Sounding out CVC Words and a Common Mistake!

Teaching a child to learn how to read is perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects in education!  There is something special about hearing a child sound out a word for the first time and then seeing the excitement on their faces.  They feel accomplished and so proud of themselves!   As a parent or teacher, we also feel excited and proud!  It really is a precious moment!

Although each child progresses at a different pace, many young children can pick up letter sounds sounds and how to sound out words when they are given the opportunity.  At The Moffatt household, we have been playing around with sounds since Sophia was about 14 months.  At a young age, we teach children that animals make sounds.  For example, a cow says, “moo” and a duck says, “quack”.   This type of play is very common ground for children and fun for them to learn.  As simple as that is, we can also teach children that letters make sounds and we can also make it fun.  The a says /a/ and the be says /b/.  We can sing about it, talk about and make it a daily event.  Learning should be fun, especially at this age!

Here is a video that I really wasn’t planning to share on my blog. It was more of a video for The Moffatt man so he could see Sophia “reading”.  We were just doing some our daily school activities and Sophia really wanted a reading printable, like her big sister.   You will notice at the end of the video that Sophia makes a very common mistake, which is made by most children when they are first learning how to read.

Although Sophia has worked on CVC words in the past, I wasn’t sure how well she would do with this printable or if she would be interested in trying it.  She is an “I do it myself” type of girl and if she doesn’t want to do something, she won’t do it.  As you can see in the video, she did quite well with the printable and she was very pleased with herself!  I think she must have watched the video at least 10 times after we were done:)  She even wanted to watch herself before the video was done.

First let me say that this little honey melts my heart and yes, she is doing “school” in a tutu!  How cute is that!  I guess it is one of the benefits of homeschooling 🙂

A Common Mistake
The other thing that you might notice is that when I pointed to the word can, she sounded out the word cat. This is a very common mistake that early readers make.  They work hard on the first few sounds and then they guess on the last sound.  Most children do this and they do it often when learning how to read.  Patience and redirecting a child to focus on the last letter can really help with this very common issue.

Although we are getting very close to starting Ready2Read Level 1, we are in no hurry.  I think this little Moffatt Girl will start in a few months.

Here are a few printables that we are working on as she is getting Ready2Read!  The goal is to make it fun and so far that is working!

1) Beginning Sounds Packet – Since she still struggles with some sounds, this packet is perfect and helps with building confidence.

2)Phonics Watches-Another tool to help with beginning sounds.

3) Alphabet Phonics Headbands– She LOVES these and they are great for practicing beginning sounds!

4) We have just started learning some sight words and our Sight Word Watches are a winner!

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