The more you read to your child, the more they want to read to you. Also, they want to write because they see you
write. Children always want to do what they see their parents do. This is great!
Let them immitate you. As you both read, ask them to tell you certain letters.
When they say words, start off with the first sound in a word and have them try to guess the letter (initial sound fluency).
Then have them focus on the last sound and do the same thing (final sound fluency).
Now try the middle sound in the consonant, vowel, consonant pattern (medial sound fluency)
Play games like:
Letter snacks - Choose a CVC word, have them identify the first sound (or last), then have them
look in the cupboard for a snack that has the same first sound as the word you gave them. For example, if you give them
MOP, they can find M&M's and Milk Duds.
Create a Rhyme - Have them create a rhyme with a middle sound. For example, if you give
them the short "o" sound, they should think of as many words as they can with that sound. The word doesn't necessarily
have to have the letter "o", just the sound...COT, BOUGHT, ROBOT, CAUGHT, FOUGHT, NOT, etc. Then they can make a rap
out of these rhyming words.
(The rime of the rhyme is from where the last vowel sound begins to where the word ends, i.e., cot,
bought, robot, caught, fought,
not).
Remember, we still need to focus on the sounds within words, not just the letters.
(Refer to Literacy Activities for more ideas.)
As was stated already, some letters are borrowed and some letters don't follow the rules (site words). Since certain
consonants sounds change too, you just have to tell them what they say. For example: the, was and is.