Sound Movements
What Are Sound Movements
Sound movements are a gross motor 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 solo letters, paired letters, and cluster letters within words. They are also a physical way to aid readers in blending sounds together when sounding out and spelling words.
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.
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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
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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o (short vowel)
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s
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n
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i (short vowel)
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f
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u (short vowel)
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r
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m
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a (short vowel)
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l
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z
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v
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e (short vowel)
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j
o (short vowel)
s
n
i (short vowel)
f
u (short vowel)
r
m
a (short vowel)
l
z
v
e (short vowel)
j
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, “ck” isn’t a Solo Letter Sound, but it’s best to teach this Sound Motions right after teaching the “c” and “k” Sound Motions.
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t
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b
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p
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g
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c
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k
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ck
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d
t
b
p
g
c
k
ck
d
These Solo Letter Sounds are challenging to pronounce and are often taught incorrectly. The letter “q” is almost always followed by a silent “u”, teach /qu/ as it’s Solo Letter Sound.
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h
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y
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w
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qu
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j
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x
h
y
w
qu
x
Use the same sound movements as you do with the short vowels, but shake your hand and arm as you move them. The long-vowel sounds are typically the same as the letter’s name, so you can remember to shake the movement by thinking, “When you tell someone your name, you shake hands to say hello.” The letter “u” is unique in that its long vowel sound is usually not the same as its letter name. It also has another, commonly used alternate sound – the u (grunt/umlaut) sound.
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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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Tricky Vowel Partners
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Laughing 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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wh
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kn
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wr
th
sh
ch
ph
wh
kn
wr
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
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
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
These Partner Sounds are only made when “c” and “g” pair up with /i/, /e/, and /y/.
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ci
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gi
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ce
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ge
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cy
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gy
ci
gi
ce
ge
cy
gy
Team Sounds
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Easy Teams
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“gh” Teams
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“sh” 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
These Team Sounds are made with a cluster of letters, each including the letters “gh” which are silent.
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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
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eigh, igh, augh, ough
igh
eigh
augh
ough
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