Activity Objective

The goal of Three Rhymes: Foundations for Phonemic Awareness is for students to think of words that rhyme with the names of objects that the teacher takes out of a bucket. The teacher takes out two objects, one at a time, saying their names as she lifts them out of the bucket and having the students repeat the words after she says them.  Then she asks the students to think of another word that rhymes with the two objects she is showing them. For example, she shows them a wig and a pig and they generate "dig", "tig" and "big". Using the surprise element of taking "mystery objects" out of the bucket is a good way to engage students' attention and makes the activity into a guessing game in which it is fine to say a nonword such as "tig" as long as it rhymes with the names of the objects the teacher has shown them.  Next the teacher introduces two more objects based on a different rhyming pattern from the bucket, a flag and a bag, one at a time, and again the students have to think of rhyming words.

Quick Tips

Additional Comments:

-It is important to ensure that the students know the intended names of the objects.  For example, if the intended words are jet, pet, it is important that the students dont name them "airplane" and "kitten".  To avoid this type of confusion, say the names of the first two objects in the sequence and have the students repeat the words aloud so they have an opportunity to hear the rhyming pattern.
-Pictures rather than objects can be used for this activity. Students can do a follow-up activity in pairs, adding a picture to a sequence of two rhyming pictures on a felt board, a magnetic board, or in a file folder using pictures with Velcro on the back.