Problem solving with Rocket Phonics

 One of the wonderful aspects of Rocket Phonics is that it is so logical. Thus it is very easy to find out and fix whatever is delaying a child’s reading progress. The best solutions depend on teaching in the learning style your child prefers so find out by going to www.howtolearn.com and taking the free learning styles test.

Play & Read Cards:

Mastering Phonemic Awareness

And Developing A Phonics System.

The Play & Read Cards are designed to connect the vast visual memory of the right brain with the verbal memory of the left-brain where words have meaning. This connection allows the child to see a word, and sound out the letters, and eventually, to just recognize whole words by sight. Great readers develop sight words to improve fluency and comprehension.

The first concept is to be sure that your child knows the word for the picture on each card. For example, the word for the card with the eagle pictured is not bird, but eagle. (The word is printed on each card.) When she plays with the cards, your child is fixing the picture in her visual memory while linking it to a word in her auditory memory. 

The second concept is to see if she knows the featured sound in each word. For example, ea (long e) is the featured sound in eagle. The third concept is to see if your child connects the sound to the letter(s). For example, see if she can tell you what sound ea makes. This is the bridge between phonemic awareness and phonics -- a system of letters that represent sounds.

The last concept is to have her blend the sounds from the cards. For example, the ship card and the food card have the sounds sh and oo and make the word shoo as in "Shoo, dog." When your child begins to blend these sounds, she is ready to move to the next step in the Rocket Phonics reading system!

 If your child is having difficulty with any of these concepts try these diagnostic steps. (If your answer is yes and there is no link then read the next diagnostic step.)

Problem

Diagnostic Steps

Our child looks at letters and incorrectly identifies some of them. For example, when he sees the letter m he names it w.

1. Rule out vision problems.  Visiting an ophthalmologist is a start. Tell the doctor about any consistent confusion. For more information on other kinds of vision problems ask Pat Wyman.

 

2. Does your child know all the letters of the alphabet? Yes / No

 

3. Does he consistently confuse only certain letters?  Yes / No

Our child plays Go Fish, but says only the letter names.

1. Model the correct behavior, “Suzie, Do you have a ‘tuh’ as in tiger?”

2. Try other games for ideas click here.

She plays Go Fish, but she can’t read words.

1. Be sure you are saying only the featured sounds not the name of the letter.

 

2. The cards are color-coded start with the green cards and the red-orange cards first.

 

3. Model the correct behavior, “Suzie, Do you have a ‘tuh’ as in tiger?”

 

4. If Suzie says, “Do you have an ‘eh’ as in egg?” she understands the idea of phonemic awareness. Skip to the next problem.

 

5. If Suzie says, “Do you have egg?” she doesn’t understand the idea of phonemic awareness. Click here for a solution.

He can say some of the letter-sounds, but he can’t blend them.

Check which sounds can he say. Send the results to drphonics@rocketphonics.com

She can say all the letter-sounds, but she can’t blend them.

Blending may be a matter of how fast they go from one sound to the other for a solution click here.

He can blend the letter-sounds on the cards, but not on the page.

If you show him the 36 letters without their picture, does he know the sound each makes? Yes / No

 

2. Does he know the letter for each sound? For example, t has the ‘tuh’ sound. Yes / No

I have a problem with the Play & Read Cards not described here.

Tell Dr. Phonics: drphonics@rocketphonics.com be sure to place "Play & Read Card problems" in the subject line.

Bingo

 

We play Bingo, and she doesn’t cover the correct letters.

1. Say only the featured sounds, not the name of the letter, “We have a ‘tuh’ as in tiger.”

 

2 While playing be sure she can reference the left hand page with the pictures.

 

3. Check that he covers the right letter. If he doesn’t then apologize for not speaking clearly, and say the letter again pointing to the letter under the picture.  As you point you may tell him the letter looks like this.

 

4. Blending may be a matter of how fast your child moves from one sound to the next for a solution click here.

My Question is not here.

Tell Dr. Phonics: drphonics@rocketphonics.com be sure to place "My question is not on your website" in the subject line.