Description Counting sounds is a strategy within Alphabetic Knowledge and Phonemic Awareness. This is a strategy where students take a word and break it apart to count its sounds. In order to do this activity the teacher should pick up to 10 words that contain 2-4 phonemes each. These words should be regular, being if there are two sounds, there should be two letters in the word. Make sure to only use words with short vowels, consonants, and consonant blends. Some example words that can be used are: it, man, bent, and stop. Begin by pronouncing the word for the student. Then the student says the word themselves. Lastly the student listens for each sound being made and counts how many sounds are in the word. This can be done through scaffolding until the student is capable of performing the whole process independently.
Video: The video in the right-hand column demonstrates what counting sounds looks like in action. The video also provides you with resources about counting sounds, the process in how to do it, and the materials needed in order to perform this strategy. Pictures: The pictures on the right represent the idea of connection sounds to letters. Students who use the strategy of counting sounds in a word must be understand all of the sounds in the alphabet to help them perform this task. Students can use the counting strategy through pronouncing words from a picture or a written out word. It is most recommended to have the students see the word to help sound it out and count the sounds. If you have a student who may not know what the word means, that is when it is a smart idea to show a picture so that they can connect the word to a picture. |
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Content Area Examples1. Science: Counting sounds can take place using science based words. Words such as plant, seed, and so on. The student can learn new words, count the sounds in the words, and learn how to pronounce them.
2. Mathematics: Counting sounds can take place in math when learning new math terms. This way the students can break down each math term and learn how to pronounce them. 3. Health: Counting sounds can take place in health when learning about good and bad foods. The teacher can provide the student with a list of words about nutrition and work with the student on breaking down each word. Through this process the students can identify how many sounds there are in each word. 4. Literacy: Counting sounds can take place in literacy using a list of 2-4 phoneme words. The teacher can model the process of breaking apart the words and counting the sounds. Then the student can imitate the teacher by doing it on their own. |
Resources1. Jennings, J., Caldwell, J., & Lerner, J. (2014). Early Literacy. In Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies (7th ed., p. 168). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.
2. On Grade Level Phonological Awareness-Counting Sounds In Words. (2014, January 19). Retrieved November 6, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvDWdfSm1qg |