Phonological Awareness: Rhyming
with Visual Phonics
Lil Adams and Lyndsay O’Malley
May 29, 2012
What is Visual Phonics?
 Visual Phonics is "a multisensory strategy that represents all
of the sounds of English with a hand-shaped cue and a
corresponding written symbol.” (Montgomery)
 Example: Visual phonics alphabet
Lesson Assumptions
 Lesson is for pre-school students.
 Students already know letter sounds and are able to identify
onset and rime in spoken words.
 Students have been minimally exposed to rhyme.
Objectives
Standard 1.0 General Reading Processes
Phonological Awareness:
 1.0. A.2.a We will repeat rhyming words in order to
recognize similar ending sounds in pictures.
 1.0. A.3.a We will orally blend sounds and syllables in order
to form whole words.
Materials
 CD player
 Houghtin Mifflin Alpha Friends CD “Rhyming Words”
 Picture cards (man, van, fan, can)
 Overhead projector connected to LCD
 Rhyming flip chart
 Computer – Starfall site
 Rhyming Game
 Rhyming Puzzle
Warm-Up: The Rhyming Song
 Refrain:
Rhyming words sound a bit alike.
They end the same, like bike and
hike.
Run and bun both end like sun.
Let's rhyme words and have some
fun!
Let's name words that rhyme with cat:
bat and sat and mat and hat.
Let's name words that rhyme with big:
dig and fig and pig and wig.
(refrain)
Let's name words that rhyme with rug:
bug and dug and hug and tug.
Let's name words that rhyme with hen:
den and men and pen and ten
Whole Group Lesson
 Show students the picture cards.
 Upon display of the picture card Lyndsay will verbally sound
out the word.
 Simultaneously Lil will use Visual Phonics (hands) to show the
word.
 Lyndsay will display multiple picture cards in the “an” word
family to demonstrate that rhyming words have different
beginning sounds but the ending sounds are similar.
Guided Practice (15 min.)
 Group 1: will use computer program “Starfall” in order to
complete the “an” family page.
 Group 2: will manipulate the Rhyming Flip Chart in order to
create rhymes.
 Group 3: will use manipulatives and rhyming cards to
complete rhymes.
 Group 4: will find the rhyme in order to complete the
puzzle.
Starfall Activity
Starfall rhyme
Independent Practice
 Teacher will ask the students to produce rhyming words.
Assessment
Assessment
Rubric
 Visual assessment during
 Proficient – student able to
small group practice (can
use checklist).
 Oral assessment – can
student produce a word
that rhymes with _an?
produce a word that
rhymes with _an
independently.
 In Process – student able to
respond to “does _ an and
_an rhyme?
 Emerging – student needs
teacher to provide rhyme
for them to repeat.
Closing (optional) (1 min.)
 “Willoughby Wallabee Woo”
 Lyrics:
Willoughby Wallabee Woo,
An elephant stepped on you.
Willoughby Wallabee (John),
An elephant stepped on (Won).
Research Article Summaries
.
Successful Phonological Awareness
Instruction with Preschool Children
 This article provides an overview of best practices when teaching
phonological awareness.
 Phonological awareness requires specific instruction. Children
gain phonological awareness by learning a continuum of larger to
smaller sounds (word to phoneme), and can develop skills across
the continuum simultaneously.
 Teaching phonological awareness requires assessment; flexible
grouping; working within the near range of the group’s ability;
understanding the difficulty level of tasks; and providing daily,
brief (10-15 min), and consistent interactive small-group sessions.
Preschool Instruction, cont.
 Further instructional techniques include good classroom management,


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especially transitions; intentional planning; quick pacing (one task concept per
lesson); daily and annual reviews; a print-rich environment; visual props and
hand signals; excellent articulation; and a teaching sequence such as the
following: definition, modeling, explanation, guided practice, feedback
(specific, positive, frequent, and immediate), supported practice, independent
practice.
When scaffolding instruction, nonverbal cues, such as hand and body gestures,
pictures and props, demonstration, and markers, are very important.
Rhyme instruction is best embedded within onset-rime, due to its complexity.
Teaching rhyming requires repeated exposure, explicit explanation of rhyming,
and a high degree of scaffolding.
Growth in letter name/sound knowledge and phonological awareness is
reciprocal, and they should be taught systematically and simultaneously. Both
are strong predictors of decoding skill.
Expanding general vocabulary may increase phonological awareness ability.
Dave Krupke: What exactly is Visual
Phonics?
This article is an interview with Dave Krupke, a retired speech-language
pathologist that has extensive experience with using Visual Phonics for
struggling readers. Visual Phonics is “a multisensory strategy that represents
all of the sounds of English with a hand-shaped cue and a corresponding written
symbol.” (Montgomery) The program was created by a parent of a deaf child
and was later developed into a program with the collaboration of Millie Snow of
the Children’s Miracle Network. Visual Phonics is a powerful tool that can be
used in many classrooms with a variety of students to enhance literacy learning.
Visual Phonics incorporates a kinesthetic connection to learning the sounds
produced by the English language. This connection makes it appropriate for
many applications such as use in RTI (response to intervention), English
Language Learners, older students that are struggling, and general education
students. Visual Phonics is not very popular because it is not a commercial
product. In order to become a trainer of Visual Phonics one has to attend a two
day training, use Visual Phonics for one year, apply to become a trainer, and pay
the fee to become an approved trainer.
References
 Montgomery, J. (2008). Dave Krupke: What exactly is Visual
Phonics? Communication Disorders Quarterly, 29, 177-182
 Phillips, B.M., Clancy-Menchetti, J., Lonigan, C.J. (2008).
Successful phonological awareness instruction with preschool
children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 28 (3), 317