Phonics means knowing the sounds of written letters. It is the understanding of the relationship between the letters in written words and the sounds of these words when spoken.
To become skilled readers, children must have a strong base in phonics, or an understanding of the sounds of written letters and words. Children will use phonics when learning how to blend sounds together to read words.
Because several areas of the brain must work together to “decode” or sound out words, children must practice this skill repeatedly. Children also use phonics to spell words when they write.
Remember to have fun! The end goal is the joy of reading. Build automaticity with letter sounds and decoding to have greater understanding of what you read.
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If your child is starting to read and still seems unsure, review the alphabet and letter sounds. Next, look at short CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words (top, cat, fog and so on) and have your child break them apart into their individual sounds. Then blend these sounds back together (/t/ /o/ /p/; top).
Watch this video for an example
Watch this video to learn how!
Watch this video to learn how!
Explain to your child that sometimes two letters will stand together to create one new sound. The “h brothers” join with other letters to make the sounds: sh, ch, th, wh and ph.
This can be confusing for kids, so make sure to write an example word and use gestures to help them remember the new letter combination.
ch: touch your chin making the “ch” sound
sh: Make the “shushing” sound while holding your finger to your mouth
wh: bite into some white or wheat bread
ph: Pretend to talk on your invisible phone
Word families are words that rhyme. Tell your child the “mom’s” name is “bat” and ask them to tell you all the “kids’” names, like cat, fat, sat, rat, pat, mat, at, and hat. This will help children hear patterns in words.
Using a red crayon write a short word like “can”. Then ask your child to think of 2 more words that rhyme with “can” and write them under “can” using a different color crayon.
Check out these tips from All About Reading to learn how to teach your child to blend sounds, and stop guessing words.
Using a stick from outside, trace letters in dirt or sand. Tell your child easy two-letter words and see if they can sound them out, such as “it”, “no”, “at”