Welcome back to Read Not Guess. Today is a review day. We’ll practice blending the sounds we learned this week and then give your kids a short “decodable” story to practice.
Both parent and child will need to be able to see the screen.
But first, let’s start with a word game.
Sound Subtraction
This is a speaking game. You’re going to say a word, and then ask your child to subtract a sound from the original word to make a new (shorter) one.
It’s important for kids to hear how words change when you add, subtract, or change sounds. It helps them hear the individual sounds in words and understand that different sound combinations convey different meanings.
Read your child the questions and see if they can come up with the answers:
Question: What word do you get when you remove “est” from “strongest?”
Answer: strong
Question: What word do you get when you remove “est” from “weakest?”
Answer: weak
Question: What word do you get when you remove “est” from “happiest?”
Answer: happy
Now try ones where you remove some common prefixes:
Question: What word do you get when you remove “re” from the word “redo?”
Answer: do
Question: What word do you get when you remove “re” from the word “retry?”
Answer: try
Question: What word do you get when you remove “dis” from the word “disagree?”
Answer: agree
Question: What word do you get when you remove “dis” from the word “disobey?”
Answer: obey
Question: What word do you get when you remove “pre” from the word “preschool?”
Answer: school
Question: What word do you get when you remove “pre” from the word “preview?”
Answer: view
If your child struggled with any of these, 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 subtracting sounds. Made-up words are fine! What's important here is for your child to hear the individual sounds and practice combining them together.
(Note that this is a game you can play anywhere. Try it at the dinner table, in the car, or anytime you’re waiting around.)
Word Practice
Now we’re going to work on “blending” words. Your child can start slowly by saying each sound individually, but each time, they should try to say it just a bit faster.
Let’s start with this one:
t est
test
And:
v e n t
v ent
vent
And:
s e v e n
se ven
seven
And:
g i v e n
gi ven
given
And:
r i v e r
ri ver
river
Silly Story
See if your child can read this short story:
A flock of loons was flying west.
The oldest loon saw a small pool.
“It is good to rest on a hot day. It will help us cool down,” he said.
“Yay! I have never been swimming,” said the shortest.
If they read it smoothly, great! If they stumble, have them keep working until they get it right.
That’s it for today. We’ll see you next time.