Otto O Story Phonemic Awareness Activities
Introducing the "thumb game"
Tell your child that you are going to play a listening game, called the "thumb game." If you say the "ah" sound, your child puts his or her thumb up. But if you say any other sound, your child puts thumbs down. Say the following sounds:
/ah/ /r/
/m/ /f/
/ah/ /ah/
/ah/ /k/
/s/ /ah/
/t/ /sh/
/ah/ /ah/
Thumb game with words
Explain to your child that now you are going to play the thumb up game with words. Explain that you are going to say some words, and you want him or her to listen to the beginning of the word for the "ah" sound like Otto O makes. If the word has an "ah" sound, put thumbs up, if not, put thumbs down.
Practice together listening for the "ah" sound in these words: Otto, on and octopus. (Over-emphasize the beginning sound, saying it much louder than the rest of the word.) Make this task as easy as possible at first until your child gets the idea of what to do. During the game correct wrong answers quickly but cheerfully). Now, play the game with the following words:
off fun
October olive
sand ostrich
odd path
silly object
Syllable Sillies Story Phonemic Awareness Activities
Understanding the Syllable Sillies
The story, "The Syllable Sillies," introduces the first sound awareness creature. This story teaches children to "clap out" syllables in long words. This kind of activity helps children to attend to the structure of spoken words and realize that they can be broken apart. This skill is very useful to children later on, particularly as they try to write lengthy words.
In this next activity ask your child to play the part of either Ti or Mo, while you take the part of the Syllable Sillies saying words in their silly way. After you say a word (clapping out each part separately) your child says the word put together the way it is normally spoken (the way Ti or Mo would say it). Start with the easier list below, then go on to the harder list.
Easy List Harder List
sun-shine fun-ny
see-saw sil-ly
shoe-box stor-y
rain-coat hap-py
house-top lit-tle
some-one pa-per
rain-bow chil-dren
door-step o-pen
day-time won-der
air-plane ap-ple
sales-man be-fore
Thumb game with /oh/ sound
Now tell the your child that you will be playing the beginning sound game again, but this time you will be listening for the /oh/ sound at the start of words. Tell your child that the following words start with the /oh/ sound: open, only and oats. Remember to overemphasize the beginning sound. Now play the game for the words on the list below:
ocean see
can obey
walk she
oval old
oak bump
much over
Tommy T-Shirt Story Phonemic Awareness Activities
Beginning sound game
Play the beginning sound game, listening for the /t/ sound at the beginning of words. Tell your child the following words start with /t/: tree, tooth and tape. Play the game for the words below:
tap Ti
telephone feather
moose time
table bubble
tiger terrible
sunshine tickle
Syllable Sillies
Remind your child about the Syllable Sillies and say the words on the list below by "clapping out" each part. Have your child play the part of Ti or Mo and say the word as normally spoken.
Easy List Harder List
hand-some flow-er
good-bye spot-ted
night-time fol-low
road-way let-ters
rain-drop sil-lies
some-where crea-tures
base-ball Ot-to
fire-man Tom-my
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All Ti and Mo stories and activities © 2002 by Andrew T. Andersen