Punch 4 - Where Do You Start?

Where do you start?

The most intimidating part of teaching your child to read is wondering where to begin. Well, rest assured, you have already begun! Every time you read a story to your child you have given a reading lesson. Every time the two of you talk about a story you have read, you have given another. But where do you begin with the actual teaching and decoding of phonics? Well, most likely, if you are reading this blog you have a child that probably knows how to *spell and write his name. The letters in his name are the most familiar letters to him, he is 100% comfortable and confident in knowing those letters. The letters in your child’s name are usually the best place to start. 
*If she doesn't know all the letters in her name then focus on those letters until she does, then move on to "a first lesson" below.

A Very First Lesson

You need to prepare for the lesson:
1. Know how to introduce letter sounds. The Letter Pronunciation tab above is a vital tool for you to use. Review it and practice the phonetic sounds out loud. Sometimes you think you are saying a single sound but you are really saying two or three. Be careful not to add sounds at the beginning or end of a letter.


example: "r" is just rrrrr, not eerrrr, say rainbow, now begin the word and just hold the "r", that is how you teach the r sound.


2. Take a look at your child’s name, I will use Justin as my example. Write all of the 2 and 3 letter words you can, using the letters in your child’s name.

For Justin I would have: 
in, it, is, us, sun, sin, tin, nit

3. Now, on a separate piece of paper list the letters from the most used vowels down to the least used consonant from your word list.

Justin letters would look like this: 
i, u, n, s, t, j

Trouble shooting names: Let’s say you are dealing with a name that yields only one, two or no 2-3 letter words at all. If you can yield at least one 2 letter word use it and pair it with a few other letters to create several 2 and 3 letter words. Should the name yield no words, you will need to be creative and think of using the most common letters and/or letters your child knows.


trouble shooting example 1:
- Your daughters name is Hannah
- Take advantage of the “an” teaching this as her first word.
- Introduce two or three new letters: c, t, p, m, r, f, or v
- Add these to "an",  and teach can, tan, pan, ran, fan etc.


trouble shooting example 2:
- Your sons name is Jake . . . YIKES! You've got your work cut out!!
- Teach the short "a" and "j" sounds
- Introduce "m"
- Now you can teach am, jam and mam


trouble shooting example 3:
-Your sons name is Clay (as in Matthews #52, Green Bay Packers . . . Go Pack Go! yeah, I did that)
- Focus on c, l and a
- Introduce t, n and p
- Now you can teach "an" then, can, tan and pan 
- Now you can teach "ap" then cap, lap and tap

Giving the lesson: Teaching sounds and words

1. Give your child the paper with the letters and ask him to tell you what the letters are. If he knows the sounds, have him tell you those secondarily. 

2. Begin with the first vowel on your list and teach him the short vowel sound.

'a' as in apple or and 

'e' as in end or egg 

'i' as in inside or it or in

'o' as in octopus or ox

'u' as in underwear(sure to get a laugh, which always helps) or umbrella

3. Move to the first consonant on the list that will make a word with the vowel you just taught and teach that sound. 

4. Wether it be an hour or two days, practice these 2 sounds with chants, clapping, marching, words etc. until your child is confident with them.

5. Then with s-l-o-w, d-r-a-w-n out sounds, that blend from one to the next, make a word and read it. Have your child repeat it, sliding his finger across and under the sounds. You will say the word s-l-o-w-ly and then you will say the word fast. "Say it slow. Say it fast." use this language when teaching.


example from Justin: teaching "in"
say it slow: iiiiinnnnn  say it fast: in

To master one word is a huge feat. It is the first lesson in decoding, the first key to unlocking the code is making the connection between letters, sounds and words. In only days you will be teaching several new words at a time as you move through your list. Your child may even discover some on his own, and that is even better. When your child has an inquiry about sound, answer quickly with the sound and a word example, simply give the information and let him play around with it.

Take your time and celebrate each accomplishment.