Here is a fun game to teach ending sounds: Ending Sound Bingo! I made up this game to help my kids practice this important skill in a fun way. Ending sounds can be hard to teach because it involves primarily listening and answering verbally. Since most children are active learners, this leaves us with the problem of finding a way to engage them actively in this listening activity. And Ending Sound Bingo does just that!
I tried this out a couple of weeks ago in my class when I did an observation lesson for my principal, and it went GREAT! The children all did really well- even the ones that generally struggle with skills like these, so I was very proud of them! And the principal was very impressed! Hooray! (Doesn’t it just feel good when an observation lesson goes well?) LOL!
Teaching Kids to Find the Ending Sound of a Word
In my class, I teach the kids to PUNCH the ending sound with their fist. We all say the word, emphasizing the ending sound while punching the forward with our fist. Then I say, “Ending sound?” They then give that sound or letter.
So this is how the Ending Sound Bingo game works. The calling cards have a variety of words for the caller to read that end in a given letter. The caller may read ANY ONE of the words on the card and then ask the children to tell what the ending sound is.
After the children give the ending sound, they should look to see if that corresponding letter is on their bingo board. If it is, then they can cover it up. If not, they will have to wait for the next card to be called.
Please note that there are a few letters that have been intentionally been left out as ending sounds because we generally do not hear their basic sounds at the end of basic English words. These letters are: h, q, w, y. Even though we may see them at the end of many words, such as “high,” “now,” or “happy,” we do not hear the sounds /h/, /w/, nor /y/ as final sounds in most words young children encounter in in beginning reading texts.
The letters “c” and “k” have been combined into one, so the kids will see “ck” together as one ending sound on this bingo board. There is no single “k” by itself nor is there a “c” by itself.
Also, all of the ending vowel sounds words included are long vowel sounds, such as the word, “hi” for the vowel “i” and “go” for the vowel “o.” Personally, I felt that most of my little ones were not quite ready for vowels as ending sounds, so I included six bingo cards with no vowels on them at all. I will be using those when I play and just exclude the vowel calling cards!
How to Play:
1. Pass out the bingo cards. Give each child six markers or chips.
2. Have the bingo caller say one of the words on each calling card without showing the children the card. The children must listen to it and say it back, then try to “punch the ending sound.” Hopefully, they will say the ending sound, and then the letter. After that, they should look for that letter on their card. If they find it, then they can cover it up with a chip or marker. If they have it but cannot find it, then the caller can give them a quick peek at the calling card as a little hint.
3. The first child to cover all six of the squares on his or her card has a bingo, and can call out, “Bingo!” You may want to give that child some cereal as a treat. The rest of the children in the group continue playing until they all get a bingo and a treat as well. Then we play again!
An alternative to giving a treat is to use magnetic bingo chips and then give the winner first pick of the colored magnetic wands! I LOVE doing this, and the children really enjoy playing with the magnets!
I hope you find this game just as fun and effective as I did! Enjoy, and happy teaching! 
– Heidi
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