Learning to read is an invaluable skill. When our kids grow to be proficient readers, they are better prepared as overall learners. So, starting from pre-K, be sure that your child starts learning the skills needed to be a good reader. How do we do that? We start with phonics sounds.
When our young children begin school, they start with preschool and kindergarten. It’s a big step for us parents, and we might be filled with all sorts of feelings and worries. But, for our kids, it can be a wonderful and exciting experience. During pre-K, our young learners acquire all kinds of skills. They learn to communicate with peers, socialize and count numbers. Most importantly, they begin learning the basics needed to read.
The best way to teach young children the skills to learn to read is through phonics. Reading science repeatedly proves that phonics is the most effective and efficient method for teaching reading skills. Fortunately, pre-K is a perfect time to start learning phonics.
An Introduction to Phonics Sounds for Early Learners
Why will phonics work for children as young as pre-K? Phonics has levels and it is tiered. Therefore, children first learn the smallest and easiest bits of information.
The first step to learning how to read with phonics is understanding the sounds that make up words. These small bits of sound are called phonemes, and they are phonics sounds. Your child will need to understand and recognize these phonics sounds in order to build a strong foundation for reading, writing and spelling.
Quick facts about phonics sounds (or phonemes):
- There are 44 different sounds
- There are consonant sounds and vowel sounds
- These sounds can come at the beginning, middle or end of words
When learning phonemes or phonics sounds, children are not learning letters. In fact, they do not know a thing about reading text yet. What are they learning? They are learning how to recognize these tiny units of sounds in the words we use every single day. Furthermore, this helps them pronounce words clearly and sets them up to read words later. Understanding and recognizing these phonics sounds is called phonemic awareness.
First Things First: Make Sure Your Teacher Teaches Phonics Sounds
If you drop your child off at school, shouldn’t he or she learn to read from the teacher? Ideally, yes, but many children do not learn to read at school. Unfortunately, many teachers do not teach early reading skills through phonics. In fact, there’s an entire debate that has lasted decades regarding whether or not to use phonics in the classroom. However, science proves that phonics works, but many teachers still do not teach phonics sounds in the classroom. Sometimes, teachers may say that they take a more “holistic” approach or say they teach through “whole language.” This means while they do include some phonics, it is not a central focus. If you have the chance to choose preschools for your early learner, be sure that your child’s teacher teaches phonemes.
Ask your preschool teacher:
- How they teach early reading skills
- What children learn over the year
- How planned activities help develop reading skills
For kindergarten classrooms, parents may have less power to choose. In this instance, if you find that your kindergartner’s teacher does not teach phonics sounds, you may want to supplement your child’s education with your own lessons and activities at home.
Phonemes are the easiest step in learning to read through phonics and are very fun for kids. Why? Talking is natural; reading is not. Phonics sounds tap into the natural skill we all have for speaking. As a result, children generally have an easy time learning phonics sounds. Better yet, there are several games and activities to make learning phonics sounds engaging and entertaining.
Practice Phonemes with Sound Games At Home
How can you help your child learn phonics sounds (or phonemes) at home? Sound games are a great way to practice. These games are important because they teach children to recognize phonics sounds within bigger words they know. The more they understand phonics sounds, the better prepared they are to move onto the next level of learning to read through phonics.
Sound games come in a variety of forms.
- Phoneme Listicles
A basic sound game might include picking a phonics sound, like /k/, and thinking of words that start or end with that sound. Take turns saying words that start with the sound /k/. You might start with cat. Then, cool, care, kid, calm and then can. Try to keep the list going and going until someone gets stumped! This is a great opportunity to briefly introduce new words, too.
- Songs and Rhymes
Songs, such as nursery rhymes, help build phonemic awareness very well. Because children listen and repeat rhymes often in the form of alliteration, they practice how to make phonics sounds precisely and begin developing awareness of what words contain those phonemes.
- Make That Sound
Children make a lot of noise! It energizes them and it peaks their interest, so why not make the most out of all that noise? This exercise combines phonics sounds with physical activity. First, make list of verbs. This list might include drumming, swimming, digging, jumping and marching. Then, as you say each verb, have your children repeat after you then act out the motion.
While they sound basic, these types of games really do help early learners get to know their phonemes.
Master Phonics Sounds and Phonemes With Mom Or Dad
Because the first step to reading through phonics is with phonemes, it is vital that our children practice speaking with enunciation. At home, the best way to help children prepare to read is through casual conversations and reading aloud to them.
Speaking and talking with your children allows them to hear words used in complete sentences. They also learn new vocabulary and begin recognizing certain phonics sounds within those words. As a result, they have a strong foundation of phonemic awareness, which helps them become better readers, writers and spellers.
Next, reading aloud makes at-home training even better! For the last few years, our children may have been speaking baby words — a mash-up of sounds and made-up words. Now that they are in school and old enough, they need to start learning and using actual words. Reading out loud helps them understand, recognize and use real words.
You do not need to read big books to your children. In fact, the easier the books are, the better. Hearing words and sentences teaches children phonics sounds, which words have those sounds and how to use those words. So, the more you read out loud with your children, the better chance they have at growing their phonemic awareness.
If your children have a strong understanding of phonemes by the end of preschool, they have a big head start on learning to read in kindergarten!
Learn Your Phonics Sounds With Professor Pup
Phonics sounds are the first step to learning to read through phonics. They are essential to learn, and they make reading easier and more enjoyable. How can we help our young students learn their phonics sounds? Try Professor Pup’s Phoneme Farm!
Our program is very simple for parents to use and requires no additional training on your part. With Professor Pup, children enjoy games, songs and cute characters that help them learn phonics sounds to build their foundation for reading success.
Our apps are designed for tablets, but they work just fine on smartphones too! All of our apps include the first five lessons for free. If you like them, you can unlock the remaining lessons for $2.99. To learn more about our phonics sounds programs for home, please visit our Home Edition page.