I'm Thinking of Something

Developing Listening Skills

Stage of Literacy Development:

Stage 0: Foundation for Literacy
Stage 1: Beginning Literacy

Ages:

3-7

Grade Range:

PreK K 1st

Food Groups:

Primary:
Oral Language, Vocabulary
Secondary: 
Motivation for Literacy

Transcript

Teacher: We are going to play a game called Im Thinking of Something. You are going to have to be great listeners, and really great thinkers. I might give you some clues of how many syllables are in the word. I will give you a clue of what sound we hear at the beginning, and maybe some other clues that will help you guess what Im thinking of.  

Teacher: I am thinking of something that starts with the /b/ sound. Guesses already?  

Teacher: [Students Name]? 

Student: Bear? 

Teacher: [Students Name] thinks its a bear, thats a good guess. It could have been, because it does start with a /b/. This thing that Im thinking of has two syllables, and it starts with /b/. [Students Name], what do you think? 

Student: Badger. 

Teacher: It could have been badger because it does start with /b/, and lets see how many syllables badger has.  

Teacher and Students: Ba (clap) dger (clap). Its not what Im thinking of, but thats a great guess. Im thinking of something that has a big, flat tail, and it slaps the water to warn others. 

Teacher: [Students Name]? Student: Beaver. Teacher: Well lets see, does beaver start with /b/? Student: Yes. 

Teacher: Lets clap how many syllables. 

Teacher and Students: Be (clap) ver (clap). 

Teacher: Does beaver live in a pond? 

Student: Yes. 

Teacher: And does beaver have a big, flat tail that can slap the water to warn danger could be on its way?  

Teacher: You are right!

Activity Objective

The goal of I'm Thinking of Something: Developing Listening Skills is to develop students' oral language and vocabulary skills through a guessing game. The teacher asks students to guess a word by providing information such as how many syllables are in the word, the initial letter sound, and various other clues.

Quick Tips

Additional Comments:

- After students have had some practice, you can ask them to think of their own word for the rest of the class to guess.
- Try adding words with more syllables for some extra challenge.