Phonics
Letter Identification
Soap Painting – Mix a small amount of water with mild powdered laundry soap (not detergent) until it forms a stiff consistency. Your child can finger paint with this soap mixture on colored paper, for a three-dimensional effect. An added advantage is easy clean-up.
You can have your child cut out shapes or pictures of favorite animals, foods, or objects that begin with letters of the alphabet and paste them on individual sheets of paper. (Give your child blunt-tipped scissors that is a comfortable size for their hand.)
You can form shapes and letters in a sandbox, make them out of clay, or print them with markers, crayons, or pencils. Be sure to show your child and capital as well as lowercase letters.
Play word and alphabet games with your child. While walking with your child try to find things that begin with certain letters of the alphabet. Play “I Spy” for example, “I see something you are wearing that is blue and starts with the letter (or sound) s”. Read Dr. Seuss books and play rhyming games such as finding an object that has a similar sounding name. Help your child develop awareness of the written word by pointing out letters and words on signs. Label familiar objects around the house. Have plenty of writing material available and a place where they can write. Have your child tell you stories and you write them down.
When children pause on a one syllable word:
1. What’s the vowel sound?
2. What’s the word? Blend one sound into the next. Don’t let your voice turn off.
3. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
4. At some point ask the student: “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”
When children pause on a multisyllable word:
1. Is this a one syllable or multisyllable word?
2. Are there any tricky endings or beginnings that you recognize?
3. What’s the first syllable with the first vowel? (repeat for each syllable)
4. What’s the word? (blend syllable by syllable)
5. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
6. At some point ask: “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”
Phonics Guides for Parents
1. When the sound /k/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel the defender –c is added.
a. Tack
b. Took
2. When the sound /j/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel defender –d is added.
a. Fudge
b. Large
3. When the sound /ch/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel defender –t is added.
a. Hutch
b. Couch
4. When the vowel says its name the –e goes to the end of the word. The 2 ee-s are like twins and mostly stick together; however, they also occur separated.
a. Bike
b. Feet
c. Pete
5. When two vowels go walking (and they are not found together on vowel town) the first one does the talking. What does it say? Its name. The sound /ae/ at the end of a word is spelled –ay.
a. Snail, say
b. Meat
c. Boat
6. When –c is followed by an –e, -i, or –y it always has the /s/ sound.
a. Cite, ice, cell
b. Cat, cub
7. When –g is followed by an –e, -i, or –y it may have the /j/ or /g/ sound.
a. Get, geese
b. Gem, gym
8. When there is a choice of spelling the first sound with a –c or a –k, choose –c. There are far more –c words in the dictionary.
9. The /j/ sound at the end of a word is always spelled –ge.
10. When words begin with the two sounds /k/ and /w/ they are always spelled –qu. When the final two sounds in a word are /k/ and /s/ they are sometimes spelled with an –x. It is bet not to use an –x when these two sounds are heard, but to develop a visual memory chart of words that end in –x.
11. The letter –y is very versatile. At the beginning of a word it functions as a consonant with a sound similar to /ee//u/. When stretching a word that begins with the –y sound the sound /ee/ is heard. In all other placements the letter –y represents a vowel sound.
a. Yard
b. Fly – at the end of a one syllable word it represents the sound /ie/
c. Baby – at the end of a multisyllable word it represents the sound /ee/
d. Gym - in the middle of words it may have the /i/ sound
Soap Painting – Mix a small amount of water with mild powdered laundry soap (not detergent) until it forms a stiff consistency. Your child can finger paint with this soap mixture on colored paper, for a three-dimensional effect. An added advantage is easy clean-up.
You can have your child cut out shapes or pictures of favorite animals, foods, or objects that begin with letters of the alphabet and paste them on individual sheets of paper. (Give your child blunt-tipped scissors that is a comfortable size for their hand.)
You can form shapes and letters in a sandbox, make them out of clay, or print them with markers, crayons, or pencils. Be sure to show your child and capital as well as lowercase letters.
Play word and alphabet games with your child. While walking with your child try to find things that begin with certain letters of the alphabet. Play “I Spy” for example, “I see something you are wearing that is blue and starts with the letter (or sound) s”. Read Dr. Seuss books and play rhyming games such as finding an object that has a similar sounding name. Help your child develop awareness of the written word by pointing out letters and words on signs. Label familiar objects around the house. Have plenty of writing material available and a place where they can write. Have your child tell you stories and you write them down.
When children pause on a one syllable word:
1. What’s the vowel sound?
2. What’s the word? Blend one sound into the next. Don’t let your voice turn off.
3. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
4. At some point ask the student: “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”
When children pause on a multisyllable word:
1. Is this a one syllable or multisyllable word?
2. Are there any tricky endings or beginnings that you recognize?
3. What’s the first syllable with the first vowel? (repeat for each syllable)
4. What’s the word? (blend syllable by syllable)
5. Read your sentence again and see if that word makes sense.
6. At some point ask: “What will you do to help yourself figure out that word?”
Phonics Guides for Parents
1. When the sound /k/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel the defender –c is added.
a. Tack
b. Took
2. When the sound /j/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel defender –d is added.
a. Fudge
b. Large
3. When the sound /ch/ is at the end of a word right after a one-letter vowel defender –t is added.
a. Hutch
b. Couch
4. When the vowel says its name the –e goes to the end of the word. The 2 ee-s are like twins and mostly stick together; however, they also occur separated.
a. Bike
b. Feet
c. Pete
5. When two vowels go walking (and they are not found together on vowel town) the first one does the talking. What does it say? Its name. The sound /ae/ at the end of a word is spelled –ay.
a. Snail, say
b. Meat
c. Boat
6. When –c is followed by an –e, -i, or –y it always has the /s/ sound.
a. Cite, ice, cell
b. Cat, cub
7. When –g is followed by an –e, -i, or –y it may have the /j/ or /g/ sound.
a. Get, geese
b. Gem, gym
8. When there is a choice of spelling the first sound with a –c or a –k, choose –c. There are far more –c words in the dictionary.
9. The /j/ sound at the end of a word is always spelled –ge.
10. When words begin with the two sounds /k/ and /w/ they are always spelled –qu. When the final two sounds in a word are /k/ and /s/ they are sometimes spelled with an –x. It is bet not to use an –x when these two sounds are heard, but to develop a visual memory chart of words that end in –x.
11. The letter –y is very versatile. At the beginning of a word it functions as a consonant with a sound similar to /ee//u/. When stretching a word that begins with the –y sound the sound /ee/ is heard. In all other placements the letter –y represents a vowel sound.
a. Yard
b. Fly – at the end of a one syllable word it represents the sound /ie/
c. Baby – at the end of a multisyllable word it represents the sound /ee/
d. Gym - in the middle of words it may have the /i/ sound