Because A says ahh!
Once letter recognition and names are firmly entrenched in your child’s developing mind, they are set to learn that each of those 52 symbols represents a sound! I must stress that children need to have letter recognition mastered before proceeding to this step. Each step builds on the next and by mastering one skill set before moving on to the subsequent skill you will avoid learning gaps that cause trouble later on.
Again, when learning letter sounds repetition is the key. Children love motion, use “on the go” activities to review letters and letter sounds as you come to them.
Try this!
Have a scavenger hunt for items that have the beginning sound of a certain letter. For instance, a child may find an apple for the letter a, a brush for the letter b or a card for the letter c. Challenge your child to find a specific number of items or make a collection. On your daily commute or during waiting times you can ask your child to find letter items with their eyes. A modified game of eye spy using letter sound clues is good for active young people who have trouble with sit-down style learning.
Bring back the foam sword. This time guide the child as they form the letters then make the sound that is associated with the letter with a final jab.
Bring back the lower-case letter cards you made for letter recognition. Spread the letters out on a table so that your child can see them easily, and they are facing the right direction. Call out a word and have your child find the letter that makes the beginning sound of the word.
Work on picture sorts with your child. Ideally, a sort should feature no more than two to three letters to begin with. Put the letters at the top, and then guide your child to say the name of each picture before placing it in the proper column under the letter with the same sound. Here are some letters and pictures that are premade; (http://www.alphabetavenue.net/GGActivities/SnapSoundGG.pdf). They need to be cut and mixed up before sorting. Make sure you only use two or three letters at a time!
If you are working with children in a group, alphabet bingo makes a nice review.
One of my favorite websites is free and fabulous to use to reinforce letter names and the sounds that accompany them. PLEASE check out Starfall (http://www.starfall.com). When you go to the website, stick with the ABC section near the top for now. My children want to click wildly and explore everything. I ask them to explore a predetermined number of letters before venturing off. This site is bright and animated. It is obvious that the designers put quite a bit of thought, knowledge and quality into making the site both educational and capable of holding the attention of wiggly young minds.
As much as I do not advocate using the television as a babysitter, Leapfrog makes a nice line of videos that are useful for learning and reinforcing letter concepts. They can be purchased at most stores that sell videos. I purchased the videos at Toys R Us. As of today, they are available on Amazon as well. The videos listed below are great for letter concepts.
Letter Factory, Phonics Farm, and the Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park
If you have an iPad, iPod or iPhone that you allow your child to use, then the app, pocketphonics is worthy of downloading. Starfall also offers a series of apps for these devices.
Alphabet books are a great tool for learning letter sounds. I am fond of Dr. Seuss’s version. There are literally hundreds of other options that demonstrate specific letters and the sounds they make. The most cost-effective way to provide this resource is to borrow the books from your local library. Ask your librarian for recommendations based on what they have on hand.
Related articles
My child knows their A,B,Cs! (sebgwrites.wordpress.com)
Alphabet Car- A Wacky Driving Game for Preschoolers to Learn Their Alphabet, App Review (funeducationalapps.com)
Introducing Letters (pumkinsandme.wordpress.com)
Learn to Read with Reading Eggs! (elementaryteched.wordpress.com)
Teaching Literacy Through Technology (beholdbeautyseye.wordpress.com)
Starfall Learn to Read – Review (smartappsforkids.com)
