I'm having a bit of trouble explaining to dd when each vowel combo makes each sound. For instance: oo in moon, and oo in book ow in plow and ow in flow I've explained both, and she understands ok, but which sound for these do I have her 'try' first? Our program taught her ou and ow (ouch and plow) first, then ow and oa at the same time (flow and boat). I'm hoping this is the order of operations for sounds based on frequency of each? I have no idea though. The practice lists in our program are set up so ONLY the current sound is being practiced. That's great, but doesn't translate as well to non-controlled storybooks.
I don't know what program your using but mine taught all the phonograms and then it went back and taught all the rules for each of them. We have them on flashcards with the rules written on the back.
Flash cards are great and just running into the different combinations as she reads next to you for help will help her by leaps and bounds.
Thanks guys. She gets the sounds fine. Is there an order she should be using for the sounds of each when she encounters a word in a story? (for instance, should she try ow like 'ouch' first or ow like low?)
I don't think it matters which she tries first - obviously there may be one that is more common and that would be ideal, but since I don't know which it is it shouldn't really be that much of a problem. I find my 4 year old automatically changes most words to the correct sound when she reads them in context else the story does not make sense - keep working on comprehension and vocabulary with her and she will eventually be able to hear the correct word in her head without having to try both options. You could also try playing with words that are common (book, look, moon, soon) and say them incorrectly to her (use a funny voice) and ask her what is wrong and how she could fix it. A lot of early phonics is about hearing rather than seeing and especially when it comes to the combos that make two sounds.
I completely agree! My kids stumbled over those sounds for a while, then as their vocabulary increased they slowly started to get them right. Most of the time when they are reading to me, I let them sound it out. If it isn't right then I offer the other sound or ask them what other sound the letters could make. They get it pretty quick. Spelling them has been a different issue!
