Trivia | Sample Grade 1 Activity

Sample 1st Grade ELA Activity: “Da Doo Ron Ron”

Howdy Panda Pal! Today we’ll be doing an English Language Arts (ELA) activity called, “Da Doo Ron Ron.”

Listen to the song “Da Doo Ron Ron” by the Crystals first (2:22):

You’ll hear them singing in the chorus “Da Doo Ron Ron” and want to listen for the sound “Oo” as in “doo”. Now let’s think of some words that use the same vowel sound. We are focusing on the sound, not the spelling here. Can you think of words that have the sound “Oo” in them? 

Need some help doing this activity?

Tips:

  • “Oo” also has two sounds - “Uh” like in the word “Book” and the “Oo” we are talking about which is like “Oo” sounds in the word “School.” Our “Oo” sound is called the long “Oo” sound. So make sure you are thinking of words with the right sound. 

  • Here’s a list of words that have the long “Oo” sound: 

    • Boo

    • Goo

    • Loo

    • Moo

    • Zoo

    • Boom

    • Boot

    • Cool

    • Food

    • Fool

    • Booth

    • Broom

    • Cartoon

    • Groovy

    • Mushroom

  • There are some words that have the long “Oo” sound, but aren’t spelled using “Oo”. Here are some examples:

    • Few

    • Stew

    • through

    • Grew

    • Tomb

Want more fun?

Here is another activity:

Once you come up with your list of “Oo” words, create a silly sentence or a poem with two or three of the words. 

Was the activity too hard?

Pick a word from our word list, and sound it out for them. Stretch out the sounds and pronounce each section of the word for them. For example, let’s pick the word “Boot.” Say “Boot” and then say each sound you hear in the word:  “B-OO-T”. It may help, for every sound you hear in the word, to hold up a finger. So in “boot” by the end, you will hold up 3 fingers.

Was the activity too easy?

Another vowel sound that can be made with “Oo” is the sound we hear in the word “Book.” Can you think of other words that have this vowel sound?

  • Here are words with the “Book” “Oo” sounds:

    • Wool

    • Took

    • Wood

    • Good

    • Foot

    • Brook

    • Cook

    • Rook

    • Shook

    • Took

Learning Connections

In "Da Doo Ron Ron", children are listening for a particular sound-- the long “Oo” sound we hear in "doo". While this sound can be spelled in different ways, the focus for this activity is purely on the sound “Oo.” This is called phonological awareness. (You can read more about this in the "Additional Resources" section below.)

Be careful when you're choosing words to make sure they match the sound of “Oo” in "doo." Why? “Oo” is a vowel team. A vowel team is made up of two vowels that commonly appear next to each other and make a sound. Other vowel teams include “Ee” like in “Green” or “Teen” or “Oi” as in “Toil” or “Boil.” Sometimes the sound that a vowel team makes can be made by a different pair of vowels, and so that’s why it’s helpful to listen to the sound the vowel team makes. In the case of the Long “Oo” vowel team, you’ll see there are words in our word lists that have the Long “Oo” sound but aren’t spelled with the letter oo. In addition, oo is especially tricky because that spelling has two different sounds!

The key to this activity is to concentrate on sound and not letters.

Additional Resources

Articles:

  • Here is an article about Phonological awareness, and what it is and why it’s a skill that’s important to develop when you are learning to read: Phonological Awareness: What You Need to Know

  • The article, “Those Tricky ‘Oo’ Sounds,” has a list of both long and short “Oo” words and at the end of the article includes a bunch of funny sentences with both types of words.

Video:

  • This is a cute video by Kids vs Phonics about the Long “Oo” vowel team. It is about a ghost named Mr. Boo who is trying to fall asleep but keeps on getting woken up by various items. It’s Maddie approved - she gives it two thumbs up. (Maddie is my 7-year-old daughter currently in 2nd grade.)

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 layout goals but do not provide a 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 (ELA) are known as Common Core State Standards and can be found here. This activity addresses the following standards: 

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.2 - Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).