Teaching the Letter Sounds.

Introducing the first letter sound: /s/ Children love listening to stories. You can either make up your own story 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 adapt them and elaborate on them depending on the students level of English/ages, etc. or e!ample, you can add members of the class to the stories (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 they should say &ssss' when they see that particular letter. They should also do the action. (ow you can ask the children to look for the letter $s% in the poster/ inger )honic book/flashcards. The aim is to develop letter sound recognition. *f a child finds the letter $s% in fish, then, at this point, it is more than acceptable to praise their efforts. +ou can also put up the ,olly )honics rie-e in the classroom or use it to form the letter sound groups or even flashcards. Letter formation (ow the children need to learn how to write the $sssss% letter sound. The teacher 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 then once more letter sounds are introduced, they can begin to read (blend) short words. To be able to do auditory blending, the children should be shown how to listen for the sounds in words, for e!ample, the teacher chooses a short word and says the individual sounds in that word /s/u/n/. This type of activity can coincide with the inger )honics books or any pictures that you have to hand

in the classroom. They should be simple sounds that coincide with the letter sound you are teaching. &0ho can see the /s/u/n/ in this picture1' 2nother activity you can do is to draw four items on the blackboard that correspond to short, simple words. or e!ample, cat, sun, six, bus and ask the children who can see the /c/a/t/1 2 variation of this activity is to use real ob3ects that you have prepared, for e!ample, a toy /d/o/g/. Identifying the sounds in words To identify the individual sounds in different words and you can do this by using the same pictures as before (cat, sun, si!, bus). +ou begin by asking the children if they can hear the /sssss/ sound in cat (repeat with the other pictures). 2s the children develop this skill, they will learn to listen for the sounds with more accuracy and after some practice, will also be able to identify 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 the children, 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 children develop their reading and writing skills. This should take around 56 minutes. 2 little practice everyday is more important 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 have learned that day, the actual letter for writing practice and a picture of the action as a reminder for the children (or for the parents). '(tra activities 2ctivities to help reinforce the letter sounds7 pay dough letter, finger painting, drawing a picture of a snake or doing a class display, or any creative activity to 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 their comprehension skills (stories, songs, games, poems, chants, etc).

"honics Lessons $a review% Teaching the )nd and *rd group of letter sounds: / 2 revision session7 letter/sound 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 ,th and -th .roup of letter sounds: / 2 revision session7 letter/sound 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 (:th group of letter sounds). / *ntroduce capital letters (:th group of letter sounds). / *ntroduce the Tricky 0ords (:th group of letter sounds possible after teaching /th/). Teaching the /th .roup of letter sounds: / 2 revision session7 letter/sound 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 (word bo!es). / 2 revision session7 letter names, tricky words, capital letters and their corresponding sounds.