I bought this cute train themed clip art from Scrappin' Doodles and thought the carts would make for a good sorting activity. Then I thought..."Gee, I haven't done an articulation activity in a while." And that's how "On the Right Track! Sound Sorting and Articulation Game" was born!
Basically, there are train cars and cargo boxes. The cargo boxes have pictures of commonly targeted articulation targets. There are 11 cargo boxes (target words) for each of the following phonemes in initial, medial, and final word positions: /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/, /sh/, /ch/, and /th/. There are two ways you can use this activity.
Sound Sorting Activity:
First, it can be played as a Sound Position Sorting Game. To do this, you need to assemble the train by attaching the train cars. Students sort the cargo by sound position (Beginning, Middle, End):
You can also use the blank train and use a dry erase marker to label each cart with phonemes (e.g., /k/ vs. /g/) to sort by phonemes rather than by word positions. I have one little guy who is constantly substituting /f/ for /s/. We're currently working on getting him to identify the difference:
Articulation Game:
For this activity, you will need to prepare enough trains for each player. Use cards with each student’s target sound/word positions and mix in some game play cards. If a students says their word correctly however many times you wish, they can add it to their train. The player with the most cargo on their train at the end of the game is the winner.
I purposely did not include words on these cards for those who want to use it as a sorting activity. If enough people let me know that they want words, I'll update the file to include cargo cars with and without words.
This product has been around for a while, but I haven't had a chance to blog about it yet! You can find it in my TPT store HERE. I know you guys are always so creative, so I want to know...what would you do with the blank trains?
