Create a New Song!
Building Phonemic Awareness through Play
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyAges:
3-7
Grade Range:
PreK K 1stFood Groups:
Primary:
Phonemic Awareness, Letter-Sounds & Phonics
Secondary: Motivation for Literacy
Activity Description
Preparation:
- Select several short songs that are well-known to students
- Create cards that represent different letter sounds. For example, “s” or “t”
Implementation:
-
Introduce the activity
- Tell students that they will be singing some of their favorite songs in a new, silly way
-
Model with an example
- Present a familiar song and have students sing it aloud
- Tell students you are going to change the beginning sound of each word to the “z” sound
- Display the letter-sound and review it
- Model how the song is sung by substituting all of the initial sounds in words to the “z” sound
- For example, if using “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, the first line of the song would become, “Zinkle, zinkle zittle ztar”
- Continue to display the letter-sound card throughout the song
-
Model how the song is sung with a few different sounds until it is clear students have an understanding of the activity
- Invite students to join in with the singing
-
Select a new song and ask students to suggest a sound
- Have the whole class sing the song substituting the initial sound of the words with the new chosen sound
Adaptations For
English Language Learners/ESL:
- Pre-teach letter sounds and words prior to singing song - When teaching phonemic awareness, isolate and exaggerate phoneme (sound) in isolation and in the word (point to mouth and tell students to look and say correct response)
LD/Reading & Writing Difficulties:
- Begin with single words, and short sentences before moving into songs - Use short and simple instructions
Cultural Appropriateness & Diversity:
- Select songs that represent diversity - Review the song if some students are not familiar with it
Differentiated Instruction:
- Allow students to join in at their own pace - Practice switching the phonemes in individual words before attempting the whole song
Related References
Source and Evidence:
Yopp, H. K. (1999). Phonemic awareness: Frequently asked questions. The California Reader, 32(4), 21-27.
Activity Objective
The goal of Create a New Song!: Building Phonemic Awareness through Play is to develop phonemic awareness by encouraging students to substitute the beginning sounds of words in a well-known song with different phonemes.
What You Need
Prep Time:
15-20 minutes - Select several well-known childrens songs
- Create letter-sound cards
Task Time:
15-20 minutes - Teacher models activity
- Students try singing songs with substituted letter sounds
- Students suggest new letter sounds as a challenge
Materials Required:
Teacher:
- Letter-sound cards
What You Do
Teacher Role:
Modeling:
- when demonstrating how to substitute the initial sounds of words in a song
Facilitator:
- when students choose songs and sounds
Student Grouping:
Whole Class:
- during activity implementation
Assessment Ideas:
- Take anecdotal notes on students ability to appropriately assign a new sound to each word, making note of degree of accuracy - This activity can be modified to a one-on-one activity: a. Teachers can take note of certain phonemes that students find more difficult than theirs
Quick Tips
Activity Extensions:
- Use this activity with other words or well-known text, such as student's names or a familiar story - Have students create their own tongue twisters and challenge peers to change the beginning sound of each word
Additional Comments:
- Some appropriate songs to use with this activity: Apples and Bananas; Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes; Hickory Dickory Dock; or She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain. - Be aware that this activity may be very difficult for some students. Some issues may also cause some general difficulty or confusion, for example: - Needing to replace the first sound in a word that begins with a consonant blend. For example: If using /z/ at the beginning of the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ztar is much harder to say than zar, but in zar the whole consonant blend has been replaced. - Figuring out what to do with a word that doesnt start with a consonant. For example: If using /z/ in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to replace the initial sound in are wouldn't work. - Be aware of these issues and be prepared to avoid them or just handle them creatively. - You may wish to have students only change the first sound of some of the words in the song, allowing you to control the level of difficulty. - You could pause and cue students to change the word by holding up the letter-sound card.
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