Teaching Phonological Awareness

Rhyming Activity

CCSS.ELA-Literacy .RF. K.2.a: Recognize and produce rhyming words.

I will have my students play a rhyming game in small groups.

I Do: Read aloud and model how to play Rhyme Oh Lot

1. 1. I will read a Dr. Suess book together and ask them what they noticed about the words (that they rhyme)

   2. I will introduce Rhyme Oh Lot to the students

   3. I will tell how, for example, "dog" and "frog" rhyme (e.g., same ending sound)

   4. I will put a picture of a dog on top of the picture of a frog to show that they rhyme

   5. I will demonstrate how "cow" and "pig" do not go together since they do not rhyme

We Do: As a class do an example together

1. We will go over the names of the pictures on the sheet and in the cards

2. I will hold up a picture, name it, and ask which picture in the cards rhymes with it

3. I will hold up several more pictures so that students demonstrate if it matches a picture on their game card. Once I am sure that students understand the game, they will play it independently

You Do: Work together in groups

1. Students will play Rhyme Oh Lot by matching picture cards with its rhyming word on the game sheet.

2. After the students have played the game, we will come back together as a class and I will ask the students for examples of rhyming words, and we will create a master list

3. Finally, we will discuss what makes words rhyme

Syllable Activity

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2.b: Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

Understanding how to segment, or breakdown, words into syllables and then blend them to say the word. This is important for students as they develop their phonological awareness. Phonological awareness, particularly phonemic awareness, is important for decoding and fluent reading.

/Jayhawk/ /jay/ /hawk/

I Do: Modeling how to break down words into syllabic units

1. I will say a two syllable word (e.g., Jayhawk)

2. I will model breaking up the word into its syllables (e.g., /jay/ /hawk/), separating my hands for each one.

3. I will explain and model how to bring my hands together to blend the syllables to say "Jayhawk"

We Do: The students and I will segment and blend "Jayhawk" and then for another word (e.g., haircut).

1. I will ask the students to say "Jayhawk"

2. I will ask the students to model the segmentation of the syllables by separating their hands (e.g., /jay/ /hawk/)

3. I will ask the students to bring their hands together to model the blend of syllables into the full word (e.g., /Jayhawk/)

4. After practicing with a few more words and providing support, I will ask them to do the activity independently

You Do: I will ask the students to repeat steps 1-3 with a few more 2-syllable words (e.g., haircut, corndog, peanut, etc.) to demonstrate their understanding of syllable segmentation.

Initial Sounds

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.c: Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

Students will isolate the initial sound in spoken words with 95% accuracy over 3 days.

I Do: Show the students images that start with the sound /b/

1. I will hold up the picture card for banana, butterfly, boat, and balloon and say them out loud

2. I will tell them that the initial sound of /b/ as in /banana/ and have them say the sound /b/ and then say what object is on the picture card

We Do: Sort picture cards based on the sound it starts with

1. I will add picture cards that have different initial sounds

2. I will have the students name the picture card

3. I will ask them if the picture start with /b/. If it does, they place the card on the left under the picture of a banana. If it does not, they place the card on the right that has the "no" symbol.

4. We will go through a few picture cards together so that they understand it.

You Do: The students will be given picture cards to go through on their own and place into the starts with /b/ column or the does not start with /b/ column.

Elkonin Boxes

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2.c: Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

Students will segment and blend phonemes in one-syllable words with 95% accuracy

I Do: Model how to use Elkonin boxes

1. I tell the students that the boxes are used to break down a word into sounds and/or sound out words

2. I will explain how each chip represents a sound in the word

3. I will model breaking down a word and pushing up chips into the boxes for each sound (i.e. /sad/ /s/ /a/ /d/)

4. I will slide my finger under the chips and say the word after I moved the chips (i.e. /sad/)

We Do: Practice Elkonin boxes together

1. I will give each student a paper with the boxes on it and some chips

2. I will say the word "chick" and have the class repeat after me

3. I will have the students sound out the word with me and move the chips for each sound

4. Say the word together after moving the chips

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the word "sheep" and then again with "trail"

You Do: Students work on their own to sound out given words, move the chips, and say the word at the end.