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Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending th, a hands-onactivity that strengthens your students’ phonemic-awareness and phonics skills.

ObjectiveStudents distinguish between the beginning and ending thsound in words.

Meeting State StandardsThis type of practice in distinguishing between beginningand ending digraph sounds helps students meet grade-level expectations and prepare for standardized testing.Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending th can alsohelp improve spelling and phonics skills.

This Really Good Stuff® product includes:• 32 Sort Cards• 2 2-Pocket Folders• 4 Header Cards• 2 Sorting Envelopes• This Really Good Stuff® Activity Guide

Distinguishing between beginning and ending sounds is animportant part of phonemic awareness. Using the colorful 2-Pocket Folders and Sort Cards, students have fun identifying andsorting pictures and words with the beginning and ending thsound. Through repeated play, identifying and extracting the /th/in words becomes automatic!

Managing Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning andEnding th• Photocopy the Little Pocket Sort instructions on the back

and laminate for repeated use. • Sort the Sort and Header Cards into their beginning and

ending th categories and store in the Sorting Envelopes.Use the tabs on the Envelopes to label the categories.

• When finished, store all the materials in the Plastic Bag.• When using the activity at a literacy center, be sure to

demonstrate how to store the game parts and tidy thecenter when the activity is complete.

Introducing Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning andEnding thLittle Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending th provides a funsetting for students to practice isolating the beginning andending th sound in pictures and words. The two-sided SortCards have 16 exemplars each of words that begin or end withthe th sound. Most of the Cards have pictures on one side andwords on the other. Use the side with picture cues to buildphonemic-awareness skills and the side with words to buildphonics skills. The two sets of Header Cards, which display bothtarget letters and picture cues, fit neatly into the slots of eachpocket in the 2-Pocket Folders, making for a 2-category closedsort that is easy to manage and check.

Model the ActivityBegin by modeling the activity, discussing every step withstudents. Place the Header Cards into the slots of eachpocket in a 2-Pocket Folder in the positions shown below.Decide on which side of the Cards to sort—if your group needspractice discriminating sounds, use the picture side, and ifyour group needs practice with spelling patterns, use the wordside. Once you determine the needs of your group, place theCards face up in a stack in front of you. Explain to studentsthat they will need to identify and isolate the position of theth sound in each of the Cards. If the th sound is at thebeginning of the word, as in thumb, they will place that Card inthe left pocket, and if it is at the end of the word, as in teeth,they will place it in the right pocket.

Take the top Card and pronounce its sounds slowly or read it,emphasizing the th, as in ttthhhorn. Ask students if the thsound is at the beginning or the end of the word. Oncestudents identify the position of the /th/, place the Card inthe corresponding pocket. Continue sorting until you haveused all the Cards.

Once all the Cards are sorted, take them out and review eachcategory separately. If using the picture side of the Cards, showstudents how to check their answers by turning over andreading the words on the back.

After your group understands the sort instructions, have themsort independently, either in pairs or individually, using one totwo Pocket Folders.

Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending th

Helping Teachers Make A Difference® © 2010 Really Good Stuff® 1-800-366-1920 www.reallygoodstuff.com Made in Guangzhou, China #304757A

All activity guides can be found online:

Helping Teachers Make A Difference® © 2010 Really Good Stuff® 1-800-366-1920 www.reallygoodstuff.com Made in Guangzhou, China #304757A

Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending th

Little Pocket Sorts™: Beginning and Ending thOne to four studentsObject: Distinguish between the beginning and ending thsound in words.Materials: Sort Cards, Header Cards, one 2 Pocket Folder

If playing with more than one student and using 2 PocketFolders, place the stack of Cards in middle of the table andtake turns.

1. Open the Pocket Folder in front of you. 2. Place the Header Cards in the slots of each pocket. Put

the Beginning th Header Card in the slot of the leftpocket and the Ending th Header Card in the slot of theright pocket.

3. Place the Sort Cards picture (or word) side up in frontof you.

4. Draw a Card. Name the picture or read the word anddecide if the /th/ is at the beginning or end of the word.

5. Place the Card in the correct pocket. 6. Continue until all the Cards are sorted. 7. Take out the Cards from the beginning and ending th

pockets and read them aloud, one category at a time. 8. If using the picture side of the Cards, turn them over to

check your work.9. Put aside any Cards that you did not sort correctly and

sort them again.

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