A 5–10 MINUTE ACTIVITY
A red-rocket route
Use the displayed picture, two or three large paper letter cards and a familiar spoken example. No independent word reading is required. Begin with a modeled turn; stop or simplify if the task becomes a vocabulary or motor challenge.
Name rocket, red and run. Listen for the beginning while tracing a simple route with a finger.
Pair R and r at the start of the route. Read the examples slowly enough to focus on their beginning.
Say red, sun and rocket in a new order. Point to the r pair or move a paper rocket when the beginning matches.
Teach it. Then check.
Objective
Pair R/r and identify the selected initial-r examples using an accessible response.
Check for learning
Offer run and moon orally, then R/r and M/m visually. Can the learner connect the example to the r pair?
Make it more accessible
Let the learner point, look or choose a card without requiring a spoken r.
Extend when ready
Compare red and bed with known letters, then explain which beginning changed.
Try it at home
Draw a rocket and ask a grown-up to write rocket. Find R/r in another whole word and read it together.