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Review Day: Short Vowel Sounds and the "I Spy" Game

Welcome back to Read Not Guess. Today is a review day. We’ll work on practicing short vowel sounds and then sound out a few words. I’ll leave you with a suggestion for a game to play over the weekend to reinforce what your kids are learning.


If you missed a lesson, you can always go back and find those here.


Let’s get started.


Short Vowel Sounds


Kids often struggle with different vowel sounds. See if they can nail these words with short vowel sounds:


ad

bad

mad

sad

had

Now these:


ed

fed

red

led

Ted

And these:


ig

rig

dig

big

pig

And:


od

pod

god

nod

rod


Now these:


ud

bud

sud

mud

dud


Can they come up with any other words that would fit these patterns? (Don’t worry if they say made-up words or words that are spelled differently, like “said” or “dead.” At this stage, the ability to rhyme words and recognize the vowel sounds are more important.)


Word Practice


Now 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:


l i p

l ip

lip

And:

l e g

l eg

leg


And


s l i p

s l ip

slip

And:


t e ll

t ell

tell


Weekend Game: Play “I Spy…” With Letter Sounds


Try playing the classic “I Spy…” game with your child using letter sounds. One person might start by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the “sss” sound.”


The other person has to guess things they see that start with the “sss” sound, like sofa or stairs. Once they guess correctly, switch roles and start with a new word.


This game is a good time waster at the dinner table, a restaurant, or waiting in line. (It doesn't work as well when you're in a car or walking around.)


That’s it for this week. We’ll see you next time,

~Chad

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