Help me

sound
it out!
{small group games to help students with phonemic awareness}

o
d g
By: Kristen Smith
Small Groups
Help, I don’t know what to do!

Students come into our classrooms from many

different backgrounds. They also come to us at
many different levels. For this reason, it is
essential to differentiate our instruction.
Teaching small groups is a great way to help all
the students in your classroom.

In order for students to be successful readers,

they need a variety of skills. Students need to
have phonemic awareness (the understanding
that spoken words are made up of sounds) and
they need a good background of phonics skills.
(sound-spelling relationships)

This packet will help you meet your learners

where they are and give you games that you
can play with your students to help them solidify
their skills and become life-long readers!
 help!
I don’t know what to do!
There are a few different steps in gaining
phonemic awareness. Here are some skills that
are essential for students to have:

Students should be able to hear:

*Rhymes
*Alliteration
*Beginning Sounds
*Ending Sounds
*Medial Sounds
Students should be able to:
*Blend syllables
*Substitute beginning and ending
sounds
*Substitute vowels
*Count the number of sounds
they hear in a word
 Step 1:
Listening for
Sounds

D g
 Step 1:
Listening for Sounds
{phonemic discrimination}
Many students have poor phonemic awareness
when they enter our classrooms. This lack may
stand in the way of a student’s ability to read or
write. Therefore, using warm up games and
small group activities to assess and strengthen
these skills will help your young readers.

Activities that will help this:

Rhymes
Alliteration
Beginning Sounds
Ending Sounds
Medial Sounds

D Oral Blending
Initial sound substitution
Final sound substitution
Vowel substitution
Do you hear
what I hear?
{phonemic discrimination}
For this game, choose a sound that you want your
students to listen for. Tell them that every time you
say that sound, they need to stand up. Then, read a
story or a sentence (or a group of words). This can
be a really easy warm up game. I typically start slow
and then speed up. My students like to see how fast
they can respond!

Other options instead of standing:

Clap
Snap
Stomp

D Raise their hand

Put their hand on their head
Stick out their tongue
Shrug
Make the sound
Find my match
{phonemic discrimination}
For this game, use the word cards provided and
have students match them accordingly. The cards
are organized by the background color. You will
notice at the bottom of the page the match
students are trying to make. You can have
students match beginning, medial, or ending
sounds.
If your students are having
trouble with sounds:
Have your students put their hands in
front of their mouth when they
make a sound. This will help students
become aware of the different

D sounds of letters. Ask them where

their tongue is, if they feel a puff of
air ‘etc. I recommend using two very
different sounds at first. For
example have them say the sounds
/p/ and /m/ or /f/ and /g/.
beginning sounds
medial short vowel sounds
medial long vowel sounds
ending sounds
Name ________________ Date __________
Draw a line to match the pictures that have the same
beginning sound. Then write the letter that makes that
sound in the box.

__
__
__
__
__
Name ________________ Date __________
Draw a line to match the pictures that have the same vowel
sound. Then write the letter that makes that sound in the
box.

__
__
__
__
__
Name ________________ Date __________

Look at the picture and fill in the

missing letter.

ca __ we __
fro __ ne__

ra __ pi __

su __ do __

dru __ bo __
Step 2:
Rhymes

D g
1,2,3 rhyme with

me!
{phonemic discrimination}
For this game, sit all of your students in a circle
and start off by saying, “I’m going on a picnic
and I’m taking a mat.” Have the student next to
you continue the rhyme. “I’m going on a picnic
and I’m taking a bat.” Go around the circle until
there are no more rhymes that can be made.
You can then change the word. “I’m going on a
picnic and I’m taking a kit.”

Other options instead of rhyming:

You can also use beginning
sounds. “I’m going on a picnic and
I’m taking a bat.” {blanket, basket,
baseball... etc.!} D
 I’m going on a
rhyme HUNT
{phonemic discrimination}
For this game your students are going to look
for things that rhyme with the word that you
say. I have my students get up and touch
something that rhymes. I would say something
like “Find an object that rhymes with label.”
They would then go touch a “table.” Find
something that rhymes with “clock,” they would
go and find a “sock.”

Other words:
blue/glue, boulder/shoulder,
threw/shoe, said/head,
bear/hair, nook/book,

D
care/chair fox/box
One of these things
is not like the other
{phonemic discrimination}
For this game I show my students one of the
provided cards and have them tell me which
object does not belong. There are cards for
beginning sounds, medial sounds and rhymes.

Other options:
You can also put these in a
center (laminated) and have
your students mark an “x”
over the word that does
not belong with a dry erase
marker.
beginning sounds
medial sounds
rhymes
 Step 3:
Oral Blending

D g
CVC Words
{oral blending}

D g
Teacher ,
For this activity I have my students tell me
what the picture is and then touch each circle
and say the sound the letter makes. I then ask
them what sound goes in the blank. This is a
great way to have students practice reading
EACH letter in a word. It also provides a tactile
way to read. I have seen this method work
WONDERS in kindergarteners and first graders.

D g
? o g

? a t

? a t

? u b
d ? g

c ? t

b ? t

t ? b
d o ?

c a ?

b a ?

t u ?
? u g

? a t

? g g

? e g
b ? g

h ? t

e ? g

l ? g
b u ?

h a ?

e g ?

l e ?
? a n

? u p

? a d

? u n
m ? n

c ? p

s ? d

s ? n
m a ?

c u ?

s a ?

s u ?
Name ________________
Dob it up!
red: words that start with b yellow: words that start with h
blue: words that start with c green: words that start with m
Name ________________
Dob it up!
red: words that end with t yellow: words that end with d
blue: words that end with s green: words that end with r
Words with double
final consonants
{oral blending}

d ck
Teacher ,
For this activity I have my students touch
each circle while saying the sound. I then have
them look through the picture cards and find
the picture that matches the word they
read.

h ll
b e ll

d u ck
d o ll

n e ck
f i sh

l o ck
a n t

t e nt
h i ll

s a ck
Words with
double initial
consonants

cr b
Teacher ,
For this activity I have my students sort the
cards by the initial sound. You can use a
pocket chart for this activity or you can
have your students sort the words on the
floor! Another fun twist to this game is to
hide the cards around your room and have
your students hunt and sort the cards.

cr b
cr dr
gr tr
 Step 4:
Linking Sounds to
Spelling

D g
 show me!
{linking sounds to spelling}
For this game, I give each student a dry erase
board and I orally segment a word.
(/h/ /a/ /t/)
I then have my students write the word and
draw a picture of it on their dry erase board. I
have my students show me their work after a
few seconds have passed. (Watch your class and
count backwards from 10 once you see that
MOST students are finished.)

Other options:
You also could have your
students turn and show
their board to the student
who is sitting next to them.
dog
Spell with me
CVC Words
{linking sounds to spelling}

D g
Teacher ,
For this activity I have my students tell me
what the picture is and then touch each circle
and say the sound the letter makes. I then ask
them to write the sound that they hear at
each circle. This really helps bridge the gap
between reading and writing.

D g
 Small Groups
Students Skills worked on Teacher notes

Date:

Date:

Date:

Date:
Name ________________ CVC Words

Place a check next to the skill if the student mastered it.

Put an x in the box if the student missed it.

word types B.O.Y. M.O.Y. E.O.Y.

B.O.Y.
(beginning of year)
Date__________
words with short a

words with short e M.O.Y.

(middle of year)
Date__________
words with short i

words with short o E.O.Y.

(end of year)
words with short u Date__________

CCVC - short a

CCVC - short e

CCVC - short i

CCVC - short o

CCVC - short u

CVCC
Name ________________ Phonetic Sound
Place a check next to the letter if the student correctly
identifies it. Put an x in the box if the student missed it.
letter name B.O.Y. M.O.Y. E.O.Y.
(short) A
B B.O.Y.
C (beginning of year)
D Date__________
(short) E
F M.O.Y.
G (middle of year)
H Date__________
(short) I
J
E.O.Y.
K
(end of year)
L Date__________
M
N
(short) O
P
Q
R
S
T
(short) U
V
W
X
Y
Z
 T hank you so much for purchasing this
packet!! I hope that it is helpful!! If you
have any questions, please email me!!

Graphics are from Melonheadz, Ashley

Hughes, Scrappin Doodles, Pink Cat, Jessica
Weible and DJ Inkers,

Backgrounds are from

Jessica Weible

All Fonts are from

http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/,
Kimberly Geswein, and, Cara Carroll

Please visit my blog at:

http://adayinbcasfirstgrade.blogspot.com/
and follow my T pT store!

T hanks again!!
Kristen :)