- word card tool
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Foundational Skills/RF.PK.MA.2.c Identify the initial sound of a spoken word and, with guidance and support, generate several other words that have the same initial sound.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Alphabet Knowledge Recognizes that letters of the alphabet have distinct sound(s) associated with them.
Literacy Knowledge/Alphabet Knowledge Attends to the beginning letters and sounds in familiar words.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 7 Develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letter forms.
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 8 Listen to, identify, and manipulate language sounds to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness.
Word Play: Alliteration (/t/)
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Letter Recognition, Phonological Awareness (Alliteration, Beginning Sounds), Word Recognition
Display the tool word card. Track the letters in the word as you read it aloud. Ask, What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word tool? Yes, the word tool begins with the /t/ sound. Then say, Listen to this silly sentence.
Tommy took tools to town.
Tell children you are going to repeat the sentence and you want them to name the letter sound they heard at the beginning of most of the words. (/t/) Say, It’s fun to say sentences with words that begin with the same sound. Repeat the sentence slowly, emphasizing the beginning /t/ sound. Prompt children to say it with you. Then challenge them to repeat the tongue twister three times, faster and faster. Remind them that the faster you say a tongue twister, the more mixed up you can get!
Take It Further: Help interested children make up alliterative sentences of their own, with real or made-up words.
Adaptation: You may wish to have very young children simply say the alliterative sentence slowly with you and not do the tongue twisting, which might become frustrating for some.