Category Archives: ABC’s

Is there a low tech, inexpensive way to teach my children their letter sounds?

Posted on June 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

I’ve had success teaching reading to brand new readers by matching pictures to the correct letter using homemade flashcards.  Both native English speakers and ESL preschoolers have found this a fun way to learn letter sounds.  It can be done in five minutes here and there, making it a good way to teach children with short attention spans.

Child sorting picture flash cards to match with the letter B.

To enlarge the picture, click on it.

I suggest you try this method:

  • Cut some index cards in two, each about 3 by 2 ½ inches.  Or use the index cards whole if you prefer.
  • On ten or twelve blank cards, paste pictures of words which begin with the same consonant sound, such as the letter “b.”  Use pictures of a ball, a balloon, a bear, a banana, a ballerina and others until you have about ten to twelve cards with “b” pictures.
  • On another ten or twelve blank cards, paste pictures of words which begin with other letters, such as an apple, a cat, a dog, a kite and a piano until you have about the same number of cards as “b” cards.
  • On one blank card write or paste a capital B and a lower case b, “Bb.”
  • Lay the card labeled “Bb” on a table.  Shuffle all the picture cards, or let your child do that.  The more she can participate in the process, and eventually control it, the more likely she is to be eager to play the “game.”
  • Now taking one card at a time, have your child say the word of the picture.  Emphasize the “b” sound for her, and ask her if the card starts with a “b” sound.  If so, tell her to put the card next to the “Bb” card.  If not, tell her to put the card a little distance away.
  • Keep doing this until you have gone through all the cards and made two piles of picture cards.
  • With practice, your child will be able to match the words to the letter quickly.
  • After she has mastered “Bb,” make a set of cards using another consonant sound.  You can keep the same set of random cards or add to them.  Some of the random cards will eventually become the letter cards, so you need to add to that group of cards as you develop more letter cards.
  • Begin with the 16 consonants which almost always sound the same:  (Bb, Dd, Ff, Hh, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Pp, Qq, Rr, Tt, Vv, Xx and Zz).  You don’t want to  do the ABC’s in order, starting with Aa.  Begin with any of the consonants I just listed.  If the child’s name is Tom, start with “Tt.”  If it is Hannah, start with “Hh.”
  • Try not to use pictures of words that start with blended sounds.  For example, don’t use “blue” or “braids” yet.  Later, after the child is sure of the single sound of a letter, you can start combining letter sounds.
  • Don’t start with a consonant that has multiple sounds, such as Gg, Ss or Cc.  For starts, choose letters and words that follow the rules of phonics.  Try to reduce confusion as much as possible.
  • Also, don’t start with vowels.  I teach vowels slightly differently.  I’ll tell you about that in my next blog.

Perhaps this sounds like too much work?  I use the cards over and over with new reading students, so for me the time it took to make the cards was well worth it.  If you have more than one child, you too can reuse the cards, and if you laminate them, they last forever.  (Laminating is expensive, but clear packing tape protects the cards well.)  And the cards are easy to make.  I made mine while watching TV.

In addition to being low tech, the cards are an inexpensive method to teach sounds.  A pack of index cards; old books, magazines or stickers to use for pictures; and tape together probably cost a few dollars and can be used to create many sets of cards.

How about you?  Were you taught your letter sounds by another low tech method?  How are you teaching your children their letter sounds?  Tell our readers by clicking the comment button.

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Posted in ABC's, English as a second language (ESL), how to make learning fun, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading, phonics

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Why is reading such a complex skill?

Posted on April 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

According to an April 2000 study (www.nationalreadingpanel.org) researched by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (a division of the National Institutes of Health) and the federal Department of Education, there are four main components to reading, each of which can be further divided.

Chart of 4 reading components

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

The first component is systematic phonics instruction.  The study defined phonics as how a letter corresponds to a sound in English, and defined systematic phonics as planned, sequential letter-sound instruction.  Some English letters have one corresponding sound (such as most consonants like b and d).  Some letters have two sounds (hard g and soft g, for example).  And some letters have many sounds (vowels and y).  Most systematic phonics instruction begins with teaching consistent consonant sounds and later moves on to vowels with multiple sounds, and then to consonants whose sounds change in combination with other letters (th and kn, for example).

Another component is phonemic awareness.  Phonemes are the smallest units of spoken English, 41 in all, represented by one or more of the 26 letters of the alphabet.  Some words have one phoneme (oh, for example, has the one phoneme o) while most words have two or more phonemes (go, for example, has two phonemes, g and o, while style has four phonemes, s, t, i and l.).  Putting together the phonemes to form words is an important component of reading.

Fluency is the third component.  The federal study defined fluency as reading aloud with speed, accuracy and proper expression.  When a child pauses at a comma or period and changes his pitch if he is reading a quote from a mean witch or a baby duck, that child is showing fluency.  Children who ignore punctuation or who read in a monotone or who plod along do not show fluency.

Reading comprehension, the fourth component, is perhaps the most complex.  It involves understanding vocabulary in the context of a text.  At the same time, reading comprehension means a student is actively engaging with a text so that the student can draw meaning.  If a child can read “trek” but does not know the word’s meaning, comprehension is limited by the lack of vocabulary but not by phonics or phenomes.  If a child can read a text but has little interest in the subject, and reads in a monotone, the child’s comprehension may be limited by fluency or passivity.

Adding to the complexity of reading is that all four of these skills work in unison as a child reads.  When a child is reading words accurately; when that child is grouping words in phrases and sentences with proper inflection; when that child is moving at a moderate rate; and when that child is laughing or questioning or pausing to consider what might happen next, that child is truly reading.

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Posted in ABC's, fluency, letter sounds, phonics, reading comprehension, reading readiness., reading research

Do electronic games teach kids how to read?

Posted on April 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

A father of a four-year-old told me his son recently said, “Dad, I know how to spell exit.  E-X-I-T.”

“You’re right.  How did you learn that?” the father asked.

“Easy,” the child replied.  “Playing Mario.”

Seated young boy is playing a portable video game..

Click on picture to enlarge it.

The father explained that the boy is crazy about Mario games.  He can read little words, but not big ones, so sometimes he pauses the game and asks his father what a particular word means.  “He wants to know all the words so that he can beat the game,” the father explained.

So eager is the boy to win the games that on his own he learned how to navigate to YouTube on an iPad and typed in “Mario” and “Super Mario Bros. U.”  Then he listened to college kids commenting on how to win the games.  “He picked up the lingo and improved his vocabulary,” said the father.  And he won the games.  Now he wants to teach other little kids how to win the Mario games which are the rage at his preschool.

This child has been raised with electronics.  At two he received a Leapster and a dozen games, some of which taught letter recognition and small words.  On the family iPad he routinely searches Google for tips on playing Mario games.

Kneeling young girl is playing a portable video game.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Sometimes he finds what he thinks might be useful information, but he can’t read it, so he and his father read it together.

Similar to how bilingual children merge words from one language into another, this child mixes “electronic” terms into his “analog” life.  On a family vacation his grandfather was reading a book to him when his mother called the child for a minute.  “Pause it, Grandpa,” the four-year-old said.  “Navigate” is as natural to him as “go.”

How about your child?  Has he or she learned how to read from playing electronic games?

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Posted in ABC's, how to make learning fun

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Can flashcards be used with preschoolers? If so, how?

Posted on March 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

I have worked successfully using flash cards with three and four-year-olds.  The children were learning the alphabet.  I used a deck of cards with all 26 letters printed on them, plus pictures of words which begin with each letter.  Here’s how you might use the cards:

Child holding a pile of flash cards that she's studied and now knows.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

  • Use flash cards to recognize the names of the A, B, C’s.  For very young children, start with just a few cards (such as the letters in family names, Mom and Dad).  Later increase the number of letters until all 26 could be identified.
  • Use flash cards to recognize the sounds of the A, B, C’s.  Start with a few cards whose sounds the child already knows and add more until all 26 letter sounds can be identified.
  • Use flash cards to pair letter names and sounds.  Once the child knows the names of the A, B, C’s and the sounds individual letters make, shuffle the cards and pull them one at a time for the child to identify both names and sounds.  Resist the urge to place all the cards face up on a table.  For some children, seeing all 26 cards at once is overwhelming even though they know the letters and sounds.  Showing one card at a time is not so intimidating.  Start small.
  • Use flash cards to order A, B, C’s.  Taking a handful of cards at a time (A to E, for example), place them face up in mixed order on a table.  Let the child arrange the cards in order.  Sing the ABC song slowly with the child if she hesitates.  Then add another set of cards (F to J, for example) until all the cards are in proper order.
  • Use flash cards to identify a letter and its sound with a word.  It’s important for the child to memorize a word which comes to mind immediately for each letter.  This will be useful when the child is beginning to sound out words.  When learning with vowels, choose words that begin with short vowel sounds.  For example, A is for apple, E is for egg, I is for igloo, O is for octopus and U is for umbrella.
  • Flash cards are also useful for learning sight words.  Not all tiny words follow the rules of phonics (the, as, of, is, was and they, for example).  Yet children need to be able to recognize these words to read.  In many kindergarten and first grade classrooms, teachers have lists of these words on the wall for students to use when writing.  Manufacturers sell boxed sets of commonly used sight words too.

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Posted in ABC's, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading

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How can I help my child not to mix up b and d?

Posted on February 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

When children are learning the lower case alphabet, they frequently mix up certain pairs of letters:  p and q, g and q, l and I, and especially b and d.   This is normal.  As they get experience, they recognize differences in these letter pairs.  But mix-ups with b and d might linger well into elementary school.

b sees dOne solution is to tell the child that b and d look at each other.  Draw the letters with the b loop facing the d loop, and put dark irises in the loops.  Tell the child that b comes before d in the alphabet, so when looking at b d, b is the first letter and d is the second letter.

two hands making letter b, d with a bed spelled out between the thumbs.Another way to handle the b d problem is to have the child make fists with both hands while holding up the thumbs.  When the child looks at his left hand, it looks like the letter b with the thumb the stem and the fist the loop of the letter.  When the child looks at his right hand, it looks like the letter d.  Now tell the child to bring her fists together until they touch and to look at the shape.  Her hands should look like a bed with the thumbs the bedposts and the fists the mattress.  If the child knows the word “bed,” the child can easily figure out b and d.

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Posted in ABC's, methods of teaching reading, mixing up letters

What letter sounds should I teach first?

Posted on January 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Suppose your child knows her ABC’s.  How do you start teaching letter sounds?  With vowels?  With consonants?  In ABC order?

Child seeing letter on dog's collarThe English alphabet includes 26 letters, of which 16 letters, almost always make the same sound.  If you begin teaching letter sounds using those letters there are advantages for your child.

  • These 16 letters follow rules for the sounds they represent.  A ”B,” for example, always sounds like a “B.”  An “M” always sounds like an “M.”  This predictability is reassuring to children who are deciphering the alphabet sound code.
  • Whether those 16 letters come at the beginning of a word, or in the middle, or at the end, the child can identify a consistent sound.  The “N” in “not” sounds the same as the “n” in “pencil” and the “n” in “pan.”  Compare that to a “Y” which has one sound at the beginning of words (such as “yo-yo”) and multiple sounds at the end of words (“party,” “boy” and “buy”) or no sound at the end of words (“day” and “key”).

It makes sense to begin by teaching letter sounds that follow rules.  It also makes sense to begin with letters that have meaning to the child.  If the child’s name is Pranavi, start by teaching the letter sound “P.”  If the child’s brother’s name is Bhavik, teach the “B” sound.

If the child can remember a particular letter with a particular word, the child can go to that special word to compare new words for sound.  “Z” is for zoo is great, but if the child’s brother’s name is Zachary, then “Z” is for Zachary might be more meaningful, and so more easily remembered.

The 16 letters that almost always make the same sound are B D F H J K L M N P Q[u] R T V X and Z.

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Posted in ABC's, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading

How do I teach my child the names of letters?

Posted on December 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Suppose your three-year-old is aware of letters and is ready to begin naming letters properly.  Where do you begin?  Since all children are self-centered, start with their names and the names of important people and pets.ABC Song

  • Begin with the child’s name.  Teach the child to name the letters in his or her name, and in family members’ names.
  • Point out letters from the child’s name on food items, and on the computer, and ask the child to name the letters.
  • Introduce letter names in small batches, three or four at a time.  26 capitals and 26 lower case letters—that’s a lot to learn all at once.
  • Explain that all letters can be written two ways, as capitals and as lower case letters.  Point out examples of both when you are naming letters.
  • Let the child be the detective.  Ask if the child can find the “t” on a box of oatmeal, or the “T” in the title, Ten Apples up on Top.
  • Cut out multiple copies of letters and glue them to a paper.  Let the child glue similar letters near the one on the paper.
  • With little children, the process is more important than the product.  Perfection can come later.
  • Even though today’s refrigerator masterpiece will be tossed out with next week’s recyclables, highlight today’s work so that the child sees you value his work as important.
  • Sing the ABC song with your child.  Don’t worry if she says “el-en-em-oh” for “L, M, N, O.”  You say it correctly and with time, she will too.
  • ABC flash cards can be great to help mastering letter names.  For starts, use just the letters the child knows, and gradually introduce more.  26 letters all at once can be intimidating.
  • Expect confusing with b and d, p and q, I and l, and M and W.  If the child is trying to say the letters, gently correct.  “Oops, that’s a backwards b.  What do we call a backwards b?”  It’s common for children to confuse some letters for several years, but eventually they will outgrow it.

Focus on letter names that are important to the child.  Don’t worry about the sounds that letters make.  That comes later.

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Posted in ABC's, methods of teaching reading

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