• Phonics instruction is frequently the first step in

teaching a child to learn how to read.

• Best described as the relationship between letters,

blends, digraphs, chunks and their spelling.

• Phonics helps children learn to read because

recognizing those letter-sound connections is the first
step in decoding, or sounding out, words.
• Evaluate what children already know.
• Using alphabet flashcards, ask children to identify
each letter by its name.
• Very young children may not be able to recognize the
letters and only know the alphabet in context of the
A-B-C song.
• In this case, the first step is to teach young children
to recognize the letters as they are singing them.
• Make sure to sing the song slowly so they can hear
each letter as a distinct entity.
• Start connecting sounds to the
letters that make them.

• Eg: when you are cleaning up the

alphabet puzzle, ask children to
find the letter that says "sss" and
put it away first.
• Increase the instruction by asking children to tell you
the sound a given letter makes.

• Some of the sounds may be harder for them to

produce just from a developmental standpoint, but if
they can make an approximation of the correct
sound, accept that sound.

• The hardest letters for children to learn are vowels,

letters that have two sounds (C, G) and letters that
don't sound like their names (Y, W, X).
• Play word games with magnetic letters and cookie sheets.
• Try, if possible, to make all the vowels one color to make
them clearly identifiable.
• Begin by creating a simple word like "cat."
• Ask children how they can make the word "cat" into the
word "hat."
• Continue this process with word families until children
ready to move on to more complicated sound like
changing "cat" into "cap."
• Explain to children that the English language
isn't always predictable and that sometimes a
couple of letters together make one sound.

• Blends (for example, "br" or "sp") are more

easily deciphered because they often sound
like the two letters put together.
• Digraphs and chunks, however, ("sh" "ch" or
"th" for example) are a little more
complicated.

• These will have to be taught visually--show

them to your child and demonstrate the
sound these letters make together.