The Phonics Dance

A few years ago, my fabulous friend and colleague, Madalyn Lanni Ketron, introduced me to the Phonics Dance™. She learned about it during her student teaching in Ohio. After her first performance, I was hooked! For years, I've been searching for a way for students to remember phonics patterns.

The Phonics Dance™ is a quick and easy way for teachers to teach phonics using rhyme, movement, and chants. The Phonics Dance helps develop decoding strategies and build stronger writers. This use of "junking and chunking" word patterns helps students become more fluent readers

My students LOVE doing the Phonics Dance! We do it about four times a week at the beginning of reading. I introduce two chants per week. I call on a different student every day to be our "pointer" during the dance and point to the cards. Even my quietest students get involved. Boy or girl, they ALL enjoy the movement and are highly engaged. When the chart is almost full of cards, I let the pointer choose two or three rows for the class to do.

Some example chants:

s-h, s-h, sh sh sh (point to lips)

a-r, ar ar ar, a-r, ar ar ar, Stick your arm in a jar of stars (make a hook with fingers like a pirate)

During small group reading, I use the chants to help students decode words during guided reading. It works! Students are also able to apply the hunks and chunks patterns to spelling unknown words. The Phonics Dance is great for struggling readers. The movement engages them, and the repetition helps students retain phonics skills.  I also notice growth in student writing and spelling.  THE PHONICS DANCE HAS CHANGED MY READING INSTRUCTION AND STUDENT LEARNING! Check out the photos, links, and video below. I added a link to the official Phonics Dance video. It shows students doing the chants.

www.phonicsdance.com

Purchase Here

I asked our school Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) to purchase the manual and cards. The manual is $45 and the cards are $15 per set. 

Official You Tube Video of the Phonics Dance

Sometimes we come across a certain sound or phonics chunk that is not included in the official Phonics Dance. So I create my own cards to meet our needs. See the two pictures below. I made these.

 

When you see the letter y, there are three sounds you can try: y-y-y, i-i-i, e-e-e

a-n-k, a-n-k, Thaaaaank You!

a-n-k, a-n-k, Thaaaaank You!

Ps and Qs

Ps and Qs. Bs and Ds. My struggling readers can't seem to get them right. I've tried every trick I can find on Pinterest, but nothing seems to work. I tried the thumb trick, the bed trick, sticky note reminders on desks, and the baseball & bat visual.  I asked some Special Education teacher friends for some advice, and they both told me that the reversals can be fixed with letter formation practice. So I watched my students write bs, ds, ps, and qs. I watched where they started the formation, and guess what? Their formations were totally incorrect.

I thought of a different way to teach these reversals. Since the letter q is usually associated with the word queen, I tell my students that q stands for queen. I say, "Q is a queen. She likes to put on her make up and lipstick first. So we must write her face first, then make the line for her hair." P stands for prince. I say, "The prince likes to have his body done first, then his face". 

I added a star to each letter to show where you should start when writing the letter. Here's the correct formation for Ps and Qs:

So far, these visuals seem to be helping my students improve their reversals. The key is to keep practicing writing and recognizing them until they stick for good. It's taken my students 2 years (K and 1st grades) to make these mistakes. It's going to take a while to undo these mistakes. Patience and repetition are the keys.

I also have a trick for B and D that I'll post soon.
Have you found any strategies that work for your students? Please share!