Show children the LETTERS and groups of letters (vowel patterns) that match those sounds.

There are so many ways that we can help children learn to match the sounds that they know to letters and vowel patterns. Your goal is to make sure that your children know 26 letters, 4 blends (sh, th, ch, and qu), and approximately 44 vowel patterns (see the Vowel Patterns chart on the left side of the page). The following games and activities are samples from the book "This is Not a Complete Reading Program™", and make phonics and word study practice fun! Even after formal systematic phonics instruction, children must continue to practice what they have been taught.

Alphabet Memory Card Game Are your children just beginning to learn about print? Teach your children how SOUNDS can be printed with this concentration game. Print all of the letters (26 letters plus sh, th, ch, and qu) of the alphabet on small cue cards twice, and play concentration. Start with the letters s, m, d, l, t, n, h, b, r, f, w, sh, th and all of the vowels (a, e, i, o, u). Do not worry about the others until your children have mastered these. When each card is turned over, your child must say the SOUND of that letter - not just the letter name.

Alphabet "Go Fish" Use the alphabet cards from above and play "Go Fish"! Hand out five cards to each player, and place the remaining cards in large pile face down. The first player asks another player for a letter that matches one in his/her hand. Your children could say the SOUND of that letter - not just the letter name (ie: "do you have any "mmmmmmm" cards?"....rather than "do you have any `emms'?"). If a player receives a matching card, he/she keeps the pair, and the next player takes his/her turn. If a player does not have a match when asked, he/she says "Go Fish", and the player must then pick up a card from the "fish pile".

Upper Case-Lower Case Alphabet Matching Game This game is similar to Alphabet Memory. Print all of the upper case letters on one set of cue cards, and print all of the lower case letters on another set of cue cards. Ask your children to match the upper case letters with the lower case letters. You can play this game in many different ways (i.e.: print the upper case letters on clothes pegs and print the lower case letters on a long piece of cardboard so that your children can clip on the matching letter to the cardboard).

Letter-Sound Alphabet Matching Game Print all of the letters of the alphabet on cue cards (include sh, th, ch, and qu). Cut out (from magazines) or draw several pictures of things that begin with these sounds. Lay out the pictures and give your children the letters. Ask your children to find the first sound (and later, the last or middle sound) of the object in the picture, and have them place the letter on the picture.

Alphabet War Use the same alphabet cards from above. This game is for two people. Each player gets half of the deck. Both players turn over a card from their pile at the same time. Whoever turns over the card with the higher value wins the two cards. A has the lowest value, and Z has the highest value.

Vowel Pattern Memory Card Game Similar to Alphabet Memory, print all of the vowel patterns on small cue cards twice, and play concentration. When your children turn over each card, they must say the SOUND of that pattern - not the names of the letters on the card.

CRAZY CARDS! Crazy Shorts - Crazy Longs - Crazy Mixes Played just like the popular card game crazy 8's, this set of 15 different decks of cards will teach your children speaking, listening, vocabulary, and decoding skills in a way that will not only guarantee higher levels of reading achievement, but also endless hours of FUN! Click here for more information.

Letter Up! This is an excellent game that will teach your children how to read words by breaking them down into their sounds and by blending them together again to read the word. First we will present a detailed description of this game, but once you know how to play, use the quick set of instructions that follow. MAKE: One set of consonant letters on small 4x5cm cards with a bright coloured marker. Put a large paperclip on them: b c d f g h j k l m n p qu r s t v w x y z sh th ch Fifteen sets of vowel patterns. Put a paperclip on each group of letters: an at ad ap am ack (put a paperclip around these) en et ell ed est (put a paperclip around these) ig ish ill it ick in (put a paperclip around these) ot og op ock on (put a paperclip around these) uck ug un um up (put a paperclip around these) All of the above short vowel pattern cards should be in the same colour (but a in a colour that is different than the consonant cards). Make the 5 groups of "long vowel pattern" cards in another colour and the 5 groups of "miscellaneous vowel pattern" cards in yet another colour. Place the 15 groups of vowel patterns and the large set of consonants in a zip lock baggie with six pennies. SET UP: Spread out the group of consonant letters in a "go fish" style pile on your child's right. Spread out ONE group of vowel patterns in a row on your child's left. (For example: Long i: i i_e, igh, ie, y) PLAY: Choose a word with the long i sound in it (i.e.: right). Place the same # of pennies in front of your child as there are sounds in the word (i.e.: "right" has three sounds: r - igh - t, so place three pennies in front of your child). Ask your child to: "Breakdown...right" by pointing to one penny at a time. Your child should say each sound separately ( r - igh - t). Ask your child to: "Find the letter that matches the first sound in the word, and place it ON TOP of the first penny". Continue until all of the pennies are covered up with a letter or vowel pattern. If your child chooses a different spelling for the vowel pattern, PRAISE the attempt and ask him/her to try another spelling until the right one is found (i.e.: if your child chooses i_e for the word right (rite), say "YES! You have found the correct sound, but choose a different spelling for that sound"). PRAISE and congratulate your child for finding the sounds. Ask your child to "Breakdown" the word two times (r-igh-t, r-igh-t) and point to each sound. Then ask your child to "Blend" the word together again (have him run his finger under the whole word (right). And finally, ask your child to: "Make up a sentence with the word" (always ask for a long and detailed sentence). Be sure that he/she knows exactly what the word means. You may challenge your child by asking: How can we change "right" into "flight"?

Letter Up! Quick Reference FOR SHORT VOWEL PATTERN WORDS Set out the consonants on the right of your child and one set of vowel patterns (i.e.: an am at ack ad ap) on the left of your child. Pick a word (i.e.: stand). Put down the same # of pennies as there are sounds in the word (i.e.: for "stand" you would put out 4 pennies). Ask your children to find the sounds first! Say "Breakdown.......stand" and ask them to "Point to the pennies and say each sound in the word". Say: "Can you find the letter that matches the sound "s"? "Can you find the letter that matches the sound "t"? "Can you find the vowel pattern that matches the sound "an"? "Can you find the letter that matches the sound "d"? Say "Perfect! You've found all of the sounds!" Say "Breakdown (stand) 2 times and Blend". Say "Can you tell me a sentence using that word?"