Clapping syllables

[petesgirl]

When did you DC learn to do this? We had parent/teacher conferences yesterday for DS's preschool class and the teacher had a state assessment that says students by age 5 should be proficient at clapping syllables. Maybe I'm just not with it, but this sounds kind of ridiculous. We have done a bit of this with DS from time to time but he failed that portion of his assessment. Is that really a required skill for K?

[carolinacool]

I don't know how helpful it was, but DS did it last year at his day care Pre-K. At the graduation ceremony, each kid clapped the syllables in their name when they introduced themselves.

I have no idea if they are clapping in K.

[belovedgandp]

My kids went to a play based preschool and they still did the sound clapping as a group a lot. It's a developmentally appropriate skill to practice. I don't put a lot of faith in one time evaluations of any skill on a 4 or 5 year old.

[Snow mom]

We do this at my DS's developmental playgroup (I believe it's intended for ages 1.5-3.5, but that's loose and they are clear it's mainly exposure and not all kids will be ready for all the things they do). I think it was formally taught in K last year. DD came home and was holding her hand under her chin to count syllables. They taught it as each time your chin comes down is a syllable.

[Simon]

Its considered a pre-reading skill and IME many programs identify it as a sign of readiness. My understanding is that until kids grasp the idea of breaking words into distinct sounds, its harder for them to work the reverse and understand how letters and their sounds are blended into words. Kids learn to read at varying ages so it makes sense they develop the skill at different times. I do think its an appropriate activity for developmental screenings.

[schrocat]

Yes. they test for that in Kindergarten and they teach that in good preschools.

[petesgirl]

I guess we are at a good preschool then :) i like the chin idea, maybe we'll try that. So I've been doing some words with him and he can clap them out but then if it's more than 2 syllables he can't remember how many times he clapped.

[wellyes]

There should be ZERO academic requirements for preschool, that's absurd.
It's an appropriate activity, but a kid who can't / doesn't do it by age 5 is not 'a cause for concern' or a failure.

[ExcitedMamma]

I guess we are at a good preschool then :) i like the chin idea, maybe we'll try that. So I've been doing some words with him and he can clap them out but then if it's more than 2 syllables he can't remember how many times he clapped.

DS had that problem too. He just needed to learn to count along with the clapping and he figured it out quickly.

[PZMommy]

In my kindergarten program kids need to be able to clap out the words, but not count them. They count them in first grade. When I teach it I have them tap a finger to the palm of their opposite hand, adding a finger for each syllable. So for a three syllable word, they'd tap one finger, then two fingers, and then three fingers. That way they don't have to deal with counting at the same times.

[petesgirl]

There should be ZERO academic requirements for preschool, that's absurd.
It's an appropriate activity, but a kid who can't / doesn't do it by age 5 is not 'a cause for concern' or a failure.

I *think* it's because this is a research - based kindergarten readiness program so they do the assessment at the beginning of the year and then I think 4 more times in the year. The standards are set up by the state. DS was deficient in some areas that I expected but I never would have expected that a 4 yr old should be able to clap word syllables. Shows how much I know!

[niccig]

Its considered a pre-reading skill and IME many programs identify it as a sign of readiness. My understanding is that until kids grasp the idea of breaking words into distinct sounds, its harder for them to work the reverse and understand how letters and their sounds are blended into words. Kids learn to read at varying ages so it makes sense they develop the skill at different times. I do think its an appropriate activity for developmental screenings.

It's a part of phonological awareness, which is a pre-reading skill. If you can't break words into syllables and then into individual sounds, learning phonics (grapheme to sound) doesn't make much sense. DS had a difficult time learning this, we would practice in the car segmenting words into syllables and then once he master that, segmenting into individual sounds.

[wellyes]

I asked my son about this. He says the move their hands up their arms-- showed my October
Oct - put 1 finger on his wrist
to- moved his hand to put 2 fingers on his elbow
ber - moved his hand to put 3 fingers on his shoulder

I kind of like this method because he ends up saying "October has 3 syllables" instead of just separating the word out.
I'm sure it's no difference in the long run.