Reading Readiness pt 2: Phonics

Once K had learned the alphabet, it was time to teach him the sounds that the letters make.  I wish that I could say I used all kinds of clever hand made games and crafts to teach the sounds.  However, the truth is he learned it from a video!  My friend, Kelly, told me about The Letter Factory DVD by Leap Frog Learning.  It is engaging, clever, and teaches phonics in a fun way.  Plus, at $8.99 on Amazon, you really are getting a great deal!  (The tutoring company I work for charges a lot more than that per hour!!)  In about two months, our son knew all the sounds.  The vowels seem to be the hardest for kids, especially differentiating between short vowel "e" and short vowel "i" sounds.  I still mix them up myself, like when I say ten it often comes out as tin.  A quick review for those who may have forgotten what short vowels are: apple, elephant, igloo, octopus, and umbrella are the short vowel sounds.  The long vowels sounds are the actual names for the vowels like: ape, eagle, ice, over, and use.  We'll tackle long vowels later.  For now, K is only aware of the short vowel sounds.

I also got him Talking Words Factory as a follow up DVD to The Letter Factory.  The sequel teaches how to put the sounds together to make words.  Talking Word Factory does a great job of teaching the concept of how words are built.  It focuses on the basic consonant, short vowel, consonant (CVC) words like CAT or FUN which is perfect for beginning readers.  They do introduce blends, but it is a brief part of the video.  With K, we are only working on the CVC words at the moment until he really gets comfortable with sounding out these basic words.  We have been doing all kinds of fun activities to help him learn how to read.  I took pictures of some of our "home school" assignments so you all can see what we've been doing, and maybe inspire some of you to give it a try.

I created a simple worksheet on the computer leaving blanks  (like ___ ot) for  K to stamp a letter.  All of the words in the first column end in "ot".  The second column is all "et" words.  Rather than giving him the entire alphabet stamp set, I only set out letters for him to use that would create real words.  Once he's more proficient, he can figure out which letters make real words and which ones don't.  For now, he has fun discovering what new word he's just spelled.

We practice his new words whenever he's in the mood.  Since it's at his height,  he sees them often and enjoys going through the list of words.  At first, I folded the sheet in half and we covered up all the words except one.  That way he wasn't overwhelmed by a whole sheet of new words to tackle at once.  (This worksheet has "at" and "an" words.)

Practicing our "at" words.  Notice I gave him a selection of letters at the bottom that will all make real words when paired with "at".  We sometimes do this activity while he's eating a snack or lunch.  Other times, K will just pick up the letters on his own and start making words to proudly show off to whomever is near by.  I'm finding letters all over the house!

Since K just turned three, he's not able to write letters yet.  He was constantly hounding us to write out words for him.  We got him a Magna Doodle for his birthday and I had an "ah ha!" moment, "We can use the magnetic letters and he can create words on his own!"  Sometimes we'll write words on his Magna Doodle for him and he can read them to us.  This is a fun activity to do in the car, or at a public place where you have to sit and wait quietly, like a restaurant.

Here's a great beginning reader book.  The pictures are fun, and the words are all CVC so they are perfect for our little reader.  We've practiced and practiced the words in this book.  He wasn't able to just breeze through it the first time.  There are three sections in the book, we usually get through only one section and he's done reading for a while.  

Same series, obviously.  I was so pleased to find these two books at the library.  It's very rewarding for new readers to have a book that is at their level.  It's very exciting for them to open a book and be able to read every word in it.  With K, we go slow, encourage a lot, give some hints with sounding out, and keep it fun.  If it's too hard or not enjoyable, we stop and come back to it later.  

One more observation...When we go out, K's always aware of letters and words that show up on signs or wherever.  He's eager to point out words he knows.  Sometimes he'll see a word he knows as part of a larger word for example, "material".  He'll say, "Look, that spells MAT!".  I'm always quick to praise him and then show him that the whole word says material.  My son is teaching me that kids are much more alert than I thought!

In the future, I'll share more as we progress in our journey of teaching K to read.  Thanks for visiting my blog!