Sally, Seashells and Same Sounds

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Marian with Match-Ups give away from “Read 2 Learn, Learn 2 Read” Conference

By Dr. Marian Fritzemeier, Ed.D.

Play with language. Be expressive. Use music. Be animated. Bring back nursery rhymes. The endless ideas were presented at the Learn 2 Read, Read 2 Learn seminar on August 29, 2015 in Modesto.

Trainer: Lakeshore Learning’s 1 trainer Alesha Henderson integrated active participation with her enthusiastic and energetic presentation.

Three hundred early childhood educators filled the room with laughter and fun while learning strategies for language, phonological awareness, print awareness, and letter recognition. Today I’ll share a great phonological awareness activity.

“Sally sells…” You probably remember the first line of the poem, “Sally sells seashells by the seashore,” 2 but have you ever written one like this? Some people call these tongue twisters but technically they are called alliteration.

 

Definition Alliteration: “Noun. The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.” 3

 

Beginning Sounds are Easier. The reason we focus on the beginning of a word is because it’s easier to discriminate. The ending of the word is the next sounds children learn, followed by sounds in the middle of the world. Here’s the alliteration my friend Barbara, another participant, and I wrote together.

 

“The big black bear bounces on the bumpy brown bridge to board the big blue bus.”

 

Create! Not bad if I do say so myself. Trust me; I couldn’t have done this on my own. It was the brainstorming and collective ideas of three educators to create this. But do you know who easily creates alliteration? Children. Ask a child to create a 5-10 word sentence that all start with the same letter or sound.

Fun & Reinforce. To reinforce the concept and make language fun, ask the child to say it fast. Then S – L – O – W. Say it softly. Now in a sad voice. Finally, say it how your mother would say it. Why do all this? It helps children with phonological awareness.

Learn 2 Read, Read 2 Learn

Learn 2 Read, Read 2 Learn Conference, Modesto, CA

I invite you to send me what children said. I’m sure my readers will not only enjoy them, they can use the creative alliterations with their students, children, and grandchildren.

P.S. I need you! If you’re a teacher, follow the link below to read “a letter to my teacher from a kid with difficult behavior.” 4 It will remind you of how important you are to every child.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

1. www.lakeshorelearning.com

2. http://guidezone.e-guiding.com/sallyat.htm

3. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/alliteration

4. http://lemonlimeadventures.com/letter-teacher-kid-difficult-behavior/

All sites accessed September 2, 2015.

 

2 Responses to “Sally, Seashells and Same Sounds”

  1. Reply Alesha Henderson

    It was an honor to be part of the day in Modesto. We sure had some fun, didn’t we?
    Have fun, be silly, overdo it…it all works!
    Now, I’m off to create some crazy alliterations with my own children. 🙂 Be well friends!

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