Zoophonics
Atlantic Headstart Programs
2010
Helen Bernard-Ward
Objectives
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Demonstrate how Zoo-phonics works
Show how to implement the Program
Become active participants
Show how successful the program is
Demonstrate a lesson
Show how to do an Assessment
Rationale
“There is now ample
evidence that letter-sound
instruction facilitates learning
to read compared with
methods with little or no
phonics instruction”
p. 422 of Handbook of Early Literacy Research
• Research shows that children that
have a well-developed phonological
awareness when they come to
school have a head start in making
sense of how sounds and letters
operate in print. This is why it is
important to teach sound awareness
in the preschool years.
• The value of mnemonics for
teaching letter-sound relations to
children is supported by evidence.
• The motivational value of
associating interesting characters or
hand motions and incorporating this
into activities and games that are fun
is important for promoting young
children’s learning.
p.2-125 Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching
Children to Read Reports of the Subgroups
What is Zoo-phonics?
A fun way for young children to learn
sounds using signals. The program
uses animals in the lowercase letters
to help children learn the shapes
and sounds of the letters. Using
body movements for each animal
letter helps “cement” the phonemic
information into memory.
Why Zoophonics?
• Positive feedback and good results
• Introduced and used in some daycares
and preschools
• Positive results for learning challenged
students
• Actions are related to what the animal
does in real life –easy to remember
• Actions involve the whole body – helping
lock the shapes and sounds into memory
Feedback from First Nation
and District 16 Teachers
• Children love the animals!
• Animals are a hook – motivational
• Vowels are acquired quicker and easier –
long and short vowels are less confusing
• Begin reading and writing earlier
• Children are able to use an alphabet
chart more independently during writing
• Opportunities for integrating oral
language
Essences of Zoophonics
1.The animals, drawn in the shape of
lowercase letters, help the children
remember the shapes and the
sounds of the letters. The significant
names of the animals teach the
sound.
2. Letter sounds are taught before
letter names.
3. Lowercase letters are taught before
capital letters.
4. The body movements (Signal) for
each animal letter helps “cement”
the phonemic information into
memory.
5. The alphabet is taught sequentially,
as a whole entity, “a-z”. The
alphabet is not fragmented.
6. Short vowels are taught before long
vowels.
7. Phonemic patterns (at, bat, fat, sat,
etc.) are taught first rather than
random word lists (of, it, then, was,
because).
8. High frequency words are taught
phonemically, not by sight.
9. Phonics is taught as an integrated
part of the language arts process
Layout of Preschool
program
• Read “Getting Started” section
• Start with Daily Lessons
• Look at objectives for the week –
generally a letter a week-Literacy
Selection & Phonemic
Awareness/Pre-Writing Experiences
• Literature selections are good
• Choose the activities best suited to
your group
Throughout the program
• Do alphabet warm-up each day with
cards - song #3 on CD has good
tempo to learn; Zoo-robics #6 is fun
• Teach from “A-Z” until students have
mastered the signals, sounds, and
alphabet sequence
• Focus is on the letter sound and
animal before the letter name
• Students signal and sound when
decoding
What about the stuffed
animals?
Not necessary but recommended
because :
• Makes the alphabet more personal
• Can play with the animals – more
engaging and fun; so more
opportunity for hands-on learning
• Get to “meet” the animals
• Puppets are good too
Parent Information
• Send home pages 28-31 to inform
about Zoo-phonics signals
• Introductory Letter to explain the
program
• Animal letter grid so they can
practice
Actions continue to be crucial!
• Students appear to acquire
advanced letter-sound relationship
more easily and quickly.
• Teachers report that it appears when
you teach a phonetic rule or “chunk”
with the action, repeatedly, the
students are able to access their
motor memory to assist in reading
and spelling unknown words – more
carry-over into actual reading and
writing.
Picture this!
Preschool and Classroom
teachers, Literacy Clinicians,
parents, and resource
teachers all using the same
anchors and cues to give the
consistent instruction to all
students in the district.
Zoo-phonics Preschool Kit
Componets
• Adventures in Learning Teaching
Manual
• Adventuresome Kids CD-Rom
• Large Animal Alphabet Cards
(LACS)
• Small Animals Cards
• Capital Animals Cards
• Zoo-Music Collection on CD, “Music
That Teaches”
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Signal Practice Video
Alphabet Grids
Zoo-Phonics Signal Poster
Activity Worksheets Level A…not
recommended for use…
• Animal Alphabet Puppets*
Meet the Cast of
Characters
• Signal Practice Video
• Using Large Animal Alphabet Cards
• http://dirtdoog.dyndns.org/katie/zoop
honics.html
• Fun with song…. “Come Meet Us At
the Zoo.
webPutt-Putt’s Zoo-phonics (Zoophonics) Page
Results of Using Zoophonics!!!
Your kids will learn their letters and
sounds in two weeks!!
Doesn’t that sound amazing!!!