Sports reviews of yesterday’s exciting Super Bowl talked about key plays. While kindergarten readiness is not a sports contest some of the strategies are the same: practice, teamwork, using what you already know and having fun. A key play for kids is learning how words work. Just like the players on the field Sunday put together some different plays, when we use words we put them together using different bits of sounds, (think of the ‘at’ family of words-bat, cat, mat, rat, sat, or words that start the same like super, sandwich, snack, etc. ) This is critical knowledge for later learning to read. Here is a fun idea for some practice on word sounds, using the sound at the very start of words.
Valentine starts with the sound ‘vh’ . Together, you and your child can think of some other words that start like valentine, like vacuum, or violin, or vampire. Make up some pairs and ask your child if they start the same or not. “Do vanilla and grape start the same?” “How about vine and video?” Here are some more v words: vein, vulture, van, vent, voice. Oh, and one more–vacation! What else starts with a ‘vh’ sound? Q. What did the Valentine say to the stamp? A. Stick with me and we’ll go places.