Today is rung 4 of 23 on this topic
All 26 letter sounds
Can do: Sees a letter and says its sound — not its name — quickly and without a run-up.
Why it matters
Every word they will ever decode is built from this. Slow sound recall is the most common single cause of struggling reading in Grade 1.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Gives the letter name instead of the sound, hesitates for two or three seconds, or mixes up b/d, p/q, m/n, and the short vowels.
⏱️ Two-minute check
Write ten mixed letters on paper, including two vowels. Point at each: "What sound?"
Solid looks like: Eight or more, each inside about a second. Speed matters as much as accuracy here.
The full activity for this topic · 5 minutes
Speed Sounds
- 1Make a card for each letter. Keep the ones they know in a "got it" pile and work with five unknowns.
- 2Flash each card: they say the sound, you say it with them if they pause.
- 3Time one full run of their five and write the time on the fridge. Beat it tomorrow.
- 4Retire a card to the "got it" pile after three fast days, and pull a new one in.
- 5Say pure sounds — "b" not "buh". A tacked-on uh makes bat sound like buh-a-tuh and blocks blending.
If it's too hard
Work with three cards, all visually different — s, m, a — never b and d in the same set.
If it's too easy
Add digraphs: sh, ch, th, ck. Those four unlock a huge slice of English.
Say this
"Just the sound, not the name. Sss — like a snake."