Phonemic Awareness Activities that are easy to implement!!
I wanted to share two ideas that you can implement right away that won’t take too much prep on your end…yep! 👏🙌🥳
The first one are my segmenting sound mats ~ I’ve made them seasonal so you can use them all year long! My literacy students are LOVING these and every month they can’t wait to see what mat I’m bringing out to use and even more fun what manipulatives.
You can easily find mini erasers at the Target Dollar Spot, Oriental Trading Co , Dollar Tree or Amazon to use with these mats.
It’s great fun and very engaging to have your students use these and even better they are formatted so they can use the encoding piece as well.
Have them segment the sounds they hear first by moving each manipulative up into the box and then have them say/write/spell the word making sound/symbol matching relationships.
Blending Mats
We all know how important this skill is for your young readers and writers! Click the picture below to get a closer look.
Here are some examples of how fun they are for your students:
Vowel Tents
Another fun idea are vowel tents…have you heard of them??? I don’t know if Orton Gillingham were the first to come up with them but I do know they endorse them.
Vowel tents are just that – little vowel tents that you print out ( on sturdy cardstock ) and give to your students.
You then say short vowel words and have your students hold up the correct vowel that goes with the word. Short vowels are tricky for your young learners and being able to distinguish between the sounds is an important skill they need to master. Click the picture below to get a closer look.
I’ve included teacher directions in this pack to explain it to you as well. Basically each child will have the 5 vowels tents in front of them ( done whole class or small groups ) and you say a word. They can tap out the word and then hold up the correct tent that matches it. You can easily and quickly see who is struggling with hearing the short vowel ( medial ) sounds in words.
I’ve also included a handy CVC word list for each vowel so you don’t even have to come up with words…it’s all been done for you and ready to go for an engaging lesson for your students.
Are your students ready for more…
Vowel Tents
I also have vowel tents for long and short vowels available. One side has a long vowel letter/picture and the other side has a short vowel one. Be sure they are understanding long and short vowels with these fun tents. Click the picture to learn more about it.
I know it’s easy to get stuck in a rut with small groups. These ideas will definitely make your small group time more engaging and meaningful. I always say every minute counts in small groups – our time with them is targeted, explicit and done with urgency.
Use your time wisely and try these out, let me know what you think of them.
As always….happy teaching my friends!
