Beginning Sound Cards

Hello!!  My apologies that I have been MIA on my blog, but sometimes I don't even know where my life goes?!

I have come to write about the beginning sound cards I use in my classroom.  I absolutely LOVE these cards because I use them for so many things!  In my Alphabet Beginning Sounds Sorting Centers product, there are 24 sound cards for every single letter and a sorting mats for each letter in the alphabet.  It has amazed me over the years how beneficial it is for my class when learning letters and sounds.

You can find my Alphabet Beginning Sound Cards: here

Here are the variety of ways that I use my beginning sound cards.

WHOLE GROUP:

The first way I use the beginning sound cards is whole group.  Every Tuesday (after we introduce our new "spotlight letter"of the week on Monday), we use the beginning sound cards to identify words that begin with our spotlight letter. Students are called up one at a time to identify a picture card that begins with the letter of the week.  This reinforces our reading strategies for figuring out unknown words:  they use Lips the Fish to get ready for their beginning sound and Eagle Eye to match the picture to the words.  After the individual student says the word on the picture card, we all together clap out the syllables of the word. The cards are hung in the pocket chart at the front of the room, along with the previous weeks letter to refer back to when needed.

CENTERS:

The current week's "Spotlight Letter" and the previous week's letter become a Pocket Chart center during Guided Reading centers.  Students remove all of the given cards and sort them together.  It is fun to see them play and clap out the syllables of the cards as they sort them.

TUTORING:

Another way I like to use the Beginning Sound Cards is for tutoring.  At the beginning of the year I assessed the student in my class that I tutor on letters and sounds.  Each week, we use different beginning sound cards to practice the letters that he needs extra work on.

I am so pleased, year-after-year, at how well these beginning sound cards have worked in my classroom.  I hope it helps you, also!

The beginning sound cards are a part of an Alphabet Bundle.  If you want even more alphabet resources click here.

**For advanced learners you may also find the Digraph Sorting Centers beneficial.  Find them here.**