Phonological & Phonemic Awareness as Classroom Transition Tools
Do you ever feel frustrated that you cannot get your class back on task? How many of you try to find just the right tool to redirect, increase focus, and regain traction in the classroom? Why not make these moments learning moments?
As Dr. Judy Willis says in her book Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, “The brain's attention filter prioritizes input that is novel or unexpected.” In this post, I am going to offer ways I that I’ve used phonological and phonemic awareness tasks in “novel or unexpected” ways to grab my students attention in a positive manner and transition to a new task.
Also, parents….I practice some of these activities in the car. Yep, they are that easy and make meaningful time fillers.
Phonological and phonemic awareness (PA) tasks are meant to be brief.
With early learners or students with significant gaps, you may spend longer on PA than with other students. This can happen multiple times over the course of the day and honestly it would be so impactful if it did happen frequently.
If you are new to phonological or phonemic awareness let’s do a quick break down.
There is SO MUCH TO learn about it, but for this post I will just give a broad overview. I will say that instruction with these skills often stops at initial sound or final sound recognition.
Please make note of this: It is important to continue to reinforce phonemic awareness into the advanced skills of manipulation of sounds. You can adjust most of these activities to work on different skills. You can even use them with older learners. Students need practice at more complex levels in this progression. Here is an easy read that outlines this information.
When I first started teaching and taking my Orton-Gillingham training, I felt like there were fifty “ph” words and I could not keep them straight. I am a visual person, and I like to provide impactful visuals in the training I lead. I also like to use them when teaching my students - even adults. You will never forget the crazy lady in the umbrella hat.
Phonological Awareness: “Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language – parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.” Here is the source and a quick read on this definition.
Phonemic Awareness: Is the awareness of the smallest units of sounds (phonemes) and the ability to manipulate those sounds.
The joke with PA is that you can do it in the dark. As stated earlier, these skills develop in a progression and can be done with listening and verbal responses. Can you use manipulatives to support a student until they are more proficient with a skill? Absolutely! I model many of these on my social media pages. Check them out!
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness are not phonics. Phonics puts symbols to the sounds (letter-sound correspondence).
So here are a few ways I used PA in my classroom to make moments of transition become moments of inquiry, learning, and excitement.
When you need to get the attention of the class:
Let’s be honest, by October, give me five and rhythmic clapping is “selectively heard” by our classroom friends. Instead, let’s use these times to reinforce our language skills and weave in some practice while you are at it! I would use my normal talking voice (although I am kind of naturally loud) because I truly want them to become aware of when I am talking and recognize it is important to listen. I would also practice with my class to wait, think, and then respond. I feel like this is important for those students who need that extra second to process the task.
If You Think You Know This Word (Yopp, M., 1992):
I would start singing this song and rather quickly my students would stop and pay attention so they could figure out the clue.
“If you think you know this word, shout it out.
If you think you know this word, shout it out.
If you think you know this word, then tell me what you heard.
If you think you know this word, shout it out
/s/ /t/ /o/ /p/.”
They would pause and think then shout out “stop!”
You can also do it with syllables.
“If you think you know this word, shout it out.
If you think you know this word, shout it out.
If you think you know this word, then tell me what you heard.
If you think you know this word, shout it out
bas-ket-ball.”
They would pause and think then shout out “basketball!”
Arm Slides/Are You Listening?
I would cue my class by saying “Are you listening?”
Then I would take my writing hand and move it down my opposite arm while blending sounds (or syllables).
I would say, “ /l/, /i/, /m/.”
You want to model blending the sounds continuously.
My students would then copy me and we would say the word or syllable together.
This also serves as a nice informal assessment.
Stirring the Stew
This activity was first demonstrated by my daughter’s DHH teacher. I loved it and have used it for many skills and themes since she modeled it. I have a designated pot and stirring utensil. Over the years, I have had a spatula that looked like a gingerbread man, a whisk, a big purple spoon - something to grab their attention. You can change up the last part of the jingle to fit what you are working on with your class. I would begin by saying:
“Stirring the stew, stirring the stew, yahoo! Let’s add something that begins with /ch/.”
My students would then stop their activity, raise their hand, and offer an ingredient that started with /ch/. Did I let them add chips to the stew? Yes, because it was just for fun and my main goal was to have them listen for that initial sound. You can also set mini erasers or little figurines out around the class or on desks. If they have an object that would work, they could raise their hand, name the example, and bring it to put in the stew.
Maintaining Attention While Waiting in Line:
I know things are different in the age of COVID, but hopefully we will get back to waiting in line together one day soon. When we do, I want to give you an alternative strategy. Maybe now more than ever, in the age of social distancing, we will need tools to keep kids engaged and patiently in a given space. So let’s try some of these.
Phoneme Bracelets
I make one of these for each of my students to wear on their wrist. When we waited in line, I would give a word and we would use our bracelets to practice.
Here is a link to my video modeling it.
Odd Man Out:
You come up with three words, two that rhyme (or whatever skill you are working on) and one that does not. You would then say:
“Hog, bed, log, who is the odd man out?” They would say all three words and then name the one that did not rhyme.
“Slip, trip, slug, who is the odd man out?” You could change this up to work with other skills.
We’re Going on a Syllable Hunt:
This is a little song I came up with to help my students with listening, counting, and segmenting syllables. Here is a video modeling it on my Youtube channel and Instagram.
“We’re going on a syllable hunt, come and go with me.
You may have a consonant, but a vowel has to be.
You can count the syllables, just listen carefully.
Let’s say these words and see if we agree.”
“Hotdog.”
(Have students put their hand under their chin to feel the number of times their jaw drops)
Hot, dog. Two!
(©theinstructionhub Candi Sellers, 2021)
With each of these ideas, you are able to capture or maintain the attention of your students. You can then transition easily into a new task. At the same time, you have incorporated skills that are absolutely necessary for language development. I have so many more classroom and therapy session ideas I want to share. For now, I will stop here. Stay tuned for more! Leave a comment below with what grade you teach and how you think you can use these in your classroom. Thanks for reading!
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