25 Ways to Overcome Letter Confusion

Take, for example, an apple. Turn it upside down, is it still an apple? Flip it over, still an apple? With any object you choose, no matter how you hold it, it will not change what we call it.From the moment we are born and start focusing, this is what we learn. Then, when we start to learn to read, the rules change; 'd' if we reflect it, it becomes 'b' but some of us still see it as 'd' just like the appleArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6516563

We've been tackling letter confusion the past two weeks.

 I thought I would make a comprehensive list of different ways to help with letter confusion.

Our brain learns things when we touch, handle and feel things. Most of these ideas are kinaesthetic in their approach.

Have fun!

1. Use food. 

In this example, I used berries and bananas. We ate one piece of fruit at a time while saying a word that began with the letter "D"

2. Use your hands to make the shapes of the letters

3. Give the letter a  Phonetic Personality

4. Glow in the dark letters

Observe the letter in the dark. Ask the child to close their eyes and to visualize the letter they just saw.

Turn the light on and ask them to write it on your hand

5. Use a geo board

6. Press out the letters in tinfoil

8. Sand Paper/Sparkle Dust method

A Montessori teacher taught me this trick.

Using sandpaper or in my case, sparkle dust that has been glued onto the letter, have the child trace the letter with their fingers. As they trace it, say the phonetic sound- "Duh". 

Afterwards, have them trace it again and ask them, "What sound does that make?"

 !

9. Trace the letter

10.Using rice, bird seed, shaving cream or salt have the child trace the letter

11. Lace 'em Up

12. Use glue and beans

13. Playdoh

14. Stamp it, then trace it

15. Write letters on your child's back and have them guess what letter you wrote

16. Write letters in the air

17. Use your body to make the letters

18. Try and find the letters in unusual places

(in this case, the taco shells are D's)

19. For  lower case "b" and "d", give them the thumbs up!

20. Use snow and food colouring

(salt or shaving cream works if you don't have snow)

21. Use glow sticks

22. Window markers

23. Close your eyes and draw the letter on paper 

24. Walk, crawl or skip along the letter

(use chalk in summer or newsprint and marker in the winter)

Sing out words that start with that letter

25. Play Wipe out

Christian Youth Reads I *Heart*

I love youth fiction. 

When I was a new mother, I needed to read books that were short, but written well.

Enter the youth fiction genre.

I recently had a friend ask me for some recommendations on some stories of faith for her fourteen year old daughter.

Here are my top picks.

 

In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace is a hoot!

I love the spunk that this red-haired, no frills girl has throughout the ups and downs of her life in the Ozarks.

April Grace's life is flipped upside down when her grandma gets a boyfriend, new neighbours from California move into her life and her older sister gets a large dose of hormones.

Can April Grace's faith in Christ help her learn self-control, kindness and forgiveness?

Fun fact: this book is set in the '80's and the references to workout videos, big hair and fashion from that decade add to this fun read.

Confessions of April Grace Series:

In Front of God and Everybody

Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks 

Chocolate Covered Baloney

Jenny B. Jones is my hands down, favourite, I- would-push-you-over-to-get-a-chance-to-meet-her, favourite, favourite,faovurite author.

No one writes comedy like my girl, Jenny B. (see how I make it sound like we are close friends. That's just in case she stumbles on this blog and sees my devotion. Spread the word, friends! I heart Jenny!)

This book is hilarious.

It's the first in a three part series. The story of Katie Parker, a never-been-to-church, trying to make sense of life foster child who suddenly finds herself living with a foster family who pastors a church.

Katie is trying to restart life, but reality keeps interrupting in embarrassing ways.

She thinks she is a temporary kid, but does God have different plans?

Fun Fact: I put this book down from laughing so hard. Twice. Belly laughing, friends. The character Mad Maxine is one of my all time favourite characters in youth fiction. She is worth reading all three books for.

I am just giggling thinking about her.

Katie Parker Production Series

In Between (Act 1)

On the Loose (Act 2)

The Big Picture (Act 3)

I love Sandra Byrd's Friends for a Season series.

She has several stand alone stories of two girls who meet and become friends. Sometimes they share the same faith, sometimes they don't. The characters learn how to honour God in their friendships and learn more about who God created them to be. 

A lot of fun and filled with all sorts of neat tricks for girls--everything from fun snacks described in the stories to easy hair styles. 

My two favourite stories in this series are:

 Island Girl-a story about a girl who visits her grandparents every summer and has to decide if she is going to live with her father or her mother, once her father returns from active duty overseas. Great faith and prayer lessons in this book.

My other favourite book in this series is Chopsticks. Byrd does a great job bonding two girls over their shared faith in Christ, only a serious dilemma arises. They are both entered into the same worship song contest. And there can only be one winner. When both girls desperately need the money and are praying to God to win the contest, what will happen? This book is based on the scripture Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition....

Great stories!

Friends for a Season (Stand alone novels)

Island Girl

Chopsticks

Red Velvet

Daisy Chains

How can you be a Christian girl and not know of the Christy Miller series?!?!?!?!

Robin Jones Gunn wrote these stories in response to the youth group girls she was mentoring. They complained that there were no books around that dealt with girls finding faith and navigating the waters of friends, boys and growing up. Beautiful themes of purity, handling relatives who don't understand your faith and building friendships based on God's word.

I really love that these characters have an active prayer life, a committed role in church and encounter problems in a very real way.

Christy Miller Series

Christy Miller Vol.1

Christy Miller Vol. 2

Christy Miller Vol. 3

Christy Miller Vol. 4

Christy Miller's Diary

Christy and Todd: the College Years

*four books in each volume

I like the Sierra books even better than the Christy books. Mainly because Sierra and I are cut from the same cloth. Sierra is impulsive, blurts out thoughts before thinking them through but really wants to honour God. Can't say enough about this series. Sooooo good.

Robin Jones Gunn handles very well the pressures of being a teenager who is trying to be counter culture.

I really respect the parent/daughter relationships in this series. Very positive.

In the books towards the end of the series, Sierra is forced to look at friendships that she has had for a long time. 

Her stand for purity and God go under attack and she learns how to pray for others, make amends when needed and let go when the time comes.

Sierra Jensen Series

Sierra Jensen Vol. 1

Sierra Jensen Vol. 2

Sierra Jensen Vol. 3

Sierra Jensen Vol. 4

*four books in each volume

And if there is any book series by Robin Gunn Jones that I like better than Christy and Sierra, it's Katie's series. I Loooove this series. I literally read all four books one summer day. My kids got hotdogs and all the juice they wanted as I sat in our back porch summer reading area devouring these great stories.

Katie's story picks up in college (She is Christy Miller's best friend and a good friend of Sierra's).

This story will be for a more mature reader, but I include it in here because it is part of the series that Robin Gunn Jones started long ago.

Katie is bold, fun and completely not a girly girl. She is independant and high strung and has a heart of gold.

I absolutely love how this character encounters Christ. There are many moments in this book series where Katie is challenged to trust Christ and does so beautifully. There are beautiful moments of healing from a broken relationship with her parents and Gunn Jones masterfully handles a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship in a very honouring way. 

Spoiler: the character realizes that she and this guy are not really a good fit, but struggles with the fact that she  really does love him. This is a dilemma that some girls have faced and I think that it is great book to read together with your daughter and talk about why it is important to really know yourself  before going into a relationship.

Robin Gunn Jones has characters who don't kiss til their married, don't date til they feel led by God to pursue a relationship that's headed to marriage, girls who do date, girls who choose not to date, girls who are not allowed to date. 

I like that she covers a whole lot of different scenarios for girls because there are many girls out there who are coming from all walks of life and various stages of commitment to Christ. 

It is probably why her books are so popular.

Great reads!

Katie Weldon Series

Peculiar Treasures

On A Whim

Coming Attractions

Finally and Forever

My last pick is so fun. I am glad that my library had all four books, because I foolishly only got one out. The next day, I got the remaining three out and quickly read those.

Sandra Byrd has created a perfect character in Savvy Smith and the London Confidential series.

Savvy has just moved to London with her family. She longs to be a writer and joins the high school newspaper.

Savvy suddenly finds herself as the anonymous advice columnist. Using the book of Proverbs as her guide, she gives advice to the students in her school.

This 4 book series is fun and has Savvy dealing with moving to a new area, trying to fit in to a new school while realizing that her old friends are moving on without her. I like the parent/daughter relationship in this book. Very positive, as is the sibling relationship. Savvy's family tries to find a church that is right for them which is a great experience to read about. 

The character is very likable and who doesn't love a girl discovering who she really is in London--complete with accents, fish and chips and all things British!

London Confidential Series:

Asking For Trouble

Through Thick and Thin

Don't Kiss Him Goodbye

Flirting with Disaster

Egg Carton Reading Game

TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book.    -Author Unknown

This is my favourite reading game. I am teaching all of my kids to read with this game. So far, two out of three have learned to read using this method.

Thank you, Sidney Ledson!

(Sidney Ledson is the brilliant guy who wrote the book "Teach Your Child to Read in Ten Minutes a Day". Lame book title, totally not a lame book. Brilliant book! Brilliant book, indeed)

The reason I chose this game to be the main way I teach my children to read is because of the following belief:

Learning to Read curriculum is astronomically priced.

I mean, really. If this is the gateway to learning, why are we charging people $400 for coloured flashcards?

Anyway, so Sidney came to me free from the library and I read his book in two days and said to myself, "Sidney is one smart guy. I, too, will follow his example."

So here is the Sidney Ledson reading game on the cheap.

Ta-da!

First, round up the usual suspects:

Egg carton cut in half lengthewise

word cards (word card list found here)

prizes (I use almonds or Lego pieces)

*Anyone noticing how this game is comprised of materials you have at home? No extra cost involved here. The only cost is time.*

Also, side note: Sidney starts children learning the phonetic sounds in a totally different order than alphabetical or vowel/consonant order. Read more about why I love this approach.

Place the prizes inside the egg carton, one per space

Next take your reading cards and place two of them side by side directly under the egg carton.

Starting from the left side, the child will phonetically sound out the first card, followed by the next card.

IMPORTANT: tell your child that we read from left to right.

When they get both cards sounded out correctly, they win the almond in the first space.

Now, this is where things get really tricky, so pay special attention to this next move.

Are you watching?

Are you?

Slide the card on the end, the "P", around the second card, the "U".Then place it on the left side of the U.

See how that works. It's tricky. Read the above line over 4 times if it doesn't make sense. Tricky stuff.

Now that the P card is in a new position, it's time to sound out the letters. Reading from left to right, have the child read each card phonetically. When they have read both cards correctly, they win an almond.

See the pattern? Read the words, win an almond.

(Personal note: make sure they know that they eat the almonds at the end. Otherwise, you will have to wait for the child to eat the almond before moving forward. 

Fun fact: A child can take five minutes to eat one almond. True story.)

Next, you move the U card, next to the P card. As you can see you are advancing down the board, almonds are being won and reading is occurring.

Why is this method great? Because by the time you get to the end of this six-spaces carton, your child will have made the "Uh" and "Puh" sounds a total of 12 times! 

End of Day One. Ten minutes has never been so fun!

Day Two:

Why look at that, by Day two they are already reading two words: Up and Pup.

Go, smart almond eating child!

Now, I know what you are thinking. This game won't work with my child. They will get bored.

Not so. 

They will only get bored if you forget to bring the two other essential team members to your 10 minute reading session.

Every successful reading child needs their parents to bring out their mad puppet skillz!

I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Know It All

and....

Miss Too Shy

These two superheroes are your whole key to success.

And here's why:

Your child loves to help people...or in this case, stuffed animals.

The next time s/he is feigning interest or stumbles across a word that is too difficult, bring out Miss Too Shy.

Have her say something like this:

Miss Too Shy has no confidence. She is not able to get her sounds out or she doubts herself when she shares.

(I also make it Mr. Too Shy sometimes-- mix it up from time to time)

Your child is happy to help and encourage.

Have the puppet ask, "Do you think you can help me?" 

Your child is eager to help.

When I read this part in Mr. Ledson's book, I thought, "Well, this sounds ridiculous. No kid is gonna fall for me live acting in front of them with a puppet."

But I was wrong.

My kids are completely engaged with the puppet.

 Every. Single. Time.

Find a voice for Miss Too Shy and have some fun.

Equally important is Mr. Know It All.

This character is my favourite...because you can give Mr. Know It All some pretty fun lines.

The basic premise is he is rude, interrupts and has a lot to say.

This guy shows up and says: 

 

"I know this word...I know it. You guys are doing it all wrong."

And then he tries the word and says something really ridiculous.

Your kid's giggle and they say,"Noooooo. That's not how you say it."

And they help Mr. Know it all get it right.

These two puppets help your child sound out all the words and win the almonds!

Yay for Mr. Ledson and the cheap Egg Carton Reading Game.

The End 

Any questions about how this works? Need more clarification? Ask your questions in the comment section.

Word List for the Egg Carton Reading Game

Here is the word list for the Egg Carton Reading Game.

I love this method of learning because children  immediately learn words and they start to build confidence.

Using business card sized paper, I made the cards to fit two or three words a card. You can do one word per card, but I didn't want to cut so many cards. Having two or three words per card have worked fine for us.
When introducing a new letter and it's phonetic sound, I created a card that had only that letter on it.
I wrote all of the words in capital letters and made sure they were straight with no flourish or serif added to the font.

Day 1: U  "Uh" sound
Day 2: P   "Puh" sound
Day 3,4,5: UP and PUP

Day 6: C  "Cuh" sound
Day 7: CUP   
Day 8: A     "Ahhh" sound
Day 9: CAP
Day 10 review
Day 11: T
Day 12, 13: AT, PAT, CAT, TAP, CUT
Day 14: thE  *when teaching thE, thAT, and thIS, "th" is given one sound and the 'e', 'at' and 'is' is sounded out as usual
Day 15: H
Day 16: HAT
Day 17:O
Day 18-20: HOT, HOP, TOP,POP,POP, POT,COT,COP
Day 21: G
Day 22: HUG, GOT,TAG,HOG,HUG,GAG,GAP
Day 23: B
Day 24: BAG, BAT,HIT,TIP,HIP,BIB,BIG
Day 25: thAT, I
Day 26: PIG,BIT,HIT,TIP,HIP,BIB,BIG
Day 27: R
Day 28:RAT,RUG,RUB,ROB,RAG,RIP,RIB
Day 29:TRIP,TRAP,GRAB,CRIB,CRAB,BRAG
Day 30: Review
Day 31:N
Day 32: NUT,NIB,NAP,IN,ON,ANT,PIN,PAN,RUN,CAN
Day 33: NUT, BUN,GUN, TIN,HANG, RUNG, RING
Day 34: S
Day 35: SIT,SAT,BUS,SUN,GAS,PASS,RUST,STOP,SPIN,
Day 36:CATS, POTS,CUPS,SONG,SING,SANG,,STUNT,STRING, STRONG, PANTS
Day 37: thIS (th is in lower case to emphasize the "th" blend)
Day 38: D
Day 39, 40: SAND,BAND,DRIP, DROP, DRAG, DOG,DIG,HID,DOT,ADD,BAD, PAD,AND,HAND
Day 41 E
Day 42, 43: RED,RENT,HEN,PEN,TEN,BED,BEG,BET,PET,NET,STEP, NEST, PEST, BEST, REST

That's it. The remaining 8 letters and a section entitled The First 200 Sentences can be found in Sidney Ledson's book Teach Your Child to Read in Ten Minutes A Day.
I have found that by the time my child has learned to read all of these words, reading words with long vowel sounds aren't a big leap.
I have substituted Mr. Ledson's first 200 sentences with the reading stories found on starfall.com.

Mr. Ledson advocates early reading for children as young as two. That has never been my goal. I am quite content to follow the lead of my child's interest and when they are ready to read, we start playing these games.

Find the complete game here.

H is for Hippo

Hip hip hip hippopotamus

Hip hip hooray, God made all of us

Hip hip hip hippopotamus

Hip hip hooray, He made us

-Mary Rice Hopkins

My son and I had a lot of fun making a home for his hippo. We used the netting from an onion bag and then dipped it in different paints to create textured water.

Then he glued his hippos down and added seaweed and fish

Hippo books that we read:

Hot Hippo

How Hippo

The Happy Hippopotami

How to be a Happy Hippo

Five Hippopotamuses

We decorated the letter H

And then we fed the Hungry Hippos

Donkey and Dino take on Letter Reversal Issues

Boxing is real easy. Life is much harder. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 

My son and I played a game to help him learn the capital Letter D and to overcome letter confusion. To play, we needed a couple of friends to help:

Dino VS. Donkey

You are going down, Donkey! I am the D-emolisher of D's.

You don't scare me, Dino.

You don't. I'm a worthy opponent, so watch out!

Both animals are in their corners. As you can see the ring is set up. There in the right hand corner is the eraser. Whoever can wield this weapon rightly and get rid of their perspective letters, without getting confused (accidently removing a P when they are supposed to remove a D), if they can do it right, they win.

Get ready to Rummmmmbbbbbbbbbllllllllle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The crowd goes wild.

(signs from top left clockwise read: Donkey Kong, Donkey King! I *heart* dino. Go dino!, John 3:16)

Dino rolls first and has to remove 2 letter D's.

And he does it successfully

Donkey has a turn and takes out O's and P's like nobody's business.

The game gets intense. 

So intense that this photographer couldn't capture the shots because the game was that engrossing.

But the final turn comes, dino rolls a 4....will it be enough to take home the championship????

Dino is victorious!

Donkey is furious and will want a rematch

The crowd leaves remembering this historic event.

The end