Purpose:

To help students recognize consonants at the beginning of words and identify new words beginning with that letter.

Preparation time: 

None, but you will need a list of recently learned words that includes words that begin with letters you plan to focus on.

Materials: 

Whiteboard and marker or paper and pencils

Procedure:

1. Write the letter you are working with on the board. Give learners an example of a word that starts with that letter.
2. Say two words, one that begins with the chosen letter and one that doesn’t. Learners tell you which one begins with the chosen letter.
3. Continue this, working on the chosen letter, with other words.
4. Introduce a new letter. Go through the previous steps, working only on this letter.
5. In the next step of the activity, learners will differentiate between the two chosen letters. Say a word that begins with one of them. Learners tell you which of the two letters it begins with. Repeat with several other words.
6. In following lessons, introduce other consonants while reviewing the consonants covered already.

Extension:

Follow up with a worksheet that has learners identify words that begin with the two letters you are working on.