Macaroni Melodies: 3rd-4th Grade Language Arts

Sep 11

Lesson Objective:

Students walking into the third and fourth grade are expected to demonstrate complete mastery of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes) by using knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word, New Jersey Student Learning Standards for English/Language Arts. This involves being able to

Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in spoken words
Segment spoken words into their complete sequence of individual sounds

However, traditional school curriculum often does not accommodate for the learning pace of students who struggle with developing strong phonemic awareness, causing holes to form in their learning as they progress to dealing with more complex sounds and their corresponding graphemes (phonics). This activity is geared toward strengthening these learners’ phonemic awareness to ensure that they have the skills—and confidence—to tackle higher levels of phonics in the third grade and beyond.

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Materials:

Dry pasta (macaroni or penne recommended)
String
Paint (color selection will vary depending on selected words)
Gloves
Sound Chart (for parents/teachers)
Cleaning supplies

Download Lesson Materials

Pre-Activity Set-Up (for Parents and Teachers):

Gather materials and keep cleaning supplies on hand!

Select words for the activity from complete list provided; it is recommended that whoever is running the activity go through selected words beforehand to determine how many paint colors are needed for the activity

Note: There are over 40 sets of phonemes; it is best to select a few sets every time the activity is carried out based on the abilities and skill goals for the individual child

Activity:

Say each word out loud together

Slowly sound out and verbally identity each phoneme
Assign each unique phoneme a paint color so that each color represents a particular phoneme

Note: Try NOT to label or identify these colors using letters/graphemes; it important for students to gain a deep understanding of the sounds of each word without getting confused by the letters; this is especially important since word parts that make the same sound may be represented by different letter combinations (e.g. cake, rain, sleigh)

Each piece of pasta represents a word part; dip the pasta in paint color based on corresponding phoneme (hence the name “Macaroni Melodies” because the color of the pasta piece depends on the individual sounds of the word)
Repeat the process for each pasta piece (phoneme) to create a pasta necklace/bracelet for the entire word
Work through the words one set at a time, taking each word apart auditorily and then putting them back together by building pasta jewelry!

Post-Activity Reflection and Discussion:

After completing a set of pasta jewelery, reflect on the parts that were similar (represented by the same colors across different necklaces/bracelets in the same set)

Try to facilitate a discussion that reinforces the connection between the words in each set based on the similar sounds that they have—without focusing on the letters
Try going backwards to put the words back together again just using the necklaces and the sounds assigned to each paint color

Learning More for Parents:

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness falls under the umbrella of phonological awareness, which refers to one’s ability to consciously use sound structures to interpret and manipulate language (International Dyslexia Association). This involves being able to isolate and control sounds at the sentence-level, word-level, syllable-level, and phoneme-level—or the individual speech sounds in spoken words (UM Dyslexia Help). Phonemic awareness, or phoneme awareness, is the ability to to be aware of and consciously think about these phonemes, or individual sounds (International Dyslexia Association).

How does it relate to dyslexia?

Phonemic awareness is a “critical cornerstone” in the development of fundamental reading skills, according to the International Dyslexia Association, serving as the basis of the connection between the sounds of spoken words and the letters or letter combinations that correspond to them. Without a strong awareness of phonemes in and their positions in spoken words, interpreting the pronunciation of these words in written form (such as when reading) is incredibly difficult. Young learners with dyslexia often struggle with isolating and blending sounds into word parts, reflecting an impairment in phonemic awareness. These deficits can be assessed as early as ages 3 or 4 when children typically begin demonstrating some cognizance of rhyming and alliteration, both of which require basic phonemic awareness to hear and process the individual sounds of the words (Dyslexia Help).

What can you do to help your child?

This project, in particular, specifically targets strengthening fundamental phonemic awareness by deliberately allowing students to understand how words can be broken into different sounds and how the position of those sounds relate to its pronunciation. This is done through a process of “explicit instruction” through “phoneme segmentation” with words that are made of simple syllables in order to facilitate a student’s beginning awareness of phonemes (International Dyslexia Association). It is important to incorporate this technique of phoneme segmentation into student’s daily learning to both enhance their phoneme awareness and develop a useful tool that they can use when actually reading. At this stage, the ultimate goal is to build full phoneme awareness, or a sense of each phoneme in simple syllables to ensure that students are ready for an advanced understanding of phonics, or the connection between these individual sounds and letters or letter combinations.

Moreover, the premise of representing these sounds using macaroni or any other dry pasta serves as a creative way to support the process of auditorily deconstructing these words through visual and kinesthetic aids. Not only does this make the process of phoneme segmentation more memorable, but experts also suggest that dyslexics particularly benefit from multisensory instruction that includes kinesthetic and/or tactile modes along with visual and auditory processes so as to simultaneously activate multiple sensory pathways when students are learning. (Collaborative Classroom). Dyslexia students tend to do best when such multisensory methods are applied with explicit and hands-on instruction.

Is your student struggling?

Set reasonable goals - Parents and teachers can help children begin to set reasonable goals for their own learning, personal growth, and future at a young age. Oftentimes, the school system and society establishes a set of standard goals that may challenge them in their area of disability. Without the proper accommodation, “holes” can form in their learning before the skill of phonemic awareness has solidified. As a result, when the curriculum pushes them to move ahead before they are ready, it can be easy for students to get discouraged and lose their confidence. When children learn to set goals that work for them and reach them, they can better visualize their future, make good choices, and, ultimately, make their dreams come true (LD Online).
Teach and model perseverance - Coloring Confidence strives to help these young learners foster self-esteem and confidence to handle setbacks and failures and to use their learning differences to their advantage to achieve their goals. Use the affirmation at the end of the to reinforce this idea of perseverance and self-confidence!