Early in the year in kindergarten I let students know that sometimes letters change their sounds, depending on where
they are in words or who they are next to. We talk about two letters "holding hands" and making a special sound together
and act this out with two children with letter cards. Child "S" stands in front of the class next to Child "h" and they
hold each other's hand and say "shhh".
Some students can remember these special letter combinations without much help, but many of the kids get them mixed up.
A common question is "which one says /ch/?" They know it has an "h" in it, but they aren't sure who it holds hands with
to get that sound! To help them, I have designed some posters for the classroom as quick references for the special
sounds. When the kids get mixed up, they look at the charts, do the action and figure out which one is needed.
The charts that I use for kindergarten are found on this page. For charts designed as part of a Reading Intervention
Group for second grade, click the "For Older Children" tab at the top of this page.
