Phoneme Exercises

Start simple, recommends Karen Tankersley in her ASCD book The Threads of Reading: Strategies for Literacy Development (2003):

Introduce beginning sounds first. Add medial and final sounds after the child has mastered the beginning sounds. Select one-syllable words that isolate the initial letter. This method lets children clearly hear the individual sound being made. As you speak the word (e.g., pat), draw out the sound of the initial letter so students can clearly hear the sound as it is being enunciated. Emphasize how the phonemes feel in the mouth as they are formed. Continually draw students' attention to the position of the lips, tongue, and teeth while they are saying the sound. Have students compare letters with different mouth formations to illustrate the differences in articulation and mouth formation. Some examples of letters to compare would be m and o because the mouth is in very different positions for the formation of each letter.

In her book, Tankersley shares many activities to help students identify beginning, medial, and ending sounds. Here is a sampling of her strategies:

Who Has the Card? Pass out cards featuring pictures of common objects. Ask questions such as, "Who has the card with the object that begins with the /d/ sound and ends with the /g/ sound?" The child who has the dog card should then produce the card. Listen, Listen Have students listen for specific sounds or phonemes that they hear in various parts of a word. For example, tell students to listen for words that start with the /m/ sound. Have students raise their hands as they hear the beginning /m/ sound in a story that you read to the class. Use the same strategy for medial or final sounds. Sorting Sounds Give students a set of pictures that feature items with two initial consonant sounds, such as /c/ and /r/, and tell students to sort the pictures into stacks according to the initial consonant sound. You can also have students sort picture cards by medial or final sounds. Match Game Purchase or make sets of cards featuring pictures of objects that the students will recognize. There should be an even number of cards, and all of the cards should have a matching card with the same initial or final consonant sound. Have students pair up and sort the cards into piles by the same initial or final consonant sounds so they can familiarize themselves with the cards and learn what constitutes a match. Then, have students shuffle the cards and place them all face down. Next, have the first student select two cards. If the pictures on the cards have the same initial (or final) sound, the student has made a match and can continue to select pairs of cards. If not, the partner chooses two cards. Play continues until all possible matches have been made.