Speech Worries

Along with many worries parents have when children start school, are worries about speech. In kindergarten many children come to school with imperfect speech patterns. With each new letter of the alphabet we would practice the sounds of the letter along with a clear decription of what is happening in the mouth and throat. (e.g. When one makes the "l" sound, the tongue touches the roof of the mouth.) If the student continues to make errors toward the end of the year, it is time to call in a speech specialist. ( If a stuent is still saying yoyipop instead of lollipop or similar gross errors) Most students have fairly normal speech by the end of kindergarten and their few errors are developmental.
It is natural for parents to worry about their children. I had many parents who were sure their child was dyslexic because they wrote their name backwards. In kindergarten, many children still retain their multiple perspectives. After all, a watch is a watch no matter which way you hold it. No wonder there is so much confusion with b,d.p and q. As children grow, they lose this ability so if your child is still writing his name backward in third grade. it is time to be concerned.

What I learned: Children grow out of many stages. You can't stop trying to improve but it is hard to be patient.

Rhyming

About half-way through the year I would introduce rhyming to the kindergarten students. I didn't realize how important recognizing beginning, middle and end sounds were until then. (See previous post) Until then, we had been focusing on beginning sounds and when students insisted that "dog" and "dock" rhymed, I knew I had some work to do.
We sang lots of songs. Two of my favorite were "A Hunting We will Go" and "Wiloby Waloby" "Wiloby Waloby" can be chanted or sung. It goes like this:
Wiloby Waloby Woo
An elephant sat on you
Wiloby Waloby Wee
An elephant sat on me.

Wiloby Waloby Wusan
An elephant sat on Susan.
Names of students in the class can be substituted for Susan. (e.g. Wack-Jack and Wam-Sam) Students try to guess the second name. Students love this, the idea of somone they know getting sat on by an elephant.
Another activity we used helped to distinguish beginning middle and end sounds. I lined up a bell, a box of rice and a New Year's Noisemaker. You can use other items as long as they have three distinct sounds. I would have students close their eyes. Then I would mix up the order of the items. After I made the sound of each item, students would have to tell me if the bell sound was at the beginning, middle or end.
We would use other activities such as rhyming Bingo to reinforce the principle. We also sang rhyming songs every day. One song called "A Spider on the Floor" I sing now with my grandchilden. The song is sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" Those singing the song make a five legged spider out of their hand and put it on the floor. This pretend spider crawls to the corresponding body part with each verse of the song. (Management tip: The rule is that the spider can only crawl on one's self, not on anyone else.)

The words go as follows:

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more
Than a spider on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

There's a spider on my leg, on my leg.
There's a spider on my leg. on my leg.
Oh, he's really really big.
I've got a spider on my leg,
There's a spider on my leg, on my leg!

There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.
Should I pull the fire alarm
I've got a spider on my arm.
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.

There's a spider on my neck, on my neck.
There's a spider on my neck, on my neck
Oh, I'm gonna be a wreck.
I've got a spider on my neck.
There's a spider on my neck, on my neck.

There's a spider on my face, on my face.
There's a spider on my face, on my face.
Oh, its such a big disgrace
I've got a spider on my face.
There's a spider on my face, on my face.

There's a spider on my head, on my head.
There's a spider on my head, on my head.
Oh, I wish that I were dead.
I've got a spider on my head.
There's a spider on my head, on my head.

(spoken: But he jumps off.)

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor...
(Song can be sung again if desired.

What I learned: Children may be able to rhyme but they don't understand what makes a word a rhyming word so often are not conistent.

Beginning,Middle,Ehd

In kindergarten we had 5 or 6 students share each day something they had brought from home. We started with the "color of the day' and students brought a picture they had colored or one they had cut from a magazine showing the appropriate color. A little later in the year we had a "letter of the day" and students would share something with that letter in the word. I would write the word on a big chart at the front of the class and students would tell me whether the "letter of the day" came at the beginning, middle or end of the word.
At first I thought this activity was for building self-esteem which it did, but I discovered I could get some learning mikeage out of it too.

What I learned: Students - even some adults, are not aware of the sounds they make in every day language. Knowing the sounds and their placement will help them in reading and spelling.

THIS IS A TEST

This is only a test. I am trying to see if my theory as to why my BLOG keeps posting to the wrong site. Sorry eveyone has to put up with my computer remediation.

One more note

What I learned: You can have fun while learning/ you can learn while having fun.

Oops again

This time I know I clicked on the right button but my BLOG was posted to the wrong BLOG site. Oh well, you can read it by going to foreverbooming.blogspot.com.

Mystery Shape

After I had introduced all the shapes, (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, and diamond) we would play a game called "Mystery Shape". I would teach the students horizontal, vertical, oblique (slanted) left, (toward the windows) and right (toward the wall). We would practice horizontal and vertical by laying down and standing up.
Students would have to describe a shape verbally and I would draw it on the board. I would purposely draw exactly what they said even if I knew they meant differently. This way students would have to communicate clearly. The rest of the students would try to identify the shape.
Students would reaize as soon as I would take them literally if they did'nt tell me to stop and I would draw a line to the end of the board. They would realize they had not communicated clearly.

What I learned: Knowing something and communicating what you know are two very different things.