Growing Readers Together

The ability to hear word parts is an important skill in helping children become readers and writers. Here is a fun game to play to help your child delete final sounds in words.

Play What's the New Word?

Use the list below to help your child create new words by taking off the last sound of the original word. Ex: What word would be left if you took the /f/ off of Beef? New word: Be)

1. date without the /t/ (day)

2. barn without the /n/ (bar)

3. arm without the /m/ (are)

4. beat without the /t/ (be)

5. feed without the /d/ (fee)

6. nose without the /s/ (no)

7. grape without the /p/ (gray)

8. place without the /c/ (play)

9. house without the /s/ (how)

10. make without the /k/ (may)

*It is important to note that this is a sound game, not a spelling game. This is done without your child looking at the print. It is all done orally.**

Children who are able to identify and use vowel sounds have an easier time learning to read and write. Being able to recognize vowel sounds quickly and easily is important. Here are some websites where your child can have fun practicing vowel sounds:

• https://klru.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/k1.phonics/
  
• http://www.kizphonics.com/phonics/short-vowels-a-e-i-o-u-phonics-practice-activity/

When we are reading, it is important to think about what characters do and say in order to fully understand them. Many children can only think of "happy" or "sad" to describe characters. Discuss characters from books that your child has read to you and especially from books you have read to them since those characters may be more fully developed.

Help your child grow in this area:

1. Talk about what the characters do and say for clues about their personality.

2. Talk about what the characters are like on the outside (physical traits) and inside (personality traits) and talk about how we know. Ex: The character is happy because there is a picture of the character laughing.

3. Here are some other words to use to describe characters besides "happy or sad":

shy, quiet, friendly, funny, kind, brave, silly, bossy, hardworking, lazy, mean