All of us enjoy teaching the ABC Song to young children. We get excited when toddlers can sing the song all the way through! And it feels like the first solid step in the process of learning to read. And most children can learn the ABC Song! Most can also recite the ABCs from A to Z. But is that enough?
Visuals, stories, and body motions work wonders in helping children learn to read, but honestly, they are stellar vehicles for teaching anything! One of the best times I've had in the classroom was the day we studied the water cycle in first grade.
Last time, we met Miss S, T, W, and Mr. H, and saw what happened when they walked together. Digraphs cause letters to make new sounds when they come together. Teaching sound spellings is one of the most beneficial things you can do to help your students become fluent readers who can easily decode new and unknown words.
One of the most challenging things about the English language has got to be homophones! These are words that sound the same, but they are spelled differently, and they have different meanings. This can make reading and spelling a bit tricky and frustrating. Take the confusion with this fun and engaging activity!
We’ve got two options when it comes to teaching a child to recognize SH, CH, TH, and WH. We can either point to SH and say, “This says Shhhh,” OR we can engage the entire child-- mind, emotions, and body-- in an activity that will make learning digraphs unforgettable.
