Sounds

As children learn then concepts of language, the very first skill is to be able to hear sounds. The manipulation of sounds is called phonological awareness. Activities that are true phonological activities are one that can be done without using one's eyes. When a student can mimic, identify, isolate, categorize and blend sounds, they will find more success with reading.

Activities that you may use to help your child “play” with sounds:

Echo: Have your child mimic a sound you make. It could be an animal sound or a letter sound.

Blending: Pull a word apart by making each individual sound in a word such as cat: /c/ /a/ /t/. Have your child repeat the sounds and attempt to blend them by repeating them so fast that a word is blended.

Segmenting: Give your child a word to pull apart by saying the sounds slowing and individually. The word you say may be mop; they provide the three sounds /m/ /o/ /p/.

Below are some slideshows we have used in our classroom to "play" with sounds.