Word Maker: Sound Swaps runs 12 sound-change items for kindergarten across three parts. For each one, students hear a word, swap a single sound, and check the picture of the new word. Part 1 changes the first sound (bat to cat), Part 2 the ending sound (dog to dot), and Part 3 the middle vowel (hat to hut). Two picture choices per item mean nonreaders can still answer. It practices Common Core RF.K.2.e, and the answer key gives all 12 words.
RF.K.2.e
“Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.”
All 12 items. Part 3 is the hardest, because students hold the first and last sounds while changing the vowel, as in pin to pan.
Questions 1 to 4 swap the opening sound: /b/ in bat to /c/, /p/ in pig to /w/, /s/ in sun to /r/, and /f/ in fan to /p/. Students check one of two pictures, such as cat or hat.
Questions 5 to 8 change the last sound. Dog becomes dot, bug becomes bus, map becomes mat, and web becomes wet, with log, bat, mop, and vet as the wrong choices.
Questions 9 to 12 swap the vowel. Hat turns into hut, bag into bug, pin into pan, and log into leg.
The 12 target words in order, from cat to leg.
Say it before you look
Read each prompt aloud and have students say the new word before they look at the pictures. Several wrong choices rhyme with the answer (cat and hat, run and bun), so guessing from the pictures fails.
Spread over three days
Eight pages is long for one sitting. Do one part a day, and open Part 3 by showing hat turning into hut with letter cards on the board.
Magnetic letters
Build bag with magnetic letters, pull out the a, and drop in a u. Watching question 10 happen helps students who lose the middle sound when they only listen.
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