The Picture Sorting Interactive Word Study activity will improve student phonemic awareness and support their letter-sound knowledge.
Here's how it works:
Once students launch the Picture Sorting activity, the opening animation serves as a demonstration of how the game will be played. When students are ready to play, they will need to hit the Begin button.
From there, the audio will prompt them to say the picture name, say the first sound of the word, and match the picture to the barrel with the correct initial letter. The prompt will then say the picture word. To match the picture with either barrel, students may either drag the center picture over to the barrel or click on the barrel that they believe matches the initial sound of the picture. They can also click on the blue replay audio button above the picture in order to repeat the directions. In this example, students correctly identifying the word and initial sound would say mom, say the initial sound /m/, and then either click on the "m" barrel or drag the picture over to the "m" barrel.
If a student matches the initial letter sound of the picture with the correct barrel, the animation will confirm their success by playing a harmonica sound, rolling up the picture, and placing it in one of the four open slots in the barrel. The voice prompt will then say the word (in this case, mom) followed by the letter sound (in this case, /m/) and initial letter or letter combination (in this case, "m").
If the student chooses the incorrect barrel, they will hear a "boing!" sound and the picture will jump back from the incorrect barrel to its initial position at the top of the screen. The audio will then repeat the word and say the name of the initial letter or letter combination (for blends and digraphs). The picture will be outlined in red to indicate that it was incorrectly matched by the student and the audio will repeat the word and initial letter. Then, the next image will appear and the process will begin again.
After sorting all eight picture cards, the student has completed the activity. Bella and Rosie will appear in their covered wagon to congratulate them on a job well done!
