Teach Phonograms with Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

The last phonogram post I made was titled Teach Phonograms with Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?


Put Me in the Zoo and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? are two great books to use to teach phonograms. These are books young children will listen to over and over. You can teach new phonograms each time you read these stories.

I suggested teaching a few phonograms at a time. The first phonogram that stands out in both of these books is oo. The phonogram oo can make more than one sound. The least common sound of oo is the sound found in the words: book, look, took, good, and foot. You can tell your child this information, but I think it's best to teach the most common sound first.

If you have a child just getting started with learning phonograms start with oo and show this phonogram in both books as you read these to your child.

Here are the words with the oo phonogram in Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire.
zoo, too
You could show the word good. It has the oo phonogram, but it makes the least common sound.
You could show the words do, you, and two. They rhyme with the words zoo and too. It's great to show children early that some sounds are spelled differently. This teaches an early reader to be flexible with rules.

Teach Phonograms with Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

How Can a Parent Help a Child Improve Reading Comprehension?

The best thing a parent can do is read to a child starting at a young age. Many parents stop reading to their children as they get older. I'm guilty of reading less to my school aged children.

Parents?
Does your child avoid reading? Does your child say he/she can't find a good book to read? Your child might be struggling with reading comprehension. You can help.

7 Keys to Comprehension has been my go to resource for ideas to help my youngest son with reading comprehension. I use ideas from this book for all three of my children. I'm able to purposely share my thinking, ask questions, and have interactions during reading a book to help my children use the 7 keys to improve reading comprehension.

I suggest finding good books to read out loud to your child and teach your child to use the 7 keys:

1. Create mental images.
2. Use background knowledge.
3. Ask questions.
4. Make Inferences.
5. Determine the most important ideas or themes.
6. Synthesize information.
7. Use "fix-up" strategies.

You can teach a child to use these 7 Keys while reading to your child, while listening to your child read, or while sharing the reading of a book. It's never too late to start. Buy the book. Start with one section at a time. I saw huge improvements in my youngest son's desire to read chapter books after I taught him to create mental images.

This book is written in a parent friendly format and is also useful for teachers. There are recommended books, descriptions of the keys, ideas to teach keys separated by age groups, classroom connections, and more.

Socks by Beverly Cleary, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume are three classic stories that will hold the attention of most children. You'll love the rich language, humor, and interesting plots. These books have all the elements needed to teach a child the 7 keys.

How Can a Parent Help a Child Improve Reading Comprehension?

Free Early Reader Books

DLTK' s Mini-books can be printed, folded, and read with a beginning reader. I have personally printed and used some of these books. I love the repeated language and high frequency words. You can set your printer settings to use less ink, so printing these books will be less expensive.

Looking for ways to teach phonics? Check out Starfall or Progressive Phonics.

Free Early Reader Books

Teach r controlled phonograms with Free Online Stories from Starfall

Starfall is one of my favorite free sites to teach children to read. This site has free resources to teach a child about reading.

Starfall has free online games and stories to teach a child r contolled vowel phonograms.

Car Race is available online with animations when you click on the pictures. You can purchase the entire set of Starfall Learn to Read book set on their website. Many times having a hard copy to reread anytime is best for beginning readers.

Starfall has a free game your child should try to teach the r contolled phonogram "ar"!



Surfer Girl is available online with animations when you click on pictures. 

There's a game on Starfall to teach the r controlled phonograms "ir, er, and ur".

My Horse Glory is available online with animations when you click on pictures. 

Find a game to teach the "or" r controlled phonogram and a game to review and sort a mix of r controlled phonograms.
Plus a picture hunt game for "or" words.

Teach r controlled phonograms with Free Online Stories from Starfall

Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons and Sheet Protectors

Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons easily wipe off sheet protectors. I don't recommend using crayola dry erase crayons on dry erase boards. It takes a lot of work to rub the crayon off and smudges are left behind.

Dry-erase markers work best for dry-erase boards. I love using dry-erase markers for teaching children, but I get nervous about leaving them alone with the markers. Dry erase markers leave permanent marks on whatever they touch.

I can leave my children alone while using dry-erase crayons without worrying about marks being made on clothes, chair cushions, tables, or carpet. I have fallen in love with dry-erase crayons and sheet protectors. I think you will love them too.

Dry erase crayons and sheet protectors make learning fun and economical.

Slide in a blank sheet of paper for writing practice. Wipe off writing with the material mitt that comes in your crayon box or cut-up an old sweatshirt to use as an eraser.



Slide a copy of a story or poem inside a sheet protector and let a child underline or circle words and letters.

Put a sheet protector over a page in a book to underline or circle words, letters, spelling patterns, or phonograms.

Use your workbooks more than once by sliding it inside or covering a page with a sheet protector.

You should be able to find dry-erase crayons and sheet protectors in many of your local stores or online.

Crayola Dry-Erase Crayons and Sheet Protectors

Teach Phonograms with Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? is filled with common two letter phonograms.


Here are the two letter phonograms you can point out while reading Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? to your child. (oo, ow, ou, or, ee, ea, ai, ur, ar, er, ew, oi)

This is a good book to start introducing how two letters can work together to make one sound. You can start by introducing the oo sound.
The letters oo are in a bunch of words in this story.
(moo, rooster, hoo, choo, too, doodle-doo, boom)

ow - Brown, cow, how, owl
ou - about
or - cork, horse, horn, door
ee - bee, feet, eek
ea - squeaky
ai - rain, train
ur - blurp, slurp
ar - smart, hard
er - rooster, wonderful, whisper, butterfly, wonder, thunder
ew - chewing
oi - noise

Most children love this story read to them over and over. You can point out one or two phonograms each time you read the story. This story was one of my children's favorite books. Have fun and let your child help you read this story from memory or from looking at the words.

Teach Phonograms with Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Separating Words by Syllables Can Help a Child Sound Out Words

When a more than one syllable word comes up in a story a child is reading you can teach a child to use phonics rules for each syllable in the word. An adult helping a child read can show the first syllable of the word. Then the child can attempt to read the first syllable using phonics rules.

I've taught the students I tutor some simple phonics rules. When a more than one syllable word comes up in a story a student is reading I've been tapping or clapping the number of syllables. I don't do this for every word. My goal is to have these children take words apart by syllable and use phonics rules to give sounding out longer words a try.

Separating words by syllables and making the sounds that follow the rules gives a new reader a starting point to sound out a word. I've taught the students I'm tutoring phonics rules. I've taught them to be flexible when reading:
vowel sounds can change,
sometimes letters work together to make new sounds,
some letters are silent,
but letters can't be added that aren't there.

Teach and practice some phonics rules, check if a child can hear how many syllables in a word and give reading longer words by syllables a try.

Separating Words by Syllables Can Help a Child Sound Out Words