Young children are learning how to hear and reproduce the sounds of spoken language. In order to write, they need to know how to break down words into phonemes, the small units of sound we associate with letters and combinations of letters.

Opportunities for rhyming help learners isolate different chunks of sounds. In the studio, we sing songs like “Down by the Bay” or “Willoughby Wallaby Woo,” which are fun for learners and help them hear the component parts of words. If you’d like to sing at home, it goes like this:

Willoughby wallaby wusan,
An elephant sat on Susan!
Willoughby wallaby wack,
An elephant sat on Jack!

This week learners also enjoyed singing Apples and Bananas, which helps children hear long and short vowel sounds.

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays
I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays

I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees
I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees

Etc.

Enjoy these silly songs with your learner!