Multisensory Monday: Beginning Blend Articulation Strengthener

When I see recurring miscues that happen over time and to multiple students, I try to think about what is inherently “confusing” about the miscued concept. Confusing two beginning blends, for example, happens often because the two blends are closely related in articulation. To amend this issue, I design a custom activity that targets visual and auditory input. This multisensory exposure will help students practice discriminating the two sounds.

The goal of the following activity is to help practice the difference between /shr/ and /str/. Students will enjoy looking through the funny photos, finding the target image, and getting a little crafty. It’s also highly recommended to have them do a dictation sort as they find their images. This way, they get additional reinforcement by spelling the blends.

Materials needed

• Yarn
• Scissors
• Glue
• Activity Sheet —>  SHR STR PAGE – CLICK HERE!

Make it Multisensory …

• Print the activity sheet and words.
• In the top center of the activity sheet, write “shr vs. str.”
• On a separate piece of lined paper, create two columns for the blends.
• Call out a word from the list. Students will then point to the blend that they hear.
• If students hear a word with “str,” they will glue a piece of STRing over the corresponding image. If they hear a word with /shr/ they can SHRug their shoulders.
• Lastly, students write the word in its respective column (if the student has learned ending blends, all the words below in bold can be used during dictation sort. Or you
  can create a custom list)

Word List:

Shrek

String

Straw

Shriek

Shrug

Strainer

Shrimp

Street

Straight

Shrink

Strap

Shrub

Shrivel

Strict

Other words to add to the dictation sort: shrunk, shrank, strung, strang

Enjoy!

Written by Georgia Diamantopoulos

Georgia is a tutor at Brainspring Learning Center in Shelby Township.

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