Phoneme Count — How Many Sounds?
Count the phonemes in CVC words.
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0/12 sorted
How to run it
Have the student tap or use counters rather than saying a number. A physical marker per sound makes the counting checkable and stops a guess passing as an answer. Do the two- and three-sound words first, and use the digraph words to make the letters-against-sounds point explicitly — it will come up anyway, and naming it is faster than letting it confuse them.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSay the item and wait 5 seconds for the student's answer.Log as correct
- Stretch itSay the word again slowly, stretching the sounds or tapping the syllables.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelDo it yourself, tapping as you go, then the student does it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use pictures, fewer items, and words with fewer sounds.
Take the pictures away, or move on to deleting a sound from a word.
Matching IEP goal
Given spoken words, Student will segment a word into its sounds in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one repetition.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve words sorted by how many sounds they contain: me and up have two; cat, ship, tree, sun and chin have three; stop, flag, desk and hand have four; plant has five. Several of them are designed to catch letter-counting — ship has four letters and three sounds, tree has four letters and three sounds, and chin has four letters and three sounds.
What to listen for
Watch the digraph words specifically. A student who says ship has four sounds is counting letters, which is a reasonable inference and the exact confusion this board surfaces. Notice tree, where the two consonants at the start are separate sounds even though they run together, and plant, where four consonants around one vowel is the hardest count in the set.
Carrying it home
Counting sounds in a name is a good place to start, because children find their own name interesting. Tapping it out takes five seconds and the answer is often surprising.
What's in this activity
- 2 sounds
- 3 sounds
- 4 sounds
- 5 sounds
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through second grade, alongside segmenting work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all twelve words play free in the browser.
- Why does 'ship' have three sounds and four letters?
- Because sh is a digraph — two letters making one sound. Sounds and letters do not correspond one to one in English, and counting sounds is the skill reading depends on.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.