Affricate Poem

In a previous post, we discussed affricates, a common phonological error made by young children. We have even seen 6th graders make these kinds of mistakes. That's why it is important to correct the confusion that often results from the letters/letter combinations: j, tr, dr, and ch. You can read more about these ideas by clicking Affricate Instruction. 

As part of any phonics instruction, we like to have children go on word hunts to see if they can find examples of words containing the target letters. Using poetry is always a help in this. Even if children cannot read all of the words, they can identify the letters. This helps with concept of word, developing visual skills, and is the first step in reading high-frequency words. Children can underline, circle, or use our favorite, highlighter tape, to find words containing affricates or other phonics features. 

After we posted our original discussion of affricates, several teachers pointed out to us that it was difficult to find poems that contained this feature.  So...we decided to write our own silly poem. Read this little ditty to your children several times. Then have them circle the words that start with j, tr, dr, and ch. This heightens awareness of affricates. 

Jill's Word Trick! 

A silly word game sat on the tray,

“Come on let’s match words,” said the boy, Jay.

A card from the pile you will draw,

Put words together like a jigsaw.

So Jay and his friends, Jack, Jill, and Joy,

Started to play to win a fun toy.

They all picked words to make a train,

The words were alike, to make a looping chain.

Jill drew the word, jeep, and then looked around.

She found the word trip, without the same sound.

That doesn’t work, you must put trip back.

“Play fair or stop with this game,” said Jack.

“Oh Jack,” said the friends, “this is fine, don’t quit,

Words with these sounds are an affricate!” 

By Kathy Hart  

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC - 2.E.06

Head Start - VII. B & C.