S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!

Learning is hard! 

Sometimes learning is harder on some than others.  This little lady has been working on her letter sounds for all of last year, this summer and the last few weeks.  We have moved onto CVC words and word families.  Even after working extensively on phonemic awareness, hearing the word after saying the sounds still didn't blend together.  

So today we tried something new.  I remember watching a kindergarten teacher using stretchy snakes once as she had the kids S-T-R-E-T-C-H out the sounds to blend them together.  I realized she had on her little stretchy bracelet that her friend gave her and it hit me!  

We grabbed the bracelet and began to S-T-R-E-T-C-H out her words.  It was hard at first.  Hearing the sounds separately and then putting them together is a skill you have to get used to.  

The more she began to S-T-R-E-T-C-H those sounds, the more her ear began to pick them up.  

It worked! The best part for me was seeing the joy on her face as she says the sounds separately, each their individual entity and then- like magic- the word jumps out, always taking her by surprise.  

I hope more than anything that this is just the beginning of a long life of reading!