First Sound Finder¶
Run First Sound Finder Fullscreen Edit First Sound Finder with the p5.js Editor
Sample iframe¶
You can include this MicroSim on your website using the following iframe:
Description¶
First Sound Finder is an interactive phonemic awareness game designed for kindergarten students. A word is spoken aloud (e.g., "ball"), and four pictures appear on screen. Children click the picture that starts with the same sound as the target word.
How to Play¶
- Listen - Click the "Hear Word" button to hear the target word spoken aloud
- Think - What sound does the word start with?
- Find - Click the picture that starts with the SAME sound
- Celebrate - Correct answers trigger a fun celebration animation!
Features¶
- Audio Support: Words are spoken using text-to-speech for clear pronunciation
- Visual Feedback: Pictures use familiar emojis that children recognize
- Positive Reinforcement: Correct answers trigger a colorful book burst celebration
- Score Tracking: See your progress with the score counter
- Self-Paced: Students can replay the word as many times as needed
Word Categories¶
The game uses familiar vocabulary from a kindergartener's world:
- Animals: cat, dog, fish, bear, bird, rabbit, turtle, and more
- Foods: banana, pizza, strawberry, grapes, lemon
- Nature: sun, moon, star, tree, flower, rainbow
- Everyday Objects: ball, book, house, car, train
Educational Purpose¶
Phonemic Awareness¶
This game develops phonemic awareness - the ability to hear and identify individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Research shows that phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of reading success.
Specifically, First Sound Finder targets:
- Phoneme isolation: Identifying the first sound in a word
- Sound matching: Recognizing when two words start with the same sound
- Auditory discrimination: Distinguishing between different beginning sounds
Why First Sounds Matter¶
Learning to identify first sounds is typically the easiest phonemic awareness skill and serves as a foundation for:
- Segmenting words into individual sounds
- Blending sounds together to read words
- Understanding letter-sound relationships (phonics)
Lesson Plan¶
Whole Class Introduction (5 minutes)¶
- Display the MicroSim on the classroom screen
- Play an example word and model your thinking: "I hear 'ball.' It starts with /b/."
- Show students how to click the picture that starts with the same sound
- Demonstrate what happens when they get it right (celebration!)
Independent Practice (10-15 minutes)¶
Students work individually or in pairs on tablets/computers:
- Encourage students to say the word out loud before choosing
- Remind them they can click "Hear Word" as many times as needed
- Celebrate their successes and encourage persistence on mistakes
Differentiation¶
For struggling students:
- Work one-on-one to model the thinking process
- Emphasize saying the first sound in isolation: "/b/, /b/, ball"
- Use fewer choices (cover some pictures)
For advanced students:
- Challenge them to think of other words that start with the same sound
- Ask them to identify the ending sound as well
- Have them create word pairs that share the same first sound
Accessibility Considerations¶
- Clear audio: Words are spoken slowly and clearly
- Large touch targets: Picture buttons are sized for small fingers
- Visual feedback: Multiple cues (color, checkmarks) indicate correct/incorrect
- Replay option: Students can hear the word as many times as needed
Accommodations¶
Students with speech delays or hearing differences may benefit from:
- Headphones for clearer audio
- One-on-one support with teacher repetition
- Extended time without the pressure of a timer
- Focusing on sounds they can clearly distinguish