Which Sound Came First?

This is our 3rd week of phonological awareness tasks.  If you missed weeks 1 or 2 (rhyming) go back and read the previous posts.  If you missed the introductory discussion of phonological awareness, go back 3 posts to catch up, if you’d like.

This week, we’re talking about sound sequencing and identifying the initial and final sounds in words.

At the easiest level, let’s match initial sounds.  Find the word that begins with the asme sound as ___.  You’ll want to use pictures for matching, providing at least 3 choices of responses.  Which words begins with the same sound as “mouse?”  Milk, fish, house.

Try saying,  “I am going on a trip, and I am taking ( 3 things that begin with the initial sound of your name) salami, surfboards, and sardines.  Go around the room and have each child tell 3 things (s)he is taking, based on the initial sound in his/her name.  Provide whatever level of scaffolding needed, especially for AAC users, who might need help navigating to the pages they need to find the words they want.

Go back to the words you used in the first task, but this time, have students name the initial sound.  If I say ‘mouse,’ what sound comes first?  You can also do this at circle time with each student’s name.  When you say “Tommy is here.” ask what sound his name begins with - have other students answer if Tommy already knows.

Go back and do these same tasks with the final sounds in words.  What words end with the same sound as my name?  Well, my name is Susan and the final sound is /n/.  What else ends with /n/?  Pan,  fin,  sun all end with /n/.

Here are some cards for practicing initial and final sound identification. 

If you’d like the whole resource for the cards I’m giving you here, it’s free on my TPT store here.

Do you have a favorite initial sounds task? Share it with us.