This half term, Primary 1 have a focus on phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is a set of critical pre-reading skills: the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language — including rhymes, syllables, and phonemes. Today, we were learning to find rhyming friends.
Try these sound activities at home:
Rhyme time
“I am thinking of an animal that rhymes with big.What's the animal?” Answer: pig. What else rhymes with big? (dig, fig, wig)
Body part rhymes
Point to a part of your body and ask your child to think of a rhyming word. For example, what rhymes with hair? (bear). What rhymes with eye? (pie). What rhymes with head? (bed). Make it more challenging by asking for two or three rhyming words. Nonsense words count, too!
Read books that play with sounds
Try these books featuring rhyme, alliteration, and more:
- All About Arthur (An Absolutely Absurd Ape)
- Alphabears
- Animalia
- Buzz Said the Bee
- Catch a Little Fox
- Each Peach Pear Plum
- A Giraffe and a Half
- The Hungry Thing
- Jamberry
- See You Later Alligator
- Sheep in a Jeep
- Yours Till Banana Splits
- Zoophabets
Clap it out
Practice listening for syllables. Explain to your child that syllables are the big chunks in words as you say them: some words have one syllable (hat), some have two (apple), and some have three or more (banana).
You can actually feel syllables!Say the word slowly to feel when your mouth goes down. Be sure to explain that each time your chin goes down it is another syllable.
Think of everyday words your child knows (for example: apple, baby, toothbrush). Tell your child that you'll both clap the number of syllables in each word. Show her how to clap one time as you say each syllable: /ap/ (clap) /ple/ (clap). Try it with more words. Kids also love clapping their name!
Tongue ticklers
Alliteration or "tongue ticklers" — where the sound you're focusing on is repeated over and over again — can be a fun way to provide practice with a sound. Try these:
- For M: Miss Mouse makes marvelous meatballs!
- For S: Silly Sally sings songs about snakes and snails.
- For F: Freddy finds fireflies with a flashlight.
"I Spy" first sounds
Practice beginning sounds with this simple "I spy" game at home, on a walk, or at the shop. Choose words with distinctive, easy-to-hear beginning sounds. For example, if you're in the bathroom you can say, “I spy something red that starts with the "s" ssss sound (soap).”
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