2nd Grade English Language Arts Alliteration Ace

Jambo, Panda Pal! Today we’ll be doing an English Language Arts (ELA) activity called “Alliteration Ace.”

Instructions: Explain to your child that in this activity they'll practice alliteration. Alliteration is when multiple words in a row start with the same sound, like in the sentence Pandas pick peaches, where all the words begin with the /p/ sound made by the letter p. (Note for parents: a letter inside slashes, like /p/, stands for the sound made by that letter.)

Read aloud the first stanza of the poem "Sing Me a Song of Teapots and Trumpets" by N.M. Bodecker. (Or if you'd like to read the whole poem aloud, you can find it here: https://carrypaterson.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/sing-me-a-song-of-teapots-and-trumpets/)

Sing me a song

of teapots and trumpets:

Trumpots and teapets

And tippets and taps,

trippers and trappers

and jelly bean wrappers

and pigs in pajamas

with zippers and snaps

Ask your child: What alliteration do you hear in the poem (the /t/ sound in teapot, trumpets, trumpots, teapets, tippets, taps, trippers, trappers; the /p/ sound in pigs and pajamas; the /s/ sound in sing and song)

Now challenge your child to come up with their own sentence or poem that uses alliteration. Try starting with the sound at the beginning of your child's name or the name of someone else in your family. Write the sentence or poem down so your child can read it back to you after you're done.

Need some help doing this activity?

Tips:

You can choose to write either a sentence or a full poem based on your child's interest level and stamina. Remember, poems don't have to rhyme!
Some children find it fun to compete with their parent about who can come up with the longest sentence of alliteration. Can you create a sentence with 5 words? 7? 10?
This activity focuses on the sound at the start of words not the specific letter. So, for example, if you are playing with the /k/ sound it's fine to include both words that begin with the letter k and words that begin with the hard c like in the word carrots.
It's ok to use some connecting words like and, it, and or in your sentences even if they don't begin with your target sound.

Want more fun?

Was the activity too hard?

If your child struggles with this activity, you might find it helpful to first work together to list all the words you can think of that begin with the target sound and then combine them into a sentence or poem. Here's one way to do that: https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-an-alliteration-poem/
Try a different starting sound if the first one you choose is too challenging. Your child may find it easier to do this activity with single-letter sounds like /p/ or /t/ than with blends like /sh/.
Start the sentence or poem yourself and then let your child add onto it, rather than asking your child to create the entire thing themselves

Was the activity too easy?

Try the same activity but with consonance, which is when you have the same consonant sound in the beginning, middle or end of words, such as the /t/ sound in Pitter patter went the pitbull or the /m/ sound in Kim came home mad.
Or try assonance, which is the repetition of vowel sounds, such as the long /i/ sound in Nice mice like eating white rice on the ice or the long /o/ sound in The crow goes slow in the snow.

Learning Connections

As students move toward reading fluency, it's important that they be exposed to many different types and styles of writing. Broad exposure to different kinds of writing gives kids a chance to learn how to approach new language and ideas, which is an important part of being a strong reader. Reading and writing poetry gives students practice with rhyming, phonemic awareness (understanding of the sounds made by different letters and letter combinations), and rhythm. It also encourages playfulness with language, which is an important part of reading enjoyment! This lesson specifically focuses on alliteration, or the repetition of beginning sounds in words.

Additional Resources

Articles for Grownups

Here's an article about the importance of reading widely for children's reading development: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/16/why-kids-need-reading-variety_n_4108646.html
This article discusses the importance of children's literature, which includes both fiction and poetry: https://www.luther.edu/oneota-reading-journal/archive/2012/the-value-of-childrens-literature/
Lots of children's poetry includes alliteration and other fun with language. Shel Silverstein and Jack Pretlusky both write funny poems that kids love. Here's a link to Shel Silverstein reading his poem "Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKHjNGZ5skA
Today’s Global Greeting is in Swahili - “Jambo” means “Hello” in Swahili. To learn more about this phrase, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3GU7vFNuUI

You can also find links to curated kid-appropriate poems at the following links:
- https://poets.org/poems-kids
- https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/children

Kid-Friendly Resources:

Tongue twisters often rely on alliteration and can be a lot of fun for 2nd graders. Here are some common ones you can practice reciting as a family. How fast can you go?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of peppers Peter Piper Picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
She sells seashells down by the seashore
Want more? Try this website:
https://www.mykidstime.com/things-to-do/20-popular-tongue-twisters-for-kids-to-recite/

Education Standards

Education standards are learning goals that identify what students should know and be able to do at particular grade levels (e.g. second grade) or milestone points in their education (e.g. by the end of high school). Education standards lay out goals but do not provide specific curriculum for achieving those standards. How to achieve those goals is up to individual states, districts, schools, and teachers. There are national standards in each major subject area, and many states also have their own standards.

The national standards for English Language Arts are known as Common Core State Standards and can be seen at http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/2/. This activity addresses the following Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. (ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4)