Spell, Sound and Math Activities
It’s all about connecting the sounds they know with the letters they see. Perhaps the most unique part of the Tessy & Tab books is the set of activities that combine illustrations and color to connect sounds to words in a way that aligns with preschool logic. Your child will be excited when they begin to recognize the letters of the alphabet that they know in the stories that you read to them. The activities that follow our stories are designed to minimize your child’s frustration in the Sound-It-Out stage. Compared to many languages, English has a greater degree of disconnect between its printed and spoken versions. Many letters make more than one sound. Crazy combinations plus many silent letters add to the challenge. We believe it makes sense to explain this to young readers in terms that make sense to them.
The Spell-It-With activity introduces the featured letter or letter combination using modern objects that are spelled with these letters. The page shows the entire word and breaks the word into its phonetic syllables.
The Sound-It-Out activity helps your child learn what to expect from letters and letter combinations. We layer in color and use logic that makes sense to preschoolers, making it easier to remember sounds.
The Mini-math activity on the back of every book introduces your child to the most basic mathematical concepts in a visual manner. The idea is that math is not that complicated. Relating math to your child’s life experiences shows your child that they already know a lot about math, and that they are good at it! Not every concept will be obvious or interesting at a given age or stage. Just talk about the page in any way that appeals to your child. If they are not showing interest in the idea of odd vs. even numbers, that’s OK. Talk about the balls. What kind are they? Let’s count them.