Punching to Read

My son, Jaron, is now six and is suddenly learning how to read. He has known his letters and sounds forever, but just started to care about learning to read. I'm very excited the day has finally come- there were times when I wondered if he'd ever be motivated.

We were reading together yesterday and I was reminded to how many different sounds different letter combinations make and how hard it makes it to decode. The book we were reading had a lot of "ou" words in it, but also words with the "oul" combination. So, before reading I introduced the different sounds and letter combinations to him through several activities, but it just wasn't sinking in.

Then I decided to think out of the box. I gently pinched him and said what does "ou" say? And in response to the pinch he said, "ow!" and I said, "right!" Then I pretended to punch myself in the gut and said, "oouuh" then I pretended to punch him in the gut and said, what does "oul" say? And, of course, he got it. Now he doesn't miss them a single time and loves to teach new people his what he's learned- especially by pretending to pinch and punch them! Ah well, one lesson at a time :)