Sound Out Words with Frankie

Sound Out Words with Frankie is an activity in JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten: Fundamentals. It is intended to teach spelling, phonics, and word/letter recognition at a kindergarten level. It is found in the backyard.

Description
Under Frankie's guidance and direction, the user plays a game in which they spell 3- or 4-letter phonetically spelled words (which always have short vowel sounds and never contain digraphs) using tires which have letters on them. Five tires will be on the ground for each word (or word family on level 3), and will be replaced by 5 new tires when that word (or word family) is completed. Whenever a tire is clicked, Frankie will pronounce the sound that letter usually makes. Every time the user spells a word (or spells as many words as they can using the given word family and letters on level 3), one flag will begin waving. Once four flags are waving, a carrot will be earned.

Difficulty level differences

 * Level 1: Frankie gives a word, accompanied by a picture of what the word refers to. The complete word will be displayed with greyed-out tires, and the user must simply move the correct tires into place which match the greyed-out tires. All words have three letters.
 * Level 2: Again, Frankie gives a word for the player to spell and an accompanying picture, but the tires are no longer greyed out and one will be missing. The user must choose the correct tire to finish spelling the word. The missing letter is always either the first letter of the word or the vowel in the word. Four-letter words will sometimes appear.
 * Level 3: Frankie does not give any word or picture at the beginning; instead, there will simply be two letters of a word displayed. The user must make as many words as they can by filling in the "empty space" with any of the available tires. Whenever a word is made, Frankie will sound it out and a picture of it will be displayed, it will appear on a chalkboard to the left of the picture, and the added letter will be removed so the player can create new words. A flag only begins waving once all possible words have been spelled. Again, only three-letter words appear.

Digital manual description


Game Play Instructions

Help Frankie sort through his alphabet tires to spell words. This activity uses letter recognition and phonics to encourage children to sound out words. Can you help Frankie find the missing letters? Click any letter to hear the sound it makes. When you know which letter completes the word, click on it and move it into place. Frankie awards flags for each correctly spelled word.

Level 1: Letter Recognition 

Match letters to spell three and four letter words. Select letters and place them in proper sequence to match spelling of simple word & picture pairs.

Level 2a: Supply the Missing Letter - consonants

Supply the missing letter to spell words. Start by finding the beginning sound (initial consonants of word families).

Level 2b: Supply the Missing Letter - vowels

Take turns with each of the 5 vowels (a,e,i,o,u) and a host of consonants to create words practiced in previous levels of this activity (English word list contains short vowels only).

Level 3: Makin'  Words / Short Vowels 

Combine sounds to create your own consonant/vowel/consonant words. How many words can you spell?

Educational Skills
 * phonics
 * letter recognition
 * word recognition
 * word families
 * spelling