Onset and Rime Activities

1. Picture Rimes
   Have the children sort picture cards that are from the same word family from those that are not. Ask the children to verbalize why a picture card does not belong.


2. Draw a Rhyme
   Have the children illustrate two words that sound alike, such as moon and balloon.


3. Word Family Flip Books
   Create flip books from the words that children collect in the same word family.


4. Word Wallets
   Have the children sort words into two or three rime family folders.


5. Rhyme/Rime Songs
   Sing songs that emphasize rhyme couplets, such as "The Ants Go Marching", "Down By the Bay", and "A Hunting We Will Go".


6. Mother Goose Rhymes
   Innovate or change traditional rhymes to make new rime couplets. For instance:

   Humpty Dumpty sat on a pin.

   Humpty Dumpty broke his chin.

   Humpty Dumpty sat on a door.

   Humpty Dumpty fell on the floor.

   Jack and Jill went up the mountain.

   To get some water from the fountain.



7. Circle Rhyme/Rimes
   Choose a word from a word family to begin this circle game. Start the game by saying the chant with the word in it, leaving off the final rhyme. The first child repeats the chant and adds his or her own rhyming word at the end. The next child in the circle says the chant using the first child’s rhyming word and then adds his or her own new rhyming word at the end.

   For example, if the word was car, the first child would say:

   Car, car, the word is car.

   And car rhymes with _______! (star)

   The next child in the circle would say:

   Star, star, the word is star.

   And star rhymes with ________!

   
   Continue around the circle until the children cannot think of another word in the family. If time and wiggles permit, continue with a new word family.
   
   
8. Snack Baggies
   Place letters in a resealable plastic bag along with the word family on a card. Have the children make as many words as possible using the letters in the baggie. Make a game of this activity by pairing up children. One point is earned for each word identified by the child.


9. Lap Writers
   Have the children write as many words as possible for a word family. One point is earned for every word. Vary by using magnetic letters.


10. Oral Cloze Couplets
    Take lines from familiar stories and create couplets. When you say the second line, leave off the final rhyming word. Have the children echo what you said and add the missing word. For instance:

    Look out for the bee!

    It’s in the ______!

    
    

    I walked to New York

    With a knife and a ______.



11. One-Two Punch
    As you say the onset, punch your right arm straight out in front of you. Then, leaving the right arm where it is, say the rime as you punch your left arm out in front. Then, say the whole word as you push both arms together. The children can follow along until they get the hang of it. Members of the class can take turns adding words from the same word families (p–at, b–at, r–at.)


12. Daily News Family Builders
    Find words in the daily news that are from familiar word families and ask the children to come up with more words in the family. List those words on a chart or chalkboard.


13. Daily News Family Spellers
    Ask the children to spell words that are from familiar word families when they come up in the sentences they dictate to you.

"In my 22 years of teaching, I've never been blessed with a class of first graders so ready to read."

Sharon Palmer
First Grade Teacher
Ernest Horn Elementary School
Iowa City, Iowa