Growing Readers Together

Becoming aware of how our spoken language works and how this relates to reading is one aspect of developing as an accomplished reader. In this newsletter, you will find some ways to help your child learn to hear individual sounds in words. This supports the development of strong reading and writing skills.

Here are some fun activities to do together:

★ Can you blend (put together) two sounds to make a word?

m - ē → , me ă - t → at n - ō → no

★ When you say a word, you can add a sound to a word part to make a new word. Tell your

child: “say -ate, add /g/ to the beginning and the word is….” and your child would say:

“gate”. Other words to use:

■ -eep, add /k/ to the beginning → keep

■ -et, add /j/ to the beginning → jet

★ When you say a word, you can also delete (or take away) the first sound. Say, “ gate;

without /g/, what’s left is?” and your child would say: “ate”. Other words to use:

○ keep, without /k/ → -eep

○ jet, without /j/ → -et

○ pave, without /p/→ -ave

★ Blending is hearing spoken sounds and being able to blend them together to form a word. For example, if I say the sounds /h/, /a/, /t/, the word I'm saying is hat.

★ Play The Turtle Talk Game. Tell your child that you are a turtle. Say, "I am going to say a word very slowly, the way a turtle might say it." Slowly say the three separate sounds in cat. (/c/ /a/ /t/) Have your child say the sounds faster, the way a person would say it. (cat) Be sure to say the sounds, not the letters, in the words that you practice. Practice with words that have two sounds first. (go, hi, zoo, see, no, my, lay, egg) Next, practice with words that have three sounds. (dog, cap, sip, soap, sun, tape, lid, bite, elf, fish, goat, can, fly, pop, rat, lip, mud) If your child can do these, move on to words that have four sounds. (mask, baby, pickle, taco, lost, puzzle, zipper) This is a fun game to play while traveling in the car. Once your child can do this pretty well, invite him to be the turtle.

★ Books to read and enjoy together:

○ One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root

○ LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

Children who are able to identify the letters of the alphabet have an easier time learning to read. Being able to call out letter names quickly and easily is important. Also, learning the sounds letters make is an essential step to being able to decode and read words.

• Play I Know Susie: Say, "I know Susie, and she likes (something that begins with letter S.)" "I know Mary, and she likes (marshmallows)." "I know Tim, and he likes (turkeys)." Continue with other names. Be sure to include your own child's name and the names of family members and friends.
• Play Find My Letter: Place a few magnetic letters on the table for your child to spread out. Make the sound of one of those letters, and have your child pull out the magnetic letter that makes that particular sound. Variation: Say a word that begins with the sound of one of those letters, and have your child pull out that particular letter. You can use letter cards instead of magnetic letters, or your child can type the letter on the computer.
  
• Practice Hearing and Recording Sounds: Once your child knows many letters and sounds, you can have them begin to hear and record sounds. You can call out simple consonant-vowel-consonant words (hat, six, mop, get, leg, hip, cut, mud, bed, rag, tip, etc.) and have them listen for the sounds they hear and write the letters to spell the word. They can use markers and paper, dry erase boards, sidewalk chalk, magnadoodle boards, or magnetic letters.

Here are some early reading strategies we teach beginning readers to help them solve words: