stretchers

Stretchers are a great way to help teach phoneme segmentation which is one of the building block of early literacy.
You will need strips of elastic (found in fabric stores), adhesive Velcro and laminated letter cards. Attach 3-4 pieces of Velcro to a 5 inch strip of elastic. Attach the other side of the Velcro to the backs of the laminated letter cards. When teaching a decodable word stretch the word out and pronounce each letter sound. Slowly relax the Velcro saying the sounds a little more quickly until the word is said. Note: For this word I would make the sounds of /l/,/i/, /k/ and introduce the concept of the silent e