Sound Safari Game Board
🦁
UFLI Lessons 1-16 Kindergarten Phonics Adventure
SOUND SAFARI TRAIL
Target Graphemes & CVC
a m s t p f i n o d c k ck u
Explorer Rules (Play Alone or With a Buddy!)
🔄
1. Spin & Hop
Use clip to spin 1, 2, or 3 spaces.
🗣️
2. Say or Blend
Say letter sound or read CVC word.
✏️
3. Quest Sheet
Stamp or color sound on your sheet!
Pencil Spinner
1 2 3 1
Put pencil tip & paperclip in center
🏕️ START Camp Base
1 m /m/ monkey
2 a /ă/ apple
3 s /s/ snake
Read! cat 🐱 /k/ /ă/ /t/
5 t /t/ toucan
vine trail
11 n /n/ nest
10 i /ĭ/ insect
Read! sun ☀️ /s/ /ŭ/ /n/
8 f /f/ flamingo
🐾 Paw Hop! +1 bonus step
6 p /p/ panther
river bridge
12 o /ŏ/ oasis
13 d /d/ dinosaur
Read! cup 🥤 /k/ /ŭ/ /p/
15 c /k/ canyon
16 k /k/ kingfisher
Read! sock 🧦 /s/ /ŏ/ /k/
canyon path
18 -ck /k/ lock
19 u /ŭ/ umbrella
Read! duck 🦆 /d/ /ŭ/ /k/
Read! map 🗺️ /m/ /ă/ /p/
🏆 FINISH! Safari Temple
Vowels: a /ă/, i /ĭ/, o /ŏ/, u /ŭ/
Digraph: -ck /k/ (after short vowel)
⭐ Independent Kindergarten Center
Print & Cut Pieces
SAFARI TOKENS & CVC DECODER CARDS
Cut on dotted lines • Fold token bases
1. Safari Player Tokens (Pick Your Explorer!)
Fold bottom tab to stand up
🦁
Leo Lion
[ Fold Tab Base ]
🐵
Pip Monkey
[ Fold Tab Base ]
🦜
Toco Toucan
[ Fold Tab Base ]
🦓
Zara Zebra
[ Fold Tab Base ]
2. Decodable Sound-Button Cards (Tap Dots • Blend • Read!)
All UFLI 1-16 Words
🍳
p a n
/p/ /ă/ /n/ = pan
Safari Snack!
📍
p i n
/p/ /ĭ/ /n/ = pin
Map Marker!
🍲
p o t
/p/ /ŏ/ /t/ = pot
Campfire Stew!
🧹
m o p
/m/ /ŏ/ /p/ = mop
Clean Tent!
🪵
m u d
/m/ /ŭ/ /d/ = mud
Muddy Puddle!
🪭
f a n
/f/ /ă/ /n/ = fan
Cool Breeze!
🥜
n u t
/n/ /ŭ/ /t/ = nut
Monkey Snack!
⛏️
p i ck
/p/ /ĭ/ /k/ = pick
Trail Tool!
Station Quick-Prep (3 Minutes)
Cut out cards & tokens, place in a ziplock bag or pencil pouch with a standard paperclip.
Reusable Year After Year!
Sound Safari Teacher Guide
📋
Teacher Facilitation Guide Kindergarten Literacy Stations
SOUND SAFARI GUIDE
Station Focus
UFLI Lessons 1-16 Review
Purpose: Sound Safari is an independent, low-prep print-and-play phonics center designed to build automaticity with all 14 letter-sound correspondences and CVC word blending taught in UFLI Foundations Lessons 1-16.
10-15 Min Center
UFLI Foundations Scope & Sequence Alignment (Lessons 1-16)
Lessons 1-8: Early Consonants & Short Vowels
• Lesson 1: a /ă/ | Lesson 2: m /m/
• Lesson 3: s /s/ | Lesson 4: t /t/
• Lesson 5: VC/CVC Blending (at, am, mat, sat)
• Lesson 6: p /p/ | Lesson 7: f /f/ | Lesson 8: i /ĭ/
Lessons 9-16: Nasals, Velars, Digraph -ck, Short u
• Lesson 9-10: n /n/ & Nasalized a (fan, pan, tan)
• Lesson 11: o /ŏ/ | Lesson 12: d /d/
• Lesson 13-14: c /k/, k /k/ (cat, cap, kid)
• Lesson 15: -ck /k/ (sock, duck, pick, pack)
• Lesson 16: u /ŭ/ (cup, sun, mud, nut, cut)
Station Materials
- ✓ 1 Game Board (laminated or in dry-erase sleeve)
- ✓ 1 Paperclip + 1 Pencil (for center spinner)
- ✓ 1 Set Animal Tokens or standard counting bears
- ✓ Student Quest Sheets (1 per student, double-sided)
- ✓ Pencil or Crayons (for recording work)
Kindergarten Independence Routines
1. Solo or Buddy Play:
Students can play solo (beating their own quest tracker) or with a partner taking turns spinning.
2. Built-In Spinner:
Eliminates lost dice rolling off tables. Place paperclip loop over center dot, anchor with pencil tip, and flick with finger!
3. Non-Reader Friendly Cues:
High-contrast animal icons, color-coded vowels (gold), and sound dots provide instant visual self-direction.
Student "I Can" Independent Anchor Statements
🔄
I Can Spin & Move
"I spin 1, 2, or 3 and hop my explorer forward."
🗣️
I Can Say & Blend
"I say the pure letter sound or blend the 3 sounds."
📝
I Can Map It
"I write 1 sound in each box on my quest sheet."
Sound Safari Phonics • UFLI Foundations Lessons 1-16 Teacher Manual Page 1 of 2
Facilitation & Assessment
DIFFERENTIATION & ANSWER KEYS
Full Solution Reference
Tiered Scaffolding & Differentiation
Emerging / Support
Sound-First Play
- • Focus on landing on letters and saying pure sounds (avoid /muh/ for /m/).
- • Provide tactile counters (chips) for the Elkonin boxes before writing letters.
- • Highlight the vowel in gold on their recording sheet.
Scaffold: Use sound cards for visual matching.
Target / On-Level
Blend & Map
- • Tap each sound dot, stretch the sounds smoothly, and read the full word.
- • Write correct lowercase graphemes in each Elkonin box.
- • Read all three decodable sentences to a buddy or whisper phone.
Standard Play: Completes both quest pages.
Advanced / Extension
Word Chaining & Spell
- • Chain Challenge: Change 1 letter to make a new word (e.g. cat → mat → sat → sit → sip).
- • Write an original decodable sentence using 2 safari words (e.g. "The cat sat on the mat.").
Extension: Flip cards to spell without looking.
Complete Answer Key: Sound Safari Quest Sheet Self-Checking Station
Part 2: Elkonin Sound Boxes Page 1
1. Cat (🐱): [ c ] [ a ] [ t ]
2. Sun (☀️): [ s ] [ u ] [ n ]
3. Cup (🥤): [ c ] [ u ] [ p ]
4. Mop (🧹): [ m ] [ o ] [ p ]
5. Pin (📍): [ p ] [ i ] [ n ]
6. Duck (🦆): [ d ] [ u ] [ ck ]
*Note: In 'duck', 'ck' shares 1 box because it is 1 digraph phoneme /k/.
Part 3 & 4: Match & Sentences Page 2
Part 3 Matching Pairs:
• 🪭 Fan → f - a - n
• 🍲 Pot → p - o - t
• 🧦 Sock → s - o - ck
• 🗺️ Map → m - a - p
• 🥜 Nut → n - u - t
Part 4 Decodable Target Words:
• Sentence 1: cat (High frequency: I, see, a)
• Sentence 2: sun (High frequency: The, is, up)
• Sentence 3: duck, mud (High frequency: A, in)
Common UFLI Misconceptions to Monitor:
1. Schwa addition: Remind students to clip sounds cleanly (/c/ not /kuh/, /t/ not /tuh/). • 2. b/d confusion: Note that letter 'b' is NOT taught until Lesson 17; only 'd' appears here (circle the round belly first, then tall bat!). • 3. Digraph -ck rule: Remind students -ck follows an immediate short vowel at the end of a syllable.
Sound Safari Phonics • Classroom Ready & Print Ready Page 2 of 2
