Okay… Let’s say your kids know their letters and sounds already.  Or maybe they just know a few of them but will soon know many more.  What should you do next?

As soon as your kids know enough letters and sounds to make a few words, it’s time to get them blending!  Let’s say they know the letters t, o, and p (the first three letters introduced in the Kinders Can! READ and WRITE! program).  Put the letters together to make as many regular consonant-vowel-consonant words as possible — top, pot, pop, tot.  Then show your kids how to use the letter sounds they have learned to sound out the words at hand.  In other words, teach them how to blend these letter sounds together to make real words!

 
Your goal when teaching your kids to blend sounds together should be to help  them “hear” the word as they make the letter sounds.  I like making the first sound on its own, emphasizing and dragging out the middle sound/vowel, and quickly (and a bit more quietly) adding on the ending sound so that it attaches itself to the middle sound.  Then I hook the beginning sound onto the rest.

When first teaching kids to blend, I typically ask them to use this blending technique three times in a row before actually blending the word together.  This not only helps them hear the word, but map this crucial information in their brains as well.

To be clear, when sounding out the word “top”, we would go, /t/,/oooo/p/ …  /t/, /oooo/p/ … /t/, /oooo/p/ … /top/.  Then I would ask them to use the word in a  sentence, making sure they understood the word they said aloud.
 

If you want to get your kids reading and writing this year, your first goal needs to be to make sure they know their letters and sounds.  This should be a short-term goal, though — not an all-year one.

If you are teaching kindergarten, expect your kids to know all of their letters and sounds within two to four months.  Some should pick them up even  faster.  Kids with serious developmental and/or speech delays may take a little longer.  But ALL of your kids should know them within five months, TOPS.  (If you are following the Kinders Can!  READ and WRITE! program, they should not only know all of their letters and sounds by then, but how to read and write real words using them as well.)

One activity that can help your kids learn their letters and sounds very quickly is a daily alphabet review.  An effective alphabet review covers each letter’s name, usual sound, and key word.  I’m a fan of using hand signals that represent the letter as well.  This helps your kinesthetic learners grasp them faster.  It helps your more visual ones as well.  Plus, it just makes it more FUN!

If you are a teacher wanting to add an effective alphabet review to your daily routine, simply gather your kids around your posted alphabet strip, and go over the letters, sounds, and key words associated with it.  While doing so, teach your kids hand signals that look as much like the capital or lowercase letters on your strip as possible.  Once they have the general idea of what to do, go through the whole alphabet, pointing at the letters, one at a time, as your kids say each letter’s name, sound, and key word.  Be sure they are making the appropriate hand signals as well.  Don’t worry if the review sounds a little tentative or choppy at first.  Just work on making sure everyone says the same thing at the same time.  Work on building speed and fluency as you go, pumping your kids up with compliments as they perform the drill.  Remember to say such things as, “Good job, Johnny!”, ” Way to go Jose!”  or, “Wow!  I can hear Shamika way over here!”.  This will really help to build enthusiasm as each child works to be recognized and/or please you.

After seeing a board breaking demonstration in school one day, my seven-year-old daughter decided she wanted to become a black belt.  I signed her up happily, knowing it would be good for her mind as well as her body.

When my daughter went to her first class, I noticed that she could barely do
a push-up.  I can remember seeing her arms shake as she tried to lift her body
up and put it back down again.  And I wasn’t even wearing my glasses.

As I watched, I wondered if she would ever be able to keep up with the kids
in her class.  They were so fit.  And the forms they were doing seemed so
complicated.  Would my little Anna ever really be able to become a black
belt?

Day after day, I was amazed at how her enthusiastic instructors allowed her
to grow at her own pace.  At how they didn’t seem the least bit concerned about her small stature or lack of muscle power.  At how they encouraged her…and motivated her, helping her to improve steadily and meet each new challenge with an open mind and heart.

Little by little, she got stronger and stronger.

Now, ten months later, she cranks out push-up after push-up.  Her arms are strong, her legs are strong, and every day she is getting closer and closer to her goal – becoming a black belt.

Teaching someone to read is a very similar process.  It takes time.  And energy.  And lots of positive encouragement.  And patience.

I was listening to Professor Randy Pausch deliver his “last lecture” on “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” the other day.  He was talking about how much football meant to him as a kid, and how his coach hadn’t brought any footballs to practice one day. 

The kids were all baffled.  Weren’t they going to have practice? 

As he retells it, one brave soul finally spoke up, pointing out that there weren’t any footballs.  The coach was nonplussed.  “We don’t need any footballs,” he replied  matter-of-factly.  He then asked the kids how many people were on a football field at a time. 

Twenty-two, they figured out. 

“How many people touch the football at any given time?” the coach followed. 

“One,” they quickly responded. 

 “Right,” he said.  “So we’re going to work on what those other 21 guys are doing!”

Randy Pausch said he got the message loud and clear – fundamentals were (and still are) important.  Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

“You’ve got to get the fundamentals down,” Randy Pausch said.  “Because  otherwise, the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.”

I thought about this for a minute, and realized that the same can be said about teaching kids to read and write.  They simply must have the fundamentals if the “fancy stuff” (fluency, comprehension skills, etc.) is going to work.