Letters And Sounds
This is one of my favorite tips, because parents love teaching their kids letters and sounds. You get to see such great progress. Kids love learning them and let’s face it, the alphabet song is fun to sing. A couple of things to add after your child knows the alphabet song by heart include:
- Have them identify both the capital and lower case letters in order . You can do this by reading alphabet books, playing with alphabet puzzles or even flash cards.
- After they know their letters of the alphabet in order, it is time for them to learn them out of order. When your child can quickly name each of the capital and lower case letters out of order, they absolutely know them.
- Next is the sounds that each letter makes. When learning the vowels stick to the short vowel sounds.
In my classroom I have the kids practice their letters and sounds with flashcards. Each of my flash cards has a picture, the capital and lower case letter and the word that matches the picture. I start out with all the cards in alphabetical order, when they have those down, I mix the cards up. As we practice each card I point to the two letters one at a time and say the name of the letter. Next I point to each letter again saying the sound the letter makes each time. Next, point o the picture and say the name of the picture. Lastly, point to the word on the bottom of the card and say the word. Here is an example of my A card I use in class. I would say: A, a, /a/,/a /, apple, apple.
I have attached my set of cards I use in my classroom for you to print as well.
I go through these quickly and over and over again until the kids have them down. I am always amazed at how quickly they catch on and memorize these cards. I hope your kids will enjoy learning their sounds in a snap!