watch worms wiggle

State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will pretend their fingers are wiggling worms while listening for words that begin with the /w/ sound, such as watch, worm, wiggle, and wait. 

Literacy Activity
Watch wet worms wiggle

• Draw two eyes and a smile with a black washable marker on the tip of each child’s index finger to make his or her finger into a wiggle worm (optional). 
• Show the children how to wiggle and waggle their “worms” in the dirt, and explain that wiggle, waggle, and worm all start with the /w/ sound. 
• Pour a little water into the sand or dirt and say, “Now your wiggle worm is going to be wet!”
• Emphasize the /w/ sound in phrases like the following: 
  • Wiggle your worm wildly.
  • Watch how I waggle my wiggle worm. 
  • Now wiggle and waggle your worm. 
  • Wiggle your worm up and down.
  • Can your wiggle worm wave? 
• Help the children remember words they heard that begin with the /w/ sound, and emphasize the sound as you say them together (e.g., /w/ /w/ worm). 

More Practice
Repeat words with the target letter 

• Ask the children which way they like to waggle their wiggle worms. 
• Have them answer by saying, “I like to waggle my wiggle worm ___ (e.g., way up, way down, this way, that way),” and wiggle their worm accordingly. 

March and say the sounds in words 

• Have the children march and say each sound of the word wad: 
  • segment sounds: say /w/ (march right), say /a/ (march left), say /d/ (march right) 
  • blend sounds: jump with both feet and say wad to blend the sounds into the whole word 
• Repeat with other words that start with /w/ (e.g., wit, won, win, wet).