Poetry: “It is April” is the poem for the month. As weeks pass, use the KMPs to contrast /ă/ (splash, splashing) and /ā/ (April, raining). Add the KMP /ŭ/ for a at the end of umbrella. Do the KMP for the sound you hear. This short poem offers 3 distinct spellings that the children can gain comfort with, as you recite the poem daily.
KMPs: We focus on /ĕ/, /ō/, /ī/, and /aw/ and /ph/. Go back throughout the month and layer in sounds that were previously introduced. This gives the opportunity for strugglers to strengthen phonemic awareness.
Handwriting: Continue to use the handwriting stories, especially for the strugglers.
Language Calendar: Most of this month’s entries focus on Frank Asch. His books offer many opportunities to model summarizing, recalling details and using more sophisticated language in your writing.
Vowel House: Develop the /ou/ and /oi/ windows and their alternate spellings of /ow/ and /oy/. Contrast them over the month.
Clap out the word, umbrella. It is a long word (more than one clap). Find the VH Window for the a in umbrella (/ŭ/) because it is at the end of a long word. Choose words from reading, language calendar entries, or spelling. Segment words, blend words, and “take them to the VH window.”
Have a great month!
Dr. Terry Kindervater, Ph.D.
Educator & Founder of Phonics in Motion
(To the tune of Frere Jacques)
It is April.
It is April.
Flowers bloom.
Flowers bloom.
Days are getting longer.
Sun is getting higher.
Spring everywhere.
Spring everywhere.
Poem by Phonics in Motion team
/ĕ/
/er/
/bl/ blend; /fl/ blend
Pitter-patter raindrops,
Falling from the sky,
Here is my umbrella,
To keep me safe and dry.
When the rain is over,
And the sun begins to glow,
Little flowers start to bud,
And grow and grow, and grow.
Poem by Unknown Author
/ō/
/ī/, /ĭ/, /ă/, /ŏ/
/ou/
I’m the moon and I play a game.
I don’t always look the same.
Sometimes I’m round,
A silver sphere.
Sometimes just half of me
Seems to be here.
Sometimes I’m a crescent,
Shaped like a smile.
Sometimes I surprise you
And hide for awhile.
Look up in the sky
For my friendly light.
What shape will I have
When you see me tonight?
Poem by Unknown Author
/ī/
/s/, /ā/, /o͞o/
/ph/
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow —
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow.
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson
/aw/
/ō/, /ee/, /ĕ/, /j/
/ū/
This is where children learn letter names, stroking, and directionality. Incorporate the KMPs to learn the sound of each letter. The letter sound is embedded in each story.
**Tip** Focus on one letter story per week.
e escapes!
e moves away from the monster,
the monster pulls him back
and he escapes.
O moves up to the Monster,
And, Oh! Oh! Oh!
I got away!
i is itty bitty.
(Also compare i to l.
l is a long, long line.)
W just walks away
And walks away (from the Monster).
p is a pole that goes down fishing.
Go up, up, up
Make a pot belly
Away from the Monster
h is a high chair.
Top to bottom.
Go halfway up.
Move away from the Monster,
High, high, high chair.
(If back of high chair is not tall, baby will fall out!)
Continue to select a few words daily from poems and calendar entries to take to the Vowel House. Can your students find the window? (Remember, the window is based on the “sound” the vowel is making.) Always link the KMP to the window; it is a listening (phonemic awareness) experience. It’s not the spelling or the name of the vowel; it’s the sound. For example, students identify the same window as they listen for words that have the _a-e sound, such as play, ate, mail, and came.
As you move through the month, at this time of year, your children should be comfortable choosing the correct window. You are introducing “other ways to spell” the vowel sound. As you move through the month, make sure to review with your students the meaning of the wavy lines (~) (a letter can go there) and the underscore lines _____ (a letter must go there.)
cloud, house, out, ouch,
shout, pound, ground, count
foul, scout, mouth, south
loud, about, flour, our, round
town, plow, owl,
fowl, flower, down,
shower, vowel, cow,
brown, crown
boy, toy, enjoy
annoy, oyster, royal, joyful
boil, soil, voice
point, coin, noise
oil, oink
See lists above
This month, we are learning about the author, Frank Asch. Visit your local library to find many of his books and read them together at home. Ask your child about the characters Bear and Little Bird. Have them describe these characters. What do they like about them? Would they want to be friends with them?
Here is the monthly poem you can work on at home:
It is April! (To the tune of Frere Jacques)
It is April.
It is April.
Flowers bloom.
Flowers bloom.
Days are getting longer.
Sun is getting higher.
Spring everywhere.
Spring everywhere.
Poem by Phonics in Motion team
Reread the poem multiple times and focus on their phrasing. Make sure they are not reading one word at a time, it should sound like natural speech. Take turns – you read a line, they read a line.
Let’s become investigators of this poem!
It is a great month to talk about the phases of the moon. Over the course of the month, go outside and point out the moon. Is it a full moon? New moon? Quarter moon? Draw and write about each phase of the moon. When talking about “phases,” you might want to talk about how “ph” is another way to write the /f/ sound.
Have a great month!
The Phonics in Motion© team