Hello there! Today I have a really fun activity to share with you called “Erase-a-Rhyme with LETTERS!” In this activity, the children listen for beginning sounds and rhyming words to help them figure out which letters to erase! You could also play it by having the children write, cross out, or trace the letters rather than erase them! (See the pictures below.) And I’ve included the masters for those activities in the download for you, too.
I have to give TONS of credit to my HeidiSongs Facebook Fans that helped me create this activity, which you can download free HERE. I came up with the idea, and then asked for help in making up the clues. Without everyone’s help in brainstorming, this little freebie wouldn’t have happened. So THANK YOU to all of you wonderful people that helped donate all of your creative talents!
If you have done traditional Erase-a-Rhyme activities before, you may remember drawing animals or objects on a dry erase board, and having kids guess the rhyming words to figure out which parts of the picture to erase. (Click here for a freebie of my ORIGINAL Erase-a-Rhyme activity!)
Erase-a-Rhyme with Letters works the same way, but the children will be erasing letters instead of objects. Here is an example:
The ANT and the ALLIGATOR played in the bay. Now erase the capital ____.
ADAM ANT went on a picnic you say. Now erase the lower case _____.
Can you guess what letter the child should find and erase? It’s the A, of course!
I was lucky enough to try this activity out with a few children this week at a really neat week long event sponsored in part by my church called “Reading Camp!” Reading Camp is run by Shepherd’s Pantry, which is an organization that provides emergency food, clothing, resource assistance and educational programs to families in need during times of crisis. Their mission is to provide the necessary tools and resources to help them become self-sufficient, and education is a big part of that. You can read more about Shepherd’s Pantry and Reading Camp at the end of this post, if you are interested!
But getting back to the Erase-a-Rhyming Letter activity! It went really well! I chose to have the children write the letters rather than erase the letters, mostly because there were only TWO of them with me at that time, and I knew that they needed the practice. They would have LOVED to have simply erased the letters that I said, but I was on a mission, and I stuck to it! It was hard for one of the little boys to figure out the letter based on the beginning sounds, and he had already finished kindergarten. But as I said, this program was designed for underprivileged children and we were told to expect them to be behind. And he was. The other child had finished kindergarten on grade level, but was still struggling with fine motor skills- mostly because academics didn’t seem to be his cup of tea! Oh well! We worked on it.
Here is the entire text of the activity, but you can download it and the masters for tracing and crossing out the letters right here.
Reminder: Do NOT read the letter at the beginning of each clue! Complete instructions are included in the download.
A: The ANT and the ALLIGATOR played in the bay. Now erase the capital ____.
ADAM ANT went on a picnic you say. Now erase the lower case _____.
B: I spy a BALLOON and a BALL in a tree. Now erase the capital ____.
The BROWN BABY BABOON is running free, now erase the lower case _____.
C: I just saw a really COOL COW drinking tea. Now erase the capital _____.
The CAT chasing a CANARY raced by the tree. Now erase the lower case _____.
D: The DOG and the DUCK walked by the sea. Now erase the capital _____.
DAD and gave DAVID a pat on the knee. Now erase the lower case _____.
E: The ELEPHANT and EMU ran from the bee. Now erase the capital _____.
The ELEPHANT had his EGGS with a cup of tea. Now erase the lower case ______.
F: The FROG and the FLAMINGO had a friend named “Jeff.” Now erase the capital ____.
The FOOTBALL FLEW and hit the ref, now erase the lower case ___.
G: The GOAT unlocked the GATE with a key. Now erase the capital _____.
The GOOSE and the GANDER both hurt their knee. Now erase the lower case _____.
H: The HORSE with the HAT walked across the stage: Now erase the capital ____.
A HAUNTED HOUSE was up in space. Erase the lower case _____.
I: An IGUANA and an INSECT were walking by. Now erase the capital _____.
INNY INCHWORM put on a tie. Now erase the lower case _____.
J: The JAGUAR ate some JELLO down at the bay. Now erase the capital _____.
JOHNNY JUMPED to JUPITER which is far away. Now erase the lower case ______.
K: The KITTEN and the KOALA like to play. Now erase the capital _____.
A KANGAROO had a KITE that got away. Now erase the lower case _____.
L: The LION LEAPED when he heard the bell! Now erase the capital ____.
The LADYBUG was on the LEAF, but she fell. Time to erase the lower case ____.
M: I saw a MONGOOSE and a MONKEY with a flower stem. Now erase the capital _____.
The MOUSE saw the MOON and smiled at them. Now erase the lower case _____.
N: The NEXT door NEIGHBORS are raising a hen. Now erase the capital _____.
Nancy Nurse went to find a pen. Now erase the lower case _______.
O: The OSTRICH and the OCTOPUS wrapped presents with a bow. Now erase the capital _____.
Two ODD OBJECTS began to glow. Erase the lower case _____.
P: PENGUINS and PELICANS are birds you may see. Now erase the capital _____.
Prince Peter Proposed to Princess Marie. Now erase the lower case ______.
Q: QUAILS are QUALIFIED to fly with you. Now erase the capital _____.
The QUEEN took her QUILT into the loo. Now erase the lower case _____.
R: The RACCOON and RAT got stuck in the car. Now erase the capital _____.
RABBITS like RAISINS in their chocolate bar, now erase the lower case _____.
S: SEALS and SEA LIONS like to play chess. Now erase the capital _____
The SNAKE made a SANDWICH, but he made a mess! Now erase the lower case _____.
T: I saw a TIGER and TORTOISE drinking some TEA. Now erase the capital _____.
I saw two tangled twigs afloat in the sea. Erase the lower case _____.
U: You are UNDER the UMBRELLA. I am, too. Now erase the capital _____.
Five unusual umpires caught the flu. Now erase the lower case _____.
V: VAMPIRE Bats and VULTURES are scary to me. Now erase the capital _____.
VICKI and VANESSA are running away from the bee. Now erase the lower case _____.
W: A Walrus and a Whale are swimming by you. Now erase the capital _____.
WALTER and WILLIAM WENT WEST with you. Now erase the lower case _____.
X: The doctor’s X-RAY was very comPLEX. Now erase the capital _____.
The X-MAN’S name is Mr. REX: Now erase the lower case _____.
Y: I YELLED and YELLED and started to cry. Now erase the capital _____.
The big YELLOW YO-YO flew right by. Now erase the lower case _____.
Z: The Zany Zebra ran around the tree. Now erase the capital ______.
ZACK ZIPPED his ZIPPER and then showed me! Now erase the lower case _____.
I was thinking that we could do this with shapes, and even WORDS! Sounds like another brainstorming activity will be needed!
More Info About Shepherd’s Pantry Reading Camp!
I know you didn’t log on to read this blog to find out about Shepherd’s Pantry, but I am just so amazed at the quality of this program that I feel like I HAVE to pass this along! In January, 2011, Shepherd’s Pantry started a children’s reading tutoring program on Monday afternoons that runs through the school year, and their one week Reading Camp has been running since July, 2011 as well! This is the first time I have volunteered, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! They even gave parents the option of signing forms to give permission for me to photograph the children for my blog, etc., and so I was especially pleased to be able to share some pictures with you from this experience!
There is something infinitely appealing about these little ones that have so little and are struggling to just learn to speak- and whose families are often struggling to survive.
There were approximately 30 volunteers there helping about 40 children learn throughout the four day event, with some able to come every day and some coming just a couple of days. Most of the volunteers were retired teachers, teachers that are not currently working because they are raising their children, substitute teachers, university professors, and senior citizen volunteers from all walks of life! Isn’t that just AMAZING??? I felt so blessed to have just walked right into such a fabulous, dedicated group of educators and good people in general. Each of us were given anywhere from one to three children to work with that were grouped by grade level. One of the children was very sweet girl with Down’s Syndrome that worked with her own very loving volunteer. I LOVE the fact that special needs children are welcomed and cared for with open arms!
The children enjoyed their recess and snack time, even though the only place to play was in a parking lot with barbed wire on the fence. They got along amazingly well, and were all very supportive of each other. The staff put cones up to keep the cars out of that corner of the lot. They had bubbles to blow, balls to play with, sidewalk chalk, and music to dance to! College students came during their recess time and also led them in organized games as well (for those that wanted to participate.)
Children could attend if they were entering Kindergarten all the way up to entering sixth grade. Most of them were behind (though not all,) and the majority of them were learning English as a second language. There was NO CHARGE for the week- it was COMPLETELY FREE! Children were given a variety of good snacks to choose from in the middle of the day, and to top it all off, they had a big awards ceremony at the end of the week with a pizza lunch for both parents AND children. And then there was a room FILLED with beautiful backpacks filled with school supplies- and the children got to each go pick one out to take home! WOW.
I tried out a LOT of new activities with my little group of students there, and you’ll be seeing a lot more pictures of reading camp in my coming blogs. I hope you enjoy the photos of these sweet children! They really stole my heart, and I know that they will be a wonderful source of inspiration for me in the coming year.
Here’s a video from our Letters & Sounds DVD!
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