One of the favourite stories of Kindergarten students is called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It is a wonderful story where the alphabet letters try to climb up a tree but are much too heavy for the tree. Not only is it a fun story but it also rhymes!
One of the refrains of the song is "Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?".
Sadly, there is not enough room at the top of the coconut tree for all the letters, so they come tumbling down, only to race up yet again. The children love this story every year that I teach and were also able to watch the video of the story on a rainy day last week.
Most of the SK students are really experts in alphabet recognition so they were the "mentors" to the Junior Kindergarten students. They were the leaders in the game with their partner, demonstrated cooperation, turn taking and helped the others to play the game of Chicka Chicka in our classroom. It is wonderful to see the Senior Kindergarten students taking on a leadership role with their partners, teaching them the game, the rules and reinforcing the letter names and sound as well. The Senior Kindergartens are awesome role models for the Junior Kindergartens and little teachers in their own right!
Students reached into a baggie, taking turns reaching for an upper case letter, then were able to use a bingo dabber to "dab" the corresponding letting on the coconut tree. They were all smiles and giggles playing this game and many of them of course, forgot that they were learning. That's the joy of Kindergarten!
At home, reading rhyming books, poems and nursery rhymes is an important pre-reading skills. I cannot emphasize enough how children need to be given opportunities daily to listen to rhyme so that they can develop their "ear" for rhyme over time.
Here's some fun links:
Watch the song/video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QdN-HYp46c
Listen to a reading of the story again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOGiFqVTfUY&feature=related
Mrs. S.
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