Phoneme Awareness
Cock-a-Doodle-Moo! Procedure Objective
Overview
Moo! Encourage children to join in as they anticipate the /zzz/ added to the beginning of the animal sounds and the /haw/ added to the end of the sounds.
le
Students will add phonemes or larger sound units to words and substitute initial phonemes in words.
1. Read aloud or share an online reading of Cock-a-Doodle-
cock-a-doodle-doo. Guide children to notice the sound substitutions.
3. Ask children to repeat the cow’s efforts to cock-a-doodledoo. Invite them to invent other ways the cow might have changed the phrase.
mp
The teacher reads the book Cock-a-Doodle-Moo! in which a rooster wakes up to discover he cannot crow louder than a whisper. After several unsuccessful efforts to awaken the farm animals, the rooster enlists the aid of a cow. The result is a series of hilarious phoneme substitutions. Children then engage in sound manipulations of their own.
2. As you read, talk about the cow’s attempts to crow
Materials
sa
Cock-a-Doodle-Moo! by Bernard Most (1996); toy farm animals; letter cards (optional)
School-Home Connection
Invite children to bring toy animals from home. Retell the story using children’s animals as story characters.
162
Differentiate or Extend ▲ Ask children about animals that are not mentioned in
the book. How would a goat snore? (Zzz-maa!) A sheep? (Zzz-baa!) How would these animals awaken with a laugh? (Maa-ha! Baa-ha!) Note: Animal sounds offered by children will vary, especially if you have a culturally diverse group; all suggestions for animal sounds should be honoured.
▲ Extend this activity with a story modification. What if a
donkey tried to awaken the animals with a loud hee haw? What are some ways the cow might incorrectly utter hee haw in its attempts to help? Perhaps ree raw or nee naw? Encourage a variety of versions.
▲ Place toy farm animals at a centre along with the book.
Provide time for children to visit the centre for continued play with animal noises.
Letter Connection ▲ Provide a selection of letter cards for which children have
learned the letter-sound correspondences. Show one of the cards, and have children use that sound in the initial position of the rooster’s call. For example, if you show the letter s, children respond sock-a-soodle-soo! Consider having several cards facing away from children and letting volunteers select cards and display them to their peers for a response.
127861—Purposeful Play for Early Childhood Phonological Awareness
© Just Rewards Publications