A teacher claps once for each sound in the word "cat." How many claps should the teacher make, and which skill is this activity targeting?

The correct answer is based on the fact that the word "cat" consists of three distinct sounds or phonemes: /k/, /æ/, and /t/. By clapping once for each individual sound, the teacher is effectively demonstrating the process of phoneme segmentation, which involves breaking a word down into its individual sounds. This activity enhances students' phonemic awareness, a critical skill for developing reading proficiency. Recognizing and isolating the individual sounds in a word is an essential step in understanding how sounds form words, which is foundational for decoding and spelling. Therefore, the teacher should clap three times, corresponding with the three phonemes in "cat," while focusing on the skill of phoneme segmentation.