Introductory Video
Cards and games: Sparklebox / Letters-and-sounds.com
Main purpose: To develop understanding of alliteration
With a small group of children sitting in a circle, start the game by saying I spy someone whose name begins with… and give the sound of the first letter, for example ‘s’ for Satish. Then ask: Who can it be? Satish stands up, everyone says his name and he carries on the game, saying I spy someone whose name begins with…, and so on. If any children call out the name before the child with that name, still let the child whose name it is take the next turn.
If the children find separating out the first sound too hard in the early stages, the adult can continue to be the caller until they get the hang of it.
Make sure that word play with initial sounds is commonplace. Include lots of simple tongue twisters to ensure that children enjoy experimenting with words that are alliterative. Use opportunities as they occur incidentally to make up tongue twisters by using children’s names, or objects that are of particular personal interest to them (e.g. David’s dangerous dinosaur, Millie’s marvellous, magic mittens).
Before the activity begins, think of some strange names for alien creatures. The alien names must be strings of non-words with the same initial sound, for example:
Ping pang poo pop,
Mig mog mully mo,
Fo fi fandle fee.
Write them down as a reminder.
Talk to the children about the names and help them to imagine what the strange creatures might look like. Provide creative or construction materials for the children to make their own alien.
Comment as the children go about shaping the aliens and use the aliens’ strange names. Invite the children to display their aliens along with the aliens’ names.
Make the pattern clearer by emphasising the initial sound of an alien’s name. Draw the children’s attention to the way you start each word with the shape of your lips, teeth and tongue.
Collect two sets of objects suitable for use in the sand tray. Each set of objects must have names beginning with the same initial sound. Choose initial sounds for each set that sound very different from one another. Bury the objects in preparation for the session. As the children uncover the treasure, group the objects by initial sound and each time another is added recite the content of that set: Wow! You’ve found a car. Now we have a cup, a cow, a candle and a car.
Set up a small toy zoo and join the children as they play with it. Use a toy bus and a bag of animal toys with names starting with the same sound (e.g. a lion, a lizard, a leopard, a llama and a lobster) to act out this story. Chant the following rhyme and allow each child in turn to draw an animal out of the bag and add an animal name to the list of animals spotted at the zoo.
Bertha the bus is going to the zoo,
Who does she see as she passes through?
… a pig, a panda, a parrot and a polar bear.
Look, listen and note how well children:
identify initial sounds of words;
reproduce the initial sounds clearly and recognisably;
make up their own alliterative phrases.
Main purpose: To listen to sounds at the beginning of words and hear the differences between them
Use a toy train and selection of objects starting with the same sound. A small group of children sits in a circle or facing the front so they can see objects placed on the floor. Use the props to act out a story with the train.
It was going to be a busy day for Tony. He had lots to do before bedtime. So many packages to deliver and so many passengers to carry. He set out very early, leaving all the other engines at the station, and hurried off down the track, clackedy clack down the track, clackedy clack down the track…
But he hadn’t gone very far when…!!! He saw something up ahead lying on the tracks. ‘Oh no!’ yelled Tony. ‘I must s – t – o – p.’ And he did stop, just in time. To Tony’s surprise there on the track lay a big brown bear, fast asleep.
‘I had better warn the others,’ thought Tony and so he hurried back to the station, clackedy clack going back, clackedy clack going back. Tony arrived at the station quite out of puff. ‘Whatever is the matter?’ said the other engines. ‘Toot, toot, mind the…big, brown bear’ panted Thomas. ‘He’s fast asleep on the track.’ ‘Thank you,’ said the others, ‘We certainly will.’
Continue with the whole object set and encourage the children to join in with saying the growing list of objects. Remember to give emphasis to the initial sound.
The aim is to have the group chant along with you as you recite the growing list of objects that Tony finds lying on the track. Make up your own story using the props and ask: What do you think happens next?
Put a chair in each corner of the room, or outdoors. Collect four sets of objects, each set containing objects with names that start with the same sound. (Four different initial sounds are represented.) Keep back one object from each set and place the remaining sets on each of the four chairs.
At first, the children sit in a circle or facing you. Name each of the four sets of objects, giving emphasis to the initial sound.
Explain that now there will be music to move around or dance to and that when the music stops the children are to listen. You will show them an object and they should go to the corner where they think it belongs.
Make collections of objects with names beginning with the same sound. Create a song, such as ‘What have we got in our sound box today?’ and then show the objects one at a time. Emphasize the initial sound (e.g. s-s-s-snake, s-s-s-sock, s-s-s-sausage)
Look, listen and note how well children:
can recall the list of objects beginning with the same sound;
can offer their own sets of objects and ideas to end the story;
discriminate between the sounds and match to the objects correctly.
Main purpose: To explore how different sounds are articulated, and to extend understanding of alliteration
Call out a child’s name and make up a fun sentence starting with the name (e.g. Ben has a big, bouncy ball, Kulvinder keeps kippers in the kitchen, Tim has ten, tickly toes, Fiona found a fine, fat frog). Ask the children to think up similar sentences for their own names to share with others.
Provide a mirror for each child or one large enough for the group to gather in front of. Play at making faces and copying movements of the lips and tongue. Introduce sound making in the mirror and discuss the way lips move, for example, when sounding out ‘p’ and ‘b’, the way that tongues poke out for ‘th’, the way teeth and lips touch for ‘f’ and the way lips shape the sounds ‘sh’ and ‘m’.
Provide the children with a selection of items with names that begin with the same sound. Show them how you can make some ‘silly soup’ by putting ‘ingredients’ (e.g. a banana, bumble bee and bug) into a pan in the role-play area.
Allow the children to play and concoct their own recipes. Play alongside them without influencing their choices.
Commentate and congratulate the children on their silly recipes. Recite each child’s list of chosen ingredients. Make the pattern clear by emphasizing the initial sound. By observing mouth movements draw the children’s attention to the way we start each word and form sounds.
Look, listen and note how well children:
can articulate speech sounds clearly;
select an extended range of words that start with the same sound.
Singing rhymes and songs with alliterative lines such as ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ and playing with jingles such as ‘Can you count the candles on the cake?’ helps to tune children’s ears to the relationships between the sound structures of words. Ultimately children need to be able to isolate the initial phoneme from the rest of word (e.g. to be able to say that ‘nose’ begins with the sound ‘n’). Children need to have a wealth of experience of hearing words that begin with the same sound so it is important to keep practising familiar tongue twisters and also to be inventive with new ones to model alliterative possibilities to the children.
Do not expect all the children to be able to produce a full range of initial sounds or be able to produce the initial clusters such as ‘sp’ for spoon. Just make sure that each child’s attention is gained before reciting the string of sounds so that they can experience the initial sound pattern as it is modelled for them.
These activities may reveal speech difficulties that may require investigation by a specialist such as the local speech and language therapist.
Not all children will be happy to participate in copying games. Some may feel self-conscious or be anxious about getting the game wrong. One way to encourage copying is to lead the way by copying what the children do in the mirror and encouraging them to copy one another before asking them to copy your sounds and movements.
Take care to whisper when modelling quiet sounds. Do not add an ‘uh’ to the end of sounds:
‘ssss’ not ‘suh’
‘mmm’ not ‘muh’
‘t’ not ‘tuh’
‘sh’ not ‘shuh’.
Some children may be aware of the letter shapes that represent some sounds. While grapheme–phoneme correspondences are not introduced until Phase Two, it is important to be observant of those children who can identify letter shapes and sounds and to encourage their curiosity and interest.
Be prepared to accept suggestions from children learning EAL who have a welldeveloped vocabulary in their home language, but be aware that words in home languages will not always conveniently start with the same sound as the English translation. Children very soon distinguish between vocabulary in their home language and English.