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Play the "Rhyming Challenge" and "Blending" Games

Welcome back to Read Not Guess. Today is a review day. We’ll practice blending the letters we learned this week and then play a couple games to help build your child’s understanding of how sounds combine into words.

Let’s get started.

Word Practice

We’re going to work on “blending” letter sounds into words. Your child can start slowly by saying each sound individually, but each time, they should try to say it just a bit faster.

Ask your child to say the correct sounds as they point to the letters:

a t at And:

u p up By the end, make sure your child is reading the word as "up" (and not "up-puh"). Let’s do a couple more:

p a t p at pat And:

t a p t ap tap Rhyming Challenge

Rhyming is an important skill for people who are learning to read. It helps them hear the individual sounds in words.

Give your child 20 seconds to name as many words as they can that rhyme with “at.” Give them a high five or fist pound for every word they come up with.

(Made-up words like “dat” are ok at this point, but gently correct them if they say something that is not a rhyme, like “cap.” Say both the correct and incorrect words slowly and clearly so they can hear the difference.)

If they need help, the words bat, flat, and rat all rhyme with “at.”

Blending Game

This is a speaking game. You’re going to divide words into their sound parts, and then ask your child to say the word.

To start, say the word “aaat” very slowly. Ask them to repeat “aaat” slowly just like you said it, and then have them say it faster until they can guess your word (“at”).

Here are some more words to try:

P-aaa-t = pat C-aaa-t = cat Sss-aaa-t = sat Mmm-aaa-t = mat T-aaa-p = tap Nnn-aaa-p = nap Mmm-aaa-p = map Sss-t-aw-p = stop

If your child struggled with any of the words, go back and have them do it again. Repeated practice is good for kids.

For a harder challenge, swap roles. Have your child give you a word to guess based on a combination of sounds. Made-up words are fine! What's important here is for your child to hear the individual sounds and practice combining them together.

Weekend Challenge

You can play these “Rhyming Challenge” and “Blending” games anywhere. Try them at the dinner table, in the car, or anytime you’re waiting around.

That’s it for today. We’ll see you next week, ~Chad

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