Swing the String

Objective

Blend a beginning consonant or consonant blend with -ing to make words such as ring, king, sing, and string.

Target Words:

Materials:

Overview
The children will pretend to be a king as they add sounds to the -ing ending to make words such as king, ring, sing, and swing.

Literacy Activities

Pretend to be kings with rings

Attach a magnet to the end of a piece of string.
Assemble paper crowns and rings using the pattern below, attach a paper clip to each ring, and spread rings on a table.
Give each child a paper crown and have them pretend to be a king.
Teach the children the Swing the String song.
Have a child gently swing his or her string, using the magnet to pick up a ring as everybody sings the Swing the String song.
Repeat so the rest of the children can catch a ring with a string.

More Practice

Identify, blend and manipulate sounds

Using the letter pair cards, have half of the children tape -ing cards on their shirts and half of the children tape consonant cards on their shirts.
Let the children walk around the classroom to find their pair and create a word (r + ing = ring).
Have each pair explain how they made their word by having the children with the consonant card pronounce their letter and the child with the -ing card pronounce their ending, then say their full word together.
With word blending cards, have the children make new words by changing the vowel or either of the consonants:
- Change the beginning sound: king → sing; ring → ding; wing → ping
- Change the ending sound: ring → rink; sing → sink; king → kind
- Change the middle sound: sing → sang; ring → rung

Write about the activity using target words

Have children write the -ing words that they created with their letter cards on their crowns.

Swing the string to catch a ring!

King will catch a ring!

Objective

Blend a beginning consonant or consonant blend with -ing to make words such as ring, king, sing, and string.

Materials

Activity: Swing the String

Place the rings on a table or the floor.
Attach a piece of tape to the end of a piece of string or yarn so that it is sticky.
Have your child teach you the "Swing the String" song and take turns swinging the string to catch a ring while singing the song.
When all the rings have been caught count how many you each have.
Have your child underline all the beginning sounds of the -ing words in the "Swing the String" song with one color and the -ing ending with a different color.
Take turns saying a beginning sound, an ending sound, and blending those sounds together to make a whole word.
Help your child write a short letter to a king about a ring (e.g., Dear King, If you swing the string and sing, you can catch a ring. From, ___).