Sound Movements
What Are Sound Movements
Sound movements are a simple movement-based learning strategy for beginning readers to remember the letter sounds and the correct formation of the mouth when saying the letters' sounds. They make it easy to recognize the individual letters, paired letters, and clustered letters within words. Note: We call them solo, partner, and team sounds, respectively. As a bonus, the movements are a physical method readers can use to make it easy to blend sounds together when sounding out or spelling words.
Note: These Sound Movements have been revolutionary in helping all children learn to read. They are OPEN SOURCE to all curriculum developers to advance the entire industry of learn-to-read solutions. Learn more at openreading.com.
www.britannica.com: "In addition to speech production, the Broca area of the brain also is involved in language comprehension, in motor-related activities associated with hand movements, and in sensorimotor learning and integration."
Quick Links
Solo Letter Sounds
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Stretchy Sounds
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Snap Sounds
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Tricky Sounds
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Long Vowel Sounds
Stretchy Sounds
These Solo Letter Sounds can be held a long time without distorting the sound. Hold your mouth in the same position from the start to the end of each sound to pronounce it correctly.
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i (short vowel)
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n
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f
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o (short vowel)
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m
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a (short vowel)
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u (short vowel)
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s
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j
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l
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r
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v
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z
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e (short vowel)
i (short vowel)
n
f
o (short vowel)
m
a (short vowel)
u (short vowel)
s
j
l
r
v
z
e (short vowel)
Snap Sounds
These Solo Letter Sounds should be said quickly to avoid adding extra sounds like “uh” to the end of the sound. When saying these sounds, hold your mouth as still as possible or close your mouth as soon as you finish the sound. Technically speaking, it’s best to teach the “ck” sound movement as a combination of the “c” and “k” sound movements.
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t
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d
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p
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g
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b
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c
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k
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t
d
p
g
b
c
k
Tricky Sounds
These Solo Letter Sounds are challenging to pronounce and are often taught incorrectly. The letter “q” is almost always followed by a silent “u,” so we teach “qu” with the Solo Letter Sounds.
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h
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y
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w
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qu
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x
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h
y
w
qu
x
Long Vowel Sounds
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a (long vowel)
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e (long vowel)
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i (long vowel)
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o (long vowel)
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u (long vowel)
a (long vowel)
e (long vowel)
i (long vowel)
o (long vowel)
u (long vowel)
Partner Letter Sounds
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Easy Partners
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“r” Partners
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First-name Vowel Partners
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Tricky Vowel Partners
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Laughing Partners
Easy Partners
These Partners Sounds are made by two consonants pairing up to make a single sound.
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th
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sh
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ch
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ph
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wr
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kn
th
sh
ch
ph
wr
kn
"r" Partners
These Partner Sounds are made by a vowel pairing up with “r.”
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er
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ir
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ur
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ar
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or
er, ir, ur
ar
or
First-name Vowel Partners
These Partner Sounds are made by two vowels pairing up to make the long-vowel sound of the first letter.
ue and ui more often say “ue” as in the word clue.
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ai, ay
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ea, ee, ei
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ie
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oa, ow
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ue, ui
ai, ay
ea, ee, ei
ie
oa, ow
ue, ui
Tricky Vowel Partners
These Partner Sounds are made by two vowels pairing up to make a new sound.
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au, aw
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ew, oo
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ou, ow
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oi, oy
au, aw
ew, oo
ou, ow
oi, oy
Laughing Partners
These Partner Sounds are only made when “c” and “g” pair up with /i/, /e/, and /y/.
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ce
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ci
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cy
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ge
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gi
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gy
ce
ci
ce
ge
gi
gy
Team Sounds
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Easy Teams
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“gh” Teams
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“sh” Teams
Easy Teams
These Team Sounds are clusters of letters that are easy to learn.
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ing
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ang
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eng
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ong
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ung
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ank
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ink
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onk
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unk
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sure
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ture
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ous
ing
ang
eng
ong
ung
ank
ink
onk
unk
sure
ture
ous
"gh" Teams
These Team Sounds are made with a cluster of letters, each including the letters “gh” which are silent.
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igh
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eigh
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augh
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ough
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igh
eigh
augh
ough
"sh" Teams
These Team Sounds all start with a /sh/ sound.
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cious, tious, xious
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sion, tion
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cian, cien, tien
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cial, tial
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ciate, tiate