Orange Cluster Co-Lead Teacher Jackie Kolbert was rocking out to her Spotify playlist when a song came on that immediately sparked a creative idea. The 2012 song “Million Voices” by Otto Knows does not have any actual words to sing, but it has a great beat, and to Ms. Kolbert, it was the perfect segue to a fun, multisensory phonics lesson.
Ms. Kolbert and Co-Lead Teacher Jackie Dobish created a lesson around the song that culminated in a high-energy music video showcasing the two vowel sounds that make up the “lyrics” of the song. The song loops from long ā sounds to short ŏ sounds. To reinforce their learning of the sounds, each student colored either a letter ā or ŏ. Then, during one of their class periods, Ms. Kolbert played the song for the students while they held up their letters at the corresponding times in the song. The activity was videotaped and then turned into a rocking 60-second dance jam.
This activity is a great example of the multisensory techniques stressed in the Orton-Gillingham Approach used in all Stephen Gaynor School’s classrooms. Multisensory instruction simultaneously utilizes auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (movement) to enhance learning and memory.
Check out the video below: