Abi started reading and made that connection when I was reading her favorite books over and over again. She had them memorized at that point. I picked a familiar word and pointed to it every time it was used in the book. One that comes to mind is the book Go Dog, Go! I used the word dog because it's familiar. About halfway through the book I pointed to it and she would say "dog" before I could say it. Then I sounded it out for her, one letter at a time. Something clicked and she was reading Bob books a week later.