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V
: Abbey Storey

9  : Phonemic Awareness



: The Rhyming Word Sit Down is an activity designed to be a game for children to

learn phonemic awareness in preparation for understanding reading. The teacher conducts this

game for all of the students in the classroom to participate in as a large group. The students all

stand in a circle in the classroom. The teacher announces words and every time a word rhymes

students must take a step around the circle. If the teacher says a word that doesn¶t rhyme with the

previous string of words the students are supposed to sit down in their circle. This activity

presents students the chance to learn through movement, which results in actively associating

what they are learning and creates a faster learning experience and allows remembering to come

quicker to mind in future scenarios. Students will start off being slow and hesitant when unsure

whether to sit down if a word rhymes or not, but working in the group allows them the ability to

feed off of each other. Eventually, after many rounds students will gain speed at recognizing

words that do not rhyme, showing their learning of the material.

Sample string of words: ³she, tree, flea, spree, key, bee, sea, went´

(http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/patti/k1/activities/rhyming.html)

 
 : Rhyming Word Sit Down fulfills many of the Illinois Learning Standards. For

example standard CC.K-12.SL.2 states, ³Comprehension and Collaboration: Integrate and

evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively,

and orally.´ This activity fulfills this requirement, as it is an oral activity in which students must

comprehend the material through listening. They may not be used to this format as a lot of work

is visual and written down. This keeps the students paying close attention and therefore more

focused in the activity. Standard CC.K-12.L.R.5 states, ³Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
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Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.´ This activity

teaches students the rhyming relationship between words. By understanding their sound

relationship to each other, students are gaining phonemic awareness of words to enhance their

reading ability. Standard CC.K.R.F.2 states, ³Phonological Awareness: Demonstrate

understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). ³ This activity is enhancing

student¶s understanding of phonemic awareness and spoken words and sounds. It places

emphasis on the sounds each word makes and how they relate to other words, either sounding

similar or not, and it is the student¶s job to pick out which applies to the string of words recited.

Standard CC.K.R.F.2.a states, ³Phonological Awareness: Recognize and produce rhyming

words.´ This activity fulfills this standard completely as it focuses on rhyming, recognizing what

words the teachers speaks as rhyming or not. Along with these mentioned, there are many more

that this activity satisfies.

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: Examples that can be used are words for a unit students are studying,

such as a life skills unit about food. Example words for rhyming could be ³berry, cherry, apple.´

Another example could be ³cheese, peas, smoothies, anchovies, water.´ This activity can vary in

time, depending on vocabulary words being used. For example, if you are only using five

vocabulary words for the five new words added to the word wall that week, only five sets would

be needed, which would take about five minutes. This could be turned into a longer activity if all

the vocabulary from an entire unit is used.

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: The students may not be able to walk in a circle and sit down, so an adaptation to

this activity for students with disabilities could be clapping or using a word keyboard to answer

when the word does not rhyme. This way, all are still able to participate and gain from the lesson

in a way that is most beneficial to them. It still satisfies the auditory component of listening and
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comprehending. Students will possibly benefit from shorter lists of words if their attention span

is small so fewer words can be used per set, such as in the first example above. It will take trial

and error to find the best fit for your students with this activity, but it is easily adaptable.