For some students, just saying the sounds in a word and trying to blend them together isn’t enough. They need to use more of their bodies to figure out words. Wilson Language System has a great way for beginning or struggling readers to figure out how to sound out words. It’s called tapping, or tap it out. We teach it to our kindergarteners when they are first saying sounds and blending words together.
It goes like this: If the word is cat, you take your index finger and tap it to your thumb and say /c/, then tap your middle finger to your thumb and say /a/, and finally, your ring finger to your thumb, and say /t/. Then, put your fingers together, and drag your thumb under all three fingers from index to ring, and blend the sounds together to make a word. It’s really that easy! It teaches students to put sounds in order and since they are using kinesthetic learning along with auditory learning, they are more likely to be successful. However, for some students, the tapping is too hard, so we resort to other ideas. This one is working for my active kindergarten boys right now. I have a paper with three squares in the middle, and they get three plastic chips to put above the squares. They look at a word, then drag the chips down as they say each sound. When all the chips are in the boxes, they run their finger underneath the chips, left to right, and say the sounds again to blend it together. Sometimes we have to say the sounds together several times before they hear the word. If you have a struggling reader who doesn’t understand how to sound out things, or has difficulty with left to right, try either of these ideas. They just might work on your beginning reader.
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AuthorMy name is Laura Coffin, and I am the reading specialist at Lake Placid Elementary School. I have a BA from William Smith College and a M.Ed. in Reading from Lesley University. I also hold a Wilson Language Level I certification. I teach reading, writing and spelling strategies to help all students! Follow me on twitter @lgaetacoffin Archives
December 2017
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