A 5–10 MINUTE ACTIVITY
A cat-and-cup sound sort
Use the displayed picture, two or three large paper letter cards and a familiar spoken example. No independent word reading is required. Begin with a modeled turn; stop or simplify if the task becomes a vocabulary or motor challenge.
Name cat and cup, then contrast them with sun. Listen before displaying any word cards.
Match C with c and put the pair beside the cat. Model a short /k/, without adding ‘uh’.
Sort cat, cup and sun by the beginning you hear. For an older learner, show city afterwards and explain that the same written letter can represent /s/.
Teach it. Then check.
Objective
Recognize C/c and identify the hard-c examples without claiming all C words sound alike.
Check for learning
Ask whether cat and cup begin alike. Then show C/c and S/s for cat; treat the soft-c example as teaching, not a surprise error test.
Make it more accessible
Keep only the hard-c set and two case cards. Name every picture together.
Extend when ready
Compare cat and city with a grown-up. Circle the written C in both while saying their different beginnings.
Try it at home
Find C on a cereal or food package, have an adult read the word, and talk about the sound it represents in that particular word.