Lil Adams and Lyndsay O’Malley May 29, 2012

Phonological Awareness: Rhyming with Visual Phonics

What is Visual Phonics?Visual Phonics is "a multisensory strategy

that represents all of the sounds of English with a hand-shaped cue and a corresponding written symbol.” (Montgomery)

Example: Visual phonics alphabet

Lesson AssumptionsLesson is for pre-school students.Students already know letter sounds and

are able to identify onset and rime in spoken words.

Students have been minimally exposed to rhyme.

ObjectivesStandard 1.0 General Reading

ProcessesPhonological Awareness:  1.0. A.2.a We will repeat rhyming words in

order to recognize similar ending sounds in pictures.

1.0. A.3.a We will orally blend sounds and syllables in order to form whole words.

MaterialsCD playerHoughtin Mifflin Alpha Friends CD “Rhyming

Words” Picture cards (man, van, fan, can)Overhead projector connected to LCDRhyming flip chartComputer – Starfall siteRhyming GameRhyming Puzzle

Warm-Up: The Rhyming SongRefrain:Rhyming words sound a

bit alike.They end the same, like

bike and hike.Run and bun both end

like sun.Let's rhyme words and

have some fun!

Let's name words that rhyme with cat:

bat and sat and mat and hat.Let's name words that rhyme with

big:dig and fig and pig and wig. (refrain) Let's name words that rhyme with

rug:bug and dug and hug and tug.Let's name words that rhyme with

hen:den and men and pen and ten

Whole Group LessonShow students the picture cards.Upon display of the picture card Lyndsay will

verbally sound out the word.Simultaneously Lil will use Visual Phonics

(hands) to show the word. Lyndsay will display multiple picture cards in

the “an” word family to demonstrate that rhyming words have different beginning sounds but the ending sounds are similar.

Guided Practice (15 min.)Group 1: will use computer program

“Starfall” in order to complete the “an” family page.

Group 2: will manipulate the Rhyming Flip Chart in order to create rhymes.

Group 3: will use manipulatives and rhyming cards to complete rhymes.

Group 4: will find the rhyme in order to complete the puzzle.

Starfall ActivityStarfall rhyme

Independent PracticeTeacher will ask the students to produce

rhyming words.

AssessmentAssessment RubricVisual assessment

during small group practice (can use checklist).

Oral assessment – can student produce a word that rhymes with _an?

Proficient – student able to produce a word that rhymes with _an independently.

In Process – student able to respond to “does _ an and _an rhyme?

Emerging – student needs teacher to provide rhyme for them to repeat.

Closing (optional) (1 min.)“Willoughby Wallabee Woo”Lyrics: Willoughby Wallabee Woo,An elephant stepped on you.Willoughby Wallabee (John),An elephant stepped on (Won).

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Research Article Summaries

Successful Phonological Awareness Instruction with Preschool ChildrenThis article provides an overview of best practices

when teaching phonological awareness. Phonological awareness requires specific instruction.

Children gain phonological awareness by learning a continuum of larger to smaller sounds (word to phoneme), and can develop skills across the continuum simultaneously.

Teaching phonological awareness requires assessment; flexible grouping; working within the near range of the group’s ability; understanding the difficulty level of tasks; and providing daily, brief (10-15 min), and consistent interactive small-group sessions.

Preschool Instruction, cont. Further instructional techniques include good classroom

management, especially transitions; intentional planning; quick pacing (one task concept per lesson); daily and annual reviews; a print-rich environment; visual props and hand signals; excellent articulation; and a teaching sequence such as the following: definition, modeling, explanation, guided practice, feedback (specific, positive, frequent, and immediate), supported practice, independent practice.

When scaffolding instruction, nonverbal cues, such as hand and body gestures, pictures and props, demonstration, and markers, are very important.

Rhyme instruction is best embedded within onset-rime, due to its complexity. Teaching rhyming requires repeated exposure, explicit explanation of rhyming, and a high degree of scaffolding.

Growth in letter name/sound knowledge and phonological awareness is reciprocal, and they should be taught systematically and simultaneously. Both are strong predictors of decoding skill.

Expanding general vocabulary may increase phonological awareness ability.

Dave Krupke: What exactly is Visual Phonics? This article is an interview with Dave Krupke, a retired

speech-language pathologist that has extensive experience with using Visual Phonics for struggling readers. Visual Phonics is “a multisensory strategy that represents all of the sounds of English with a hand-shaped cue and a corresponding written symbol.” (Montgomery) The program was created by a parent of a deaf child and was later developed into a program with the collaboration of Millie Snow of the Children’s Miracle Network. Visual Phonics is a powerful tool that can be used in many classrooms with a variety of students to enhance literacy learning. Visual Phonics incorporates a kinesthetic connection to learning the sounds produced by the English language. This connection makes it appropriate for many applications such as use in RTI (response to intervention), English Language Learners, older students that are struggling, and general education students. Visual Phonics is not very popular because it is not a commercial product. In order to become a trainer of Visual Phonics one has to attend a two day training, use Visual Phonics for one year, apply to become a trainer, and pay the fee to become an approved trainer.

ReferencesMontgomery, J. (2008). Dave Krupke: What

exactly is Visual Phonics? Communication Disorders Quarterly, 29, 177-182

Phillips, B.M., Clancy-Menchetti, J., Lonigan, C.J. (2008).

Successful phonological awareness instruction with preschool children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 28 (3), 3-17