Enjoy Rip's alphabet jokes as you practice correct letter formation.

Knowing about "silent e" unlocks another secret to being a good speller. When silent e is added to many short vowel words, the vowel becomes long. Long vowels say their names.

As children become better readers and spellers they learn that a letter or group of letters can have different sounds in different words. The y at the end of cry says /eye/ and the y at the end of sunny says /ee/.

Your child may need help reading the words on the word list but encourage him or her to find the picture matches independently. Children use context clues, such as pictures, when they read to develop their vocabulary.

A word family is a group of words that rhyme and have the same spelling pattern. For instance dog, hog and log are in the _og word family. Children who understand word families have an easier time learning to spell and decode words.Young children find the _at family the easiest, so begin there if the other word families seem difficult. If your child needs help coming up with a song, start with a song or rhyme you already know, like Hickory Dickory Dock, and substitute your rhyming words.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Distinguishing between individual sounds in a word develops your child's phonemic awareness, the ability to hear individual sounds within words and manipulate them. Identifying the letter that makes that sound develops your child's understanding of phonics, or how sounds and symbols are related. Forming letters by hand helps your child develop automatic letter recognition. These skills are cornerstones of learning to read.

Help your child write haiku about the things he loves in nature.

Enjoy discovering adjectives with this easy game using one of your child's favourite books and stories.

Use each letter in your child's name to inspire poetry.

This activity will exercise your child's mind and body.

This activity is a fun, creative way for your child to gain experience building compound words.

Your child’s imagination will be the main ingredient when he creates his own “recipes” for this activity.

What if we removed all vowels from our speech? Wht wld t snd lk??

Here's a creative writing activity: write a "dog-tionary" to define words from a canine perspective.

Use music to help your child make the connection between spoken and written words.

The gap between girls and boys may be less about reading ability than about attitudes. Literacy expert Carolyn Jaynes answers the question: How can we make reading more fun for boys?

Go to the library to find and check out all the books written by a favourite author.

A family blog can be just the start to a junior journalist's career.

Play a verbal word game with your child to improve her reading and spelling skills.

Encourage your child to read books that are easy for her in order to build her reading fluency.

When you listen to your new reader read aloud, try not to correct her mistakes right away.

Explore the different sections of nonfiction books and their uses.

If you've got an enthusiastic reader (or would like to nurture one!), get the ball rolling with a childrens book club.

Encourage your child to keep a journal in words or drawings to express feelings.

Here are a couple of word games children and grown-ups can play anywhere!