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Teaching the Letter Sounds.

Introducing the first letter sound: /s/

Children love listening to stories. You can either make up your ownstory use the !inger "honics #ooks or even use a poster of the /s/letter sound.

The /s/ story $the first lesson%

The first story introduces the letter sound /s/ and the corresponding action(weaving you hand like a snake). The stories are basic and teachers can adapthem and elaborate on them depending on the students level ofEnglish/ages, etc. or e!ample, you can add members of the class to thestories (instead of "am you could change it to "andra or "ergio).

#nce you have told the story then the children need to be shown the letter$s% on a flashcard or written on the blackboard. They need to know that theyshould say &ssss' when they see that particular letter. They should also do theaction.

ow you can ask the children to look for the letter $s% in the poster/ingerhonic book/flashcards. The aim is to develop letter sound recognition. *f achild finds the letter $s% in fish, then, at this point, it is more than acceptableto praise their efforts.

+ou can also put up the olly honics rie-e in the classroom or use it to formthe letter sound groups or even flashcards.

Letter formation

ow the children need to learn how to write the $sssss% letter sound. Theteacher can model the sound.

+ou can also model the &froggy' grip.

&eginning with #lending

hildren can begin with auditory blending from the very beginning and thenonce more letter sounds are introduced, they can begin to read (blend) shortwords.

To be able to do auditory blending, the children should be shown how to listenfor the sounds in words, for e!ample, the teacher chooses a short word andsays the individual sounds in that word /sun/. This type of activity cancoincide with the inger honics books or any pictures that you have to hand

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in the classroom. They should be simple sounds that coincide with the lettersound you are teaching. &0ho can see the /sun/ in this picture1'

2nother activity you can do is to draw four items on the blackboard thatcorrespond to short, simple words. or e!ample, cat, sun, six, bus and ask thechildren who can see the /cat/1 2 variation of this activity is to use realob3ects that you have prepared, for e!ample, a toy /dog/.

Identifying the sounds in words

To identify the individual sounds in different words and you can do this byusing the same pictures as before (cat, sun, si!, bus). +ou begin by asking thechildren if they can hear the /sssss/ sound in cat (repeat with the otherpictures). 2s the children develop this skill, they will learn to listen for thesounds with more accuracy and after some practice, will also be able toidentify where the sound is in the word (beginning, middle or end).

+ou can use words that correspond to the letter sound story you have told thechildren, the inger honics 4ooks, any picture flashcards (of simple words),ob3ects or items that the children can see in the classroom.

These types of activities should be repeated everyday to help the childrendevelop their reading and writing skills.

This should take around 56 minutes. 2 little practice everyday is moreimportant than saturating the children with blending and segmenting

activities.

The sound sheet

The sound sheets can be completed in class or taken away to do at home.The sound sheet has a picture of the letter sound that the children havelearned that day, the actual letter for writing practice and a picture of theaction as a reminder for the children (or for the parents).

'(tra activities

2ctivities to help reinforce the letter sounds7 pay dough letter, finger paintingdrawing a picture of a snake or doing a class display, or any creative activityto help remind the children of the letter sounds.

+ou can also use e!tra resources such as the olly "ong 8.

The last part of the lesson can be used to help children with theircomprehension skills (stories, songs, games, poems, chants, etc).

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"honics Lessons $a review%

Teaching the )ndand *rdgroup of letter sounds:

2 revision session7 lettersound flashcards (with and without actions). 2 story and an action, letter formation.

4lending activities, activities for identifying the sounds in words. 2 sound sheet, whiteboard worksheet or upil 4ook page, olly "ongs or olly

ingles, stories, 898.

Teaching the +th ,thand -throup of letter sounds:

2 revision session7 lettersound flashcards (with and without actions). 2 story and an action, letter formation. 4lending activities, activities for identifying the sounds in words. 8ictation activities7 dictate the letter sounds and words. 2 sound sheet, whiteboard worksheet or upil 4ook page, olly "ongs or olly

ingles, stories, 898. The alphabet song (:thgroup of letter sounds). *ntroduce capital letters (:thgroup of letter sounds). *ntroduce the Tricky 0ords (:thgroup of letter sounds possible after teaching/th/).

Teaching the throup of letter sounds:

2 revision session7 lettersound flashcards (with and without actions). 2 story and an action, letter formation. 4lending activities, activities for identifying the sounds in words. 8ictation activities7 dictate letter sounds and words. 2 sound sheet, whiteboard worksheet or upil 4ook page, olly "ongs or olly

ingles, stories, 898. ;isten to as many children as possible reading (blending) words (wordbo!es). 2 revision session7 letter names, tricky words, capital letters and their

corresponding sounds.