Phonics

Phonics means knowing the sounds of written letters. It is the understanding of the relationship between the letters in written words and the sounds of these words when spoken.

To become skilled readers, children must have a strong base in phonics, or an understanding of the sounds of written letters and words. Children will use phonics when learning how to blend sounds together to read words.

Because several areas of the brain must work together to “decode” or sound out words, children must practice this skill repeatedly. Children also use phonics to spell words when they write.

Remember to have fun! The end goal is the joy of reading. Build automaticity with letter sounds and decoding to have greater understanding of what you read.

Watch and Learn

Captions and Languages

To watch videos with subtitles: Click the settings icon in the lower right-hand corner, next click “subtitles,” and then “English.”

To see subtitles in another language, after selecting English, click on subtitles again, then click “auto-translate” and select the language of your choice.

Try These Activities

Keep It Simple

If your child is starting to read and still seems unsure, review the alphabet and letter sounds. Next, look at short CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words (top, cat, fog and so on) and have your child break them apart into their individual sounds. Then blend these sounds back together (/t/ /o/ /p/; top).

Watch this video for an example

Letter Sound Water Squirt

Write various letters or letter sound combination patterns on a wall or ground with chalk.
Have your child squirt the letter or group of letters for the sound you say.
Repeat multiple times and see if the child can go faster.

Watch this video to learn how!

Playdough Letters

Give the child playdough and ask them to build any letter that you say
Build a letter and ask the child to name it
Build a word and ask the child to sound it out (only do this AFTER your child has learned most of their letter-sounds)

Watch this video to learn how!

The H Brothers

Explain to your child that sometimes two letters will stand together to create one new sound. The “h brothers” join with other letters to make the sounds: sh, ch, th, wh and ph.

This can be confusing for kids, so make sure to write an example word and use gestures to help them remember the new letter combination.

ch: touch your chin making the “ch” sound

sh: Make the “shushing” sound while holding your finger to your mouth

wh: bite into some white or wheat bread

ph: Pretend to talk on your invisible phone

Tell Me the Members of the Word Family

Word families are words that rhyme. Tell your child the “mom’s” name is “bat” and ask them to tell you all the “kids’” names, like cat, fat, sat, rat, pat, mat, at, and hat. This will help children hear patterns in words.

Write a Word Family

Using a red crayon write a short word like “can”. Then ask your child to think of 2 more words that rhyme with “can” and write them under “can” using a different color crayon.

Teach Blending

Check out these tips from All About Reading to learn how to teach your child to blend sounds, and stop guessing words.

Stick Writing

Using a stick from outside, trace letters in dirt or sand. Tell your child easy two-letter words and see if they can sound them out, such as “it”, “no”, “at”