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Activity Ideas.

Here are some examples of activities you can try in the classroom.

Letter sound bag of goodies:

Collect some small items that you can put into a small bag. Ask the children to take an item out of the

bag and say what it is. Then you can ask them to “spell” out the word using the letter sounds. For

example, “it´s an ant” a-n-t.

You can also do this using flashcards. The children choose a card from the bag and have to blend out

the word.

I say it, you say it.

Prepare some flashcards with some words that the children can blend and read out. Give a few

example of the activity by reading out the first word and then blending it. As a whole group, the

children then copy you. For example, “Man, m-a-n.” Then the children can take turns reading out the

words and blending them and the rest of the class copy them. They can also do this using the actions.

Point to the answer.

This is good practice for blending.

Ask some questions using words that you can blend, for example, where is my n-e-ck? Point to the p-

e-n. Where is my c-oa-t? Is this a h-a-t? Point to your l-e-g.

Do it!

Ask the children to follow the instructions.

h-o-p, cl-a-p, j-u-m-p, s-i-n-g, r-u-n, s-k-i-p, s-i-t, sh-ou-t, p-oi-n-t, wh-i-s-p-er, dr-i-n-k, s-l-ee-

p, b-r-u-sh, c-u-t, etc.

What´s in the bag?

Similar to the bag of goodies. Tell the children “in my bag there is a b-oo-k”. They have to tell you

what is in your bag, for example, “in your bag there is a book”.

Tricky word race.

Hand out two sets of tricky words that the children are familiar with. Form a circle. Call out a tricky

word and the child who reaches you first is the winner.

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Tricky word bingo.

On a piece of paper make a grid of three lines down and three lines across. Write on the blackboard

some letter sounds and tricky words (for example 20 different sounds and words). Ask the children to

fill in their grid and then start calling out the words and sounds. The fist child to get all their sounds

crossed out has to shout bingo. They then have to read back the sounds to you. If they are all correct

then they are the winner. You can also do this with CVC words (cat, bat, pin, pin, etc).

Class dictionary.

On A3 card, make a class dictionary for every letter sound that the children learn. Ask the children to

draw or find pictures that represent each letter sound (for example in magazines and newspapers). It

is a great homework activity or class activity.

Every day a different child is chosen to “read” revise a or various letter sounds. It is also a great way to

introduce the concept of a dictionary to the children.

Spelling Bee.

Have a list of words prepared. They should be words that the children can spell (decodable) or

familiar tricky words. Divide the class into two groups. Ask the first child to spell the first word. They

should repeat the word, spell it out and then repeat it again. For example, Dog, d-o-g, dog. The

children who find spelling difficult or who need extra help can try spelling out the words using the

actions, or you can help them out by miming the actions. The group that has the most points, wins.

Traditional songs, rhymes, chants and stories.

Improve the childrens level of comprehension and vocabulary by doing lots of songs, stories, games,

etc.

Happy feet letter sounds.

Print out a template of some feet (you could do animal paw prints if you prefer or any kind of

template). Ideally you could laminate the feet and with a marker write some letter sounds on the feet.

Space the feet out on the floor and read out a list of words. The child/children (you could do this in

pairs) have to jump on the feet that the word pertains to. For example, on the feet are the letter

sounds: /s/ /ch/ /t/, etc. “chip”. The child should jump on the feet that have /ch/ written on them.

You can do lots of variations of this game. For example, reading out letter sounds and/or tricky words.

You can also read out a short story and the children have to pay attention to when you say specific

sounds or tricky words.

For example, using the first group of tricky words and CVC words you may read a story like this:

I the she to /b/ /d/ /p/ /s/ /ch/

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One day, a cat decided to go to the park. In the park she saw a big silly dog who was chasing his tail!

The cat wanted to play with the dog and chase his tail too. Soon, it was time to go home. So the cat said

“goodbye” to the dog.

If you are very brave you could do this as a whole class activity in the playground or anywhere you

have a lot of space!

Letter sound ping pong.

Write some letter sounds on some ping pong balls, for example, one for every child. You can do a

couple of sets of the same letter sounds.

Call out a word. The children have to organize themselves to find the other letter sounds that make

up that word.

For example, “pen”. The children who have /p/, /e/ and /n/ have to get together to make that word.

Be sure you prepare the words to correspond with the letter sounds you hand out to the class!

There are many variations to using ping pong balls, for example, you could use balloons, or

flashcards, or tennis balls, etc.

Letter sound ducks.

Instead of ping pong balls, this is done with plastic ducks you can buy for bath time. Make sure you

have enough for each child and on the bottom of the ducks write a letter sound or digraph. The

children all take turns to take a duck out of a bag and then you can go round the class asking which

letter sound duck they have.

If you give out various “qu” ducks, the children who are holding them could be chosen to do the 5

little ducks song, as an extra incentive to the game.

You could do word building and blending activities similar to letter sound ping pong.

Pass the ball.

Get the children into a circle. Tell the children we are going to think of words that begin with (any of

the letter sounds that they are familiar with) the letter sound /b/.

The teacher can begin the game by holding the ball and saying out loud /b/ and then a word that

begins with /b/, for example, “bird”. Then the teacher passes/throws/bounces the ball to another

player and they repeat the process and call out a different word, for example, /b/ “bat”. You can

continue until you run out of words.

A slightly harder variation for older children is to remember all the words that have gone before

them, for example, /b/ “bird, bat, …bear”, etc.

Letter sound wheel.

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Prepare letter sounds/tricky words/alternative sounds on small pieces of paper or card. Divide the

class into two groups. One group makes a small circle and the second group forms a circle around

the first group. Each child from the circle should face a child from the other circle.

The outer circle begins the game by moving clock-wise around the inner circle, changing partners

each time they move. They should show their flashcard to each different person and ask them what

their sound is. The other child should respond with the correct letter sound and then a word that

corresponds to the sound, for example, “it is /s/, sun.”

When they have completed the circle the other group then goes anti-clockwise, showing their

flashcard to each child as they pass them.

Role play ideas and activities for the letter sounds.

Most English teachers find that the more the children participate when learning a new concept, the

easier it will be for them to remember that concept. Role play is also a fundamental part of teaching

English as a second language as it activates the children and encourages them to participate, listen

carefully, and act out their new skills. Role play is fun and easy to do. It´s a great way to motivate

children.

/oo/ – Cuckoo, where are you?

This is a song/chant taken from Jolly Music (beginners level).

Ask the children to form a circle with one child blindfolded in the middle. The child in the middle then

sings/chants “cuckoo, where are you?” The teacher quietly chooses a child from the circle and they

respond “here I am, I see you!” The child in the middle of the group has to guess who is singing to

them.

/ai/ or /ar - A visit to the doctor.

You can either buy or make some props for this role play activity. Ask for two volunteers and dress

one child as a doctor and put a scarf on the other.

You can narrate the story for /ai/ or /ar/, asking the children to act out the story as you go along, for

example, one child could examine the other child with a stethoscope, or look into their mouth, or

cough as if sick.

/w/ - The wind and the sun.

This is based on the Aseop´s fable. You will need 3 volunteers and you will need to dress them up

accordingly. For example, you could make card hats for the Sun and the Wind and dress the man or

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lady in a coat, scarf, hat, etc. This is also a great way to practice clothes vocabulary and revise the

weather.

Then you can narrate the story (which is also in the Jolly Phonics Handbook) and the children act out

the story with you.

/qu/ - Five little ducks.

This is a popular song/chant about a family of ducks. You need 6 volunteers for this, five baby ducks

and a mummy/daddy/sister/brother duck.

Five little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the hills and far away.

Mummy duck said “quack quack quack quack”,

But, only four little ducks came back.

Continue until none of little ducks came back (the mummy duck could cry) or all of the little ducks

came back (mummy duck is very happy).

/ue/ - Super Still Statues.

You can either do this by starting and stopping some music/singing/instruments, or by simple saying

“go” and “stop!”

The children have to move/dance when the music starts and then when the music stops they must

become super still statues. Anyone that moves is eliminated from the game.

A variation of this game is to use different verbs instead of music, for example, run, dance, clñap, hop,

crawl, cry, fly, etc.

/ch/ - Here is the train.

You can organize the children into one line, with a leader that walks the train around the classroom,

or you could divide the class into two groups with one group saying the chant and the other group

being the train, then swap over.

Here is the choo choo train,

Chugging down the track

(the children say ch-ch-ch-ch)

Now it´s going forward,

(the children go forward)

Now it´s going back.

(the children move back).

Now the bell is chiming,

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(one child rings some bells)

Now the whistle blows,

(the leader can blow a whistle)

What a lot of noise it makes,

Everywhere it goes!

/k/ - Soft Kitten. (taken from Jolly Music for Beginners).

You can either use a hand puppet for this poem and ask the class to say the rhyme and each time a

child could take turns with the puppet. You can also dress a child up as a kitten.

Soft kitten, warm kitten, little ball of fur.

Lazy kitten, pretty kitten, purr purr purr.