KEEP DRIVING READING UPWARDS

Recently, I wrote an article about interpreting pictures as a preparation for learning to read. I emphasized in this article the link between the words and the picture. The words tell about the picture and the picture tells about the words.  I want to show the same relationship or link between phonological awareness, phonics, pictures and words.

If the relationship between phonological awareness, phonics, pictures and words isn’t developed, children will have difficulty with the abstract nature of matching the sound of the letter to the letter itself. Teaching this relationship is a skill in itself, it requires keen observation and knowledge of the stages that children move through to be great readers. Some children can see these relationships immediately and move ahead at 100 miles per hour. There are other children who take more time to understand how these components fit together. AND there are some children who need to be taken by the hand, step by step and explicitly shown the connections. So, consider the speed that your child will be travelling at on this spelling journey and buckle up for a fast, medium or a slow trip. But whatever the speed of the journey, make sure that your child consolidates at each level so that you will never have to use the STOP sign but will, at times, need to slow to capitulate, or reverse for a while to consolidate.

Before beginning this activity, the child should be able to identify  beats (syllables) in words by some action. It could be clapping, stamping or jumping. Identifying the first sound of a given word and the ability to blend sounds to make a word, also need to be consolidated. Practise, practise until the phonological awareness is moving at an automatic pace.The next step is to match the sounds to pictures. The cards from the card pack   Letter Box Letter Matching Game Introduction Package   http://www.letterboxlearntoread.com/products   and the automatic pack     need to be printed off so that this activity can be introduced. Even though the letters are underneath the pictures, I ignore them at this stage and only concentrate on the characters in the pictures.

In a small group or with two players, I give each player, about five cards. The letter cards (without pictures) are placed in a pile in the middle of the table. I take one letter at a time and ask one child at a time if they have a picture that starts with the sound of the letter that I have in my hand e.g. if I had the letter h, I would say, "Jennifer, have you got a picture that starts with the sound/h/?" (the // shows the symbol for the sound rather than the letter). This activity must be continued until the child easily matches the sounds to the pictures. The next blog will be matching the letter to the sounds with the picture!!!

Ann Foster

Ann Foster is a teacher with a unique talent to provide back to basics step by step programs/products and tutoring for students in Australia and overseas.Her programs and products help children, teachers and parents to achieve extraordinary results quickly. She has a track record of bringing into action programs that are easy to follow and that achieve results. Ann has been working online teaching students and adults successfully for the last four years and has taken children from average results to well above. Her programs are tried and proven and bring clarity out of chaos. Letter Box staff solve problems and puts wings onto dreams www.letterboxlearntoread.com