Rhyme Time!!

This week, I hope you will enjoy reading Chapter 8 about teaching phonics in the context of rhymes and poetry!! There are so many wonderful ideas from that chapter that I think would work for children of all ages!!

For our last "official" blogging, I will ask you to pick a favorite from the two poems/rhymes I have posted here or to share one of your favorites! And then, after you have read Chapter 8, I will ask that you think through how you might use one of these poems to teach phonics in context (after you have enjoyed it first!!!)!

The first is "Sick" by Shel Silverstein, who is a favorite of so many children I know! Find the text of the poem below:

"I cannot go to school today,"

Said little Peggy Ann McKay.

"I have the measles and the mumps,

A gash, a rash and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,

I'm going blind in my right eye.

My tonsils are as big as rocks,

I've counted sixteen chicken pox

And there's one more--that's seventeen,

And don't you think my face looks green?

My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--

It might be instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,

I'm sure that my left leg is broke--

My hip hurts when I move my chin,

My belly button's caving in,

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,

My 'pendix pains each time it rains.

My nose is cold, my toes are numb.

I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,

I hardly whisper when I speak.

My tongue is filling up my mouth,

I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,

My temperature is one-o-eight.

My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,

There is a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?

What's that? What's that you say?

You say today is. . .Saturday?

G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

Another favorite poem is "Porcupine" by Roald Dahl, as mentioned in the chapter! Here's a link to a video rendition of that poem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xr7vV40tNg

Finally, here's a simple rhyme that my students loved to read with me when I taught 1st grade! It's called "Bloop Bloop":

Bloop Bloop
Bloop bloop went the little green frog one day,
Bloop bloop went the little green frog,
Bloop bloop went the little green frog one day,
And they all went bloop bloop blop.
But!
We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
Lahdeedahdeedah!We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
They don't go bloop bloop blop.

So ... which poem/rhyme is your favorite? Or do you have another favorite of your own that you'd like to post? Make sure to share which one you enjoyed most (or tell us about a different one!).

After reading Chapter 8, how would you use this poem with your case study student? Report back on the following:

- Tell about a specific idea that you liked from Chapter 8 in which the teacher first focused on playing with the poem and enjoying. How would you adapt that idea with either "Sick" or "The Porcupine" (or your own favorite) if you were reading it with your case study student?

- Also tell about the specific phonics feature or word study feature from the poem that you might highlight for your student after you have read and enjoyed the poem together. Why did you pick this element?

Word Hunting!!

A-hunting we will go this week for two of the most common vowel patterns that kids will encounter! Word hunts are right up there with word sorts when it comes to teaching phonics and word study elements in a way that gives kids a chance to be active word solvers!

This week, I want to try a word hunt that will hopefully help folks to feel more comfortable in teaching vowel patterns. Let's start by watching a hilarious video that appeared on the Electric Company on the silent "e."



You might recognize the silent e from other words:

like
bike
gave
name

An abbreviated form of these words that you'll see in your curriculum/standards is this:
CVCe pattern (which stands for consonant, vowel, consonant, silent "e").

(Yes, they are also called split vowel digraphs, if you've read this week's Assignments and Commentary already or if you remember this from Chapter 5.)

What I want you to do this week is hunt for words that fit this CVCe pattern. You can hunt for these words in anything you're reading at the moment. You can hunt for CVCe words in People magazine, your phonics textbook, The Hunger Games, or espn.com! Whatever you're reading will work! Try to hunt down at least 15-20 of them and post them on your blog -- and let us know what you're reading these days!

After you've found 20 CVCe words, see if you can find one-syllable CVC words without the silent "e."

Examples of CVC words from the video are fat (consonant-vowel-consonant) and glob (consonant-vowel-consonant with the l-o-b). Hunt for 15-20 of these as well. Make sure to post your words on your blog.

And then tell us what you noticed about the words you found! What do you notice about the vowel sounds in CVC words? How about CVCe words? What makes them different?

Finally, report back what you thought about going word hunting. Do you think students might like this activity? Was it easy/hard? How might you use this with your students?

P.S. Here's the old school version of the silent "e" segment on Electric Company, in case anyone is interested! (Yes, that is Bill Cosby!)