Children need to hear something, see it, move and repeat a new concept in order to grasp the lesson. This was the message of Heidi Butkus, a kindergarten teacher and credentialed reading specialist during the Minnesota Kindergarten Association conference, May 3-4 in Litchfield.
“A child’s retention will increase by 40 percent when they see, say and repeat the new concept,” Butkus said.
Heidi Butkus shared phonemic awareness ideas with teachers during the Minnesota Kindergarten Association conference May 3-4, 2013.
The combination of action, sight, listening and repetition creates a multi-sensory learning experience, which reaches most or all students. Students with learning disabilities can be taught this way. Butkus explained that the brain has different modes of comprehension so if you can’t reach a student through sight or sound alone, the movement or repetition component could make a different.
Butkus then put her theory into action and provided teachers with different multi-sensory learning ideas to teach words and phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to sound out letters to make words. For instance, bat is “ba-aw–at.” She also explained that you can combine two words (play + ground = playground or basket + ball = basketball) to introduce this concept.
Parents and caregivers can use her ideas at home to teach words and phonemic awareness. It’s important to start by getting up and moving while teaching these lessons. Here are some of Heidi’s tips:
- Rhyming words and monster walks. Say a list of words. If the words rhyme with fox (box, pox, and socks) move like a monster. If the words do not rhyme (say, pond, land, or run) stand still.
- Clap and hop syllables. Stand up and say a word. Mel-on. Jump or clap each time you say a syllable. Add in words of different lengths: red, bal-loon, pop-si-cle, or wat-er-mel-on.
- Rollercoaster your words. To do this activity, start with your hand low, roll it high and then low again to simulate a rollercoaster. Next say a word while doing this. For instance, you can say cat- your hand will start low while you say “ca-“ then you move your hand high as you saw “-a-” finally finish your word and say “-tuh” as your hand moves low. This helps children understand there is a start, middle and an end sound to each word.
- Foot lifts and reading. While reading a book, have your child raise his foot every time a word rhymes. We
Kids should involvement movement in learning letters. One idea is to raise your foot when words in your book rhyme.
personally think this one would be great fun with Dr. Suess’ “Green Eggs and Ham.” I will not eat it with a fox (raise foot), I will not eat it in a box (raise foot)!
- Picture and sound bingo. Give each child a bingo card that has photos on the board. Then, play bingo by call out sounds. If you draw “B” your child can cover “ball,” “bat,” or “book” but not “dog” or “mouse.” A player wins when she gets bingo.
- Sound-eating puppet. Create a puppet out of a bag or sock. Make your puppet eat certain sounds. An example would be to allow your puppet to eat “s” words – he can eat socks, a (plastic) snack, shoes, a snake, or a shell. The puppet cannot eat candy, a dollar, a butterfly, a cup, or a book. Each time the puppet is given something with the wrong beginning sound, it will “vomit” up the wrong item.
To find more fun lessons from Heidi, visit her blog here. Remember to incorporate movement, repetition and creativity into your lessons. A multi-sensory activity will help your child learn.
© Let’s Talk Kids, LLC 2013
