Kindergarten: Phonics and Movement
Kindergartners worked on building their phonological awareness of three- and four-letter words as they segmented and blended sounds. Using Elkonin boxes, students listened to a word and jumped onto a colorful box for each sound (or phoneme) they heard.
The different colored papers help children understand the beginning (green), middle (yellow) and end (red) sound of common words like “pen,” “bug,” and “hat.” To mix it up, they also practiced with letters that blend to make one sound, like “sh” and “th” as in “ship” and “bath.” Elkonin boxes help students decode words by focusing on the number of phonemes instead of the number of letters, according to teacher Carly Rothschild.
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Graland Country Day School
Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.
