Phonemic+Awareness+and+Phonics+Activities

=Phonemic Awareness Games and Activities= Phonemic awareness is an important pre-reading skill. Learning to hear the sounds within words helps children learn to read and spell. We will work on several areas of phonemic awareness in kindergarten, in the following order:

Rhyming Words
Game cards: []
 * Play "I Spy" with your child while you are in the car or waiting in a store, say "I spy something that rhymes with smart, what is it?" (cart) After your child is able to rhyme easily, ask them to tell you what they hear in both words (i.e. smart, cart, I hear art.).
 * Point to objects in your home or outside and ask your child to say words that rhyme with the name. Some easily rhymed words are ball, bed, rug, sink, toy and tree. It is okay for your child to use nonsense (silly) words, such as tree- me, bee, key, she, lee, fee and jee.
 * Say three words like go, dog and frog and ask your child to tell you which 2 words rhyme.
 * Print and play the Race for a Rhyme Game

Game board: []

Syllables
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 * Practice clapping each syllable as you say words with more than one syllable aloud (i.e. mon-key, di-no-saur, break-fast)
 * Sort stuffed animals or toys into groups based on how many syllables in thier name- giraffe and tiger go together because they have 2 syllables, elephant and umbrella go together because they have 3 syllables
 * Cut the pictures from the printable pages below. Place 2-5 on the table in front of your child. Give a clue, such as "I'm thinking of something you can eat with 4 syllables, what is it?" (watermelon). Once your child gets good at this game, have him try to give the clues to you!

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 * ====Words with 2 Syllables==== || ====Words with 3 Syllables==== || ====Words with 4 Syllables==== ||
 * apple || afternoon || America ||
 * brother || Halloween || alligator ||
 * candy || basketball || dandelion ||
 * giraffe || library || elevator ||
 * kitten || tomorrow || kindergarten ||
 * popcorn || tablecloth || motorcycle ||
 * elbow || hamburger || dictionary ||
 * garden || forever || January ||
 * tiger || cucumber || rhinoceros ||
 * teacher || dangerous || ridiculous ||

Blending and Segmenting

 * The first step is for your child to put individual sounds together (blend) to make a word. The number of letters in a word may not be the same as the number of sounds. For example, fish has four letters, but three sounds (f-i-sh).
 * Play a drawing game with your child- Give him crayons and paper or a drawing board and ask him to draw a c-a-t (say each sound separately), b-oo-k, s-u-n, c-ar, c-l-ou-d, f-l-a-g, b-r-oo-m, etc.
 * You could also play Simon Says by giving prompts like, "Simon Says touch your n-o-z, Simon Says j-u-m-p, Simon Says put your hands on your kn-ee-z, Simon Says m-ar-ch in place, etc."
 * The next step is for your child to seperate (segment) the sounds they hear in a word. In the word pot, I hear p-o-t.
 * Using hands-on objects may help your child learn to segment sounds. Try giving your child objects (such as beans or pennies) and an empty egg carton (4 sections). Say a word from the list below. Your child should drop a penny into a section for each sound they say (from left to right, like we read).
 * Words with 2 sounds || Words with 3 sounds || Words with 4 sounds ||
 * go || cup || clip ||
 * ape || red || truck ||
 * out || mat || swim ||
 * tea || duck || lunch ||
 * up || bag || broom ||
 * egg || three || trip ||
 * my || gym || table ||
 * me || nap || prize ||
 * by || boat || fast ||
 * far || man || funny ||

Additional Phonemic Awareness Games and Activities
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=﻿Letter and Phonics Activities= In Kindergarten we will also work on learning letter names and the sounds that they make. In the English language, most letters make multiple sounds. We will begin with the most common sounds. It is important not to add the "uh" sound when practicing letter sounds. For example, the letter S makes the sound ssss (like a snake hissing), not suh. This chart contains pictures that begin with the most common sound for each letter: []
 * Purchase or make a set of 26 flash cards (one for each letter). Your child will need to know both capital and lower case letters. Capital letters are easier for many children to learn and lower case letters are important because they appear most frequently in print. Line the cards up in A-B-C order and sing the alphabet song with your child while pointing to the letters. Then, name letters at random and ask your child to point to the letters. Also ask your child to name the letter sounds and/or name a word that starts with the letter. As your child improves with naming letters, make errors when putting the cards in order for your child to fix, or omit letters and ask them to figure out which letters are missing.
 * Help your child make an alphabet book. Staple blank sheets of paper together and label them with the letters A through Z, or use a notebook and help your child draw and label pictures (or cut them from magazines or pictures you've printed on the computer).
 * Fill a old baking pan with sand, rice, corn meal, dry pudding mix or jell-o. Show your child a letter and have him practice writing this letter in the sand with his finger. As he does this, ask him to tell you the sound that the letter makes.
 * Show your child 5-10 objects that start with different sounds (apple, ball, cup, spoon, pencil, etc.). Then place all of these objects into a bag or pillowcase. Ask your child to tell you the sound that B makes, then ask them to find the object that begins with this sound by feeling, but not looking into the bag.
 * I do not usually promote learning through television, but my 3 year old daughter has very much enjoyed and has learned A LOT from the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD. She watches it a couple times a month and knows all her letter sounds. I highly recommend this video paired with the above activities.