T T E R S O U N D P R A C T ICE

L E CREATED BY KRISTIN POPPENS

1. SHOW AND NAME A PICTURE CARD

/bed/
2. STUDENTS REPEAT /BED/

3. WHAT SOUND DO YOU HEAR AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WORD?

• When students hear the initial sound:

Yes, /bed/ starts with /b/. We say /b/ when we see the letter b.
• Show the letter B and say this is an uppercase B. This is a lowercase b.
• Have students say the letter name.
(***Remember focus is on the sound of the letter. We will provide exposure to the letter
name but it isn’t to take precedence over the letter sound). When we see this letter we say /b/.

• Give students the opportunity to practice the letter formation by: tracing the letter, writing
the letter on the carpet, in the air, on their hand, or whiteboard while they trace the letter
have students say the sound multiple times.

• When students respond with the letter name:

That is the name of the letter. What sound do you hear in the beginning of /bed/?
• If students can’t produce the sound say, /b/ /b/ /bed/.
• Tell students, you try, /b/ /b/ /bed/.
• Then show students a new picture card with the same beginning sound.
• Ask students, what sound do you hear in the beginning of the word /ball/?
• If students identify the initial sound follow the process titled when students hear the
initial sound.
• If students struggle to hear the beginning sound with the second picture. Say, let’s
try another word. This time choose a picture card with a different beginning sound.
Say /mitten/ (At this point no letters have been shown because students are still
struggling to hear the initial sound.)
• If students are confused. You may explicitly tell students, I hear /m/ in the beginning
of this word.
• Then begin to sort the cards into columns.
As you sort say the name of the pictures and have students repeat. Then ask
students, why did I put ball and bed together? You may need to explicitly say.
I put ball and bed together because I hear /b/ at the beginning of /ball/and /
bed/. I put mitten by itself because I hear /m/ at the beginning of this word.
• Now provide a new picture. Does the beginning sound in butterfly, say
butterfly, go with mitten or ball and bed? (Any time you say a word, students
should be echoing you, we want students speaking, trying to attend to the
sounds they are saying.)
 • Model thinking aloud, put the butterfly picture in the mitten column and
repeat both words, butterfly, mitten (have students repeat butterfly mitten).
Hmmm what do you think, do butterfly and mitten sound the same at the
beginning? No. Let’s move butterfly with ball, bed.
• Students repeat, butterfly, ball, bed. Why should butterfly go here?
Hopefully, they respond because they start with /b/. When students
can hear the initial sound, then show the letter card, say the name of
the letter, (this in an uppercase B, this is a lowercase b) connecting
the letter to the sound we make and having students write the letter.

CONTINUE TO SORT PICTURE CARDS BASED ON BEGINNING SOUNDS.

This intervention must move at a quick pace. A couple of thoughts:

• When you show students the letter think of the letter as a “commercial”, students will:
• view the letter
• say the name
• say the sound multiple times
then write the letter while saying the sound.

• Once the above steps are done the “commercial” is over and the letter needs to be removed from
students view. Removing the letter from sight will allow students’ focus to be on the sound
within the spoken words as they say the next picture card.

• Continue to sort the pictures by initial sound providing “letter commercials” when students can
correctly identify the beginning sound in a word. There will be “oddball” picture cards (these
oddball cards will allow students to review all of their focus letters). The oddball pictures will be set to
the side instead of added to the sort. Have students go through the process of writing/tracing the
oddball letter while saying the sound but place them in the oddball pile.

• Oddball example: • Oddball Pile

** • Focus on 2 letters per day.

• The focus set of letters will rotate every other day based on assessments.
• Friday you could attempt to have students sort 4 columns of pictures.
• At the start of this intervention I anticipate you will get through 3 pictures per sound. As routines are
established and pace of the lesson increases, get through at least 5 pictures per sound.
• It is very important to keep this time focused on the task at hand. Inevitably students will want to
share a story, kindly remind them that you are excited to hear that story at lunch or recess.
Thank you for helping hold students accountable to this targeted intervention time.
• During this practice time every moment is so valuable and builds practice opportunities that build
foundational skills for our students.

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BY COURTNEY ROBERTS