- bag
- pictures of objects that begin with the /w/ sound (wagon, waterfall, watermelon, walrus, watch, window, woman, wolf, worm, and web) and a few pictures of items that do not (table, rabbit, horse, chair, pig)
- word card water
MA Standards:
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/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 (/w/)
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Letter Recognition, Phonological Awareness (Beginning Sounds)
Remind children that the letter “Ww” makes the /w/ sound. Hold up the word card water and say the word slowly, emphasizing the /w/ sound. Ask, Can you hear the /w/ sound? Say the word with me, w-w-w-water.
- Display a bag and the pictures of objects that begin with the /w/ sound and the objects that don’t. Name each item.
- Tell children that only things that begin with the /w/ sound belong in the bag.
- Spread the pictures on a table.
- Hold up the picture of the web and ask, Does the word web begin with the same sound as the word water? Say, web, water. Yes, they both begin with the /w/ sound. Who would like to put the web picture in the bag?
- Invite children to take turns picking up a picture of an object, naming it, and saying whether it belongs in the bag or not. Continue until all items have been sorted.
Educator Tip: Guided and independent letter, sound, and word practice continues to take place in center activities. It is helpful to set up the literacy center immediately after the direct instruction and repeat instruction before children work in the literacy center identifying letters.