The Letter "Z"

Welcome back to Read Not Guess. Today we’re going to work on the letter “Z.”

Remember that we’re going to focus on the sounds the letters make. Both parent and child will need to be able to see the screen.

Let’s get started.

Rhyming Challenge

Ask your child to pick out which of these three words does not belong (does not rhyme):

zoo / shoe / book

him / her / rim

ball / lob / mob

Letter Quiz

We’ve worked through a lot of letter sounds so far. Let’s check for understanding. Ask your child to say the correct sounds as they point to the letters:

u

s

h

e

r

Today’s Letter Sound

Today we’re going to work on the letter “Z.” It’s pronounced like a buzzing sound as in “zap.”

Ask your child to make the “zzz” sound 3 times as they point to the letters:

z

z

z

Ask your child if they can think of any words that start with the “zzz” sound.

If they need help, the words zebra, zip, and zero all start with the “z” sound.

Have them say the “zzz” sound 3 more times as they point to the letters:

z

z

z

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:

z i p

z ip

zip

Did they get it right? If they're still reading it as "zuh-ih-puh" by the end of the sequence, ask them to do it faster until they are reading the word "zip"correctly.

Let's do a few more:

z a p

z ap

zap

And:

z e n

z en

zen

And:

b u zz

b uzz

buzz

And a couple harder ones:

z ig z ag

zigzag

And:

p iz z azz

pizzazz

That’s it for today. We’ll see you next time.