I always believed that teaching phonological awareness skills was important, but I do not think I understood just how important teaching the individual skills explicitly was to the growth and development of the new reader. Teaching Kindergarten this year has been a huge eye opener! I am a big believer in hands on learning which is why I love the Orton Gillingham method of teaching phonics.
The multi sensory approach works for any reader, but is excellent for any struggling reader. If a child is struggling, we need to bring them back to the basics and build a strong foundation with phonological and phonemic awareness skills. In my previous posts, I have talked about teaching rhyming and alliteration skills and in this post, I will give you seven hands on ways to teach sound and word discrimination.
Word Sorts To Teach Sound and Word Discrimination
In one of my first posts on this blog, I talked about six benefits of words sorts and why they were an excellent tool to teach phonics skills. When I use word sorts with my KIndergartners, I begin with pictures and they name the picture and then either the beginning, medial or final sound that they hear. Then they sort the pictures by the specified sound that I have given in the directions. They love word sorts and especially love cutting and pasting!
Magnetic Letters To Teach Sound and Word Discrimination
I love to use magnetic manipulatives with my students and they love using them ! There are two ways I use magnets for sound and word discrimination. I tape paper letters on to a magnetic baking sheet from Dollar Tree. Then, the students use magnetic letters to cover the matching letter on the baking sheet. I also purchased these picture magnets from Lakeshore and the children use the pictures to match the letter that names the beginning sound.
Object Sort To Teach Sound and Word Discrimination
There are several different ways you can do an object sort. The first is you can gather objects from home or around the classroom that have the same beginning, middle or final sound. Put them in a basket and have the children take the objects out and sort by the given sound. You could also do a scavenger hunt around your classroom for older PreK and Kindergarten classes. The teacher can hide objects around the room, the children collect them and then sort by beginning, medial or final sound. If you do not have enough objects for the same sound you could use large pictures to put in a basket or hide for them to sort.
You can also create a cut and paste worksheet for the students to sort the pictures with the same sounds, it’s super easy in Powerpoint. I created the one below for this week for the word family that we were studying.
Matching Games To Teach Sound and Word Discrimination
Children love games! I created these matching games for them to play in pairs or individually at center time. My kindergartners love to sit on the rug (anything not to be at their desks) and play matching games. They are proud of themselves when they can match faster than the last time they played !
Clip cards
I love to use clip cards in my classroom for both literacy and math. They can be worked on independently at the child’s desk or at a center. The extra bonus is that it is also great for fine motor skills and strengthening their little fingers. I always laminate them and so they can be used with dry erase markers as well as with clothespins.
Sight Word Match
Each month, I make a set of sight word match cards with the words that we have been working on in class. The children can use them as a matching game or a memory game. My kindergartners get so excited about learning new words and remembering them by playing the games.
Sensory Activities To Teach Sound and Word Discrimination
Most children love sensory activities. This is so important for helping the brain remember new information. In these activities, the teacher can say a word and ask the children to listen for a specific sound. Once the student can name the letter making the sound, the child can either draw the letter in shaving cream, whipped cream, sand or rice. When drawing, I always ask the children to say the sound as they draw the letter. This helps them to remember the connection between letter and sound.
You can also use play dough. Once the student can name the sound, they can roll the dough into “snakes” and make the letter or if you have letter stamps, they can stamp in the play dough.
Whatever activities you choose, be intentional in teaching these important phonological awareness skills, and use many different types of activities to reach all students. Most of all, have fun !!
