Welcome to 2011, folks! I don’t know about you, but I found the festivities completely rejuvenating. I feel completely ready to tackle the New Year–and the tutoring of my two favorite girls in the world as they venture into the world of reading.
Without further ado, here’s a long-awaited teaching tip!
Technically this is not a diphthong, because the tongue doesn’t move, but I am calling it one anyhow because I am taking some liberties for the sake of simplifying the labels on this blog. This vowel combination glides from one sound to another, plus a lot of folks simply think that diphthongs are vowel combos the way digraphs are consonant combos, neither of which is precise, but it’ll suffice for our purposes.
Ahem.
To introduce ew, tell the child the sound. Then give some examples, writing them out in the chart as you go:
ew_____dewgrewflewdrew
By this time, most children are accustomed to these little charts and get the hang of sounding out the new sounds quickly. Use each new word in a sentence to avoid any unnecessary confusion. Choose other ew words if there are some that you know your child will enjoy reading more than the ones I chose for my children.
If you are using the new, improved binder system, please remember that this chart will be written on a 3×5 card that has been cut in half. When you are done, slip the card into the cardholder in the “daily” section of your binder. If the child does well with daily review after a few more lessons, move the card to the “even” or “odd” section, and so on until you reach monthly review, which will continue as long as you like.
Get My Free Binder Guide!
The Teaching Reading with Bob Books method uses a special binder system in order to simply and easily tailor the frequency of review to the needs of each individual child. This free guide explains exactly what you need and how to build the TRwBB Binder so that you can get started teaching right away.
