Recommended Age: 4 to 5 years
Level of Parent Involvement: High, the parent must facilitate this exercise. Once the child has a repertoire of 8-10 sounds of the sand paper letters, the phonetic object box is the first time the child reads. After the initial presentation, parent involvement is low-none when the child works independently.
Prerequisites
- The child must know the sounds of at least 8-10 sand paper letters
- The child must be able to identify the beginning middle and end sounds of phonetic words in order (for example cat, pig, lid etc)
Materials
- A box or basket
- Objects which are spelled phonetically and don’t have any phonograms (these are changed from time to time)
Everyday phonetic household items you can include in your phonetic object box could be: a lid, clip, pin, jug, box, cup, stamp, peg etc
- A tray with blank paper for writing one word at a time and a writing pencil
- Prepared slips with the same name written for independent work
Preparation
- Make the prepared slips by writing the names of the objects onto pieces of paper, laminate if possible to extend longevity for future work
- Place the phonetic objects inside the box
Steps
- Invite the child, showing them the phonetic object box, the child may bring the box to the table
- You bring the writing tray
- Sit to the right of the child
- Take the lid off the box saying to the child “let’s have a look at what’s inside”
- Take out a few objects and place on the table
- Name each object with the child to clarify what they are called
- The child may take out the rest of the objects, with each object the child takes out ask the child “what’s that called?” (Again, making sure the objects are named correctly)
- Take a slip of paper saying to the child “I wonder if you can work out which one I am thinking of?”
- Pick up the pencil demonstrating correct pencil grip and write the name of the object using beautiful Victorian handwriting font on the label
- Sound out the label with the child saying, “what’s this sound?” for each letter, saying them slowly then faster, encourage the child to say the sounds faster until they blend into the word
- Once the child has read the label by identifying the sounds, the child may put the object with the label
- Repeat as above this time asking the child “would you like a short message or a long message this time?”
- Write another label for the child
- Repeat until the child has matched all labels with their respective objects
- Once all objects have been matched say to the child “Do you know what you just did? You read!” (see note)
- Mix up the labels and the objects
- Invite the child to match the labels and objects independently
- Once the child has finished come back and collect the labels at the end (just because the child successfully matched the objects to the labels during the presentation, does not mean they can read them again)
- Show the child where the prepared slips are for further work with the phonetic object box when returning the box to its place
Variations
- Prepare action words for the child to read. These are phonetic verbs which the child may read and carry out the action for example; wink, hum, clap, swim, dust etc. (Write, cut and laminate if possible) This variation allows the child to see that labelling does not always require an object, they can do it.
Note
- We bring the child’s attention to the fact they have read afterwards rather than informing the child at the beginning of the presentation that they will be reading. We want the child to discover how easy and effortless reading is after they have successfully done so.
