Introduction

I am currently the homeroom teacher to 31 five and six year old kindergarten students in
Shanghai, China. I am supported by two Chinese co-teachers. Students receive a thirtyminute phonics lesson each day. We divide the class into two groups based on English
ability. While I teach one group their phonics lesson, the other receives their Chinese
lesson. One co-teacher supports me during this time.

Part I: Research on Current Trends

The following are three phonics lesson plans that are appropriate for use in my classroom.
You may find the links to the lesson plans in the appendix.
Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Focus: ock word family.
Grade: Kindergarten-1st
Procedure: The teacher will distribute the poem to each student and post it on large paper
in front of the class. The teacher will read the poem aloud and then read it a second time so
students can act as the mouse. Afterwards, he/she will ask the students which two words
rhyme. Once students have identified that dock and clock rhyme, the teacher will
underline the d in dock and the cl in clock and model how to blend the onset and
rime together. Students will come up with words that
rhyme with these and write them on sticky notes.
Then, students will place the new words over dock
and clock and read the new version. Finally,
students will make the craft pictured on the right as

guided by the teacher to practice blending together different consonants with the ock
ending.
Core concepts/Learning styles: Phonological awareness, identifying letter sounds,
rhyme, onset and rime, blending sounds, writing, word awareness; linguistic, kinesthetic,
spatial/visual
Differentiation: The teacher may consider pre-writing ock on the sticky notes so that
students who require assistance only need to fill in the first letter. The teacher can pair
these students with stronger classmates to help them blend the onset and rime together.

Five Little Monkeys

Focus: The letter M
Grade: Kindergarten-1st
Procedure: This lesson plan is divided into four sections:
(1)

Introduction: The teacher will place the number of M&Ms in the

Mystery Box correspondent with number of students in the class. The
teacher will shake the box and ask students to guess what is inside.
Students will be invited to write their guesses on the board with
assistance from the teacher as necessary. After all students have guessed,
the teacher will say, What is in the box tastes Mmm, mmm good! He/she
will open the box and give an M&M to each student.

(2)

Childrens Literature: The teacher will read Five Little Monkeys

Jumping on the Bed and Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen
Christelow. He/she will distribute the comparison chart included in the

appendix to compare the story elements of characters, setting, problem,

solution, and ending. This website also includes many ideas for reading,
writing, technology, art, dramatization, music, and math centers based on
this theme.
(3)

Letter Study: Students will be placed in pairs to search through

magazines, newspapers, and other print materials in search of uppercase
and lowercase M, as well as images beginning with the letter M. They will
glue these onto blank paper. These will be compiled together and made
into a class book that can be placed in the reading center for future
enjoyment. In the art center, students can use mustard and mayonnaise
to write upper and lowercase Ms.

(4)

Word Study: As a class, students will brainstorm objects beginning with

the letter M. The teacher will distribute a paper to each student with One
little monkey jumping on a ______... written along the bottom. Students
should write a word beginning with M in the blank and then illustrate
this.

Core concepts/Learning Styles: Phonological awareness, spelling, writing, letter

identification, comprehension, story elements, comparing, creating; linguistic,
visual/spatial, kinesthetic, mathematical/logical, musical, interpersonal
Differentiation: For the word study, students may choose a word to copy from the board
or they can come up with their own. The teacher should help those needing assistance or
pair them with a stronger student. More advanced students can write additional sentences.

Hattie and the Fox

Focus: CVC words
Grade: Kindergarten-1st
Procedure: After reading Hattie and the Fox as a class, the teacher will ask the students
what kind of animal Hattie is. The students will reply that she is a hen and write hen on
the board. Then, the teacher will ask what Hattie sees in the bushes. The students will
answer fox, which the teacher will write at the other side of the board. The teacher will
ask about the differences between these two animals and then tell the class that they will
turn a hen into a fox. The teacher will distribute white boards, markers, and erasers to each
student and begin modeling the activity by asking them to write the word cat on the
board. Then he/she will ask them to change the first letter so that the word reads hat.
Then students will change the middle letter to make the word hut. Each time, students
will raise their board so the teacher can assess understanding. Students will write the word
hen on their board and change the first, middle, or last letter to make the new word the
teacher asks for as prompted. The sequence will go like this:
hen, pen, pet, pit, sit, six, fix, fox. The teacher will say, Can you believe it? We just turned a
hen into a fox!
Core concepts/Learning styles: Phonological awareness; identifying beginning, middle,
and ending sounds; phonemic substitution; linguistic, kinesthetic
Differentiation: With each step, the teacher will ask the class as a whole if it will be the
first, middle, or last letter that should be changed. The teacher may consider distributing
letter cut-outs to students needing assistance. Once these students have erased the correct
letter, they can visualize which letter may be the appropriate substitute by placing these

cut-outs in the blank space. The teacher can allow students to facilitate this activity among
themselves by allowing them to use the guides featured in the appendix in reading centers.

Hattie and the Fox

Identifying
beginning, middle,
and ending
sounds
Phonemic
substitution

Blending
sounds

Hickory Dickory
Dock
Rhyme
Onset and rime

Phonological
awareness
Phonics
Word awareness
Spelling
Reading
Writing
Linguistic
Kinesthetic

Visual/spatial

Reading
centers

Five Little Monkeys

Beginning sounds
Comprehension
Story elements
Comparing
Creating
Mathematical/logical
Musical
Interpersonal

Part II: A New Approach

In the graphic organizer, we can note the similarities and differences among the three
lesson plans. These lessons are well-rounded in that they cover a range of core concepts
and intelligences. However, with the exception of Five Little Monkeys where they mention
a technology center as an extension to the lesson plan, technology is absent in these
lessons. If I were to use these in my class, I would also choose to extend them through the
use of a technology center.

The use of technology in the classroom is by no means a new trend. These days many
classrooms are equipped with interactive white boards and iPads for individual student
use. Computer labs are common among schools. Teachers are constantly seeking ways to
incorporate technology into their lessons, and rightfully so. We live in an ever-advancing
digital world where technological literacy has become a must.

While technology is not a new trend to most, we are prohibited the use of technology in my
kindergarten in China, because management prefers a more hands-on approach. They
believe the parents are not paying to have their children sitting in front of a screen or
playing on a computer like they can do at home. I would agree that technology should not
take the place of hands-on learning. My stance here would be to convince my principals of
the value of incorporating technology in my lessons, not as a replacement to traditional
learning, but as a supplement and a reinforcement of the content.

What are the benefits of using technology as an educational tool? In an article titled How
Can Technology Be Beneficial in a Kindergarten class?, Karen LoBello explains that while
technology should not take the place of developmental play and hands-on learning, it
serves to reinforce traditional teaching. Its benefits are numerous.

The use of technology is motivating. The bright colors attract childrens attention, and the
ability to interact with technology makes the activity more interesting, thus keeping
students on task for longer periods of time. Interactive computer games both teach and
reinforce skill in an enjoyable way. Most programs provide scaffolding and support can
support the learner as an individual. Students may work at their own pace and choose a
level comfortable for them. Sherman, Kleiman, and Peterson elaborate on this in their
article Technology and Teaching Children to Read:
Our review of the research on technology and teaching children to read leads to the
conclusion that multimedia digital technology, with capabilities such as hypertext,
text-to-speech conversion, and speech recognition, has significant potential to enhance
reading instruction at the K-6 level. This potential may be of the most value for
students who have difficulty in learning to read, since the technology can help provide
appropriate levels of activities, repetitive practice, individualized feedback, supportive
scaffolding, and detailed record-keeping to inform instructional decisions. Therefore,
technology can help teachers provide more of the individualized instruction that
children with reading difficulties need.
Instructional Strategies: The challenge I come up against is that we only have one
computer in the classroom, which my co-teachers use for administrative work during after

school hours. To incorporate technology into my phonics and reading lessons, I will create
reading stations, one of which will be based at the computer. Here students will work with
a phonics or literacy based program to reinforce content taught during the reading lesson
that day.
Resources/Websites: There are a number of online websites that teach phonological
awareness, phonics, and early literacy. These websites may be used at the computer-based
reading station:

readingeggs.co.uk

starfall.com

education.com/games/reading and education.com/games/reading/phonics

familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html

More advanced students may create digital storybooks using the following websites:

storybird.com

mystorybook.com

zooburst.com

I would likely need to provide assistance with this, or students can have a parent help at
home.

I will make of these resources will be made available to parents so that they can also work
with their children at home. I would also suggest the following apps for their iPad:

Hooked on Phonics

SuperWHY!

StoryPanda

Dr. Seuss ABC

Interactive Alphabet

Conclusion: In order to move forward, I must receive managements permission for the
use of the computer as a teaching tool. I aim to do so by presenting convincing research
about the benefits of doing so. If I am successful, the incorporation of technology into my
kindergarten classroom will not only guide my students towards literacy of printed
material, but to technological literacy as well. This is indispensible in our ever-advancing
world.

References
LoBello, Karen. How can Technology Be Beneficial in a Kindergarten Class? Global Post.
Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/can-technology-beneficialkindergarten-class-6647.html
Sherman, D., Kleiman, G., & Peterson, K. (2007). Technology and Teaching Children to
Read. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/12684/

Appendix
Hickory, Dickory, Dock
(1) Lesson Plan
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/reproducibles/profbooks/hickorydickory

Five Little Monkeys

(1) Lesson Plan
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/phonics-throughliterature-learning-180.html?tab=4#tabs
(2) Comparison Chart

Hattie and the Fox

(1) Lesson Plan
www.public.asu.edu/.../Hattie%20&%20the%20Fox--CVC%20words.doc
(2) Activity for reading centers