Which of the following is an example of a phoneme substitution activity?

Phoneme substitution activities specifically focus on changing one phoneme in a word to create a different word. In this case, the activity involves asking students to replace the /m/ sound in "mat" with the /s/ sound, resulting in the new word "sat." This process actively engages students in recognizing and manipulating phonemes, which is a fundamental skill in phonemic awareness.

Engaging students in phoneme substitution helps them develop their decoding and spelling skills, as they learn to recognize how changing a single sound can alter meaning. It reinforces their understanding of sound-letter relationships and supports their overall reading development.

The other options, while related to phonemic and phonological awareness, fall into different categories of activities. Counting syllables focuses on syllable awareness and does not involve manipulating phonemes. Blending sounds together emphasizes phoneme segmentation rather than substitution, and identifying the last sound in a word is about recognizing phonemes rather than substituting them.