syllables

Reading Difficult Words.

Jj is for Jottings 98.  Reading Difficult Words.

Picture of a man reading "Aa is for Alpacas", with the caption: Reading difficult words is not an issue with this book!

Reading difficult words is not an issue with this book!

When your child starts to read aloud to you, they will often have problems with reading difficult words.  These words may be just long, or tricky in other ways, such as having several consonants together.  (See consonant clusters).  Or they could have vowel patterns which are unfamiliar, the rules for which they don’t yet know.  It is important to give children time to try to work out the word for themselves.  This helps develop reading skills.  However, when they get really stuck you will need to help them out. Continue reading →

Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics.

Jj is for Jottings 94.  Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.

Picture of the book "Aa is for Alpacas" on a pot-bellied stove, with the caption: Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.

Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.

You may have heard the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics” and wondered what they mean and whether they are different terms for the same thing.  Let’s sort this out right now.

PHONICS.

This is sound-letter links – i.e. learning which sound is made by each letter of the alphabet, and other sounds which are made by combining 2 or more letters.  Children develop the concept that there are consistent relationships between letter symbols and sounds.  This book is a great way to learn sound-letter links.  But you need to make sure you are saying sounds rather than letter names.  You can find this on the video. Continue reading →

Blending Sounds: A Simple Game For Everyday Life.

Jj is for Jottings 77.  Blending Sounds: A Simple Game For Everyday Life.

What is Blending?

Blending is “pushing” individual sounds or syllables together to make a word.  In early stages of reading the child will be blending sounds, but as they progress and begin to recognise chunks of words, they will also be blending syllables. Continue reading →

Understanding Unclear Speech.

Jj is for Jottings 74.  Understanding Unclear Speech.

When a child’s speech is unclear, it could range from a single sound substitution such as a lisp (which is, in effect, saying /th/ instead of /s/ and which, although not perfectly clear, is perfectly intelligible) right through the continuum to multiple substitutions, omission of sounds and syllables, addition of sounds, and distortion of sounds – the result of which is likely to be largely or completely unintelligible. Continue reading →

Schwa – The Undercover Vowel.

6 days after we said goodbye to April, Shikha had to have surgery on his paw to remove a foreign body (which didn’t turn out to be there after all!) He kept walking around shaking his leg, trying to get rid of the yellow bandage with smiley faces on it. It lasted all of 24 hours. He said It Didn’t Make Him Feel Like Smiling and he Wasn’t Putting Up With It Any Longer.

Jj is for Jottings 46.  Schwa – the Undercover Vowel.

There’s a sneaky little vowel which we say many times every day and are probably quite unaware of it.  Its name is “schwa”, its phonetic symbol is /ə/, and it sounds like a little grunt.  It’s the undercover vowel because Continue reading →