Beginning Sound Sorts

Are your students working on beginning sound sorts?  Phonemic awareness is the foundation to becoming a good reader.  Your students need to be able to recognize sounds and distinguish between the different sounds each phoneme makes. 

Beginning sound sorts is an easy activity to do as a whole class or in small groups.  Start with two sounds that your students are familiar with.  Have them sort picture cards between the two sounds.

When I do this activity with my students, I have them first say the name of the item on the card, then produce the beginning sound for that word.  Next, they place the picture under the correct column in a pocket chart. We continue until all picture cards have been sorted by their first sound.

As a follow-up phonics activity to the lesson, I have each of my students practice the same concept on their own.  This activity can tell me if my students understand the concept of the first sound and if they can sort between the sounds.

Here's an easy beginning sounds picture sort activity. You can have your students practice sorting between the sounds for /M/ and /S/.