Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early language thinking experiences for preschool children that will prepare them to do well in the early grades.
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Matching Beginning Sounds

Purpose/Skills
  • To provide the experience of listening to and matching initial sounds in words
  • To perceive sounds and initial phonemes
  • To begin associating sounds and words

Materials
Self-adhesive notes and marker

Vocabulary
listen     sound
letter first
same different

Literature Suggestion
Read Can I Keep Him? by Steven Kellogg, or any book featuring animals that children can name.

Warm-Up
  • Review Can I Keep Him? by Steven Kellogg.
  • Help children say the name and beginning sound of the name of each animal that Arnold wanted to keep (dog /d/, kitten /k/, python /p/).
  • Invite children to think of a first name for each animal that starts with the same sound as the animal name. Examples: Dixie Dog, Kenny Kitten (also accept Cuddly Kitten), and Patty Python.

Procedure

  • Explain that you are going to play a listening and matching game.
  • Tell children that they will point to things in the room that start with the same sound as the beginning sound in their names.
  • Go through the following sequence:
    • Ask a volunteer to say his or her first name. (Example: Lisa)
    • Repeat the child's name and the first sound. (Lisa; The first sound in Lisa's name is /l/.)
    • Ask the child to look around the room for something that begins with /l/. Write the word for the object the child selects on a sticky note and ask the child to put the note on the object.
    • After the child places the note, repeat the child's name and the name of the object with the same initial sound.
    • Repeat the game with other children.

Enrichment
Pick an initial sound (such as /p/) and invite the children to find as many objects as possible in the room that start with that sound. (Examples: paper, puppets, picture) Have children repeat the initial sound aloud as they search.

Observation Assessment

  • Proficient - Child says the initial sound clearly and finds an object that has the same initial sound as his/her name.
  • In Process - Child has difficulty saying the initial sound and finding an object that has the same initial sound, but can do so with some help.
  • Not Yet Ready - Child does not yet say the initial sound of his/her name or find an object with the same initial sound.

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