We are on week four of our homeschooling program and this week, I introduced the first lesson to learn letter sounds. In order to read, kids need to recognize the sound of each letter so that’s what we will be working on first.
The Montessori concept believes that the letters of the name are not as important as learning the sounds first. My friend, who is a teacher at pre-k readiness says and encourages to teach and focus more on the letter sounds. I have to agree so I teach that concept first and put more of a focus on letter sounds that singing the ABC’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I still teach the ABC’s . I sing it at every diaper change and we follow a chart as we sing.
Phonetic letter sounds are exactly the link children need to make the first concrete connection between spoken sounds and letter symbols. When a child is taught that “aych is for hat” they must simply trust that this is the case, because nothing in the word “hat” sounds like “aych”; however when a child is taught that the symbol “H” represents the “h-h-h” in “hat” a moment of discovery occurs—they can think to themselves “so this is what the sound “h” looks like!”
http://studyandfaith.com/teach-letter-sounds-before-names/
Teach with Games
The easiest way to teach a kid to do something is to make it fun. So Try this matching game this week. For 3 minutes a day, play a letter sound matching game with this free download.
Print it and cut the pieces to make the matching game. You can laminate to have this game last longer.
How to play introduce letter sounds matching game:
Place the cut cards on the side and the full paper place it in front of your tabby. Work one by one to find the matching object with each letter. In the beginning, you will need to do the matching as your tabby watches and helps out. Repeat the sound of each letter as you are trying to find it’s matching object.
Tip: If you sing it makes it easier to remember. A is for apple, A A Apple (This is the song I sing along with https://youtu.be/BELlZKpi1Zs)
Eventually, after repeating for a few days he/she will catch on and start recognizing the objects with the letter sounds and slowly start recognizing the letters that each letter makes.
The free printable is only until the letter D. Once that has been mastered the rest of the ABC’s can be printed.
Want to teach your one-year-old to talk? learn more about the interactive workbook.
