- bag
- Between the Lions alphabet chart
- pictures of objects that begin with /g/
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:
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
Literacy Knowledge/Phonological Awareness: Identifies and discriminates between sounds and phonemes in language, such as attention to beginning and ending sounds of words and recognition that different words begin or end with the same sound.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 8: Listen to, identify, and manipulate language sounds to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness.
Learn About Letter Sounds Together: Bag of Sounds (/g/)
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Letter Recognition, Phonological Awareness (Beginning Sounds), Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Print out the Between the Lions alphabet chart or create an alphabet chart on chart paper.
Tap a girl on the shoulder and say, <child’s name> is a girl. What is the first sound that you hear in the word girl? Have children name the letter and the letter sound. Then have volunteers point to the letter on the alphabet chart or on other labels around the room.
- Show children a bag filled with pictures of objects that begin with the /g/ sound.
- Ask a child to pull a picture from the bag and name the object. (guitar) Repeat the word, emphasizing the beginning /g/ sound.
- Say, The word guitar begins with the /g/ sound just like the word girl. Repeat the process with the other pictures.
- Have children offer other words they know that begin with the /g/ sound. Ask, Can you think of any other words that begin with the /g/ sound?
Adaptation: If children have difficulty coming up with other words that start with hard /g/, allow them to look at ABC books for ideas.
Educator Tip: Guided and independent letter, sound, and word practice continues to take place in center activities. If desired, you can set up the literacy center immediately after the direct instruction and repeat instruction before children work in the literacy center identifying letters.