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Get to know your new students with these Sound Waves games

Sound Waves Spelling 1/3/23

There’s nothing like a fun, whole-class game to bring your new students together, so why not start off the school year by diving into one (or all) of these Sound Waves games!

All of these games can be adapted to suit different year levels from F–6, ensuring there’s something for everyone.

1. Whose Name?

Aim
To identify phonemes in names.

How to play:

1. Quiz students about the phonemes in their names. For example, ‘Whose name ends with ?’, ‘Whose name has three sounds?’, ‘Whose name has the letter a for ?’.
2. Students answer with the name of a student in the class. They cannot say their own name.

Variation
Students use their middle names and surnames.

2. What’s in a Name?

Aim
To identify phonemes and the number of phonemes in names.

How to play:

1. Students state their first names to the class.
2. The class then assembles itself into groups according to one of the following categories:

• initial phoneme in their name
• final phoneme in their name
• number of phonemes in their name.

3. Continue with another category.

Variation
Students use their middle names and surnames.

3. Sound Toss

Aim
To call out words containing the focus phoneme.

What You’ll Need
A suitable ball and a list of your weekly Focus Words.

How to play:

1. Students stand in a circle. Display the list of words from the week’s brainstorming session.
2. The first student tosses the ball and calls out a word that starts with the focus phoneme, such as spill.
3. The student who catches the ball calls out another word that starts with the focus phoneme, such as sand. As the second student tosses the ball, they call out a word with the phoneme in a different position such as in the middle or at the end, such as hats.
4. Play continues with students changing the position of the focus phoneme each time the ball is tossed.

Variation
Use previously taught prefixes, suffixes or roots as the focus for this game. Students toss the ball back and forth calling out words that share the same morpheme (e.g. prefix pre: preschool, preheat, prefix, prepay).

4. Name Sounds Elimination

Aim
To be the last student to remain standing.

What You’ll Need
Standard Sound Box Cards (A5), Playing Cards or Teaching Charts.

How to play:

1. Students stand.
2. Hold up a card or point to a Sound Box. Say the name of the Sound Icon and the phoneme.
3. Students repeat the phoneme.
4. Ask, ‘Whose name has this sound?’. Students whose names contain the phoneme sit down.
5. Repeat with other cards or Sound Boxes. The last student to remain standing is the winner.

If you’re currently using Sound Waves, you can access the entire document of small-group and whole-class game ideas under the Preparation and Planning section of your account.

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