The Franklin Press
Literacy Links - March 2016
Word Play
When children progress to reading text where there isn’t a more distinct language pattern and not as much picture support, it is very important for them to be able to take apart words independently. This often occurs as students end first grade and continues therein.
Some words the children encounter will be words they have learned as sight words, but others will be new to them. At this stage in reading, it is important for children to recognize parts or “chunks” of words. The goal is for children to be able to analyze the new words as they are reading the text.
Up to this point, children may have been relying on the beginning sounds but now they need to look through the whole word and find parts they already know.
One way to help your child be more successful with this new skill is through word play. Working with words will help your child learn to recognize parts they know, so they can apply it to new words.
Using magnetic letter or words written on paper, ask your child to change a letter in a word to make a new word. Start with a word like “cat”. Ask the child to change the first letter of the word to make the word, “hat”.
Progress by changing beginning letters first, then move on to changing the final letter and middle vowel. The child can change “cat” to “cab”, “cap”, etc.
Encourage your child to listen to each sound and pay attention to where h/she hears the sound in the word (beginning, middle, end). These word play games can be varied in many ways. Children love to change the letter themselves and come up with funny words.
Literacy App of the Month - Reading Ravens
This app is great for children to work on decoding skills as they progress through the levels.
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