Sounds and Spelling Ball Toss

Purpose: This activity focuses on phoneme isolation and helps learners to become more confident at “sounding out” words when they are writing.

Prep Time: None

Materials Needed: A soft ball, list of vocabulary words.

Procedure:

1. Say a word from the weekly unit. Repeat it several times, emphasizing the different sounds in the word.
2. Say the first sound from the word.
3. Toss the ball to a learner. They must say the second sound in the word, then pass the ball to a new learner. (If doing this one on one, the ball can be tossed back and forth.)
4. The ball is tossed until all of the sounds in the word have been said.
5. Have the learner with the ball toss it back, then say the word again.
6. Say the first letter from the word.
7. Toss the ball to a learner. They must say the second letter in the word, then pass the ball to a new learner.
8. The ball is tossed until all of the letters in the word have been said.
9. Repeat with several more words, or until the learner/s lose interest.

Example:

• “kitchen” /k/, /i/, /tch/, /n/
• “kitchen” k, i, t, c, h, e, n

Expansion: Have the learner who finishes the last letter in the word throw the ball to a new learner, who must come up with a new word and start the sound pattern.