/, /sat/, /top/, /map/

NB: This is a purely aural task. Ensure ‘children’ can’t see the words you are dictating.

5.5 Segmentation Cheer

Change the words in the 3rd line of the first stanza each time you say the cheer.

Instruct children to segment the word sound by sound.

Listen to my cheer. Then shout the sounds you hear.Sun! Sun! Sun!Let’s take apart the word sun!

Give me the beginning sound.(Children respond with /s/)

Give me the middle sound.(Children respond with /u/)

Give me the ending sound.(Children respond with /n/)

That’s right!/s/ /u/ /n/ - Sun! Sun! Sun!

5.6. Phoneme Deletion & Addition

Explicit Instruction:

“I’m going to take a word and make new words using it. I can take the /s/ off sat, put on a /p/, and I have a new word – pat.

Guided Practice:Have children replace the first sound in each word you

say with a /s/.

hit, well, funny, bun, mad, bend, rat, rope.

NB: Once children are familiar with substituting initial sounds, move onto final sounds and finally middle sounds.

5.6 Phoneme Deletion Exercises

1. Initial Phoneme Say part without the /p/ Say sun without the /s/

2. Final Phoneme Say meat without the /t/ Say mop without the /p/ Say take without the /k/

3. Second consonant in an initial blend Say spell without the /p/ Say clap without the /l/

Source: Blevins (1997:58)

A Continuum of Complexity Of Phonological Awareness

Less ComplexActivities

More ComplexActivities

Rhyming songs

Sentence segmentation

Syllable segmentation & blending

Onset-rime blending & segmentation

Blending, segmenting & manipulating individual phonemes(phonemic awareness)

From Chard, David J & Dickson, Shirley V. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines

Individual Phoneme Level

Yopp & Yopp (2000) suggest 6 levels of phoneme manipulation:

1. Identification2. Matching3. Substitution4. Blending5. Segmenting6. Deletion & Addition

List of References

Chard, D. J., & Dickson, S. V. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instructional Assessment Guidelines. Retrieved, July 31, 2007, from http://www.ldonline.org

Blevins, W. (1997). Phonemic Awareness Activities For early Reading Success. Ashton Scholastic, New York.

Adams, M.J.(1990). Beginning to read: Thinking & Learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.

Chard, D.J. & Dickson, S.V. (1999). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines. Retrieved, July 31, 2007 from http://www.ldonline.org

Juel, C., Griffith, P.L.,& Gough, P.B. (1986). Acquisition of literacy: A Longitudinal study of children in first and second grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78,243-255.

Yopp, H.K., & Yopp, R.H.(2000). Supporting Phonemic Awareness in the classroom. Reading Teacher, 54, 130-141.