Use Dr. Seuss Books to Expand Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten

There are many wonderful phonemic awareness activities related to Dr. Seuss that are appropriate for kindergarten age students and can be prepared in a minimal amount of time while engaging the child in a successful learning experience.

Phonemic awareness activities for kindergarten age kids works well with a central theme. A fun and exciting way to develop phonemic awareness through a central theme such as Dr. Seuss is by focusing on rhyming books and rhyming activities.

Choosing Rhyming Books

Dr. Seuss books are excellent choices for developing phonemic awareness in rhyming while centered around a theme, kindergartners are especially draw to the repetitive nature of the Dr. Seuss writing and the vivid illustrations. Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2, so sharing Dr. Seuss books during the Spring is a great way to make a connection to Dr. Seuss' life while focusing on phonemic awareness activities.

It is important to always let children listen as a book is read to them for the first time. An important step in promoting phonemic awareness in the kindergarten age child is allowing the child to hear the words and sounds working together to create text and meaning.

Reading a story multiple times never gets tiring for a young child, reading the story a second time and allowing the child to read along and share the story with the reader is a great way to reinforce the phonetic sounds.

Am excellent way to develop comprehension skills is to talk about the story as the reader and the children are reading together. There may be ideas and/or concepts that kindergarten age students have not encountered previously and discussing the ideas and/or concepts can become superior teaching moments. Phonemic awareness and comprehension tie into together to give the child a greater understanding of the text.

If time allows, children may even want to act out parts of the stories. Kids are natural born entertainers so acting out a story is a fun way for the kindergarten age child to connect with the characters of the story.

Chart the Rhyming Words

On a different day, the reader can read the same Dr. Seuss story again for the third time and give the children a phonemic focus, asking the children to listen for any rhyming words they may hear. Hopefully at this point in the year, there would be a good understanding of phonetic sounds and the children would be able to name off some of the rhyming words. Listing those rhyming words on chart paper and seeing if the children notice any pattern that may be evident is an effective informal assessment. Leaving the chart displayed in a prominent place so that children can refer back to the rhyming words to use in their spelling and writing is an outstanding resource.

Making Words

Use a purchased set of alphabet cards or make your own alphabet cards is the first step in this phonemic awareness activity. Then determine a spelling pattern to focus on such as: "at". Choose two children, one child to hold the "a" and the other child to hold the "t". Pick a variety of letters and call a child or children to hold the letter(s) up at the beginning or ending "at" spelling pattern to make new words such as: bat, date, state, etc. and the list can go on and on. This kindergarten activity is an outstanding opportunity for children to develop phonemic awareness through a hands-on activity.

There are many Dr. Seuss activities that will develop phonemic awareness in kindergarten age children, finding phonemic awareness activities that keep children moving and engaged will lead to successful phonemic acquisition.