Dear Early Intellect Families,

I have a Weekend Challenge for you! This one is designed to enhance your child's phonological awareness skills. I’m challenging you to find five minutes this weekend to practice this skill with your child.

Weekend Challenge: Segmenting Sounds in Words

What is Segmenting Sounds? Segmenting sounds is a crucial phonological awareness skill that helps children break words into individual phonemes (sounds). It's an essential step in learning to read and write as it enables them to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words.

Example: Let's take the word "cat" as an example. To segment the sounds, you and your child would say it slowly like this:

• /c/ (the first sound)
• /ă/ (the middle sound)
• /t/ (the final sound)

Challenge Activity: I’ve prepared a list of words, each containing three sounds, for you to use. Start by telling your child :

“Today we are going to practice segmenting sounds in words. When you segment the sounds that means you’re breaking the word apart. For example we can break the word cat into three sounds. /c/, /ă/, /t/. Or the word at into two sounds /ă/, /t/. I'll say a word and you repeat it. then I'll tell you to say all the sounds in the word. Are you ready?”

*tip: Do the first 3 together.

Say the word, have your child repeat the word and then segment the sounds.

Say sun: (sŭn) sounds? /s/ /ŭ/ /n/

Say cup: (cup) sounds? /c/ /ŭ/ /p/

Say dog (dŏg) sounds? /d/ /ŏ/ /g/

Additional words: hat, bed , fox, pig, bat, pen, jam, rug, net, lip, hut, web

If your child is brand new at practicing this skill, start with words that contain two sounds.

Words with two phonemes: at, it, up , in, me, if, zoo, off, see, if.

If your child struggles with this skill try these:

1. Add some movement like clapping or tapping: Encourage your child to clap their hands or tap their fingers on a table or their lap as they say each sound in the word. This kinesthetic approach can help!
2. Use manipulatives: Counters or other manipulatives can be used to push away as they say each sound.
3. Slow down: Remind your child to say each sound slowly. Emphasize that segmenting is about breaking the word into individual sounds, not pronouncing it quickly.
4. Do it together: Complete the activity together if your child is not yet able to fly solo.

Play this song for extra practice: Segmenting Phonemes| Phonemic Awareness Song​

We can't wait to see how you and your child excel at segmenting sounds in words during this weekend's challenge.

Share Your Progress: We love hearing about your learning experiences! Share your child's achievements with us on our social media platforms or by replying to this email. Use the hashtag #EarlyIntellectWeekendChallenge for a chance to be featured on our website and social

​
​

Warm regards,

Claire Thomas

​
​