Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Encoding and Decoding, Make-A-Word
Little learners place a picture card on a magnetic board, say the name of the object on the card, then sift through alphabet magnets to find and spell the word they said.
Curated OER
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Manipulating, Name Changes
Set up a listening center, record the provided script, and see how well your class can manipulate phonemes based on the instructions you've provided. This center-based activity builds the phonological awareness and phoneme manipulation...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Manipulating, Phoneme Swap
Reading readiness can be a fun skill to foster. Scholars manipulate phonemes to change one word into another. They pick picture cards, say the object's name on the card, then change the final phoneme to create a new word. They then find...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: High-Frequency Words, Word Fishing
To practice reading high-frequency words fluently, learners play a fishing game at a learning center. They take turns fishing; each fish contains a single high-frequency word. To keep the fish they caught, they must be able to read the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Sound Maker - Sound Smacker
Scholars sort words based on their initial phonemes. They choose cards, say their names, and match the initial phoneme to the one posted on one of the sorting bins. If the initial sound matches, they put the card in the sound maker bin,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Drop and Say
This neat idea gets kids to use phonics and puzzle-solving skills. Pairs take turns picking picture cards from a pile, say the name of the object on the card, drop a letter to turn that word into a new word, then look for the new word on...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Encoding and Decoding, Letter Cube Blending
Emergent readers use a letter cube to identify, blend, and make words. They roll each of the three-letter cubes, mark down the letters they rolled, then blend the letter sounds together to make a word. They record each word on a...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Sound it-Bag it
Scholars sort picture cards based on the initial phoneme they hear as they say the name of each image. They pick a card, say its name, then place it in one of five bags based on how its initial phoneme matches the initial phoneme...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Syllables, Feed the Animals
An activity challenges scholars to sort picture cards based on the number of syllables they count as they say the item's name on each card. Depending on how many syllables they count, they place the card in the corresponding box...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Syllables, Syllable Graph
Scholars make a pictograph based on the number of syllables in each picture card. They choose a card, say the name of the object on the card, break the word into syllables, count the syllables, then glue the picture onto the number chart...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Letter Recognition, Hungry Letter Mouse
Scholars take turns writing and identifying letters on a whiteboard. Learner one writes a letter; learner two finds it on the alphabet strip. If they are correct, Mr. Mouse gets to eat that letter, and if they are incorrect, Mr. Mouse...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Encoding and Decoding, Digraph Delight
There are three spinners to use in this phonic activity. Spinner one contains digraphs, spinner two contains vowels, and spinner three contains consonants. Learners spin each spinner, write down the letters they get, blend them to make a...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Onset and Rime, Word Swat
With a fly swatter in hand, learners swat the rime-flys with their onset swatter to make, read, and write words by blending the onset with the rime-fly. Scholars blend words, make and write words, and also work to determine if the words...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency: Words, I Read, You Point
Learners read as many high-frequency words as possible in a given amount of time. Peer one reads a word from a list, and peer two points to the corresponding word as they are seen on the table. This activity is timed and peer evaluated.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Onset and Rime, Change-A-Word
Kids use their phonological know-how to identify and segment onset and rime blends. Double rime picture cards (cat and hat) are chosen, then matched to onset cards that make each word, such as the k sound for a cat and the h sound for a...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Onset and Rime, Word Maker Game
Scholars use a set of onset and rime cards to construct and write various simple words. Pairs take turns pulling cards from a bag and blending the onset card with the rime card to create a word. They record the onset, the rime, and the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Varient Correspondances, Silent "e" Changes
Engage early readers in a silent e activity to help them understand the changes the letter can make to a simple word. With the provided cards, learners read and write each word as it appears without the silent e. Then they read and write...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency: Words, Fast Match
Here is an interesting take on the old timed-fluency activity. In pairs, learners work together to see how fast they can read two sets of high-frequency words. Peer one reads a word from his list; peer two works fast to find that word in...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Rhyme Pie
Being able to recognize rhyming words is a step closer to understanding the phonemic blends that are necessary for building early reading skills. Little learners use the provided picture cards to make a rhyming pie. They glue rhyming...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency: Connected Text, Recorded Reading
Scholars listens to a story on headphones while he reads along with a visual text using intonation, correct pacing, and fluency.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Syllables, Clapping Names
Scholars practice identifying and counting syllables. Images of classmates are cut out and placed on a chart. Learners clap and count the syllables in each child's name. They finish by writing the number of syllables under the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Encoding and Decoding, Three-In-One
Scholars use the provided pack of alphabet cards to construct basic CVC words, then write down each word they make in one of two columns. Column one is for real words and column two is for nonsense words.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: High Frequency Words, Sand Paper Words
Learners use a stack of words embellished with tactile elements, such as sandpaper, to practice high-frequency words. Pupils trace the tactile surface of each letter in the word, write it on their paper, then find and glue that word from...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Matching, Final Phoneme Pie
Words are interesting things—you can change them by adding or subtracting phonemes. Here, emergent readers change the pictures on their phoneme pie by removing or adding various final phonemes. A fun way to build phonetic competency!