SOUND OF THE DAY

4 "th" activities below

th - Coloring Sheet
A basic coloring sheet which helps children become familiar with the digraph sound "th" - Thunder Thumb.  This is a good place to start after introducing the "th" Thunder Thumb sound.  Click the image at left to bring up this worksheet for printing in HTML format.  Pass out to students and have them "color-away." 

 
th - Classroom Activity
On this fun activity, the letters "th" are placed many times over a full size image of the association character - "Thunder Thumb." The student is given the worksheet and asked to color the letters "th."  But hold on a second - this is not as easy as it sounds.  Many of the sounds are written with a slight error or an incorrectly shaped letter.  The child must pay careful attention to the activity as we ask that correctly spelled letter sounds are colored green and incorrect letter sounds - red.  This is a highly motivational activity since children love to see if they were "smart enough" to find the incorrect letters.  After completion, go over together as a class and you'll be impressed with their enthusiasm. 

 
Cut Outs
3 sounds on one 8x11 paper. Letters are large enough to easily be seen 30 feet across the room.  Print 2 or more copies - cut out the words and place around the classroom, hallways, on your Word of the Day hat -  anywhere that can attract attention.  Choose either Word or PDF format for downloading.

 
Oversize Teaching Letters
Mr. Thunder Thumb will do a marvelous job in helping your students remember this important (and very difficult to learn) digraph sound - "th."  Remember? - Digraphs are two letters which come together to make one sound.  By associating the "th" sound with someone as unusual as Thunder Thumb (How many Thunder Thumbs have you seen this past week?) the child will be far more likely to remember the sound.  If ever your student does forget the sound of "th" - just look him in the eye and say with the voice of a 105 year old man - "Thunder Thumb"  - while also exaggerating the placement of your tongue between your upper and lower front teeth. In 1 second the child will smile - laugh - giggle -  and say the correct sound.  "Th" is a little tricky in that it has a voiced sound (as in "this" and "they") and a non-voiced sound (as in "with" and "bath").  As you can see, the voiced sound usually appears at the beginning of a word and the non-voiced sound usually appears at the end of a word.  Take Note - for simplicity sake - I've found it best just to teach the non-voiced sound which gets the job done in figuring out words with "th."  After downloading this file you can tape the letters onto the classroom board - wall - or to a special Word of the Day stand (as seen below) for daily teaching and reminding.