The Letter Families Box set is the first step in the simple and effective Brainstrong Reading System. It uses a phonics based approach, which means we start with teaching simple sounds and words, and then gradually introduce more complex words. This phonics based approach has been proven by research as the best way to teach a child to read.
The Letter Families Box set is divided into 3 steps that increase in complexity with each step:
Step 1: Short words that have the 5 short vowel sounds
Step 2: Consonant blends with the 5 short vowel sounds
Step 3: Long vowel sounds and irregular vowel sounds
It is important to teach your child the cards in this order, and wait for mastery, before moving on to the next step. This is because intermixing cards from different levels of complexity is challenging for students.
Step-by-Step Process
Now, let’s begin on how to work through each individual card. We’ll be using the “-at” card as an example for this tutorial, but you can use this same process with every card in the deck. Here is a video tutorial that you can use to follow along as well.
Divide up your deck using the three blue cards: “learning,” “will learn,” and “learned.” We’ll start with the short A’s, followed by the short I’s, short O’s, short U’s, and finally the short E’s.
Sounding Out Letters and Blending Sounds
First, have your child sound out each letter in the vowel-consonant pair. For the “-at” example card, they would sound out “a” “t.” Then, ask the child to blend the vowel-consonant sound together. So, “a” “t” becomes “at.”
After they have practiced this multiple times, you can now teach them the application of this sound, using the word at the bottom of the card. Ask your child to sound out the first consonant, followed by the previously practiced vowel-consonant pair. At first, they will sound them out separately before combining them together to sound out the full word. The image on the card will give your child a clue as to what the word is.
Practicing with Word Lists
Once they have mastered this word, flip the card over to reveal the list of words on the back. This is where they will practice adding unique consonant sounds to the vowel-consonant combination. Ask your child to sound out the first consonant, and then the vowel-consonant pair. After saying this aloud a few times and blending the sounds together, they should be able to identify the word. Repeat this process for the rest of the words on the back of the card. These words should be practiced 2-4 times to help your child memorize them. You know that they have mastered the card once they can read all the words with no pauses. With every step of this process, it is important to praise your child for successfully learning new sounds and words to ensure that they stay motivated.
Moving to Mastery
After they have mastered a card, you can move it into the “learned” section of the card deck. By repeating this step-by-step process with the rest of the cards, your child will achieve mastery of these essential reading skills and beginner words.
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