Help your child read: letter sounds and vowels



Drawing by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)   

We worry about vowels because we know vowels are the variable sounds within the alphabet. Vowel rules are usually taught in 2nd Grade. Start by help your child learn the ABC basics: recognize each letter shape, name, and sound: Aa apple, Bb bear, Cc cat, etc. 

Ignore backward letters. Your child will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade, it is rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's advancement. 

However, b, d, g, p, q must be correctly printed and must become instant, even when inside words. Getting confused by b /d and p / q / g when a child starts reading words in early 1st Grade will cause a child to fall behind. 

Goal: by the start of 1st Grade your child will identify b /d and p / q / g in words like: about, by, and, quiet, snag. Getting confused by these five letters when trying to read words will cause a child to fall behind.

During kindergarten, work on learning the first ten sight words as you read stories together:  the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it. All sight word lists are the same and in the same order.

Consonant letter blends, like bl, br and cl, cr, fl, fr, etc are also good to watch for and practice as you read stories together. And play, "I am thinking of something that start with br," etc. 

Parents do not realize a small set of letter teams will be equally important to their child's success. By the end of 1st Grade, help your child start learning that teams ce, ci, cy always say s: cent, city, bicycle. Look at bi cy cle: the 2nd c says k because e, i, y are not the next letter. Note: British boys created the slang word soccer to distinguish it from rugby. Sometimes slang words follows the phonics rules; sometimes not.

Each vowel has a long sound (called long when you hear the letter name of the vowel: snake, play, leaf, pie, pipe, nose, rule, ruin, type. Long y uses the long i sound.

  

Long vowel rules: 1) The vowel will say its letter name when there is only one consonant between two vowels: snake (consonant k; note: e at the end of a word is nearly always silent.)

2) When two vowels are side-by-side, the 1st vowel says its letter name: ear. (Smart rhyme: When two vowels go walking, the 1st vowel does the talking.)

Short vowels do not say their letter name. Rules: 1) When there is only one vowel in a word it is usually short: bat, bet, bit, bot, but, myth. Short y uses the short i sound.

2) When there is more than one consonant between two vowels, the 1st vowel is usually short: basket, father, better, bitter, bridge, bother, mother, butter. 

All children learn, then forget; this is normal. Your child needs much more review of a "known" lesson that you would ever imagine. Teachers want every child to be a reading star but there is not enough time in the school day to get the review required by the child to truly anchor these tricky and invisible lessons.

All of my books, starting with the Kindergarten Panda bear, include these vital lessons. If your child is already a wobbly reader; you can bet he is fuzzy with this crucial set. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help.

Have a great day with your reader! Thank you,   Mary Maisner