Written By: Maher Ali Khan
Learning to read is a beautiful journey that begins with sounds, grows through blending, and blossoms into confidence. Our Ransom Reading Workshop for Mothers was designed to help mothers experience this journey firsthand and discover how children develop early literacy skills through playful, engaging strategies.
The workshop began with an exciting challenge! Mothers were given a digraph and invited to create as many words as possible using its sound. This served as a provocation, sparking curiosity and encouraging participants to predict what the workshop would explore. Their ideas opened the door to our learning journey.
We then moved into the world of sounds and blending, exploring how individual sounds come together to form words. Mothers were introduced to CEW (Common Exception Words) and learned how decoding helps children read unfamiliar words by connecting sounds to letters. The focus was on understanding not just what children learn, but how they learn to read.
The excitement continued with a lively voiced-and-unvoiced sounds activity, where enthusiastic volunteers demonstrated the difference between the two. Learning became even more meaningful as we stepped outdoors for a hands-on exploration of playful literacy strategies.
From hopping through phonics on a hopscotch path to building words, solving word puzzles, and programming the Bee-Bot to reach the correct words, every activity demonstrated how learning can be active, joyful, and purposeful.
The workshop was more than a sharing session; it gave mothers a chance to step into their children’s learning experiences. Together, we explored how play, curiosity, and meaningful practice can nurture confident young readers: one sound, one word, and one joyful discovery at a time!
