Tag: Phonemic Awareness (Page 2 of 2)

Silly Sentences – Lesson Idea #21

May 10, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

Use this activity as a review for letters you’ve worked with. You can do this one whether your child knows how to read or not. Your purpose is to reinforce the letter shape and sound in a fun way.

Write a silly sentence so that all of the words in it begin with the same letter and sound. For example: Handsome Henry hugs happy hyenas.
Read the sentence aloud and have them repeat it with you. They can also try to say it fast several times. Ask your child what letter and sound they think is special in this sentence – /h/.
Ask your child to think of other words that start with the same letter and sound. List what they come up with and go over the words.
Some other sample sentences:

Jolly Johnny jiggles Jackie’s jewels.
Silly Sam says scallops soak soda.

The listing of words can also help develop your child’s vocabulary. Get ready for tongue twisters!

Sound in A Sack – Lesson Idea #19

May 8, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

Get a sack or bag large enough to hold several items.
Have your child search the house for things that begin with your target sound.
Go through the items and talk about what they found to further develop their vocabulary and understanding of things around them: Does it match the target sound?, What’s this used for?, What color is it?, Who uses this?, Where does it go?, etc.

You can make this more challenging by changing the location of the target sound. Instead of finding things that begin with a certain sound, try having them find things that end with the sound – or have a certain vowel sound in the middle. They’ll have lots of fun hunting!
Extension activity: You can work on the comprehension skill, classifying and categorizing, by having your child sort the items into categories. For example: things that go in a drawer, things used to cook, things people wear, things we eat, etc. Or you can reverse it by assigning your child the categories and they must find items that match the category and the target sound.

On My Way… Lesson Idea #18

May 7, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

A fun and educational way to spend some time…

Tell your child that you will pretend to go somewhere (park, beach, store, etc.) and see lots of things that start with the letter /(target sound)/ sound.
Practice words that start with the sound you are working with. For example: /p/ – porcupine, potato, pants, panda.
Then you can start by saying or singing, “On my way to the store, I saw a panda, that starts with a /p/.”
Then they can take a turn saying it once they get the hang of it. This game is great in the car, while you’re waiting for an appointment, or where ever. The sillier the answers the better!

Fill In The Rhyme – Lesson Idea #17

May 6, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

1. Say these sentences, stressing the words that rhyme:

The cat wore a hat.
The ball rolled down the hall.
Your shoe is blue.

2. Now tell your child that they’ll have to finish your sentence with a word that rhymes. You can get as silly as you want just as long as the words rhyme. You’ll be amazed at some of the responses you get!
3. Sample sentences:

The hog chased the ________. (frog, dog)
Let’s look at a _________. (book)
The pig wore a _________. (wig)

Phonemic Awareness

April 30, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

What Is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness (PA) is the ability to hear and manipulate the different sounds in our language. Basically that means that kids should be able to hear, put together, and separate the sounds in spoken words.
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Rhyme Toss – Lesson Idea #13

April 28, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

You can play this with 2 or more people, but the more the better. So get some friends, siblings, or dad involved and have fun!

Sit or stand with players in a circle and have something ready to toss (bean bag, ball, etc.)
Say a word like “cat”, and toss the bag to the next person who has to say a word that rhymes like “hat”, then toss to the next person and so on. Switch to a new word when players run out.
Sample word lists you can use: (ball, wall, tall, hall, mall, call, fall, all); ( blue, shoe, two, new, who, boo, flew, drew, etc.); (pit, bit, hit, fit, lit, mitt, sit, kit), etc.

You can make this more challenging for older kids by making the words harder. Sample words: (plate, eight, freight, berate, date, mate, bait, gate, hate, etc.).

Pick Two – Lesson Idea #7

April 28, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

Have a collection of pictures ready – including many that rhyme.
Choose three pictures to show two your child and make sure that two of them rhyme. For example have a picture of a tree, a box, and a bee.
Name each picture together and ask your child to pick the two pictures that rhyme.
Start over and repeat as many times as is fun!

You can make this harder by adding more pictures and having them pick 3, 4, an so on. Or you can have them choose the pictures and make you pick two that rhyme!

Digital ABCs — Lesson Idea #1

March 5, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

Over the weekend we were visiting some friends who have a three year old, and we were talking about activities parents can do with kids his age to prepare them to be successful readers. One of the ideas we came up with was to go on a walk or hike with a digital camera. The mission/game in this activity is to get the child to take as many photos as they can of things that begin with a certain sound (phoneme). The game can be played a different way for more advanced kids, who you can ask to take photos of things that begin with a certain letter.

In the first game we’re working on phonemic awareness, so if we’re trying to find things that start with the /f/ sound, a phone booth is a great photo. In the second game we’re working on phonics (connecting sounds with letters), so the phone booth becomes tricky. It would be a great photo if we’re looking for things that begin with the letter “p”, but not if we’re looking for things that begin with the letter “f”.

You can even make this a math activity by having the kids count the photos, add the correct and incorrect answers together, subtract incorrect from correct, etc.

Gettin’ After It!