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Apricot Tree AcademyParentTutor Training
Module 2 · Session Guide 1

Phonemic Awareness

Five minutes, all by ear — plus the Teacher Guide's colored-blocks drill for when you have the mat out.

The anywhere version (no materials)

  1. Rhyming (1 min).
    Say“Which one doesn't rhyme — cat, hat, dog?”
  2. Blending (2 min). You say the sounds slowly, your child pushes them together.
    Say“/c/ … /a/ … /t/. What word did I say?” (cat, sun, map, dog, fish)
  3. Segmenting (2 min). The reverse — say the word, they break it apart, tapping a finger per sound.
    Say“Say sun. Now tap it out — how many sounds?”

The colored-blocks drill (from the Teacher Guide)

Say“We are going to spell some words with colors. Each sound in the word gets a different color block. For dog: the /d/ might be red, the /o/ orange, the /g/ green. Tap your two learning fingers under each block and say the sounds — /d/ /o/ /g/. Then underline the blocks with your finger and say it fast: dog. Your turn — can you spell fit?”

Practice words until it clicks: mat · leg · hip · mug · ham · pet. No letters anywhere — colors stand in for sounds, which is exactly the point.

If it goes sideways Too hard? Drop back to rhyming only — it's the first skill to wobble and the best place to rebuild. Keep it a game, end after five minutes even on a good day.
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Apricot Tree AcademyParentTutor Training
Module 2 · Session Guide 2

Short Vowel Posters

The 2–3 minute drill that opens every session — trace, say, exaggerate. Word-for-word from the Teacher Guide.

a/a/ ant
e/e/ egg
i/i/ inch
o/o/ ox
u/u/ up

The script

Say“This first poster says ant. Take your pointer finger and middle finger together — your learning fingers — and trace the a while we say /a/nt. We do it three times, because tracing with both fingers helps build special pathways in our brains. Now you try it.”
Why it works Short vowels are the hardest sounds for dyslexic readers to hold onto. Tracing while saying the sound is the multisensory anchor — hand, eye, and ear all firing together. First weeks take longer; soon it's a 2-minute warm-up.
Tonight's five minutes Run the five posters once, three traces each. If your child asks why the fingers matter, tell them the truth: two fingers press harder, and the brain remembers what the body does.
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Apricot Tree AcademyParentTutor Training
Module 2 · Session Guide 3

Sound Cards

Quick Drill Decoding — three brisk minutes, sounds not letter names, and one new card only when the old ones are automatic.

Set up

Run the drill

  1. Frame it once (the Teacher Guide's intro):
    Say“Consonants are the letters that are not vowels. Which ones are the vowels? We just practiced them on the posters. How many are there? Five — good. So consonants are all the other letters. Let's review their sounds with these cards.”
  2. Show the card. Your child says the sound, not the letter name — and keep it short and concise:
    Watch for/b/, never “buh.” /d/, never “duh.” /g/, never “guh.” Clipped sounds now make blending possible later.
  3. Hesitation? Model it. “My turn — /sh/… ship. Now you.” Then move on. No sigh, no re-drilling it five times.
  4. End on a win. Finish with two cards they always get, then stop. Three minutes daily beats twenty on Saturday.
The chicken letter

When you reach q, use the Teacher Guide's line: q is a chicken letter — it's too scared to be alone, so its friend u is always there. Silly sticks; “qu” never has to be taught twice.

If it goes sideways A known card “vanishing” is dyslexia working exactly as described — automaticity takes many more reps. Model the answer, keep the pace, trust the reps.
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Apricot Tree AcademyParentTutor Training
Module 2 · Session Guide 4

Blending & Scooping

Ten minutes where sounds become words — the finger scoop is the multisensory part, so never skip the finger.

Set up

Run the session

  1. Model one scoop (1 min).
    Say“Watch my finger scoop under the word while I blend: mmm–aaa–p … map.”
  2. Their turn (6 min). One word at a time. Finger draws the scoop, sounds sweep together into the word. If a word turns into a guess:
    Say“Those sounds were perfect. Now scoop them together and say them fast.”
  3. Backward scoop check (2 min). Once forward scooping is smooth, check one word from the end — it builds accuracy.
  4. Name the win (1 min).
    Say“Did you notice what you just did? You read that whole word yourself. That was you.”
If it goes sideways Rushing or mumbling usually means the session feels endless — cut it to five words, then three. One well-read word beats ten mumbled ones. Decodable text only: success builds confidence, guessing builds bad habits.
Illustration of a parent reading with a child
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Apricot Tree AcademyParentTutor Training
Module 2 · Session Guide 5

Editing with CHOPS

“Good writers edit and revise their work.” Five letters, five checks — the Teacher Guide's routine for every writing session.

Open with“Now we are going to do something called CHOPS. Good writers edit and revise their work — we're going to use the word CHOPS to help us check ours.”
Pace it honestly In the first weeks, editing one sentence well is the whole job. As CHOPS becomes routine it speeds up on its own — 3–5 minutes is the target, not the starting point.
Tonight's five minutes Write one silly sentence yourself with two mistakes planted in it. Hand your child the CHOPS checklist and let them catch you. Editing the grown-up's work is the fastest way to make the routine stick.
apricottreeacademy.com/parent-coursesApricot Tree Academy · Parent Guide© 2026