9
Letter Sounds:
Understanding that a word is made up of individual sounds and discriminating
among those sounds is called phonemic awareness. It takes practice to hear the
“b-b-b” in the words bat and ball, or to hear that pig and jig rhyme because they
have the same ending sound. The fi rst step is for children to connect the sound
a letter makes to the printed letter.
Tips for helping your child make the letter/sound connection:
• Write the letters of the alphabet on index cards, one letter per card. Using six
cards at a time, scatter the cards randomly on the fl oor. Say a letter sound, such
as “buh,” and have your child fi nd the letter card that stands for that sound.
• Play “A Letter a Day.” Place a magnetic letter on your refrigerator, or write a
letter on a piece of paper and post it in a prominent place. Then, on C day, for
example, fi nd as many objects as you can that start with C. Say the sound of C
as you identify each one.
• Make a letter book. Together with your child, thumb through old magazines
to fi nd pictures of things that begin with each letter of the alphabet. For each
letter, cut out a picture and glue it onto a sheet of paper. Write the name of
the picture underneath and put the beginning letter in a special color. Staple
the pages together in ABC order to make a book your child can read. Ask
your child to pronounce the beginning sound of each word and then read
the word as a whole.
Tips for helping your child to blend and isolate sounds in
words, or play with rhyming words:
• Say a series of words that begin with the same sound, for example, mommy,
milk, magic. Ask your child to add another word to the list that begins with
the same sound.
• Read a familiar nursery rhyme or rhyming picture book. As you read, leave
out a rhyming word along the way and pause to allow your child to complete
the verse.
• Slowly say the sounds in a word, so your child can hear each one:
bbbaaattt
.
Once your child identifi es the word, have him pantomime the action of the
word. Use this word bank of easy-to-identify action words:
cut
,
comb
,
fi sh
,
fan
,
hop
,
mop
,
pull
,
run
,
tap
.
