Phonics Hop

When teaching Yang how to blend sounds together to make words, I knew I would need to take a different approach because she is a kinesthetic learner. With a few suggestions from friends and teachers I finally had the approach I wanted to take. Like teaching sight words, blending can be very cut dry and boring.

Phonics Hop

Phonics Hop is something I came up (I'm not saying I invented it, but I had never heard nor seen this idea before) with to help Yang with blending sounds together to make words, and it has worked well. 

First, I took printer paper and wrote each letter of the alphabet on a separate sheet of paper. Next, I wrote the blend we would be working on - ack, ick, at, it, etc. on a sheet of printer paper. With our dry erase board I would present the blending sound to her and cover the sound it makes. After having her repeat the sound several times, I have her think of any words that have the blend sound in it. Words that have the -ack blend would be sack, back, lack, etc. Then I lay the the blend sound on the group in front of her. I take the letters from the alphabet that I had written on separate sheets on paper and lay then down make words with the blend. We hop from each sheet of paper/sound, saying the sound aloud. We do this several times before jumping out (as if to do a split) from the first sound to the last. As we jump again bringing our legs together we say the word aloud. 

Why is Phonics Hop effective? 

When you are moving about, your breathing increases and you take in more oxygen. By taking in more oxygen you are increasing your brains ability to focus. Sitting behind a desk for long periods of time decreases your ability to focus, as well as remember.

One of my favorite books on incorporating movement into your school day is The Kinesthetic Classroom. 

        


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