North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Language Development and Communication (LDC)

Subdomain: Foundations for Reading

Goal: Children develop phonological awareness.

Skill Progression: Develop phonological awareness

Age: 42-48 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 42-48 Months.

Identifies rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words

Situations for Observation of Skill

Play an ‘I Spy a Rhyme’ game with rhyming words and then with first sounds. Place a variety of objects on the floor (e.g., ball, truck, phone, plastic cow, etc.) The adult names a word and the child finds the rhyming object.

Elicitation Strategy

The adult shows the child all the toys and names them so all labels are understood. He then says, “I spy something that rhymes with doll.” The child then identifies which object rhymes with the word named.

Behavior Observed

The child finds a rhyming word when asked. Visual objects give the game parameters and make the task easier.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Adults and children can enjoy rhyming games, songs, and books together. When sharing these, point out or have children determine the rhyming words.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.