Ad

Write down the letters 'ad' in colored ink on a flash card. Then, write down individual consonants as b, d, f, h, l, m, p, and s on separate flash cards. After doing so, place the 'b' flash card in front of the 'ad' card and read aloud the word, 'bad'.

b + 'ad' = bad

Now, replace the 'b' flash card with the 'd' flash card to make the word 'dad'. Say it aloud several times, till your child is able to blend 'd' and 'ad' sounds to make the word 'dad'

d + 'ad' = dad

Now replace 'd' flash card with 'f' flash card, and repeat the exercise.

f + 'ad' = fad

This exercise should be repeated with all the listed consonants and by the end of this excercise, your child should be able to read these words with ease :

Bad
Dad
Fad
Had
Lad
Mad
Pad
Sad

You may have small reading test by asking your child to read these flash cards at random.

Dolch Words or Sight Words

Dolch words or Sight words are words that cannot be read using the letter-sound relationship, and may not follow phonic rules. They have to be learnt by sight and children have to memorize their spellings. Children, being great visual learners, can learn a lot of these simple words very easily.

Sample lesson

Write the word The on a flash card. Hand it to your child, and tell him that whenever you see word,The, say /the/. Try and show him The at various places like newspapers, billboards etc.

Dolch word for the day: Is

Once your child is confident reading all the above words, make some silly sounding stories, for the reading session to be a fun experience. Go slow. Once the session is over, practice it daily. By the end of the week, you will observe that your child is quite comfortable reading the story himself.

Silly Story for 'Ad'

Dad.

Lad.

Dad had a lad.

Lad had a pad.

Lad is mad.

Lad is bad.

Dad is sad.

Bad bad lad,
Mad mad lad,
Sad sad dad!

Have a nice weekend.

Ab

Basic 3 letter words from the 'A' family include:

Ab
Ad
Ag
Al
Am
An
Ap
Ar
As
At

Let's begin with the 'Ab' family. Write down the letters 'ab' in colored ink on a flash card. Then, write down individual consonants as c, d, g, l, n, and t on separate flash cards. After doing so, place the 'c' flash card in front of the 'ab' card and read aloud the word, 'cab'.

c + 'ab' = cab

Now, replace the 'c' flash card with the 'd' flash card to make the word 'dab'. Say it aloud several times, till your child is able to blend 'd' and 'ab' sounds to make word 'dab'

d + 'ab' = dab

Now replace 'd' flash card with 'g' flash card, and repeat the exercise.

g + 'ab' = gab

This excercise should be repeated with all the listed consonants and by the end of this excercise, your child should be able to read these words with ease :

Cab
Dab
Gab
Fab
Lab
Nab
Tab

You may have reading test by asking your child to read these flash cards at random.

Make it fun. Illustrate a few cards for your child to color!

Location:Bangalore,India

Blending and Segmentation

The next step in our reading program is to learn three letter words. The foundation of  successful reading lies in the concepts of phonic blending and segmentation.

What is Blending?

Blending is the ability to join individual sounds into a word. With practice, your child will be able to blend individual sounds into larger words by taking syllables and then blending those syllables into words.

A Blending exercise:

Word : Bag

Place your finger on letter 'b', say it's sound /b/, then slide it slowly on letter 'a', say it's sound /a/, and then place it on letter 'g' and say it's sound /g/. Then, say the word 'bag'. Repeat this exercise a few times till your child is able to do it with ease.

What is segmentation?

Segmentation is the opposite of blending, using which,  a child is able to separate the individual sounds in a word. This increases the phonemic awareness of a child and giving him a better understanding of the entire process. Elkonin boxes may be used to help children segment a word better.

A Segmentation exercise:

Word : Bag

Say the word 'Bag' several times very slowly, till your child is able to tell the distinct sounds of /b/ /a/ /g/. Ask your child to say aloud each sound as you slide your finger from one box to another. The better the child's ability to segment the sounds in a word, the easier it gets for him to spell words correctly.

Next week, we shall read words of the 'a' family.

Have a nice weekend.

Vowel 'o' and vowel 'u'

After learning the combination with vowels, 'a', 'e', and 'i', the next step is to learn the vowel combination of 'o' and 'u'.

The vowel 'o' can be combined with consonants as b, d, g, n, p and t.

Make small flash cards and write these combination on them.

o + b = ob (as in cob)
o + d = od (as in god)
o + g = og (as in fog)
o + n = in (as in on)
o + p = op (as in cop)
o + t = ot (as in cot)

After writing each of these combination on separate flash cards, sit with your child and explain him how to blend these two different letter sounds to make one single sound. Start with putting your finger on 'o' and then say the /o/ sound and then slowly slide it to 'b' and say the /b/ sound and then finally slide it to 'ob' and say the /ob/ sound. Do this exercise several times and then encourage your child to do the same.

Similarly, vowel 'u' can be combined with consonants as b, d, g, m, n, p and t.

Make flash cards for the vowel 'u' and write these combination on them.

u + b = ub (as in tub)
u + d = od (as in bud)
u + g = og (as in bug)
u + m = um (as in sum)
u + n = in (as in sun)
u + p = op (as in cup)
u + t = ot (as in cut)

Using the above explained technique, teach your these combination. After your child is thorough with all the vowels, it's time to move on to three letter words.

Next week, we shall learn three letter words.

Have a nice weekend.