Listen for the first sound, the last sound and the middle sound of a word, clap its beats on a drum, and tell whether two words start the same way. Big levels hunt blends, digraphs, vowel teams, the magic e and the bossy r.
The big ideas
What the levels teach, in grown-up words.
Words are made of sounds. Cat is three sounds: c, a, t. Hearing the first, last and middle sound of a word is called phonemic awareness, and it is the strongest predictor of learning to read.
Long words have beats. Syllables are the beats you clap: el-e-phant has three. Breaking a long word into beats makes it easy to read and spell one piece at a time.
Some sounds are teams. In a blend like FR you can hear both letters. In a digraph like SH, two letters make one new sound. Vowel teams like AI and OA make one long vowel sound.
Magic e changes the vowel. An e on the end is silent but makes the vowel say its name: cap becomes cape, kit becomes kite. It is one of the most useful spelling patterns.
R is bossy. A vowel followed by r changes its sound: car, corn, bird, purse. IR and UR sound the same, so those spellings have to be remembered.
Try it at home
Quick experiments that match the game.
I spy with sounds. Play I spy with first sounds instead of letters: I spy something that starts with mmm. Then try last sounds.
Clap the names. Clap the beats in everyone's name at the table. Who has the most? Try food words: ba-na-na, spa-ghet-ti.
Magic e hunt. Write cap, kit, cub, tub, pin on paper and keep a small e card. Slide the e onto the end of each word and read the new word together.
Blend sprint. Say a blend like FR and take turns naming words that start with it: frog, fruit, friend, Friday. Switch to ST, then CR.
Ask after playing:
What sound does your name end with?
How many beats are in your favorite animal's name?
Can you turn hop into hope with a magic e? What else can you change?