Letter Sound Activities K.RFS.1d, K.RFS.2c, K.RFS.2d, K.RFS.3a,

For 20 minutes each morning we work on letter sounds whole group since at least 80% of my class has not mastered all letters and sounds. I use 5 different activities, one for each day of the week.

Bingo
Everyone has their own bingo card. I call out words and they use a chip to cover the letter that begins with that word. I put a bingo sheet under the document camera and shine it on the whiteboard. I circle the letter after I call on a student to say what the word begins with. This is a good visual for the kids struggling with recognizing letters.
* After a few weeks I use this same game to work on ending sounds, saying a word and having students put a chip on the letter that correspondences to the last sound in the word.

Objects in a bag
I love the lakeshore alphabet teaching tubs, but this would work with any small items. I place 20 objects that have 3 or 4 sounds that can be heard in the word into a denim bag. We sit in a circle, every student has their whiteboard and marker. Then one child picks something out of the bag. We all say the name of the object and I chop up the word several times slowly. For example if a goat is drawn. I would say /g/ /o/ /t/. Write the sounds you hear in /g/ /o/ /t/. After a minute or so I write it on my whiteboard saying each individual sound. If these aren't the sounds they thought they can erase and write them. Then we put our finger under each sound and say them slowly then quick to blend the sounds. We usually do 8-10 objects in one setting. I write down who got a turn and who needs a turn to pick an item next week.

ABC template
I put this document up on the whiteboard as a visual and each student has their own copy in a page protector sleeve.
I tell them to put their finger on the row with one of the pictures and then say a word that starts with one of the letters in that row. I call a student to identify the beginning sound. For example put your finger on the smiley face. What does pencil start with? Students trace over the p with their dry erase marker.
* I change this to ending sounds after a few weeks. For example what is the last sound in map or what do you hear at the end of the word map.
I let students be the teacher and tell us what icon to put our finger on and make the sound for the letter we should trace. I call the student by their last name and everyone gets a chance to be the teacher. This keeps everyone engaged!

Sorting cards
I use the lakeshore alphabet sounds photo library cards for this activity. However, any picture cards would work. I choose three different letters aNd hand out a picture card that starts with one of those letters to each student. Then they come to the carpet and sit on their card until it is their turn. We sit in a circle and each child has a turn to say the name if the object pictured and sort it into the right category.
* After a few weeks I move on to ending sounds sorts.

Jeopardy games
I have all of my students come to the carpet with their whiteboards to use as a lap board. I pass out a recording sheet to each student (this can be printed of, it's the last slide on the game.). I divide the class into two teams. We play boys vs girls. I call on a boy to pick a category and point value. Everyone writes their answer on their recording sheet. I check the student who's turn it is and award that team the points. Then I call on a girl to pick a question and repeat the process. We usually do half of the game in one sitting and I collect their sheets to hand back out the next week. Click on the link for beginning sounds jeopardy and CVC jeopardy.

ABC Recognition Activities K.RFS.1d

My first abc activities are very simple, I am mainly working on them staying in their spot and engaging in the activity for the time allowed.  I plan things that all children can have success with and mainly focus on management.

* Magnetic letters- students try to put letters in abc order or spell their name or other words they know.

* Pattern block letter puzzles-form letters and work on matching shapes

* Sorting letters-students learn that a letter might look different depending on the font

* Lacing alphabet letters-fine motor practice and letter recognition

* Letter roads-students drive a car on the letter and make the sound for the letter

Letter Sounds Book (K.RFS.3a, K.RFS.1d)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1d Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3a Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant

I am having great success with using a new approach to phonics and phonemic awareness.  When my kids come in at the beginning of the year their letter and sound knowledge is always all over the map.  I like for all my students to have mastered letter and sound recognition by Halloween.  This allows them to build from a foundation and move on to short vowel word families, manipulating phonemes, blends, and vowel patterns early in the year and get lots of practice at these higher level skills.

Starting with the first day of school every student is given an ABC book that we practice first thing each morning.  The book follows the same format as going through an alphabet chart.  Students repeat the letter, sound it makes, and picture.  However, I find it way more successful for a few reasons.

* It isolates only 5 letters on a page at a time. (After they repeat after me for the 5 letters, I give them a word that would start with one of the 5 letters and they have to pick which letter is making that beginning sound.  This gives them beginning sound isolation right from the start.

* They each have their own copy of the book, every student points to the letter we are on.  The visual being in their own hands and them verbally saying each letter helps to make it more concrete for them.

* When I ask the question about a word and what letter it would start with, they all write the letter on their whiteboard.  This gives them practice writing the letter and gets everyone involved.

This whole activity only takes 5-7 minutes, I chose to put the vowels at the end of the books and all of the consonants first.  Before we practice the vowels I have the kids say: "These are the vowels, every word has one: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.