Monkey Sounds

The MONKEY SOUNDS program introduces children to the concept of vowel sounds in a unique way. It gets them to play with vowels, think about vowels and talk about vowels – first in a general sense and then in relation to the five short vowel sounds. Such instruction is also supported well by research. Effective instruction is “active and engaging“ and “emphasizes discovery and understanding” with “frequent opportunities to practise spelling, writing and reading skills in a meaningful context.” (Brady and Moats, 1997.)

The MONKEY SOUNDS program, does just that. After learning about vowel sounds, and studying each one in-depth, children are encouraged to put their new knowledge into practice with spelling and reading tasks. Teachers are also encouraged to incorporate the cues which are used within the program into other literacy experiences that arise in the classroom. This helps with generalization of skills. The cues included in the program are varied and promote the learning of vowel sounds through use of different sensory feedback systems (oral- motor, visual and auditory feedback systems). Each vowel sound is presented in relation to mouthshape, is given a colour ,hand cue, object cue and is also linked to a short story. Different students will relate more to different cues depending upon their learning styles, so all cues should be presented by the teacher. Cues can act as a mnemonic (memory aid) when it comes to applying skills learnt, but at the time of learning, the cues assist in developing a greater understanding and a platform for discussion about each sound. Other evidence-based programs have included cues to assist in developing literacy – particularly in developing decoding and encoding skills.

This program comes on a handy Pelican Talk USB stick.