HANDOUT 10Language Game Lesson Plans

Roll-A-Word

Get Ready: Space:

o Indoors or outdoorso At a table or an open space such as a carpet

Materials: o Two dice with picture of objects on each face (glued or fastened

with Velcro) See list of example objects

Get Set: Children will roll the dice and put the names of the objects they

landed on together to make a compound word. Adult will facilitate conversations around blending and segmenting

compound words.

Go:Two children are chosen to start the game. Each child is given one die. Teacher directs the children to roll their die. Teacher guides children to push the showing faces of the dice together.

The teacher says something like, “You have word, and you have word. Together you have compound word. Is that a silly word or a real word? Yup, you’re right! It’s a (silly or real) word and it’s a compound word because it’s two words together.”

Example objects:o Raino Bowo Shoeo Flyo Buttero Fire o Trucko Iceo Creamo Suno Glasseso Heart

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HANDOUT 10Language Game Lesson Plans

o LaceWiggly Wordy Wallabies

Get Ready: Space:

o Indoors or outdoorso An open space such as a carpet

Materials: o Laminated sequence of squares for each playero Objects or pictures of objects for teachero Fanny pack, apron, or front pocket to act as a wallaby pouch for

teacher

Get Set: The teacher will choose an object. Children will jump each syllable, moving forward on their sequence of

squares.

Go:The teacher will explain, “Wallabies are similar to kangaroos because they jump and they have a pouch. Look I have a pouch just like a wallaby. Wiggly word wallabies are special and they jump for certain parts of words. Today, wiggly word wallabies are going to jump for syllables. I will show you an object from my pouch, and together all of us wiggly word wallabies will jump out the syllables in the word. We will each jump along our own path.”

The teacher will model the first object, “Look, I have a ba-na-na in my pouch! Are we ready wiggly word wallabies? Let’s jump out ba-na-na. Alright, we all moved forward!”

The teacher will repeat several times.

Example objects: Banana, strawberry, bracelet, butterfly

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HANDOUT 10Language Game Lesson Plans

Ghostly Language

Get Ready: Space:

o Indoors or outdoorso An open space such as a carpet

Materials: o Ghost maskso Objects or pictures of objects for teachero Beginning-Middle-End chart

Get Set: The teacher will choose an object. Children will practice talking like a ghost, saying the name of the

object slowly so that they can delete the onset or rime.

Go:The teacher introduces the ghostly game by talking like a ghost, “We are going to pretend to be ghosts and talk slowly. Then, I will try and trick you by leaving out a sound to see if you can still understand my ghostly language.”

The teacher models the first object, “I have a star. Use your ghostly language to say star with me—‘ssss-tttt-aaaa-rrrr.’ Now what if I say star with no ‘s’ sound. What would I say?”

The teacher waits and repeats as necessary.

The teacher repeats these steps with other objects.

Note: This game can focus on onset and rime or on phonemes.

Example objects: Banana, ball, ring, cup.

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HANDOUT 10Language Game Lesson Plans

Snappy Snakes

Get Ready: Space:

o Indoors or outdoorso An open space such as a carpet

Materials: o Stretchy snakeso Objects or pictures of objects for teacher

Get Set: The teacher will choose an object or say a word Children will practice stretching out the word (segmenting), saying the

name of the object slowly so that they can delete the onset or rime.

Go:The teacher introduces the snappy snakes game by passing out the snakes “We are going to play with these silly snakes who like to stretch out when they say a word slow and then snap back together when they say the word fast”.

The teacher models the first object, “My snappy snake likes stars. Watch and listen. He stretches out while he says star slowly—‘ssss-tttt-aaaa-rrrr.’ (pull snake apart). Next he snaps back together and says ‘star’”. Teacher lets go of snake so it snaps back together.

The teacher waits and repeats as necessary.

The teacher repeats these steps with other words or objects

Note: This game can focus on onset and rime or on phonemes.

Example objects: rock, rat, cat, etc.

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HANDOUT 10Language Game Lesson Plans

Transition Travel

Get Ready: Space: Classroom

Materials: Transition Travel cards with alliteration prompts. o Examples: Quick like a quail, pounce like a panther, slither like a snake

Get Set: The teacher will choose an card with alliteration prompts and invite

children to say the alliteration while moving their bodies. Children will practice playing with language while moving.

Go:The teacher introduces the transition activity by sharing the next location in the daily routine. Teacher will invite children to play a silly game while they travel from one location to another.

The teacher may choose to show children the cards and let them choose or choose for the children. Once a card is chosen the teacher invites children to move like the card while emphasizing the alliteration.

The teacher may do only one movement per transition time or choose to do several.

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