--- title: Engaging Phonemes Activities description: On May 25, 2023, Governor Kevin Stitt was joined by students, parents, and school leaders from across the state to sign the ASPIRE Oklahoma Plan into law; a first-of-its-kind education freedom program and record funding in Oklahoma’s school system. image: https://www.okpsaedu.org/hubfs/young-woman-doing-speech-therapy-with-kids-1024x683.jpg --- [Skip to the main content.](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/engaging-phonemes-activities#main-content) [![OPSALogo-Nav](https://www.okpsaedu.org/hs-fs/hubfs/OPSALogo-Nav.png?width=200&height=200&name=OPSALogo-Nav.png "OPSALogo-Nav")](https://www.okpsaedu.org/) [![CLEAN-logo-color-new](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/507386/hubfs/CLEAN-images/gfx/CLEAN-logo-color-new.png?width=200&height=100&name=CLEAN-logo-color-new.png "CLEAN-logo-color-new")](https://www.okpsaedu.org/) - [ About Us ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/about-us) - [ Leadership ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/leadership) - [ Contact Us ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/contact) - [ Our Approach ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/our-approach) - [ 2026 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/2026-solutions-our-approach-oklahoma-parents-for-student-achievement) - [ 2025 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/2025-solutions) - [ 2024 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/2024-solutions) - [ Learn More ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/engaging-phonemes-activities#) - [ Blog ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog) - [ Newsletter Sign Up ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/sign-up) - [ News ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/news) - [ Resources ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/parent-resources) - [ Donations ](https://secure.anedot.com/oklahoma-parents-for-student-achievement-opsa/donate) - [ Parental Choice Tax Credit ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/credit) Toggle Menu Toggle Menu - [ About Us *Toggle Menu* ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/about-us) - [ Leadership ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/leadership) - [ Contact Us ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/contact) - [ Our Approach *Toggle Menu* ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/our-approach) - [ 2026 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/2026-solutions-our-approach-oklahoma-parents-for-student-achievement) - [ 2025 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/2025-solutions) - [ 2024 Solutions ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/2024-solutions) - [ Learn More *Toggle Menu* ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/engaging-phonemes-activities#) - [ Blog ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog) - [ Newsletter Sign Up ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/sign-up) - [ News ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/news) - [ Resources ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/en/parent-resources) - [ Donations ](https://secure.anedot.com/oklahoma-parents-for-student-achievement-opsa/donate) - [ Parental Choice Tax Credit ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/credit) 2 min read # Engaging Phonemes Activities [ OPSA ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/author/opsa) Jun 24, 2024 11:08:39 AM [Education](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/education) [Oklahoma](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/oklahoma) [Education System](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/education-system) [Parent Resources](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/parent-resources) [Science of Reading](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/science-of-reading) [Dyslexia](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/tag/dyslexia) ![Engaging Phonemes Activities](https://www.okpsaedu.org/hubfs/young-woman-doing-speech-therapy-with-kids-1024x683.jpg) It’s important, especially for our multilingual learners, to learn how to properly pronounce phonemes (sounds) for the 44 phonemes in the English language. Despite English only having 26 letters, there are 44 phonemes in our spoken language. One issue to look out for is students, and even some teachers when teaching the phoneme, will put a schwa on the end of the sound. A schwa at the end of a sound is similar to a short, breathy U sound, like /uh/. The slash marks (virgules) are around the letter to represent a sound. So, instead of learning the sound for P as /p/, students often say something like /puh/. This is pretty common with sounds that we need to clip off, like /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /g/, and /k/. Other sounds that sometimes end up with a schwa sound are /h/, which comes out as /huh/, but should just be more like a panting dog, a breathy sound from the back of the throat. Another one that can be difficult is /y/, which will also come out as /yuh/. Sometimes, when students try to put sounds together to say words, if they sound out PIT as /puh/ /i/ /tuh/, it’s harder to blend the word together to say /pit/, and might come out as /puhiiiitttuh/. ![Phonics-Phonemic-Awareness-and-Phonological-Awareness-The-Ultimate-Guide-scaled](https://www.okpsaedu.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Phonics-Phonemic-Awareness-and-Phonological-Awareness-The-Ultimate-Guide-scaled.jpg?width=359&height=239&name=Phonics-Phonemic-Awareness-and-Phonological-Awareness-The-Ultimate-Guide-scaled.jpg) Part of a quality intervention for students struggling to read is ensuring they pronounce the phonemes correctly, and it’s especially important to draw their attention to what the mouth is doing, or the articulate gestures. Helping them to become aware that their tongue is lightly tapping on the ridge behind the top row of teeth when saying the /t/ or /d/ sound, is important for them to clear up confusion. Some of our sounds are made in the exact place in the mouth, but only differ by what we call voicing, which means our voice box vibrates. The vibration should be felt on the sides of the throat. So the only difference between the /t/ sound and the /d/ sound is that the voice turns on for /d/, but they are made in the exact place in the mouth. For example, /p/ and /b/ are exactly the same, except for /b/ has your voice on. Others are /k/ and /g/ with /g/ being voiced, /f/ and /v/ with /v/ being voiced, /th/ and /th/ with /th/ being voiced, /s/ and /z/ with /z/ being voiced, /sh/ and /zh/ with /zh/ being voiced, /ch/ and /j/ with /j/ being voiced. Sometimes students can’t feel the voice in their throat, so have them cup their hands over the ears and go back and forth between the /f/ and /v/ sound, the /v/ sound will be louder, indicating the voice is on. That should work for the difference in all voiced pairs. It’s a lot of information to take in, and some teachers have been taught these intricacies and others haven’t. A good video to watch for proper pronunciation is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBuA589kfMg&t=80s). Students should begin learning the individual sounds in Pre-K, but wouldn’t be expected to learn all the sounds until Kindergarten. Florida Center for Reading Research has all kinds of phoneme activities. One that you can find [here](https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/k1_phonological_awareness/k1_phoneme_matching/k1_pa025_one_card_out.pdf) is a first sound matching activity. It has three pictures of items and two of them start with the same sound, one doesn’t. They have to find the one that doesn’t match, like house, helicopter, and zebra, and they would throw out the picture of the zebra. There are lots of activities to explore [here](https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/kindergarten-and-first-grade). - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![Growing to Serve More Oklahoma Families: OPSA's New Parent Services Model](https://www.okpsaedu.org/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Advocates%20Empowering%20Families%20Through%20Change.png) ](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/new-parent-services-model) #### [Growing to Serve More Oklahoma Families: OPSA's New Parent Services Model](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/new-parent-services-model) [OPSA](https://www.okpsaedu.org/blog/author/opsa): Jul 1, 2026 3:35:49 PM For years, Oklahoma Parents for Student Achievement (OPSA) has been honored to stand alongside families as they navigate the special education... 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But what if the school says your child should take the Oklahoma... 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