HOW TO SAY A LONG, HARD WORD
David McCord
Have a variety of long, hard words appropriate for the age and grade level you teach written on sentence strips. Have them taped on the door as students walk in to the library, for older students have more of the sentence strips with words taped around the room, and even on the floor. Allow students a few minutes to glance around the room and look at the words, encourage them to try and say them.
Have the poem written on a transparency or large sheet of paper so the students are able to see it. Read the poem out loud.
HOW TO LEARN TO SAY A LONG, HARD WORD
David McCord
5.
Limicoline, an adjective, describes
some shore birds, like sandpipers--little tribes
that trot along the curvy line of foam
when tides are running out or coming home.
They skip, you know, like tiny clockwork toys
whose legs crisscross, crisscross, but make no noise.
Limicoline means "living in the mud,"
not in the earth like a turnip, beet, or spud:
lim-
Mick-
a-line.
There's something fresh and clean
about the sound of it. See what I mean?
Extension:
Reread the poem a second time. Ask students to say the word "limicoline" out loud as a group. Say the word a few times.
Read the poem again, ask student to repeat the words "limicoline" when you read it in the poem. Add in movements to go with the words of the poem:
trot: have students trot in place
curvy line: make a curvy line with your finger
skip: skip in place
tiny clockwork: move arms like arms on a clock
crisscross: crisscross legs while standing
Next, have students work in small groups to try and figure out the pronunciation of the words on the sentence strips. (provide a handout with a list of all the words)
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Wonderful Words Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. Illustrations by Karen Barbour. Simon & Schuster. 2004.
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