Classroom App - Phonological Awareness
Gary Obermeyer, Thu October 27, 2005, 12:45 PM
Your second "homework" assignment for Session Two is to select a tool/strategy that you read/talked/learned about during the phonological awareness presentation, try it out in your classroom, observe what happens, and summarize what you learned in this thread.
While you're here, take a few minutes to read what your colleagues discovered in their respective classrooms (don't be bashful about asking questions and/or making comments.
I am going to try the phonemic awareness progress check. Since I dont have my own classroom (ESL teacher) it may take me a bit to come up with results. Should be interesting.
Terra and I (Sarah) used the progress monitoring sheet today with our lower achievers. We decided to use their spelling list since it was at their level. We ended up making it into a game, where each child said the letter sound of each word and the last child blenced them to say the word. This made the check much more exciting for all of us involved.
I read one of the poems from McGraw Hill that had rhythm, rhyme and repetition. The students really seemed to grasp the main ideas of the poem. I just wish that McGraw Hill had more chants, songs and rhyming poems to go along with phonemic awareness.
I tried the Elkonin Sound Boxes with my third graders and it went very well. This was such a wonderful idea to help the students figure out an unknown word. The students loved using the manipulatives and figuring out the unknown words. This was such a great idea that I had not heard of before.
I teach weekly spelling to 3rd grade ESL students...I added chanting out loud the phonemes to help them learn "ee" words... STREET...str,...eet ! or KNEE...kn,...ee ! I noticed immediate enjoyment and learning by participation.
In the reading program we use, my students need to read the first couple senteces one word at a time. i tried the one at a time activity card. it was fun and hands on and got my students focused on the story. they really loved taking a break from their seats as well.
I tried the activity Round and Round We Go. Some of my students were able to do the activity with help. I think they will be more successful with repetition.
In the reading program we use, it has something similar to the Elkonin boxes. This has worked well with the first grade students to easily break CVC words into each seperate sound and I look forward to using it with words that contain r clusters, and more complex words.
Move it and say it activity- I used in my SRA program. It very similiar. It thought it went well
I chose to use Elkonin Sound Boxes. I decided to use them with my children at home instead of in my fourth grade classroom. My son is in 1st grade and I had a hard time using them with him because he already has a strong understanding of phonemic awareness. So I turned to my 4 year old and they were much more appropriate for her. We got out the pennies and pushed them for the sounds in words such as rat, fat, bat, bet, wet, yet, etc. She really took to them, even though she kept wanting to pocket the money.
I chose to use the Elkonin sound boxes with my Sped. students. It was a great way to help my lower (lower) functioning students figure out unknown words.
I used the Elkonin sound boxes with my 1st grade sped. students. My students enjoyed moving small seashells I had while saying each sound. Some were able to say where a particular sound was in the word -beg., middle, end. I will use this again in the future if students need interventions in segmentation or phoneme identification.
One of the most difficult things for students (kindergarten) to work with is sound blending. One strategy I utilized in the classroom was having students take turns being responsible for a letter sound. For instance, one child was letter "j", one was "a", and one was "m." The small group would say the sound of each child's letter and blend the sounds to create the words. We did this so that every child had the opportunity to participate holding a letter. This was great, because the students had something more concrete to observe for each sound presented. I will definitely use this tool again for blending sounds to create words.
I tutor after school students that need intensive intervention for reading in second grade. We use the sound boxes at least once a week. I notice that most of them catch on quickly, but some (who do not have enough knowledge and practice with sounds in words) have a more difficult time with them. I have also used sound boxes with my second grade class. They have the boxes in front of them and I will orally say a word to them. For example if we were working on the "ar" sound, I might say the word "star" they would look at the sound boxes and figure out which box would have the "ar" sound. /s/ /t/ /ar/ (the third box) they would then tap their pencil three times. For the word "art" /ar/ /t/ they would tap their pencil once. They liked this activity because they got a chance to tap their pencil on the table which of course would normally drive me crazy.
I used the Elkolin boxes with one student who is an emerging in reading. They seemed to work really well. I gave the student a word he had been working on in his books, for example van, he was able to move each counter for the sound that corresponds. After each word, he naturally wanted to write the letters in each box. He repeated the word to make the sounds of each letter to make sure they matched. We really enjoyed the activity and I see how it can be very beneficial, especially for these readers.
Right now I am teaching only math but am fortunate to see phonological teaching in the resource room. The teacher will say a word, stretch out the word and have the students clap for each sound. Afterwards all of the sounds are put together. The students love it when they figure out the word.
I posted a response yesterday? Oh well, I'll try again. I am the music teacher and won't have a chance to apply this in my classes so it was interesting to read what others wrote! Thanks!
I used say it, move it today in my class. My Kindergarteners really responded to this. It really helped them having it in front of them and my students really were excited to do this. I will use this more throughout the year. I like how it is different but hits the same material that I needed to get through for the day.
I used the Elkonin boxes for our phonemic awareness activity today. I use the boxes daily when we do spelling, phonics, and phonemic awareness activities in our Harcourt series. The Elkonin boxes are more successful when used with students who need the extra help and don't have the concept of beginning, middle, end of sounds(phonemes), and letters.
We do a lot of "blowing up" words and then putting them together "fast" which works well as a reading strategy and have used the idea of the Elkonin Boxes in types of testing and worksheets. Today when we used them in a small group, there was much more enthusiasm because it was viewed as a challenging game and therefore I hope it will be retained better!
Since I don't have my own classroom, I observed a first grade teacher using Elkonin boxes during reading instruction. Some of the students needed that extra structure and support to grasp the individual letter sounds.
I did a variation on the Elkonin Box activity. I have a folder with Elkonin-like slots. I say a word and the students have to match the word, and then we open our folders ("show me") to see if they match. The students enjoy the challenge of sounding out the CVC word. Sometimes, the students "test" me.
Today we worked on initial consonant Dd. We read a poem with one word omitted. Each time through we tried to think of a word beginning with Dd. When we couldn't think of a word, we changed the initial letter of a word we liked. So... noodles became doodles, carrots became darrots. The students liked the activity, and we got to practice and explore rhyme.
I used the sound boxes with my low ESL students and they seemed to really enjoy it. I also use pennies to move across each letter as they say it to get more TPR in!
I used a type of Elkonin Box activity suggested in our Houghten Mifflin ESL Program. The children enjoyed the session, and I think it helped them with their cvc word patterns.
What's In A Name? worked well for my ESL students. I see many small groups of ESL students, for 30 minutes each. These kids have a wide range of English proficiency. I use this strategy as a 5-minute drill as and when opportunity arises. This strategy, together with direct teaching in phonemes and phonemic awareness, has helped in their reading proficiency and spelling. After reading some of the reponses posted, I plan to use the sound box strategy with my low kids.
I did the activity Change that Tune and the students loved it. I have a horrible voice, but the children didn't seem to mind. They really got into it. I'm going to have to use this activity again. At first, I was a little embarrassed because I was really off key, but as I kept doing it, the kids picked up on it and did it with me. I had a lot of fun and so did the students.
I did the ball rhyme activity. The kids really loved the interaction of the ball. I told the students to have a spelling word ready. Every student had a rhyme ready to go.
Since I am a first year teacher, I initially did not realize how difficult rhyming is for Kindergarteners. Because this is so important for developing phonemic awareness, I decided to concentrate on a song or chant with a pattern. I originally used "The Ants go Marching" activity as suggested in the article. I modelled the song and repeated with the students with the first verse. Then I modelled how to make a rhyme and do the actions. Two of the students caught on very quickly and they modelled for the rest of the class. We now use this strategy for lining up to go to recess and music class-- The children now are excited about making up their own verses. If the verse does not rhyme, I have another student model a word that does and we repeat it. This activity doesn't take much time and is great for transitions. I plan to use more songs and chants in this way. With repetition comes improvement.
I used the song chart "Our Guard Clark" to assist in learning the sound "ar". First we sang the song. Then I asked the students to listen for the middle sound in Clark and card. Then we connected the sounds to the letters and made new words with the ar sound.
Last week I used the sound boxes during our intervention time. I think it really helped our below grade level children understand that each letter represents a sound.
I used the soundboxes in both a large group and small group setting. I was really impressed with the enthusiasum that my students showed with this learning tool. I will continue to use this to help motivate my below grade level students. I love it when I find something that gets my kids excited about blending.
Chelse and Marcy used Elkonin boxes with their students and it helped them differentiate the sounds of specific words. Chelse found this to be a good introduction to their spelling words. Laura and Robbie did a slight modification to the "Catch a Rhyme" activity with their students. They allowed them to make their own words after saying a rhyming word for the previous student's word. The students enjoyed the activity.
I do not have a classroom of my own right now but it has been very interesting doing the DIBELS test in the classrooms. So many need more work on segmentation. Anyway, I tried the Elkonian boxes with my nephew (he's 5) and he didn't get it at first but after a few tries got very good at segmenting out the sounds. The activity where you have to put the penny in the box where the sound is in the word is great.
I recently purchased some materials from grant money that I had received. I was amazed at how my students have reacted to the materials. We did an an activity with a large pocket chart where the students were given a picture and then they had to figure out where (what letter) the picture went with. I was amazed at how many students (even some of my three and four year olds) were able to figure out the initial letter sounds. Even those that didn't come up with the correct sound tried to come up with the sound and guessed a letter!
I do not have a classroom, however, all of the activities shared are great. As I debrief with teachers about their teaching practices during th 90 minute block, I can see where suggesting the activities from this session would benefit all involved. As a classroom teacher I used the strategy Catch a Rhyme, students love the opportunity to toss a ball is class!Severla weeks ago I demonstrated a lesson for a first grade teacher and during the phonic portion of the lesson I had her students clap the sounds. They absolutely loved it, the clapping provided something new and fun, and kept them engaged.
This is definitely harder to do with upper grades, but we have been spending time working with rhythm and rhyme. We look at the rhyming words, why they rhyme and come up with other words that have the same sounds. We also look at how we can come up with these sounds using different spellings.
I used the Elkonin sound boxes with my students and really saw improvement in my students with hearing the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words. I will use the sound boxes again to teach phonemic awareness.
I used the Elkonin sound boxes with my 1st grade students. My students loved using the boxes and it greatly improved their ability to isolate the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words. Prior to the use of these boxes many of my students had a difficult time with the concept of segmenting the sounds in a word. The boxes gave them the visual they needed to understand how to isolate and identify these sounds.
I used the ELkonin sound boxes and say it move it with my 1st graders and boy did I learn a lot about their phonological awareness. They hated it, at first, but then I learned that they would pronounce each sound, but say the word backwards (bat became tab) even though they sounded out /b//a//t/. So we have been working on phonologial awareness and they have gotten a lot better.
I worked on the chunking of the bigger sounds with my lower level reading group. I only have 5 kids in this group so when we were looking at words and picking out the big sounds first they were really excited. After they went back to their seats they practiced it on their own. As reading time ended they came up to me and showed me the "big" words they had sounded out on their own. They were very successful.