Picture Match is designed to give new readers practice with identifying beginning-letter and short- and long-vowels sounds through a simple, fun game. Updated in 2008, the game now features all letters of the alphabet. In the beginning-letter sounds section, a picture of an object (for example, a car) is displayed, and students are prompted to choose the letter that corresponds with the first letter of the word. In the short- and long-vowel sounds sections, students are prompted to choose the vowel that corresponds with the word. If students choose the correct match, they get words of encouragement and a new picture. If they do not choose the correct match, they receive an audible prompt and can then try again, choosing among the remaining letters. Once all of the pictures have been matched, students can print out a chart showing which pictures go with which letters.

Pictures are sorted randomly with each game to provide a challenge if the game is played more than once. Picture Match is intended for beginning readers and can be used individually or in small groups.

Visit this interactive tool at: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/picturematch/.

ReadWriteThink Lessons That Use This Tool

A is for Apple: Building Letter-Recognition Fluency (K-2)
This lesson, which is most appropriate for kindergartners, provides multiple and varied opportunities for students to work with letters. Students play games, work online, and create an ABC book to become more fluent at letter recognition.

A–Z: Learning About the Alphabet Book Genre (K-2)
Using a collection of alphabet books and websites, this lesson for second graders builds and extends students’ knowledge of alphabet books. After the class generates a sample book together, students work in flexible groups to write their own alphabet books and share them with an audience.

Between the Lions: Exploring Short-Vowel Sounds (K-2)
Not only is "Between the Lions" an exciting, educational television program by PBS, it also has a captivating website with a variety of activities that students will enjoy. This lesson provides examples of how the "Between the Lions" website can be used by a first-grade class studying short-vowel sounds.

Gingerbread Phonics (K-2)
The Gingerbread Man, a familiar folk tale, is used to help early readers learn letter-sound correspondence in a meaningful context. Students then use their new skills to write an online story.

Improving Fluency through Group Literary Performance (K-2)
Repeated readings and literary performances help students with their reading accuracy, expression, and rate. In this lesson, students participate in shared reading, choral reading, and readers theater, focusing their exploration on picture books by Bill Martin, Jr.

Phoneme Isolation: Building Phonemic Awareness (K-2)
Phoneme isolation is an important aspect of phonemic awareness and an essential early reading skill. This lesson helps students isolate beginning and ending sounds and connect them with their written symbol (grapheme) through games and chants.

Phonic Generalizations in Chrysanthemum (K-2)
Using the book Chrysanthemum, this lesson teaches first- and second-graders the phonic generalizations for ow, aw, and ew. Based on the strategy "Letterbox Lessons" by Murray and Lesniak, students manipulate letters to construct words. Students then apply the strategy by spelling the words, reading the words in selected nursery rhymes, and playing an online, interactive game.

Teaching Short-Vowel Discrimination Using Dr. Seuss Rhymes (K-2)
Students develop phonemic and phonetic awareness through word study of common short-vowel word families. Students will use Dr. Seuss rhymes to discover and explore the sounds and spellings of different short vowel word families.

Using Folk Tales: Vowel Influences on the Letter G (K-2)
Using the folk tale genre, students are introduced to the irregular spelling pattern of hard and soft g at the beginning of words. Students use the Internet to find and categorize animal names that begin with the letter g, and they also read a story about a giant.

Using Songwriting to Build Awareness of Beginning Letter Sounds (K-2)
This musical lesson, focusing on beginning letter sounds, is an engaging way for students to practice using selected letters by creating verses to a song. Students think creatively to develop and sing song verses and then illustrate the verses to be included in a class songbook.

Whole-to-Parts Phonics Instruction: Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondences (K-2)
In this lesson, students are exposed to whole-to-parts phonics instruction. After a story has been read to, with, and by children, the teacher assists them in analyzing spoken words by focusing on onset and rime. Students use onset-rime analogies to identify words that belong to the same word family.

Word Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes (K-2)
This lesson uses familiar nursery rhymes to draw attention to words that end with the same letters. Kindergarten and first-grade students are encouraged to create word family lists and compare them to words in different word families.