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Sound Bugs
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Sound Bugs Sound Bugs Sound Bugs Sound Bugs

Rooted in Language

Sound Bugs

Sound Bugs

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$15.00
$15.00
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Guide your students to strengthen early reading and writing knowledge using Sound Bugs!

With engaging manipulatives and these five fun sound-to-letter games, your students will make powerful visual connections between the sounds they hear and say and the letters that represent them.

The ability to process and track across the sounds in a word is a necessary phonics skill and must be explicitly practiced for most kids, especially those with learning difficulties. New and struggling readers use the bugs to help isolate sounds for specific practice, as well as read across 1-syllable and multisyllable words to build fluency.

Helping students build words on bugs as they say sounds provides important practice for strong phonological processing skills in young readers. The bug design emphasizes left-to-right sound tracking, required for reading and spelling, while also giving students a sense that words are a finished masterpiece! 

Through direct teaching and consistent practice, students learn how to represent sounds for reading and writing . . . in a way that’s both meaningful and “sticky.” 

All Rooted in Language products incorporate research-based methods to support students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, developmental language disorders, and other literacy-based struggles.

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Specifications
  • Grade level: 1 -12
  • File count: 1 PDF
  • Page count: 19 pages
  • 5 sound-to-letter games and exercises for repeated practice
  • 7 pages of bug templates in 3 different sizes (cardstock recommended, lamination optional)

Scope

Provides practice in and strengthens sound-to-letter relationships, including:

  • Letter recognition
  • Tracking and segmenting sounds from left to right
  • Vowel sounds and spellings
  • Consonant sounds and spellings
  • Sound blending
  • Digraph usage (two letters make one sound)
  • Single and multisyllable word building

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I learn more about all the rules and patterns in spelling and word study . . . and how to teach it?

We’ve got you covered with our Foundations for Teaching Reading, Writing & Spelling online educator course. Through over 40 hours of instructional videos, an Educator Guide, Reading Kit, and additional resources, we teach you what, when, and how to teach all the underlying skills in phonics, spelling, and word study. We help you weave all these skills together with effective teaching strategies for all students, especially those with learning challenges. The Foundations course includes periodic live sessions with new teaching content and opportunities to ask questions specific to your students. The Foundations course is not required to successfully use Sound Bugs, but it will deepen your knowledge and expand your teaching strategies.

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Can I use Sound Bugs with older students?

Yes. The concepts and activities are appropriate for students of all ages, from children who are new to reading and writing to tweens and teens who have foundational gaps in their reading, writing, and spelling skills. 

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Will Sounds Bugs help my student who struggles?

Yes. Developing strong sound-to-letter connections is an essential foundational skill for all readers and writers, and this can be particularly challenging for children with learning difficulties. Sound Bugs makes practice engaging, meaningful, and memorable!

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Do I need Sound Bugs if I own Pinwheels?

It depends. Pinwheels includes the Swat! and Swat Team! games from Sound Bugs and the bug manipulatives used in those games. Pinwheels does not include the rest of the Sound Bugs manipulatives or activities. If your student needs more explicit sound-to-letter practice in a way that is visual and memorable, adding Sound Bugs provides that. 

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Do I need Sound Bugs if I own Wand?

Wand does not include Sound Bugs. If your student needs more explicit sound-to-letter practice in a way that is visual and memorable, adding Sound Bugs provides that.

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Do I need any other materials to teach with Sound Bugs?

To play the Swat! and Swat Team! games in this product, your student needs a clean fly swatter or other tool to swat their bug parts while making sound-to-letter connections.

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Can I use Sound Bugs with other programs?

Yes. The concepts and activities can be used to enhance any reading or language arts program.

Customer Reviews

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Rachel

We used Sound Bugs for the first time yesterday. At first my son was apprehensive about something new, but once he realized he could write on them, he turned around. He wanted to do all the writing, which was amazing and had him fully engaged. It was a *joyful* lesson and was simply refreshing! Thank you Rooted in Language for all you do!

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Brandy

I quickly realized my 10 year-old had lost his vowel sounds over our 4-week break. So we stopped our lesson and pulled out the sound bugs. The lesson started with [him] pounding his fists in frustration and growling while we tried reviewing sounds with the vowel chart. It ended with laughter and trying to pronounce ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ and smacking all the vowels for that word (spoiler – it was a mess but lots of fun!!!)! By the end of our time, he had all his short vowel sounds again, remembered what a syllable was, stretched his working memory from one syllable to five, and found lots of success.

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Julia

These little bugs are a game changer. Today my new and struggling reader blended a three letter word successfully! So exciting after months of hard work. It really helped to start with and practice two letter words - something I never thought of doing until I found this community. Thank you!!