Help Your Child Become A Phonics Reading Pro

How to Make a Movable Alphabet

The editors at Phonics Reading Pro have been drilling our readers about how important it is to build words with your child. Look back at our posts about creating word lists, “The Ladder”, name writing, etc. on how important it is to build skills through tactile learning and not just visual or auditory learning. Watch your child build dendrites while they build words with a movable alphabet.  You may find it hard to buy inexpensive movable alphabets, or even find them in stores for that matter. For this reason, Phonics Reading Pro has decided to teach you how to make your own set of movable alphabet letter for your child!

 

Here’s how:

1)   Buy a sturdy paper cutter  and thick white index paper (plain with no lines) from any local office supply store

2)   You will also need to buy red and blue permanent markers

3)   The vowel cards are to be cut 1 ½ inches by 1 ½ inches or 1 inch by 1 inch

4)   The consonant cards are to be cut 1 ½ inches wide by 2 ½  inches tall

5)   The vowels are to be written in red and the consonants in blue

6)   The last supply you’ll need is a small no-heat laminator in order to laminate all the letter cards you’ve worked so hard to make! This way the letters will last a long time and you will be able to periodically disinfect them. The laminator can be used for your own personal office use as well, so think of it as an investment.

 

Have fun using these letters to build word lists with your child and increase their phonics reading skills in the process!

Cooking Up Knowledge

Who would think there was a practical way to teach phonics reading through cooking? Phonics Reading Pro does! Here’s how:

1)   Recite grocery lists to your child and make sure they spell everything correctly

2)   Have your child spot the listed items at the grocery store and help them read the brand names and ingredients

3)   Once you get home, have them help you read the recipe(s) you’re using to cook the meal as they help you cook everything.

It’s crazy how many reading and writing opportunities there are just by cooking a meal! Do you see how easy it is to be creative in engaging your child’s phonics reading skills? Think of other simple household chores that can become reading opportunities. It’s easier than you think… just look at the world through your child’s eyes. Even the most ordinary tasks can be interesting for them.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how simple household chores can become phonics reading opportunities for your child? Please let us know in the comments!

The Family Tree

A simple and fun idea to do with your child is to talk about your family tree.  All you have to do is set aside the time to reminisce with your child. A part of learning to be a Phonics Reading Pro is learning the how to tell a story: the sequence, the imagery, the conclusion. You can start by telling some of your favorite stories about your childhood. Talk about school and your teachers and what some of your favorite lessons were. Hopefully some of them will involve learning about phonicsJ

You can tell them stories about what your parents and grandparents were like and the things you did with them. Can you remember stories they told about their childhood? Explaining history through your parents and grandparents lives can be a great way to explain historical events to your child because it makes them personal and not just something read in a text book.  Don’t forget to whip out the family photos to make the stories that much richer!

As a final exercise you can help your child make new memories with your family by keeping journals on family vacations or other big events. They will build their phonics reading skills, writing skills, and storytelling skills all at once! How’s that for a great way to help your child become a Phonics Reading Pro?

Sugary snacks= concentration?

Most parents and the editors at Phonics Reading Pro would agree that the moment they introduce sugary treats to their kids—bouncing off the wall ensues! Interestingly, scientists often dismiss these claims saying sugar is simply a carbohydrate and is processed as such and shouldn’t cause in difference in behavior or mood. I’d like to invite them into a classroom after lunch period and see if they can tell the difference between the children who ate a balanced lunch and those who ate lots of sugary snacks.

 

The reason we are bringing this up is because parents should be mindful of how their children’s diet affects their concentration. Anytime you or their teacher are trying to give them reading lessons, keeping their attention can be a huge task and not being able to do so could be a possible detriment to their understanding and total learning of phonics skills. So just be mindful of the types of foods you give your child. It’s just as quick to pack them a juicy apple as it is to pack them a twinkie.

 

A balanced diet is big key in helping your child become a phonics reading pro :)

Let’s Play a Game of Hangman!

Phonics Reading Pro editors remember playing hangman with friends on lazy summer days as a child! I bet as a child you didn’t realize you where helping your reading skills by playing this old classic! Hangman can be a very helpful game because it engages foresight and memory of word and sentence structure. It may not be the most popular after school game anymore, but it’s definitely worth it to introduce this old classic to your kids. Start out with one-word puzzles and eventually build up to sentence-long puzzles.

 

The rules of hangman are:

 

1)   Draw empty spaces that represent letters in a word, so that each letter has its own line to be written on.

2)   Ask your child to guess a letter that may be in the puzzle. If the letter they guess is in the puzzle write it in the space(s) it belongs.

3)   Draw a box under the spaces you’ve drawn for the words in the puzzle. This box is where you write any letters that aren’t in the puzzle so you’re child won’t guess incorrectly numerous times.

4)   Every time they guess incorrectly you draw a part of the hangman’s body on the noose (i.e. head, body, two, arms, and finally two legs.). So in other words, they have 8 incorrect guesses before the hangman is complete and they’re out of guesses.

5)   When they guess the word or sentence correctly, they’ve won and then it’s their turn to make up a puzzle for you!

This is a fun game when  you need to give your little Phonics Reading Pro some variety in the phonics reading games you’re playing with themJ

B, D, P, and Q

Even the smartest of the Phonics Reading Pros can have a hard time distinguishing between ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and ‘q’. Remember those picture cards we recommended you use early on with your child to teach them letter recognition? The ones with a letter on one side and a corresponding picture on the other… When you first used these you were teaching the sounds of the letter rather than the names. At this point in your child’s reading lessons, however, you are going to want to start testing whether they know the names of the letters as well as the sounds.

 

Go through the cards with your child and first have them tell you the sounds of the letters. When you finish, tell them that this time you want them to tell you the names of the letters instead of the sounds. You might notice that it takes a while for there to be a smooth transition between the sounds and the names of letters, but that’s okay. The more you practice with your child, the better it will get! Some common trip-ups happen with distinguishing the names and sounds of ‘b’,‘d’, ‘p’, and ‘q’, but that’s totally normal. Practice makes perfect and repetition is key! Choose books that focus on these consonants and build words together with your movable alphabet as well. Every bit of practice helps your child’s phonics reading skills.

TV Shows for Reading Comprehension?

Something Phonics Reading Pro has pondered in the past is: are TV shows for children a good idea? For example, we will always be fans of Reading Rainbow! I honestly think it made a big impact on many children because it facilitated them to have a love for reading and an appreciation for the way books can transport you from your daily life to places that you’ve only dreamt of. We’re sad that it isn’t still a part of the PBS line up. It’s a classic that will be missed.

 

How do you guys feel about reading programming? My worry is that they teach with “look-see” more than phonics. That’s not always the case, but I still worry that mixing such shows with what your child is learning in school may be detrimental or at least slow their learning somewhat. What do you guys think? Have you ever seen “Between the Lions” or “Word Girl” before? Let us know if you think they are helpful or hindering to your little Phonics Reading Pros.

Another Way to Use the Ladder

Early in the Phonics Reading Pro blog we discussed a game and phonics reading tool called “The Ladder”. The Ladder is a game used to help solidify reading skills for children. The key is to find a popular word ending that can have many different beginnings. For example, -at is a short vowel word ending that can have many different letter beginnings. You can make many different words ending in –at including cat, mat, rat, sat, scat, brat, hat, and so on. The Ladder helps your child visualize this by laying the words out in an organized fashion.

Don’t just limit yourself to short vowel “a” words though. You can play the game with all of the short vowels. For example make the word ending –ot, so you can make words like dot, cot, got, hot, not, tot, etc. Now try words ending in –ed: bed, led, ted, fed, red, etc. Short vowel ‘i’ words ending in –id for example, could include bid, lid, hid, rid, etc. And finally short vowel ‘u’ words ending in –ut include but, cut, gut, hut, nut, etc. Use  the Ladder to help your little Phonics Reading Pro build confidence in their newfound reading skills!

Moving From Short Vowels to Long Vowels

So your little Phonics Reading Pro is all dome learning their short vowel reading lists and you’re wondering which lesson to teach next… the answer is: transition games! Now is time to break out the movable alphabet again and play a transition game that demonstrates the difference between how you sound out short vowel words and long vowel words.

 

1)   Build the word “rat” with the moveable alphabet. Have your child sound it out and read it to you. Remember that vowels are in red and consonants are in blue.

2)   Now add the letter ‘e’ to the end of the “rat”. It becomes “rate”.

3)   Explain the difference to your child in the following way: “When you add ‘e’ to the end of this word, it makes the ‘a’ say its name. So instead of saying ‘a’ like apple, it says ‘a’ like ‘ape’. Now let’s sound out the word with the ‘e’ on the end…”

4)   Keep practicing this rule with different words “fat” becomes “fate”, “can” becomes “cane”, and so on.

5)   Follow the lesson sequence by having your child write down the new long vowel words. Read books that feature long vowels and play games that use them.

 

The name of the game is reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement! And that’s another easy way to help your child become a Phonics Reading Pro!

Moving From Short Vowels to Long Vowels

So your little Phonics Reading Pro is all dome learning their short vowel reading lists and you’re wondering which lesson to teach next… the answer is: transition games! Now is time to break out the movable alphabet again and play a transition game that demonstrates the difference between how you sound out short vowel words and long vowel words.

 

1)   Build the word “rat” with the moveable alphabet. Have your child sound it out and read it to you. Remember that vowels are in red and consonants are in blue.

2)   Now add the letter ‘e’ to the end of the “rat”. It becomes “rate”.

3)   Explain the difference to your child in the following way: “When you add ‘e’ to the end of this word, it makes the ‘a’ say its name. So instead of saying ‘a’ like apple, it says ‘a’ like ‘ape’. Now let’s sound out the word with the ‘e’ on the end…”

4)   Keep practicing this rule with different words “fat” becomes “fate”, “can” becomes “cane”, and so on.

5)   Follow the lesson sequence by having your child write down the new long vowel words. Read books that feature long vowels and play games that use them.

 

The name of the game is reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement! And that’s another easy way to help your child become a Phonics Reading Pro!