Syllable Turn-Taking

Syllable Awareness Procedure 1. Tell children you are going to take turns saying parts of a nursery rhyme with them . 2. First, recite a familiar nursery rhyme together, such as “Hickory, Dickory, Dock .” When you are confident children know the rhyme well, ask them to say it without you . Then, ask them to take turns saying the parts of the rhyme with you as call-and-response . For example, you say “Hickory, Dickory, Dock” and the children say, “The mouse ran up the clock,” and so on . 3. Then, children alternate chanting the words in the rhyme with you or with one another . You say, “Hickory,” the children say, “Dickory,” and you say, “Dock .” Take turns saying the words in the rest of the rhyme . (In this step, you are promoting word awareness .) 4. Tell children you are going to break the words into parts . Begin the rhyme by saying only the first syllable, /hĭk/ . Children say /ә/, and you say /rē/ . Alternate syllables as you recite the rhyme . Differentiate or Extend ▲ If children have difficulty segmenting the words, focus on one word at a time . Practice segmenting the syllables together . Then, try alternating syllables as you recite the entire rhyme . ▲ Begin with a nursery rhyme that has words with two syllables before moving to a nursery rhyme with more complex syllables . ▲ Ask children to sit in a circle and recite the nursery rhyme syllable by syllable around the group . This will be more difficult because it requires individual responses rather than a group response . Allow children to support one another . ▲ Play this game again using different nursery rhymes . Suggested nursery rhymes are shown on the following pages . Syllable Turn-Taking Objective Students will segment words into syllables . Overview The teacher and children segment a familiar nursery rhyme into syllables and take turns chanting the syllables . Materials copies of nursery rhymes for your reference (some are available in the Digital Resources) School-Home Connection Explain to families that you have been segmenting nursery rhymes and these experiences are intended to increase children’s awareness of the sound structure of the language . Invite them to share favourite nursery rhymes or poems from their childhoods or cultural backgrounds . If they wish, after sharing with their children, they might try segmenting the rhymes as you did with “Hickory, sample sampleDickory, Dock . ”

Syllable Awareness

Suggested Nursery Rhymes Humpty Dumpty One Misty, Moisty Morning

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses And all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. One misty, moisty morning, When cloudy was the weather, There I met an old man Clothed all in leather; Clothed all in leather, With a cap beneath his chin. How do you do, and how do you do, And how do you do again!

Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John, Went to bed with his trousers on; One shoe off, and one shoe on, Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John. Higglety, pigglety, pop! The dog has eaten the mop; The pig’s in a hurry, The cat’s in a flurry, Higglety, pigglety, pop!

Itsy Bitsy Spider Jack and Jill

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. Syllable Turn-Taking (cont.) sample