People often ask me how to
pronounce “Alphardy.” Guess
what? It doesn’t matter! What does matter is that it is a powerful
way to review alphabet letters or introduce letters and sounds at the beginning
of the school year. A teacher
recently remarked that some of her children had no previous experience with
letters or sounds before they started kindergarten. She said she introduced “Alphardy” the first day of school
and sang it every day. Then, when
she administered the DIBELS test they had a clue about sounds. If you don’t know this song, you
definitely need it in your song library.
If you have sung this song for years, I have a few new ways to extend it.
Alphardy (“Sing to Learn” CD)
A for apple /a/ /a/ /a/ (Pretend fist is an apple.)
B for bounce /b/ /b/
/b/ (Bounce a ball.)
C for cut /c/ /c/ /c/ (Open and close index and middle
fingers as if cutting.)
D for dig /d/ /d/ /d/ (Pretend to dig.)
E – elbow (Point to elbow.)
F – fan (Fan self with hand.)
G – gallop (Gallop in place.)
H – hop (Hop on one foot.)
I – itch (Scratch self.)
J – jump (Jump up and down.)
K – kick (Little kicks with foot.)
L – love (Hug self.)
M – munch (Move mouth as if eating.)
N – nod (Nod head.)
O – opera (Extend arms and sing dramatically.)
Q – quiet (Index finger on lips.)
R. – run (Run in
place.)
S – sew (Pretend to hold a needle and sew.)
T – talk (Open and close fingers like a mouth.)
U – upside (Lean over.)
V – volley (Hands in air and pretend to volley a
ball.)
W – wiggle (Wiggle all over.)
X – x-ray (Make “x” with arms.)
Y – yawn (Extend arms and pretend to yawn.)
Z – zigzag (Make an imaginary “z” in the air.)
Letter sounds are all you
need.
Put them together and you
can read! (Hold palms together and
open like a book.)
*You can download this book
at drjean.org. Click on “free
activities” and scroll to the bottom of the page. Glue the cover to a pocket folder and insert the pages in clear
sheet protectors so it will last for years.
*Make the black and white
student version for children to take home and sing with their families.
*Run off this chart
(January, 2010) for each student and glue to a file folder. Children can use this for choral
singing or for independent work at the listening center. If you give them a pretzel stick or
Bugle for a pointer they’ll get a little snack at the end of the song!
*Introduce sign language
with this song. Visit aslpro.com
to learn manual signs.
*Insert children’s names in
the song:
D
for Darren /d/ /d/ /d/
E
for Erin /e/ /e/ /e/
S
for Sammy /s/ /s/ /s/
H
for Hannah /h/ /h/ /h/
*Adapt the words for
environmental print:
M
for MacDonald’s /m/ /m/ /m/
L
for Legos /l/ /l/ /l/
*Take color words, number
words, or high frequency words and sing them.
R
for red /r/ /r/ /r/
P
for purple /p/ /p/ /p/