Phonemic Awareness: Playing with Beginning Sounds

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Learning to identify letters and their sounds is another step toward reading readiness.  Starting in preschool, children start to learn about letters and words.  As children begin to recognize the different letters of the alphabet, the next step is to teach your child the sound or sounds the each letter makes.

You don't have to think of teaching your child letter sounds as a job...it's more of an extended experience with books, pictures in books and other items in your home.

Here are some things you can do to help your child learn the sounds for each letter:

1.  Read ABC books together and talk about the pictures that begin with the same beginning sound.  Don't try to talk in detail about all 26 letters in one day.  Pick a few each time you read the story.  Remember it's a good thing to reread the same books to your child.  Talking about the pictures will also help build your child's vocabulary at the same time.

2.  Beginning Sound Game:  Talk to your child about things you see at the grocery store, while driving, or at a park.  After identifying an object, talk about the letter the item begins with and then say the beginning sound slowly with the rest of the word so you child can hear you isolate the sound for them.

For example: wagon....."w sound" then "agon", then put it together...wagon.

Ask what sound wagon begin with...after a while your child will try to imitate the sound.  If they don't know it, tell them and ask the child to say the sound.  Praise the child for the great job he or she is doing.  Make it a game and soon your child will ask you what sound does... begin with?

3.  Collect a basket or bowl of every day items around your home.  Play the beginning sound game with these items.  Then add to the bowl or basket more items that begin with the same sound so the child can match objects that begin with the same sound.  For example: a pen and a pencil, or a lollipop and a lemon

4.  I love the song from the dvd: Letter Factory by Leap Frog...
Children quickly learn the song and it helps them to remember the sounds of the letters.  Just remember the l doesn't say "ull" it says "l" and the r doesn't say "er" it say "r".  It also teaches the short vowel sounds, so later, once your child knows these sounds well, you can add the long vowel sounds.

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