4. Video: See Phoneme Identification in the Classroom

Recognizing Phonemes with Susan Robison

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Susan Robison: Now what we're going to do is we are going to actually sort our pictures by ending sound. This is a picture of a mouse.

Students: Mouse.

Susan Robison: A mouse, right? And the ending sound for mouse is /ssss/, so I'm going to have my mouse as my /ssss/ ending sound. Okay. Can you find a picture in your mind, right, that ends with the same sound as mouse. So we have ... [Teacher shows pictures and students point at each and say name of each picture.]

Students: Soap, toothbrush, harp, cactus, horse.

Susan Robison: Who would like to raise their hand and tell me another picture that has the same ending sound.

Student: Horse.

Susan Robison: Horse. What's the ending sound?

Students: /ssss/

Susan Robison: Beautiful job. Here's a picture of soap. What's the ending sound, everybody?

Students: /sss/

Susan Robison: The ending sound for soap ...

Students: /p/

Susan Robison: Yes, /p/, the ending sound for soap. /Soooo/, /p/. There we go. That's going to be another picture for .... hmm, we need to find, find a picture that ends with that same sound. We have [Teacher points to pictures, and teacher and students all recite the words.] toothbrush, harp, cactus. What do you think? What do you think?

Student: Harp.

Susan Robison: Harp. What's the ending sound? The ending sound. So we know it's harp. What's the ending sound? Har- ...

Students: /p/

Susan Robison: Yes. Oh my goodness. You did a beautiful job today producing your ending sounds. And this is going to help you with your reading and your writing, because we always have to hear the final sounds in words. Great job.

Narrator: For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Literacy How, Stillmeadow Elementary School, and Stamford Public Schools in Stamford, Connecticut. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and two anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Susan Robison: This is Reading Universe.

Isolating Phonemes with Susan Robison

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Susan Robison: Okay, my friends. Today we are going to practice finding ending sounds and words. I know you've done a lot of work on finding beginning sounds, right, but today we are going to focus on ending sounds. Why do you think that would be important? It's so important for us to listen to all the sounds and words, so we will be able to repeat them, but then eventually be able to read them and write them, right? So we need to hear all the sounds and words. Alright, so what we're going to do today is I have some special pictures for us to name. We're going to name the picture, and then we're going to take our hand and repeat the name of the picture and find the ending sound and tap on it. So for example, if I showed you a picture of a dog, I would say /d/, /og/. And then tap on it again and say /g/. All right. Are you ready?

Students Yes.

Susan Robison: Yes. Okay. Our first word, my friends, and our first picture is, everyone say it together ...

Students: Toothbrush.

Susan Robison: Now, what I'd like you to do is trace your rollercoaster and end at that ending sound and we'll say it twice. Let's go on our rollercoaster ride ...

Students: Toothbrush.

Susan Robison: And what's at the end? Everyone point to that stop sign and say ...

Students: /ssssh/.

Susan Robison: Very good. Who would like to tell me what this is? [Teacher points to a picture.] Yes, Olivia.

Olivia: An instrument.

Susan Robison: It is an instrument. Very good. More specifically, this instrument ... the name of it. Listen very carefully. It rhymes with "larp," but it starts with, /h/. What could it be? Everybody?

Students: A harp.

Susan Robison: Yes. Let's all say that together.

Ms. Robison and Students: Harp.

Susan Robison: Now let's rollercoaster it.

Susan Robison and Students: /H/, /ar/, /p/.

Susan Robison: What's at the end?

Students: /p/.

Susan Robison: Oh, my friends, you did a great job producing your ending sounds today, and it's so important to listen to those ending sounds because it will help us with our reading and our writing.

Narrator: For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Literacy How, Stillmeadow Elementary School, and Stanford Public Schools in Stanford, Connecticut. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and two anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, DC, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Susan Robison: This is Reading Universe.

Categorizing Phonemes with Stephanie Fincher

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Stephanie Fincher: Okay. I have a challenge for you. Are you ready for a challenge? 

Students: Yes.

Stephanie Fincher: Okay. Here's the challenge. I'm going to say three words, and I want you to tell me which one doesn't belong. So think … it might be the first sound that you're listening for. It might be the middle or it might be the end. We want the one that doesn't belong to where Mrs. Fincher's pointing. Are you ready? Repeat the words after me. My words are cat, cup, fig.

Students: Cat, cup, fig. Fig!

Stephanie Fincher: Good job. Okay. My words are pick, down, dash.

Students: Pick, down, dash. Pick!

Stephanie Fincher: Good. Down and dash have the /d/, but pick doesn't belong. Okay. Now we're going to be listening for the middle sound. This is challenging, but you can do it. 

Students: Yes.

Stephanie Fincher: My words are bath, dig, math.

Students: Bath. Dig, math.

Stephanie Fincher: Which one doesn't belong?

Students: Dig.

Stephanie Fincher: Good job. Okay, let's try another one. We're still looking for middle sound. Listening. My words are west, best, rug.

Students: Rug!

Stephanie Fincher: Ooh, you're quick. Try, everybody say the, repeat the words after me. West, best, rug.

Students: Rug! Rug!

Stephanie Fincher: Good job. That has the /u/ sound, not the /ĕ/. Good. Okay. Now we're going to listen for the last sound. Tell me which word doesn't belong. Are you ready? My words are mad, kiss, sad.

Students: Mad, kiss, kiss. Sad, sad. Kiss, kiss!

Stephanie Fincher: Yeah, it has th /s/ sound. The other two have the /d/ sound. Okay. Let's try one more. Are you ready? Get those listening ears. Pay attention to the last sound. Repeat the words after me first. The words are leg, wish, mash.

Students: Leg, wish, mash.

Stephanie Fincher: What one doesn't belong?

Students: Leg. Leg. Leg.

Stephanie Fincher: Because it has /g/. And the other two have?

Students: /sh/.

Stephanie Fincher: Nice job. You are becoming pros at isolating sounds, blending sounds, and segmenting 'em. And all of those skills are going to help us become great readers. Let's cheer for reading. Readers!

Students: Readers!

Narrator: For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to La Verne Heights Elementary School, Bonita Unified School District, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and two anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Stephanie Fincher: This is Reading Universe.

Remember, when demonstrating foundational skills with manipulatives, position and move manipulatives so that children see a left-to-right direction. This will be upside-down and right-to-left movements from your perspective.