Ages 6–8 · 8 little discoveries
Hece’s Sounds and Words
Eight lessons about sounds and words: blending sounds, splitting a word into sounds, sounds and letters, building syllables, reading short words, changing one sound, understanding a short sentence and choosing the sentence that fits a picture.
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Blend the sounds
Blend three or four separate sounds into one word.
Hece says the sounds one at a time: c, a, t. Now push the sounds together quickly: cat! A word comes out.
To blend, say the first two sounds: ca. Then add one more sound: cat. Add the sounds in order and do not skip any.
Careful: if a sound is missing, the word is not finished. The sounds c and a do not make cat, because the last sound t is missing. If the sounds swap places, a different thing comes out.
Now you try. Hece says the sounds b, a, t. Blend the three sounds in order. Which word comes out?
Split a word into sounds
Split a short word into its separate sounds.
Say “sun” slowly: s… u… n. We hear three sounds. Hece puts one card down for each sound.
“Cat” has three sounds: c, a, t. “Frog” has four sounds: f, r, o, g. Say each word slowly and tap once for every sound.
Careful: sounds are not always single letters. “Ship” has four letters but only three sounds: sh, i, p. The letters s and h together make one sound. And “bee” has two sounds: b and ee.
Now you try. Say “hat” slowly. How many sounds do you hear? Tap the sounds in order: first, middle, last.
Sounds and letters
Match the first or the last sound of a picture word to the letter that shows it.
Every letter shows a sound. The first sound of “moon” is m, and the letter m shows that sound. We listen for the sound, then we find its letter.
We can listen for the first sound and the last sound of a word. “Dog” starts with d and ends with g. Each sound has its own letter.
Careful: two letters can show one sound. In “ship” the letters s and h together show one sound: sh. Also, b and d look alike but show different sounds. Listen first, then choose the letter.
Now you try. Say “sun” slowly. Which letter shows the first sound? Which letter shows the last sound?
Build the syllables
Build a two- or three-syllable word from its syllables, in the order they are said.
A syllable is one beat of a word. “Apple” has two beats: ap-ple. Every syllable has a vowel sound. Hece claps once for each beat.
Syllables join to build a word: ba, na and na make banana. If the order changes, the word is spoiled: na-ba-na is not banana.
Careful: syllables are beats, not letters. “Table” has five letters but only two syllables: ta-ble. A short word like “sun” has just one beat.
Now you try. Say “rabbit” slowly and clap for each beat. How many syllables do you hear? What is the first one?
Read the word
Read a short regular printed word by saying its sounds from left to right.
Each letter shows a sound. To read a word, say the sounds from left to right and blend them: c, a, t: cat!
Short words like dog have one sound for each letter. Point to the first letter, then the next, then the last. Blend the sounds and read the word.
Careful: do not guess from the first letter. Cat, cot and cut all start the same way, but they are different words. Read every letter.
Now you try. The card shows a word. Say each sound from left to right and blend them. What word did you read?
Change one sound
Change one sound of a short word to make a new word, one step at a time.
If we change just one sound, we can make a new word. In “cat” we change c to h: hat. Then we change a to o: hot. Only one sound changes at each step.
We can change the last sound too: cat becomes cap, because t changes to p. And we can change the middle sound: cap becomes cup, because a changes to u.
Careful: if two sounds change, that is not one step. “Cat” and “cup” are different in two sounds: a and t. Change one sound at a time and look at the new word.
Now you try. In “sun” change the s to b. What new word do you get? Which sounds stayed the same?
Read the sentence
Read a short sentence word by word and say what it tells.
A sentence tells us something. It starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. We read the words from left to right: The cat sat.
Read each word, then think about the whole sentence: “The dog sat on a mat.” Who sat? The dog. Where did it sit? On a mat.
A sentence says only what it says. “The cat sat.” does not say that the cat is black, or that it ate. We use only the words we read.
Now you try: “The bee is in the tree.” Who is in the tree? Say the sentence aloud, one word at a time, then answer.
A sentence for the picture
Choose the sentence that fits a picture by reading every word, including the word that tells where.
A sentence can fit a picture. Read the sentence, then look: “The ball is on the table.” Where is the ball? On the table. The word “on” tells where.
One word can change the picture. “The cat is in the box.” The cat is inside. If the sentence said “on”, the cat would be on top of the box.
Careful: one different word means a different picture. “The cat is next to the box.” does not fit a cat in the box. Read every word before you choose.
Now you try: “The ball is next to the table.” Which words tell where? Where would the ball be in the picture?