Apple Theme Beginning Sounds Matching Mats Printable
Make learning beginning sounds a hands-on experience for young learners with these apple theme beginning sounds matching mats. This alphabet activity will be a staple in your classroom!
Apple Beginning Sounds Matching Mats
As students learn more about the alphabet and letter sounds, they need a variety of different opportunities to practice initial sounds. This apple theme beginning sounds literacy activity is a hands-on way for students to match beginning sounds and develop phonemic awareness skills.
These beginning sounds apple mats would be a great small group activity but can also be used for independent work or as a literacy center activity. They could even be incorporated during guided reading or tiered reading instruction.
Students in grades preschool, kindergarten, and first grade will benefit from this activity. By making small adjustments, you can differentiate this to meet their needs.
Prep In No Time!
These beginning sounds matching activity mats are quick and easy to prep! Simply print, laminate, and go! Instead of laminating, you can also slide the mats into a write and wipe pocket for durability.
There are 3 different beginning sound mats with 9 pictures each, so each letter in the alphabet is represented.
These mats come in color AND black and white, so you can use them even if you don’t have access to color printing or are limited on your colored copies. You can even print black and white mats and let your students color them if you want!
If you plan to use these for small groups or centers, you can print less mats and letter tiles, making prep even faster!
You can use the printable set of letter tiles found in the activity or use your own alphabet manipulative, such as letter tiles, magnetic letters, letter beads, etc.
For easy storage, put the letter cards in a small baggie and store the entire activity in a large baggie, file folder, or storage tray.
Differentiating The Apple Beginning Sounds Matching Mats
There are many ways that these apple activity mats can be differentiated. Since there are 3 different mats, you can start small and have your students complete 1 at a time. As they gain confidence in their skills, they can work up to completing all 3 mats.
To differentiate this activity, you could lay out all 3 mats. The students could draw a letter manipulative and then find the picture that begins with that beginning sound. This will make their brain work in a different way as they scan the pictures to find the match.
This activity would be a great partner activity as well. Partners could work together to find the matches and coach each other as they match the beginning sounds and pictures. This helps them build phonemic awareness and leadership skills all at once.
Setting Up The Apple Beginning Sounds Mats
Supplies needed:
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- Apple beginning sound picture card mats
- Printable letter tiles OR another letter manipulative
- Write and wipe pockets (optional)
- Print the apple beginning sound picture card mats.
- Laminate or slide into write and wipe pockets.
- Print, laminate, and cut out the letter tiles if using.
- Store the letter cards in a baggie if using.
- Store the entire activity in a large baggie, file folder, or tray.
Using The Apple Matching Mats
In this activity, the students will look at a picture on the picture card. Then, they will determine which beginning sound that word makes. They will cover the picture with the matching letter manipulative.
You can challenge your students and have them tell you out loud the picture, beginning sound, and a sentence with that word in it. This takes the learning a step further.
If students are working in partners, they can take turns matching the beginning sounds and tell each other their word, beginning sound, and sentence.
These apple mats could also be used as a tic-tac-toe game or bingo board. Students could play in partners with different colored letter manipulatives and work to get 3 in a row for tic-tac-toe.
In a small group, students could all have different mats and the teacher could call out a beginning sound. They would look to see if they have that picture, working to get a bingo!
The possibilities are endless with this activity and will be a great addition to your literacy learning as well as your apple-themed activities. Your students will be masters of beginning sounds soon!
Click the button below to get the Apple Beginning Sounds Matching Mats and incorporate them into your day!
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