INCREASING COMPREHENSION FOR AUTUMN COLOR WORDS USING THE SOUNDS OF WORDS

Today is a bright, blue sky autumn day in Southside Virginia. The leaves of the trees are losing their green, and are glowing with reds, oranges, purples, yellows, golds, and browns. Halloween decorations add the colors black and white. The Sounds Of Words helps the struggling reader learn to read, spell, and write color words. And, while learning those words, the reader practices many frequently used vowel and consonant sounds. The student also has the opportunity to note and practice tricky and less frequently used sounds.

The word "red" is the easiest word to read, spell, and write. "Blue", "green", "black", and "white" are decodable using the usual rules. "Gold" is tricky because of the "o" sound is different from the usual vowel-consonant sound for "o". "Yellow" is tricky because of both the "el" sound and the "ow". "Brown" presents the "ow" as yet another sound. The "ur" and "le" sounds in "purple" create tricks. Finally, the pronunciation of the word "orange" tricks the reader with its "or", "an", and "ge". In other words, the whole pronunciation of "orange" is tricky!

However, when the struggling reader is helped to use the universal word, explicit teaching, concrete, multi-sensory, applied phonics, Sounds Of Words, reading intervention, the tricks are decoded. The words make sense, and the student comprehends words that describe the colors of autumn!