Chant, Chant, Chants
Building Sight Vocabulary and Motivation for Literacy (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyAges:
4-6
Grade Range:
PreK KFood Groups:
Primary: Concepts of Print, Motivation for Literacy Secondary: Letter-Sounds & Phonics, Spelling & Word Study
Transcript
Each week we learn a new poem or chant within the classroom, and we practice various activities with that chant. We might start out on the first day by discussing the title and discussing what it is that children already know about that topic. Children also predict what the poem might be about based upon the title. Another thing we might do is search for popcorn words. When we find them we'll use the yellow highlighter tape to butter them up. As students are buttering the words up we sing the song Butter it Up. It goes like this, Butter it up, up, up. Butter it up, up, up. Once we've found all those popcorn words, students then get into popping position, and as they're reading or their singing that song they pop every time they see a popcorn word. Something else we might do is find rhyming words, and then what we'll do is highlight them with red tape, and when we're finished finding those rhyming words we simply thunder-clap them every time we see them. With blue highlighter tape we'll find words with various syllables. In this case we're looking for a three syllable word. We'll also dramatize the chant, for example in this chant you can see it has to do with temperature and warm and cold, so in this case what students did was acted like thermometers. So whenever we we're discussing cold they would get down, low to the ground, and when we were talking about the hot they would rise up just like a thermometer would and stand on their tippy toes. We play with volume, so students might read the poem using a loud voice, a medium voice, or a very low voice. We play with pace, so we might read the poem very quickly or very slowly. We also even play with tone, sometimes we'll read the poem angrily, or sadly, or happily, and we'll talk about how tone can change the whole message. Students bring chant folders home each week, and within the chant folder is the featured poem or chant of the week. Within the chant folders are assorted activities that the parents can conduct with their child at home, we've got an entire list here, and students are encouraged to mark up their chant books at home. So, they can demonstrate to their parents the kinds of reading strategies that they've been learning within the classroom. To encourage students to bring back their chant book in a timely manner I actually have created a sticker page, and when they bring it back on the date that's indicated they get a sticker.
Activity Objective
The goal of Chant, Chant, Chants: Building Sight Vocabulary and Motivation for Literacy (Virtual Tour) is to demonstrate the features of a poem and help students identify high frequency words.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Have students take a chant folder home to share with their family. - Integrate drama and poetry by having the students act out different parts of the poem.
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