Beginning Readers
Your student is learning the basics of how to read. You will help them understand the individual sounds and letters in written language. The curriculum linked below contains a sequence of reading skills for your student to learn. Start with the first unit “One sound from two consonants”, and continue through the units in order. If a reading skill in the unit is too easy, that’s ok! You can move at a faster pace until you find a reading skill that needs some extra practice.
Remember to take breaks between worksheets or other activities, and have fun!
Just Getting Started?
Follow the 
‘s for your first steps
‘s for your first steps Follow these model lesson plans for a full tutoring session
Follow these model lesson plans for a full tutoring session
Click “One Sound from two consonants” below to get started with Academic support activities
Click “One Sound from two consonants” below to get started with Academic support activitiesWhen we read one sound made of two consonants, it is called a “digraph”. For example, in the question Where is the chicken? Notice the four digraphs marked in bold.
The first 4 digraphs in the list below — ch, sh, th, and wh — are also called “the h brothers”.
Try these online and in-person games and activities to practice digraphs!
Online Games and Activities
- Practice the digraph: ch with this word-picture matching game.
- Practice the digraph: ng with this matching-tiles game.
- For additional digraph practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Click here to explore Padlet Arcade and create your own free learning games!
In-person Games and Activities
- Practice digraphs with these in-person activities.
- For additional digraph practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Additional Tips
- To strengthen phonemic awareness, use finger or arm-tapping techniques to practice hearing, breaking apart, and blending sounds in words. See the additional tips below.
- Additional tip #1: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the finger technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
- Additional tip #2: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the arm tapping technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
The letters s, l, and r are often combined or blended with other consonants at the beginning of words.
Try these online and in-person games and activities to practice initial blends!
Online Games and Activities
- Practice initial S-blends with this picture-phrase matching game.
- Practice initial L-blends with this word-picture matching game.
- Practice initial R-blends with this word-picture matching game.
- For additional initial blends practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Click here to explore Padlet Arcade and create your own free learning games!
In-person Games and Activities
- Practice initial blends with this in-person activity.
- For additional initial blends practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Additional Tips
- To strengthen phonemic awareness, use finger or arm-tapping techniques to practice hearing, breaking apart, and blending sounds in words. See the additional tips below.
- Additional tip #1: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the finger technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
- Additional tip #2: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the arm tapping technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
We read many words with a long vowel sound when the word ends with the spelling pattern vowel-consonant-silent e (VCe). We also call this spelling pattern “the bossy e” because when the e shows up, the other vowel sound changes.
Try these online and in-person games and activities to practice long vowel sounds!
Online Games and Activities
- Practice long vowel /a/ with this matching-tiles game.
- Practice long vowel /i/ with this word-picture matching game.
- For additional long vowels practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Click here to explore Padlet Arcade and create your own free learning games!
In-person Games and Activities
- Practice long vowel sounds with this in-person activity.
- For additional long vowel practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Additional Tips
- To strengthen phonemic awareness, use finger or arm-tapping techniques to practice hearing, breaking apart, and blending sounds in words. See the additional tips below.
- Additional tip #1: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the finger technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
- Additional tip #2: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the arm tapping technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
The letters l, n, and others are often combined or blended with other consonants at the end of words.
Try these online and in-person games and activities to practice final blends!
Online Games and Activities
- Practice final N-blends with this word-picture matching game.
- Practice additional final blends with this word-picture sorting game.
- For additional final blends practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Click here to explore Padlet Arcade and create your own free learning games!
In-person Games and Activities
- Practice final N-blends with this in-person activity.
- For additional final blends practice: check out the additional tips section below for more ideas and strategies.
Additional Tips
- To strengthen phonemic awareness, use finger or arm-tapping techniques to practice hearing, breaking apart, and blending sounds in words. See the additional tips below.
- Additional tip #1: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the finger technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
- Additional tip #2: Watch this video (click here) to learn how to use the arm tapping technique to practice breaking apart and blending sounds in words.
Try the following tips and activities for further enrichment:
- Rhyming & alliteration games like this one from Susan Jones Teaching.
- “Hearing the sounds” game: Ask your student to say a word but without one sound or syllable (“say chair but without the ‘ch’… “air”!)
- Clap out your syllables! You can start with this song by Blazer Fresh.
- Read a story out loud while your student listens for a specific sound, and have your student do a special move (with their hands or whole body!) each time they hear the sound.
- Talk over what your student already knows about a topic they’re interested in, for example: animals, outer space, science or medicine, under the sea, or forms of transportation. In particular, social studies content has been shown to support literacy learning!
- Watch a couple of short videos to enrich understanding about the topic.
- Find an article with something that’s happened recently and/or locally related to the topic – if you have to read it out loud to your student, that’s fine.
- Finally, read a book (at your student’s reading level) together about it!
- Click here for examples of vocabulary activities by Susan Jones Teaching.
- I Spy the Sound: a fun way to build phonics skills and phonemic awareness. In this variation of the classic game, ‘I Spy’, ask your child to spy words that begin with a certain sound, rather than a letter. For example, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with mmm.”
- When practicing reading skills, you should always give your student the chance to try to find the answer themselves. If they aren’t ready for that, start offering them small clues that will lead to the right answer. For example, if a student says “cat” instead of “cut”, ask them to “slide through each sound” or “drive through the sounds” out loud: c – u – t.
- Personalize phonics skills by using your student’s name as an example! Review the sounds in their name, and come up with a list of other words that share each sound.
- Before reading a story, look at pictures or videos about the content or location of the story to make it come to life.
- Ask students to write a review, or a single sentence, describing what they just read.
- When you find a book that your student loves, look for other books with the same author or genre to try reading that, too.
- Ask your student to practice reading out loud.
- Read out loud to your student. For younger students, make it interactive and silly!
- Echo reading: ask your student to imitate you as you read. Choose a paragraph, story, or even script with lots of different types of expression, such as whispering, speaking loudly, dramatic pauses, or silly voices.
- Act out a scene together with as much drama as you can, while reading from a script.
- What the Science Says About How Kids Learn to Read (YouTube Video)
- Reading 101 guide from Reading Rockets (This resource is written for parents but contains lots of useful information for tutors.)
- Reading Rockets games (These games are designed to be played in person.)
- Click here for a customizable session outline (pdf).
- Visit our Literacy Program website.
- Visit the Literacy Program FAQs.
- If you need additional materials, email us at literacy@schoolonwheels.org.