The Actions

Movement helps kids remember!

Every year I am amazed at how much the letter actions help my struggling students use the letters in their reading and writing. When they are writing independently and hear a phoneme that they don't know how to write, they do the motion and the lightbulb turns on. It is sometimes comical to see students wiggling around in their seats during writing time and know that they are right on-task; they are simply using their bodies to help their brain access the information they need to write a word.

The letter motions help struggling readers, also. When learning to blend sounds into words, it is important that the students quickly recognize the letters and sounds in the word they are trying to blend. When I hold up the word "dog", they must quickly know that "d" says /d/", "o" says /o/, and "g" says /g/. If it takes a long time to figure out what sounds the child needs to use to blend the word, they have already forgotten the first sound while they figure out the second one. Using the letter motions (a silent clue to help struggling kids), they can quickly say the sounds and move on to the more difficult task of blending.

The most helpful thing about the letter actions is that they can be SILENT. I do not have to call attention to the child, but simply give them a non-verbal reminder if they are needing help. When a child asks "what does 'cat' start with?", I put my hands up and make the motion for Cuddly Cat. The child quickly writes down "c" and begins to work on the next letter.

Not every child needs the action, just as not every child needs the visual cue to remember the letter. But the more sensory the phonics experience is, the greater the chance that ALL students will remember what I am teaching and be able to use the information. After all, the goal is not to know that "f" says /f/, but to be able to use that information to read or write a word independently. The motions help children become independent users of phonics.

Achoo Andy- Pretend to hold a tissue to your nose and sneeze

Baseball Brian- Swing a baseball bat like you're hitting a ball

Cuddly Cat- Bat your "paws" at imaginary yarn

Dinosaur Dan- Lumber from side to side heavily, as if a large dinosaur swaying through the woods

Eddy Elf- Place fingers at the corners of the mouth and pull them slightly up into an elfish smile

Fancy Faucet- wiggle fingers up to the top of the head and back out, as if a water fountain

Gulping Girl- hold a pretend cup and make a drinking motion

Hot Henry- Exaggerate an exhausted face with tongue panting

Itcy Ingrid- scratch imaginary chicken pox

Jiggly Jello- wiggle whole body

Karate King- make a "karate chop" motion

Long Ladder- climb a pretend ladder, reaching to the sky

Metal Magnet Man- put fingers in front of you as if trying to attract metal

Nosedive Nana- Put arms out and make an airplane motion

Olive Octopus- Make your mouth into an "O" shape and trace it with your finger

Party Pig- Put your index finger to your mouth and pretend to blow it out

Quiet Quacker- Make a duck beak with your hand

Red Rainbow- Make a rainbow shape in the air with your hand

Spotty Snake- Put your hands palm-side together and wiggle in front of you in a snake motion

Tickly Tiger- Hold your arms out and wiggle fingers as if tickling someone

Upside-down Umbrella- pantomime opening an umbrella

Violet Vase-

Windy Wendy- Put your hand in front of your mouth as you say the "wh" sound and feel the wind on your hand

Kissy Max- Blow a fake kiss while saying the word "kiss" very quickly ("ks")

Yellow Yawner- stretch your arms above head like stretching/yawning

Zig-zag Zipper- Pretend to zip in a "z" shape