Do you remember as an early reader, struggling with a word and being told to “sound it out”? Well, the act of breaking a written word into its various parts requires several skills, but none of them do the reader any good unless that child has a strong sense of phonemic awareness.
Do You Hear That? Why Phonological Awareness is So Important for Preschoolers
Phonological Awareness is quite possibly my favorite early literacy skill to discuss. Partly because many people are already implementing it to some degree without recognizing it (remember: recognize, emphasize, maximize…), but also because many resources and studies suggest that it is the #1 predictor of reading success. Which is often surprising to people, since it has nothing to do with letters on a page.
Does Your Alphabet Chart Need to Be Recalled?
Five Favorites….To Start
OK, for those of you looking for more Dr. Seuss activities, here are five favorites to start off with! More to come!
(Does anyone else ever feel like they’re juggling this many things?)
Crayons in the Box Song
This is a great song for learning about colors and for building rhyme recognition, an important skill for pre-readers (read more about phonological awareness here). Use this song during large group, music and movement time, or just as a filler during a transition. The little ones love it! Eventually, they’ll be ready to be the ones giving the clues!
Book Activity – The Hungry Thing
I was first introduced to Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler’s The Hungry Thing at a workshop on phonemic/phonological awareness (learn more about that here). So, obviously, this book and activity are great for building those critical prereading skills. In this story, the Hungry Thing shows up in a town, asking for food. The people can’t figure out what he wants. When he requests “shmancakes” they each have a different idea about what “shmancakes” actually are. One boy makes sense of it all, reminding them that “shmancakes” sound like “pancakes”. So they give the Hungry Thing some and he eats them all up! This continues on to include “feetloaf” and “gollipops”, “boop with a smacker” and “tickles”. As I read this story, I always pause a bit, allowing the children to chime in with the appropriate rhyming word.
The Invisible Man
Here’s an activity I think I picked up in a phonemic awareness book once upon a time. You begin by telling the children you have a friend who wants to be an invisible man, perhaps as a Halloween costume. (You may need to explain what “invisible means”.) Show a picture of a person (stick figures are ok) or just a face, if you’re working with younger children, drawn on a chalkboard or dry erase board. This man is not invisible at all! Tell the children that if they want to make part of the man invisible, they have to say the rhyming word. Give a few examples. If you or the children say “pies”, you erase the eyes. If you say “farm” erase an arm. Accept nonsense words (“gegs” rhymes with legs) as rhymes. Rhyme production is more difficult than rhyme recognition, so for younger children, you would say the rhyming word and give two options for the part to be erased (rhyme recognition). “What if I said “south”? Would that be the mouth or the eyes? South-Mouth, or South-Eyes?” For older children, you might say, “What word rhymes with arm?” (rhyme production)
Photo by phillip13.
Pumpkin Drum
As you and your children are exploring the properties of pumpkins, you discover that the fact that they are hollow is one of their best characteristics. You find this out as you dig out their seeds and make Jack-o-lanterns. You realize it’s importance as you send even enormous pumpkins floating on water. Another great way to utilize the hollow property of a pumpkin is to use it as a drum!
Easy Fruit Dip for Those Who Like to Eat, Eat, Eat, Apples and Bananas
I love simple recipes that children can help with at snack time. Here’s another favorite to add to that stash: Fruit Dip!
Here are the players:
The Wiggle Waggle Song
Photo provided by rrss.
Want a fun little song that gets the wiggles out while enforcing phonemic awareness skills? I thought you might be, so here it is!
It’s a very simple song, but kids love it! To the tune of “Shortnin’ Bread”: