Mastering the Alphabetic Code through Song

          The three components of the alphabetic code are phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling.  Phonemic awareness is the knowledge that spoken language consists of individual sounds.  By developing phonemic awareness, children can apply the sound-symbol associations they've constructed to spell words.  Children can be exposed to opportunities to develop phonemic awareness at home, as well as at school.  "As they sing songs, chant rhymes, read aloud wordplay books, and play games, children have many opportunities to orally match, isolate, blend and substitute sounds and to segment words into sounds" (Tompkins, 2010).

          It is my job as a teacher to create a "language-rich environment" (Tompkins, 2010) in which children are provided with numerous opportunities to experiment with sounds, letters and words.  I am a strong advocate of using music and songs to teach children.  Children truly enjoy singing and dancing, and I believe that those activities enhance their memory of knowledge from the lessons.  Therefore, I especially enjoyed the familiar songs that Tompkins recommends for sound-isolation and sound-segmentation activities.

          One of the songs I use in my classroom to help my students develop phonemic awareness is "Alphardy" by Dr. Jean Feldman.  The children go through each letter of the alphabet, it's corresponding sound and a word that starts with that letter.  In addition, there are body movements that accompany each word, which appeals to learners with strong bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.  After searching for additional Dr. Jean songs, I found the lyrics to the song "Phon-ercise," which is similar in format to "Alphardy."  More information on Dr. Jean's CD Totally Reading can be found at http://www.drjean.org/html/cds_f/cds_totallyRdg.htm.  She also has recordings in Spanish and recordings related to other subject contents that are used by many early childhood educators.

"Alphardy" Lyrics

A for apple /a/-/a/-/a/

B for bounce /b/-/b/-/b/

C for cut /c/ /c/ /c/

D for dig /d/-/d/-/d/

E for elbow /e/-/e/-/e/

F for fan /f/-/f/-/f/

G for gallop /g/-/g/-/g/

H for hop /h/-/h/-/h/

I for itch /i/-/i/-/i/

J for jump /j/-/j/-/j/

K for kick /k/-/k/-/k/

L for love /l/-/l/-/l/

M for munch /m/-/m/-/m/

N for nod /n/-/n/-/n/

O for opera /o/-/o/-/o/

Q for quiet /q/-/q/-/q/

R for run /r/-/r/-/r/

S for sew /s/-/s/-/s/

T for talk /t/-/t/-/t/

U for upside /u/-/u/-/u/

V for volley /v/-/v/-/v/

W for wiggle /w/-/w/-/w/

X for x-ray /x/-/x/-/x/

Y for yawn /y/-/y/-/y/

Z for zigzag /z/-/z/-/z/

Letter sounds are all you need.

Put them together and you can read!

References

Feldman, J. (2009.) Dr. Jean's Songs on CD. Retrieved from http://www.drjean.org/

          html/cds_f/cds_totallyRdg.htm.

Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA:

          Pearson Education, Inc.