L2L’s New Phonemic Awareness Program Debuts in North Carolina
Chatham County Schools in North Carolina welcomed the Lyrics2Learn team in November of 2021 for a beta launch of Lyrics2Learn’s new program, “L2LPA,” a program focused on building phonemic awareness.
Lyrics2Learn Phonemic Awareness
L2L Phonemic Awareness uses a music-based, multi-sensory methodology to help students develop phoneme-grapheme correspondence familiarity before adaptive, evaluative skill practice. This program implements music (similar to the current K-5th grade curriculum) to target working memory and build background knowledge of phoneme-grapheme relationships. Our program is designed for Pre-K through first-grade students and will help build the foundation needed to help them become strong decoders.
Our lessons begin with a video that will incorporate music, rhythm, rhyme, repetition, animation, and movement to facilitate authentic student interaction and retention of phonetic concepts. Following each learning video, students have the opportunity to apply skills in an adaptive and scaffolded manner, with each lesson building off the last.
Check out this video of students singing and dancing along with an L2LPA video as they build background knowledge and phoneme-grapheme correlation with the short ‘a’ lesson.
Phase I of L2LPA was funded by the Institute of Education Sciences through a Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant. L2L’s music-based, adaptive approach was selected in a competitive process involving hundreds of other applicants. Currently, L2LPA is being piloted in schools across the United States. To learn more about this exciting, new program by Lyrics2Learn or become a beta tester, please reach out to us!
The Power of Music Combined with Phonemic Awareness
Music provokes and associates positive emotion, which makes repetition fun. Additionally, music allows for diversity in genre and fosters high retention and recall. The world of education has not yet realized music’s potential to aid young learners and reduce the achievement gap– which has not changed for nearly 40 years, by the way.
Lyrics2Learn Phonemic Awareness harnesses music’s potential to support teachers with the challenge of developing phonemic awareness for every Pre-K through first-grade child.
The Motivation Behind “L2LPA”
Each year, 5.2 million kids attend public kindergarten or preschool, and only 35% of those children will read proficiently by the end of third grade. There is a massive need for science-based supplements that allow students greater accessibility, engagement, and affordability.
Since 1992, our Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) has indicated minimal improvement in reading. Nationwide, only 35% of our fourth-grade students read proficiently. Therefore, the disparity is even more evident among minorities and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. To address this issue, conclusive research supports what students must master to become successful readers. The areas of reading crucial to a child’s success include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Of those five areas, phonemic awareness is the single strongest indicator for a child’s reading success. Strong phonemic awareness helps children increase their abilities to decode and understand what they are reading.
This brings us back to Lyrics2Learn Phonemic Awareness…
By giving children repeated interaction with engaging, phoneme-targeted stories and songs, we can develop proper background knowledge to more successfully learn and apply phoneme/grapheme correspondence and facilitate orthographic mapping.
So, when will this new program be available?
Lyrics2Learn is on track to continue developing this program in May of 2022 through funding by the Institute of Education Sciences. Lyrics2Learn Phonemic Awareness is not currently available for purchase, however, we are welcoming new beta testers. To become a beta tester and begin using this program with your kids, let us know!
Happy Reading!
Chrysta Silver
Interim CFO and Project Manager for Lyrics2Learn
Chrysta is the Interim CFO and Project Manager for Lyrics2Learn. She has a background in data analytics from her time in the Marine Corps and is passionate about professional growth. She is currently attending the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to earn a Bachelor of Innovation in business finance. In her free time, Chrysta enjoys spending time with her friends, snowshoeing, crocheting, and working on her own business ventures.