Introduction

I am currently the homeroom teacher to 31 five and six year old kindergarten students in

Shanghai, China. I am supported by two Chinese co-teachers. Students receive a thirty-

minute phonics lesson each day. We divide the class into two groups based on English

ability. While I teach one group their phonics lesson, the other receives their Chinese

lesson. One co-teacher supports me during this time.

Part I: Research on Current Trends

The following are three phonics lesson plans that are appropriate for use in my classroom.

You may find the links to the lesson plans in the appendix.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock

Focus: ock word family.

Grade: Kindergarten-1st

Procedure: The teacher will distribute the poem to each student and post it on large paper

in front of the class. The teacher will read the poem aloud and then read it a second time so

students can act as the mouse. Afterwards, he/she will ask the students which two words

rhyme. Once students have identified that dock and clock rhyme, the teacher will

underline the d in dock and the cl in clock and

model how to blend the onset and rime together.

Students will come up with words that rhyme with

these and write them on sticky notes. Then, students

will place the new words over dock and clock and

read the new version. Finally, students will make the

craft pictured on the right as guided by the teacher to practice blending together different

consonants with the ock ending.

Core concepts/Learning styles: Phonological awareness, identifying letter sounds,

rhyme, onset and rime, blending sounds, writing, word awareness; linguistic, kinesthetic,

spatial/visual

Differentiation: The teacher may consider pre-writing ock on the sticky notes so that

students who require assistance only need to fill in the first letter. The teacher can pair

these students with stronger classmates to help them blend the onset and rime together.

Five Little Monkeys

Focus: The letter M

Grade: Kindergarten-1st

Procedure: This lesson plan is divided into four sections:

(1) Introduction: The teacher will place the number of M&Ms in the

Mystery Box correspondent with number of students in the class. The

teacher will shake the box and ask students to guess what is inside.

Students will be invited to write their guesses on the board with

assistance from the teacher as necessary. After all students have guessed,

the teacher will say, What is in the box tastes Mmm, mmm good! He/she

will open the box and give an M&M to each student.

(2) Childrens Literature: The teacher will read Five Little Monkeys

Jumping on the Bed and Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen

Christelow. He/she will distribute the comparison chart included in the

appendix to compare the story elements of characters, setting, problem,

solution, and ending. This website also includes many ideas for reading,

writing, technology, art, dramatization, music, and math centers based on

this theme.

(3) Letter Study: Students will be placed in pairs to search through

magazines, newspapers, and other print materials in search of uppercase

and lowercase M, as well as images beginning with the letter M. They will

glue these onto blank paper. These will be compiled together and made

into a class book that can be placed in the reading center for future

enjoyment. In the art center, students can use mustard and mayonnaise

to write upper and lowercase Ms.

(4) Word Study: As a class, students will brainstorm objects beginning with

the letter M. The teacher will distribute a paper to each student with One

little monkey jumping on a ______... written along the bottom. Students

should write a word beginning with M in the blank and then illustrate

this.

Core concepts/Learning Styles: Phonological awareness, spelling, writing, letter

identification, comprehension, story elements, comparing, creating; linguistic,

visual/spatial, kinesthetic, mathematical/logical, musical, interpersonal

Differentiation: For the word study, students may choose a word to copy from the board

or they can come up with their own. The teacher should help those needing assistance or

pair them with a stronger student. More advanced students can write additional sentences.

Hattie and the Fox

Focus: CVC words

Grade: Kindergarten-1st

Procedure: After reading Hattie and the Fox as a class, the teacher will ask the students

what kind of animal Hattie is. The students will reply that she is a hen and write hen on

the board. Then, the teacher will ask what Hattie sees in the bushes. The students will

answer fox, which the teacher will write at the other side of the board. The teacher will

ask about the differences between these two animals and then tell the class that they will

turn a hen into a fox. The teacher will distribute white boards, markers, and erasers to each

student and begin modeling the activity by asking them to write the word cat on the

board. Then he/she will ask them to change the first letter so that the word reads hat.

Then students will change the middle letter to make the word hut. Each time, students

will raise their board so the teacher can assess understanding. Students will write the word

hen on their board and change the first, middle, or last letter to make the new word the

teacher asks for as prompted. The sequence will go like this:

hen, pen, pet, pit, sit, six, fix, fox. The teacher will say, Can you believe it? We just turned a

hen into a fox!

Core concepts/Learning styles: Phonological awareness; identifying beginning, middle,

and ending sounds; phonemic substitution; linguistic, kinesthetic

Differentiation: With each step, the teacher will ask the class as a whole if it will be the

first, middle, or last letter that should be changed. The teacher may consider distributing

letter cut-outs to students needing assistance. Once these students have erased the correct

letter, they can visualize which letter may be the appropriate substitute by placing these

cut-outs in the blank space. The teacher can allow students to facilitate this activity among

themselves by allowing them to use the guides featured in the appendix in reading centers.

Hattie and the Fox

Identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds

Phonemic substitution

Hickory Dickory Dock

Rhyme Onset and rime

Five Little Monkeys

Beginning sounds Comprehension Story elements Comparing Creating Mathematical/logical Musical Interpersonal

Phonological awareness

Phonics Word awareness Spelling Reading Writing Linguistic Kinesthetic

Blending sounds

Visual/spatial

Reading centers

Part II: A New Approach

In the graphic organizer, we can note the similarities and differences among the three

lesson plans. These lessons are well-rounded in that they cover a range of core concepts

and intelligences. However, with the exception of Five Little Monkeys where they mention

a technology center as an extension to the lesson plan, technology is absent in these

lessons. If I were to use these in my class, I would also choose to extend them through the

use of a technology center.

The use of technology in the classroom is by no means a new trend. These days many

classrooms are equipped with interactive white boards and iPads for individual student

use. Computer labs are common among schools. Teachers are constantly seeking ways to

incorporate technology into their lessons, and rightfully so. We live in an ever-advancing

digital world where technological literacy has become a must.

While technology is not a new trend to most, we are prohibited the use of technology in my

kindergarten in China, because management prefers a more hands-on approach. They

believe the parents are not paying to have their children sitting in front of a screen or

playing on a computer like they can do at home. I would agree that technology should not

take the place of hands-on learning. My stance here would be to convince my principals of

the value of incorporating technology in my lessons, not as a replacement to traditional

learning, but as a supplement and a reinforcement of the content.

What are the benefits of using technology as an educational tool? In an article titled How

Can Technology Be Beneficial in a Kindergarten class?, Karen LoBello explains that while

technology should not take the place of developmental play and hands-on learning, it

serves to reinforce traditional teaching. Its benefits are numerous.

The use of technology is motivating. The bright colors attract childrens attention, and the

ability to interact with technology makes the activity more interesting, thus keeping

students on task for longer periods of time. Interactive computer games both teach and

reinforce skill in an enjoyable way. Most programs provide scaffolding and support can

support the learner as an individual. Students may work at their own pace and choose a

level comfortable for them. Sherman, Kleiman, and Peterson elaborate on this in their

article Technology and Teaching Children to Read:

Our review of the research on technology and teaching children to read leads to the

conclusion that multimedia digital technology, with capabilities such as hypertext,

text-to-speech conversion, and speech recognition, has significant potential to enhance

reading instruction at the K-6 level. This potential may be of the most value for

students who have difficulty in learning to read, since the technology can help provide

appropriate levels of activities, repetitive practice, individualized feedback, supportive

scaffolding, and detailed record-keeping to inform instructional decisions. Therefore,

technology can help teachers provide more of the individualized instruction that

children with reading difficulties need.

Instructional Strategies: The challenge I come up against is that we only have one

computer in the classroom, which my co-teachers use for administrative work during after

school hours. To incorporate technology into my phonics and reading lessons, I will create

reading stations, one of which will be based at the computer. Here students will work with

a phonics or literacy based program to reinforce content taught during the reading lesson

that day.

Resources/Websites: There are a number of online websites that teach phonological

awareness, phonics, and early literacy. These websites may be used at the computer-based

reading station:

readingeggs.co.uk

starfall.com

education.com/games/reading and education.com/games/reading/phonics

familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html

More advanced students may create digital storybooks using the following websites:

storybird.com

mystorybook.com

zooburst.com

I would likely need to provide assistance with this, or students can have a parent help at

home.

I will make of these resources will be made available to parents so that they can also work

with their children at home. I would also suggest the following apps for their iPad:

Hooked on Phonics

SuperWHY!

StoryPanda

Dr. Seuss ABC

Interactive Alphabet

Conclusion: In order to move forward, I must receive managements permission for the

use of the computer as a teaching tool. I aim to do so by presenting convincing research

about the benefits of doing so. If I am successful, the incorporation of technology into my

kindergarten classroom will not only guide my students towards literacy of printed

material, but to technological literacy as well. This is indispensable in our ever-advancing

world.

References

LoBello, Karen. How can Technology Be Beneficial in a Kindergarten Class? Global Post.

Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/can-technology-beneficial-

kindergarten-class-6647.html

Sherman, D., Kleiman, G., & Peterson, K. (2007). Technology and Teaching Children to

Read. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/12684/

Appendix

Hickory, Dickory, Dock

(1) Lesson Plan

http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/hickorydickory

Five Little Monkeys

(1) Lesson Plan

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/phonics-through-

literature-learning-180.html?tab=4#tabs

(2) Comparison Chart

Hattie and the Fox

(1) Lesson Plan

www.public.asu.edu/.../Hattie%20&%20the%20Fox--CVC%20words.doc

(2) Activity for reading centers

Hattie and the Fox