Hooked on Phonemic Awareness!

I am so happy to be learning instructional tools for phonemic awareness and reading this week! As the IRA/NAEYC explains, it is so important for us to excite kids and give them the appropriate tools to become exceptional readers. Whether it be independent reading time, read alouds, or small groups, having a clear plan to encourage literacy is the most important aspect of teaching children. Reading reaches into every aspect of our lives.

 "Communications that in the past were verbal (by phone or in person) now demand reading and writing—messages sent by electronic mail, Internet, or facsimile as well as print documents."

I really love Yopp & Yopp's suggestions for integrating phonemic principles into our curriculum.

Activities that focus on rhyme: 
The Hungry Thing book. I love this idea! I also think you could incorporate other books such as llama llama Red Pajama, Dr. Suess, Moose on the Loose...well, really any rhyming book! You could easily design projects and fun activities around rhyming books that everyone loves!

Another rhyming idea I love that wasn't mentioned in the article is The Name Game. I'm sure most of us have heard it before. It is a fun song, and after listening to it you can go around the room having kids sing the song rhyming all of their classmates names. Really, any rhyming song like "Down By the Bay" or "The Saint's go Marching in" would be fun for kids.

Activities for syllable manipulation:
The article gave a few suggestions, but something I found really interesting is using the "Day-O" song to clap out syllables. I also really liked the idea of using kids' names to group them by syllables. I think you could do this with any combination of words and make it based on the students interests too.

Activities with onset-rime manipulation:
My favorite activity here was the We're Going on a Bear Hunt. It is a classic.

Activities with phoneme manipulation:
I really like the "find your partners" game, and being a huge fan of reading aloud, of course I like the book option. I think you could find a number of interesting books to show this.

"I was not going to look at my five-year olds as non-readers; I wanted to empower children with the knowledge that they were already readers, and I would move them forward from there." 

- Donna Bell in "Letting Go of 'Letter of the Week'"

I really enjoyed the article concerning reading, writing, and taking the focus off "letter of the week" programs. I feel that authenticity is important when teaching children. Kids are smart, and they absorb information quickly, and as such we need to treat them like they are intelligent.

It is so important to validate their reading and writings to make them feel important and useful. That is why I loved the article, which validates giving students more freedom in the classroom to read and write. I especially loved when Donna Jarvis talked about letting kids write how they want, and then letting them edit their work to improve themselves and their writing. I loved the ideas she put forth for having a fun and interactive classroom where kids are discovering not memorizing.