R-Controlled Vowels Skill Explainer

The Trace and Try Strategy

Name: The Trace and Try Strategy
Uploaded: 2026-04-12T05:09:31-04:00
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Description: The Trace and Try Strategy

Reading specialist Colese Brown at Hope-Hill Elementary School in Atlanta uses the Trace and Try strategy to help her kindergartners lock in the spelling of the bossy-r sound /or/. By writing, saying, and tracing the spelling, students build connections between what they see, hear, say, and touch, helping the learning stick!

Learn more with our free skill explainer on teaching r-controlled vowels.

Video thumbnail for The Trace and Try Strategy — Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book

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Colese Brown: Okay. We're going to get to write it and spell it together. Capish?

Students: [unintelligible]

Colese Brown: Cool beans.

Students: Cool beans.

Colese Brown: All right. Markers in hands.

Narrator: Colese Brown and her kindergartners from Hope-Hill Elementary in Atlanta, Georgia are using what she calls the trace and try strategy to review the r-controlled sound /or/.

Colese Brown: Ready? Let's go. 'o', 'r', /or/. Your turn.

Students: 'o', 'r', /or/.

Narrator: The students write the letters and say the letter names before underlining and saying the sound /or/.

Colese Brown: 'o', 'r', /or/. Your turn.

Students: 'o', 'r', /or/.

Colese Brown: Ooh, my turn.

Narrator: Ms. Brown calls this activity trace and try because students trace over the letters as they say the name and sound three times. Tracing a word combines touch, sound, and sight, helping students lock in the connection between what they're hearing and how to spell it.

Colese Brown: You guys did an amazing job. Ooh. I think we should give ourselves the fireworks cheer. Are you ready? [everyone claps and makes woo! noise] Ooh. Great job, guys.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Hope-Hill Elementary, Reading its Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA ,Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Colese Brown: My name is Colese Brown, and this is Reading Universe.