Alliteration
Awareness materials or experience:Vocabulary review: go through the books and target words the children may have difficulty understanding.Read the following books:Animalia, by G. Base (Abrams, 1986)Faint Frogs Feeling Feverish and Other Terrifically Tantalizing Tongue Twisters, by L. Obligade (Viking, 1983)
An Amazing Alphabet, by John Patience (Peter Haddock Ltd., U.K.)
Instructional material:
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After reading, An Amazing Alphabet, the student gives the first letter of his or her name. The teacher turns to the page that corresponds and replaces the child’s name for the noun when reading the passage.
| Jennifer would give the /j/ sound and the teacher would read…
|
"Jolly Jennifer juggling jellies." |
- After reading Animalia and/or Faint Frogs, each student picks a letter, either out of a bag, using a spinner, or just giving a letter. The teacher turns to the page that corresponds to the letter and reads it.
Practice material:
- Tongue Twister Lotto. Each student has a Lotto card with letters in each square. The teacher reads a tongue twister and the students mark the target letter/sound. For example, the teacher reads, "David’s daddy’s dog, didn’t dig dirt in the dark." The student would mark or cross off the letter "d". To make the game a little harder, download a Lotto Card (pdf) with pictures beginning with different sounds. The student marks the picture that begins with the same sound as the tongue twister heard. Name the sound worksheet. Put four to five pictures that begin with the same sound on a sheet. The student identifies the letter that the pictures begin with. For ready made pictures, visit the Articulation section and download the pictures. If the students are keen, see if they can make a tongue twister out of the picture names.Odd sound out. Put four to five pictures that begin with the same sound on a sheet with one picture that begins with a different sound. The student identifies the picture that does not belong with the others. This can be completed as a worksheet or laminate and the student can mark through the answer. You can then wipe it clean for another student to use.
- Read the book, She Sells Seashells, A Tongue Twister Story, by Grace Kim (Scholastic, 1995). After each sentence, see if the students can name the letter that is alliterated in the sentence.
Whole Language Application:
Children can compose their own alliterations and write them with invented spelling. Use a variety of alphabet books to help them get started. Look for alphabet books that have multiple examples of familiar words to illustrate each letter, such as Dr. Seuss's ABC. The students can use the one sheet book to write and draw.
For a resource on tongue twisters, you can use Wallach and Wallach’s Tongue Twisters, from Wallach, M.A., & Wallach, L. (1976). Teaching all children to read. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.