First sound segmenting accuracy (Mico version)

Activity Type: Accuracy

Activity Form: Standard

Grade: K

Group Size: Small Group, Whole Class

Length: 5 minutes

Materials: A hand puppet--ours is called Mico.

Goal: Given a spoken word, the student can say its first sound ( "mat" -> /m/ ).

Items: 12 picture cards (make sure only the picture is visible on each card, not the word)

What to do

Select 12 picture cards for this activity. Any pictures will do. As before, make sure the students know the expected name for each picture by going through the deck, multiple times if necessary.
Lay out 3 picture cards to start the activity. We’ll assume they are pen, ring, and moon, but they can be anything you choose.
Bring out the puppet. Here’s Mico. Today he wants to play a game with you. He’s going to say a sound, and you have to find the word that begins with the same sound. My turn first. This is pen, ring, moon. Point to each picture card in turn. What’s the sound, Mico? Find the word that starts with /m/. What’s that? /m/ like man. Which word begins with /m/? Moon! Moon, begins with /m/: mmmoon.
Replace the three picture cards with (for example) gate, ant, and lock. Okay, your turn. This is gate, ant, lock. What’s the sound, Mico? Find the word that starts with /a/. What’s that? /a/ like apple. Which word begins with /a/? Students: ant. Right! Ant begins with /a/: aaant.
Continue with other sets of 3 picture cards. Watch for students who are not responding and give them an individual turn.
Once students have mastered the 3-card activity, increase the number of picture cards to 4, then 6, then all 12 pictures, so they are selecting 1 card from 12 on Mico’s direction.