Our youngest learners get so excited as they begin to learn to read! Especially when we have fun holiday traditions to make reading enjoyable.
Students love making Valentine’s Day cards and talking about the treats they are going to pass out and receive from their friends.
We read our stacks of Valentine’s Day Books from our library. We bring Valentine’s Day and science together when we make our own love potion science experiment.
And our classrooms are decorated for the occasion when we make our monster Valentine’s crafts.
Because activities about Valentine’s Day are a great way to get kids learning without realizing they’re learning.
So to connect Valentine’s Day with literacy we’ve created this Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-up. Students can practice their sounds and phonemes at the beginning of words in a hands-on way!
Would you like more was to implement holidays across your curriculum? Be sure to take a look at our Holidays Around the World. You’ll find crafts, powerpoints, worksheets, and more.
Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up
When our emerging readers are developing their early literacy skills, learning initial sounds is an important building block. As students are able to say and hear the sounds of letters, they will begin to discriminate the differences in letters.
This sweet holiday inspired resource is an exciting way to help our early readers build up their phonological awareness. This Valentine’s Day activity is perfect for Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms.
It’s ideal for literacy stations, independent work, or in small review groups. Depending on your students’ abilities, this printable can be used as a review or as a challenge.
Inside You’ll Find:
- 7 sheets with mailboxes covering each letter in the alphabet (4 mailboxes per sheet)
- 26 sheets of Valentine’s Day envelopes, each with 6 different pictures.
- This resource also comes in black and white to save on ink, so it has a total of 66 pages.
Getting the Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up Ready
This Valentine’s theme resource is easy to prep. After you purchase and download the match-up, you’ll print it (in color or black and white) and cut using a paper trimmer. Put all of your pieces into a plastic container. I find it helpful to use plastic pencil cases to store centers like these. They keep everything in one place without taking up a lot of space.
You can see how I keep my Language Arts materials organized throughout the year.
I recommend you print these on cardstock and laminate before you cut them out so they can be easily used year after year.
Using the Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up
Students will start this match-up by choosing a mailbox with a letter on it. I have my students say the letter and the sound out loud. This student chose the mailbox with the letter “Kk.”
Our little learners will then sort through all of the heart-themed envelopes with pictures looking for the ones that start with the sound /k/. You may want to have students work in small groups the first time they try to complete the Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up activity.
Once their mailboxes are “filled” with envelopes representing the corresponding letter, they can choose a new letter and start again.
This printable can also be completed by having all the mailboxes laid out on the floor or a table. Your students can then sort through all of the envelopes and place each with the correct mailbox.
If you have students who may need extra practice reviewing or younger learners, you can differentiate this activity. Provide them with two mailboxes and the corresponding envelopes at one time. You can simplify it more by offering them consonant letters they are more familiar with.
Once these are mastered, you can gradually add in more mailboxes and more envelopes.
Whether they are working on their own or in groups students will have a cupids good time showing off their mastery of initial sounds!
Download this Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up Now!
Are you ready to implement this in your classroom or home?
Get it here on A Dab of Glue Will Do
Get it here in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Your little learners can practice initial sounds all year long with our Initial Sounds Mega Bundle. It has 12 themed initial sound activities! Plus, when you purchase them together, you’ll save yourself some money!
Have fun with your students in the classroom and at home with this Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-Up Printable Activity.
Want More Literacy Ideas?
Don’t forget to check out our Literacy Stations printables. There are over 50 ideas to get your creative juices flowing!
If you can’t find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom, Contact me and I would be happy to make it for you.
[…] emerging readers are able to practice their sounds and phonemes at the beginning of words with our Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Match-up. The smiles and giggles are contagious as we play Valentine’s Day […]