Finding Initial Sounds
From FreeReading
| Activity Type: Introduce |
| Activity Form: Standard |
| Grade: K |
| Group Size: Small Group, Whole Class |
| Length: 10 minutes |
| Materials: - |
| Goal: Given a spoken word, the student can isolate its initial sound ( "abc" -> /a/ ) |
| Items: mad, sit, if |
What to do
(Note: This activity assumes you have taught students Introduce oral segmenting.)
- Today, I’m going to show you a neat trick if you want to find the first sound in a word. Remember how they speak on planet Paz? Sssaaammm. Touch your shoulder, elbow, and hand as you say each sound. Now here’s the trick: the sound you are saying when you touch your shoulder is the first sound!
- So let’s find the first sound in the word mad. My turn first. Mmmaaad. Go back and touch your shoulder: /mmm/. The first sound in the word mad is /mmm/.
- Now you try. Let’s find the first sound in the word sit. Say the word like they would on Paz. (Students) Sssiiit. So what’s the first sound in the word sit? Touch your shoulder but don’t say the sound. (Students) /sss/. Good.
- Let’s try another: what’s the first sound in the word if? Watch for students who are struggling and give them an individual turn. If they still struggle, make a note in an Activity Log.
- If time allows, continue with other word such as: run, me, fit, mom, add, fan, wet, lip, nut, van. If students have learned how to segment words beginning with stop sounds, then try words such as: can, bag, hot, cut, bit, den, tap, got, him, ten.