Identifying Initial Sounds In Words - Learning Differentiated

The Importance Of Identifying Initial Sounds

Identifying initial sounds in words is important because it means that children are able to isolate individual sounds. This skill is called phonemic awareness and is a necessary component in learning to read. The National Reading Panel identified phonemic awareness as the first of five reading pillars. The other 4 are phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension

Research has shown that phonemic awareness skills in preschool and kinder are highly predictive of future literacy skills. Similarly, underdeveloped phonemic awareness skills are the root cause of reading difficulties in children. Children must first have an awareness that words come apart into individual sounds. Only then can children tie those sounds to letters of the alphabet and learn to read.

How To Teach Identifying Initial Sounds In Words

Phonemic awareness must be explicitly taught. Children initially hear words as one whole entity because of the automatic nature that we speak words. They need someone to guide them into recognizing that words come apart and can be manipulated.

Children first work with larger portions of words and build up to isolating individual sounds. First, they learn rhyme awareness, then progress to syllable awareness, and lastly to phonemic awareness. Identifying initial sounds in words is part of phonemic awareness. The goal is for children to isolate every sound in words, however, children typically find it easier to isolate the first sound, followed by the last sound, and then middle sounds.

"Yes Or No" Exercises

In yes or no exercises, the goal is for your child to identify initial sounds with yes or no questions. Children should start with as much support as possible. Set your child up for success by providing picture or object support. Parents can copy and paste pictures on a Google slide or paste photos on flash cards. Alternatively, you can pull objects from around your house.

How To Play

Begin each activity by talking about what the object is. You want to ensure you and your child are labeling the item the same. For instance, you could show your child a soccer ball with the intention of highlighting the (s) sound in soccer, but your child could label the object as a ball.

Next, explain to your child that you are listening for the beginning sounds in each word. Give them examples of words that start with the same sounds and make sure to exaggerate or repeat the initial sounds when speaking them. For instance, parents could say “s-s-soccer” or “sssssssoccer” to help children draw attention to the first sound.

Show your child two pictures or objects, exaggerate the first sound and ask if the objects start with the same sound. If they do, ask your child to clap their hands or jump up if the answer is yes. Get creative with how your child responds yes or no.

Selection Exercises

Selection exercises require the student to choose a picture or object that aligns with the goal. It is a step more advanced that yes or no exercises. Different variations of picture support selection exercises are below:

Odd One Out

In this exercise, you would show your child three pictures. Two of them would begin with the same sound and one would begin with a different sound. Make sure to talk about the pictures and ensure you are labeling the pictures correctly. Next, ask your child to remove the picture or object that does not belong. You can also visit this website for an online game version of this.

Word Families

Exercises that focus on word families with similar endings are a great way to highlight beginning sounds. For example, cat, mat, hat, rat, etc. Visit the Star Fall website for online games that have practice identifying initial sounds in word families.

Picture Matching

Show your child one picture and talk about what it is. Next show your child two other pictures, making sure to label each picture as you introduce them. Ask your child to pick a picture that starts with the same sound as the first one.

I Spy

Turn a classic game into a way to help your child build their phonemic awareness skills. In this game, you will tell your child “I spy something that starts with the sound (t)”. If they struggle, you can support them by pointing out one object that starts with the sound or by giving an example of a word. Then ask them to find another object.

Computer Games

This option allows you to turn fun games into phonemic awareness games. You can play games such as Rosie’s Slime Shop where you create your own slime. The game asks children to pick the color of the slime and beads to be sold in a slime shop. Parents can ask children to build a slime for them by only using the initial sound to identify ingredients. For example, I would like my slime to be a color that starts with the sound (y) and with beads that start with the color (r). This would prompt your child to choose the yellow color and the red beads for the slime. The PBS Kids website is a great resource for games that you can turn into phonemic awareness. activities.

Sound Production Exercises

The last step in identifying initial sounds in words is the ability to produce initial sounds. For example, you could ask your child, “what is the first sound you hear in the word dog?” Another form of sound production would be to ask them to name items that all begin with a certain sound. For instance, “name objects that begin with the sound (t).”

Both of these requests remove the picture support and ask children to simply rely on their initial sound. If children struggle to produce initial sounds, bring in picture support or objects for assistance.

Looking for more support? Visit our guide to teaching phonemic awareness or reach out to us via our connect page.

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