Pre-Primary: “I Spy…”
Before identifying letters by name or by sound, the children are taught to isolate sounds, or phonemes, without the letter symbol. One of the ways this skill is taught is with a game called “I Spy”. This game consists of a box of 5 objects. The children practice this game with a teacher, with a friend, or even on their own. The objects each have a different beginning sound. The teacher will name the objects, then say “I spy with my little eye something that begins with a ‘zz, zz’”. The child points to the object they believe has that beginning sound. Once the child can guess each object correctly, the teacher gives the child the chance to be the person who spies. 5 “I Spy” boxes are on the shelf, each representing different sounds. Isolating beginning sounds is an imperative part of a child’s reading development because it focuses on oral/auditory skills before moving into matching a sound with a symbol.
