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PSPKK12326 Comments

Phonemic awareness activity

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Looking for something to help learners distinguish beginning sounds? Try this free phonemic awareness activity!

A reader asked for a set of clip cards to help her students distinguish beginning sounds.

She asked for a set of pictures – three of which start with the same sound, and one that doesn’t.

In answer to her request, I created this phonemic awareness activity.

The clip cards come in two different levels.

  • Level 1 – Three pictures begin with the same sound – and the fourth picture has a beginning sound that is quite different.
  • Level 2 – Three pictures begin with the same sound – and the fourth picture has a beginning sound that is quite similar to the first one.

In the above level 1 example, you have the words horse, ax, astronaut, apple.

The /h/ sound is easily distinguishable from the sound /ă/.

This is a level 2 card. Astronaut, alligator, egg, apple.

The short vowel sounds /ă/ and /ĕ/ are made in the same part of the mouth, making this card more difficult.

This is a level 2 card because the /t/ and /d/ sounds are made in the same part of the mouth. (The fancy phrase for that is “point of articulation.”)

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My daughter (age 5) is strong with beginning sounds, so I started right away with the level 2 cards.

She named each picture and then clipped the picture whose beginning sound was different.

She had no problems at all until she got to this one. Since she struggles to properly articulate the /r/ and /l/ sounds, she couldn’t hear the difference.

Since my daughter knows all her letters and sounds, these cards were simple review/reinforcement.

They’re best for children who are still learning to match sounds to their corresponding letters.

I hope your learners enjoy these!

Get your free phonemic awareness cards!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

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Filed Under: Reading, Pre-reading Tagged With: kindergarten, phonemic awareness, Pre-K

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Reader Interactions

26 Comments

  1. Terry

    September 28, 2022 at 9:21 am

    I love the looks of these phonemic awareness cards, but am having difficulty downloading them. I am taken to the site to purchase them, but would like to check out the freebies. Thanks!

    Reply to this comment
    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      September 28, 2022 at 1:10 pm

      Hello Terry! Our system shows that the email containing these cards was sent out to you about four hours ago. Did you get this email? You may have to check your spam folder just in case!

      Reply to this comment
  2. Evette Armstrong

    August 9, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    Hi ,
    I tried downloading your phonic cards but when i press the download button it opens the board games.

    I would relly love the phonic letter cards.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      August 13, 2020 at 5:29 pm

      Thank you – this is fixed now!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Chiqui

    March 27, 2020 at 7:46 am

    Your ideas and activities help me a lot in teaching kids… great job ?✨?

    Reply to this comment
  4. Claudia

    December 30, 2019 at 6:04 pm

    These are great! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply to this comment
  5. Fatimah Sayed Ally

    December 11, 2019 at 1:28 am

    Hi,

    Thank you for this awesome activity. I am able to download the document but for some reason I cannot print it. I have checked my printer and computer connection and all that is fine as I am able to print other documents. Please can you allow the printing option.

    Reply to this comment
    • Fatimah Sayed Ally

      December 11, 2019 at 2:03 am

      Hi.

      I have resolved the issue. I opened the website and document in a different browser and was able to download and print.

      Thank you once again for this awesome activity.

      Reply to this comment
      • Anna G

        December 11, 2019 at 4:53 am

        Great!! 🙂

        Reply to this comment
  6. Melissa

    September 8, 2019 at 3:22 pm

    I would love this free phonemic awareness activity, but I can’t get it to work.

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      October 1, 2019 at 9:35 pm

      Hi Melissa!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. What happens when you click the green download box that says, “CLICK HERE TO GET THE FREE PRINTABLE”? When I clicked it, it took about 5-10 seconds to load. Please give it another try! Thanks.

      Reply to this comment
      • Lois

        November 23, 2019 at 2:19 am

        Yes you are right . Please can you also add how to use all the activities to the downloads. I know you add it but if it could part 8f the download, I will be happy.

        Reply to this comment
        • Anna G

          November 24, 2019 at 5:50 am

          At this point I don’t have plans to do that for the main site, but with the newer printables I try to link to the related blog post in the download. 🙂

          Reply to this comment
  7. Lydya

    May 8, 2019 at 9:33 am

    Thank you so much Anna for sharing your activities with us. It has helped me in so many ways and most importantly are my little angles whom have gained more daily through fun activities. Your kind and warm heart is appreciated.

    Reply to this comment
  8. Joyce Smith

    April 23, 2019 at 8:33 pm

    Anna, thank you so much for sharing so many of your activities for free . I have never been disappointed and you have filled my reading stations and math stations with fun activities for my title one students. Your generous spirit is appreciated!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 26, 2019 at 1:52 pm

      Thank you so much for your kind words, Joyce!

      Reply to this comment
  9. Carol

    April 23, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    Thank you! Level 2 has a card with a larger queen and a smaller queen…is this an error?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 26, 2019 at 1:52 pm

      Thanks for catching that, Carol! Fixed it. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  10. Cathy

    April 23, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    These are perfect! This is one of the skills tested by the program my district uses. I find students need to have mental pictures to help them with this activity. Then we can move them into words only. I will definitely use these cards to scaffold this skill and then move them into words only. Thank you!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 27, 2019 at 8:48 am

      I’m glad you like this, Cathy!

      Reply to this comment
  11. Kusum Jethwa

    April 23, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    Thank you so much Anna !

    Reply to this comment
  12. Neroshni

    April 23, 2019 at 11:26 am

    Really good thank you

    Reply to this comment
  13. Gaye

    April 23, 2019 at 9:38 am

    Thank you for making the black and white version!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 23, 2019 at 10:23 am

      You’re welcome, Gaye! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  14. Amanda Reynolds

    April 23, 2019 at 7:57 am

    These are perfect! So many of my kids struggle with identifying the one that doesn’t belong. They apparently never watched Seseame Street.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 23, 2019 at 10:23 am

      Lol! I’m glad you can use this, Amanda!

      Reply to this comment

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