Recommended Age: 4-5 years
Level of Parent Involvement: High, the parent must facilitate the first presentation for this activity, low once the child has been shown and can work independently with the prepared slips
Prerequisites
- The child must know all Sand paper letters
- The child must know some of the sandpaper phonograms, include objects
Materials
* A box or basket
* A set of objects whose names only include one phonogram each, representing the key phonograms (th, sh, ch, oy, qu, ai(rain), ie(pie), oa(boat), ee, ue(blue), au(fault), ou(cloud), oo(book), er(her), ar(car), or(fort)
*Paper and writing pencil for the presentation, a red pencil to underline the phonogram
*Prepared slips for independent work
Preparation
- Place the objects in the box
Some examples of everyday objects you may find around the house to use could include a toy boat, a book, a toy car, a boy doll, a shell, a piece of chalk
- Make the prepared slips by writing the names of the objects onto the slips of paper, with the phonogram written in red, laminate if possible to extend the longevity of the activity for future work
Steps
- Invite the child showing them the phonogram object box, the child may bring the box to the table, you bring the writing tray
- Sit to the right of the child and take out each object, one at a time, the child may help, name each object as you place them on the table in front of the child
- Say to the child “I am going to write you a message”
- Write the name of one of the objects, underlining the phonogram in red
- When the child reads the label point to the phonogram for example oa as in boat, saying to the child, “you know what this says don’t you?”
- Child then matches the label to the object
- Repeat for the remaining objects
- Once the child has matched the labels to the objects, the child may mix and rematch the objects or show the child where the prepared labels are
- Once the child is finished they may pack up, transition the child to their next activity
Variations
- Phonogram command cards, for example: ‘dust a shelf’, ‘sing a song’, child reads the command and may act out the action
