• linking sounds to letters

    Linking Sounds to Letters

    An important step in learning to read is being able to connect how words are separated into individual sounds with knowledge of how letters relate to sounds. For example, being able to hear the individual sounds in the word sat, /s/ /ă/ /t/, and knowing that s represents /s/, a represents /ă/, and t represents /t/. Word-building activities can be used to support your child's learning to read and spell.

     Write Words

    Help your child practice saying each sound in a word and writing that word.

     Write Words with Silent e

    Help your child say each sound in a word, write the word, and determine if the vowel says its name or not.

     

    Step Up to Spelling Words

     
    Key Points About the Video
    • Mom uses a word in a sentence to help her daughter understand the meaning of the word.
    • When her daughter mixes up b and d, Mom helps her use a strategy of making a b and a d with her hands in the shape of a bed.
    • Mom consistently makes positive comments ("You are so smart!") and gestures (high fives) to encourage her daughter.

     

    Step Up to Writing Words

     
    Key Points About the Video
    • Mom asks her son to say each sound as he writes the words.
    • When her son reads Pete for pet, Mom points to each letter beginning with P and says each sound with him.
    • Mom asks her son to explain how he changed bet to set.
    • Mom tells her son how proud she is of him for building words, reading words, and writing words.

     

     Step Up to Writing Words

    Help your child practice saying each sound in a word, reading the word, changing one letter in the word to make a new word, and writing the word.