Onset and rime is a phonological awareness skill that is a foundational skill for early readers.
What is it?
Onset and rime are the chunks of sounds within words. The onset is the first sound or beginning blend of the word. The rime is the ending chunk of sounds in the word. For example, for the word bat, the ‘b’ is the onset and ‘at’ is the rime.
Why teach it?
Onset and rime is an important phonological awareness skill where students learn to hear the sounds in words. Once students have learned to identify the onset and rime of a word they are able to isolate the initial sound. They are also able to identify the ending chunk of a word. This skill allows students to be able to decode words when reading and encode words when writing.
A good way for students to practice this skill is to play games. The games should be focused on identifying the onset or initial sound of the word and the rime or ending chunk of the word.
Onset & Rime: Phonological Awareness
When planning activities it is important to start with phonological awareness, so students are only listening for the sound chunks of the word. You should use a variety of oral activities to build fluency. Once students have mastered identifying the initial and ending parts of a word through phonological awareness activities. You are ready to add letters and words to the activities you plan.
Onset & Rime: Phonics
In this level, the students will connect the sounds they can hear in the words to the corresponding letters. Students will be able to identify the onset and rime of words by looking at the letters that make up the word. These activities should allow students to better understand how letters work together to make words. As students learn new words, they will make connections to how words are similar. They will notice some words have the same initial sound and some words have the same ending chunk. Words that have the same ending sound chunk rhyme.
Teach It
An activity for students beginning to connect the onset and rime part of words is to identify the letter or letters that corresponds with the initial sound and the letter chunks that correspond with the ending chunk. I have created five Boom CardsTM decks that allow students to independently practice identifying the chunks of words. You can purchase a single deck or buy the money saving bundle. Click here to get them today!
Once students have developed an understanding of how to put the onset and rime of a word together to make the word they hear, students are ready for a challenge. As students continue to build their understanding of sounds and chunks in words, you can give them choices. They can choose which letter makes the initial sound and which chunk of letters make the ending sounds of the word.
This next set of cards helps students to pay close attention to the letter or letters that form the sounds in each word. I have created three Boom CardsTM decks for students to independently practice spelling words using the initial sound and ending chunk. You can purchase each deck individually or purchase the bundle to get a discounted price. Click here to get them today!
