From FreeReading
| Activity Type: Build Accuracy |
| Activity Form: Game |
| Grade: K |
| Group Size: Small Group, Whole Class |
| Length: 10 minutes |
| Materials: Magnetic or felt letters |
| Goal: Given a written regular word or nonsense word, students can sound out and then say the word ( abc -> "aaabbbcc" -> "abc"). |
| Items: All letters whose sound has been learned so far (or a subset of consonants and vowels) |
What to do
- Let's play the Alien Word Game. We're going to make some words with these letters, and you have to tell me whether the word is a real one or an alien one. Alien words are words that don't make any sense to you or me. Ready?
- First, let's review the sounds for these letters. Point at each letter in a random order and have students say its sound. Give several students individual turns until you are sure all students know the letter sounds for these letters.
- Make a real word from the letters, say dot. Sound out this word with me by saying it slowly: dooot. What's the word? Right! Dot. Is dot a real word or an alien word? Students: A real word. It may help to emphasize the real word by using it in a sentence: You can make a dot on paper with a pencil.
- Next, switch out one of the letters (replace d with g, for instance). Okay, now we have a new word. Let's find out if it's a real word or an alien word. First, sound it out. Students: gooot. What's the word? Students: got. Right: got. Is got a real word or an alien word? Students: a real word. Emphasize the real word by using it in a sentence: Nico got a sticker today!
- Now switch again (for instance, replace g with z). Is this a real word or an alien word? First, sound it out. Students: zzzooot. What's the word? Students: zot. Right: zot. Is zot a real word or an alien word? Students: an alien word. That's right. Zot is a make-believe word. It might be a new word that someone makes up some day. Let's try another.
- Continue switching letters (including the medial vowel and the last letter), making words and non-words. Watch for students who are struggling and give them an individual turn, perhaps modeling for them again. Make a note of students who continue to have trouble in an Activity Log. If a student can say the word slowly but not fast, you may need to go over oral blending with them.
- As students become more confident with sounding out, you can fade that part of the activity so that they are reading words with sounding out.
Related activities