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How comfortable are you with writing the letter e? I think, at this point in our lives, we’re pretty solid. Since we are so good at it, we could probably teach it to others, right? How would you explain writing the letter e to a child who is just learning their letters? “You start kind-of halfway down the line. But more like three-quarters. Okay and then you pull your pencil to the left. Oh, you don’t know what your left is? Oh, okay, just go backwards, and then up, and then down. No, your other down.” It’s not as easy to explain as you would originally think, is it? My point here is this—as proficient readers, we have many processes internalized. The act of writing and reading happens virtually instantly, so we don’t have to pause and think about how these acts are occurring. As teachers and parents, we have to try to take apart those processes and find ways to explicitly teach our students the skills that will eventually lead to proficient, instant word recognition and effortless writing.
Today, I’m writing for teachers and parents. I’m writing to give teachers ideas on how to help their parents prepare their pre-school and kindergarten students for success. I’m writing for those parents at home who are doing everything they possibly can to help their little ones be successful (Hi D.M.P! I love you and you’re an amazing mother!) I hope you can figuratively walk away from this blog post with ideas you can try today with your preschooler or kindergartner.
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“The two best indicators of how well a child will learn to read in the first two years of school are phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge.”
In a society where every company in the world is trying to push a curriculum for 4 and 5 year olds, what is the most important? The amount of information presented is overwhelming—does my child need to know 10 sight words and all their letters if they ever want to be successful? Luckily, the research is very clear. The two best indicators of how well a child will learn to read in the first two years of school are phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge. Letter sound knowledge gets much more attention than phonemic awareness, and yet without phonemic awareness, letters will never be anything more than just arbitrary symbols. As for “sight words”? I wouldn’t even touch them yet.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to manipulate individual sounds in speech. It is part of a larger umbrella of skills called phonological awareness. Phonological awareness includes phonemic awareness, but also skills such as rhyming, syllables, alliteration, and counting words in sentences. If a child can hear the word “hatch” and know that it is made up of the sounds /h/-/a/-/ch/, that is an example of phonemic awareness. If a child can say the word slide and then eliminate the /l/ sound to make side, that is phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness develops at 3 different levels—the syllable level, the onset-rime level, and the individual phoneme level. I won’t belabor the definition of phonemic awareness, but I want you to remember this one thing: when you are working on phonemic awareness, you are not including letter names or pictures of letters. This is purely sound work to prepare for phonics. Phonemic awareness is critical because if a student cannot master skills like segmenting and blending orally, we cannot expect them to do it in print.
With your preschooler and kindergartner, building phonological awareness is important. Luckily, it’s also one of the easiest things to practice! Since it has to deal purely with sound, phonological awareness can be built during their bath, the drive to school, or during everyday conversations. Here are some tips to get you started.
When teaching letters, my personal belief is you should teach lowercase letters before you teach uppercase letters. 98% of the letters we write are written in lowercase letters. Of course it is important for students to be able to recognize and write uppercase letters. I always show my students the uppercase letters when I am introducing a letter, but we focus our energy on learning proper lowercase letter formation.
My top 5 tips for teaching letter formation.
1. Teach keywords to help make the sound stick. Find flashcards for your children that have an image that starts with that sound. Teach them the name of the letter, the keyword picture, and the sound. When they are writing, have them repeat all three parts until they know it automatically. (Below I link a set of cards I like. Not an ad, just what I found and like!)
2. Start big, then go smaller. Before you have students write letters on paper, use a variety of other methods to make the letter. Write it big in the air while saying the name, keyword picture, and sound. Use shaving cream or playdoh to make letters. Take your child outside and practice with chalk. In the end, though, you should always bring it back to paper. DO NOT have a beginning writer use regular wide-ruled paper. I highly recommend getting paper that has a dotted midline.
3. Practice known letters every day. You can practice letter name or letter sound. Sometimes, I just ask them to write the letter t, b, d, f, etc. Other days, I say, “I’m thinking of a letter that makes the /f/ sound” and turn it into a game. Can you tell I like games? No matter what, though, take 1-2 minutes each day to practice reading and spelling the letters your child knows.
4. Teach letters together that are formed similarly. You should not start at a and end with z, because our alphabet is randomly put together. Instead, focus on letters that are made similarly. The letters a, c, o, d, g, and q all begin the same way. T, b, f, h, l, and k all start at the top line and go to the bottom. M and n are made similarly. There is no one correct sequence. My school uses the sequence from Wilson’s Fundations, and a quick Google search will give you that sequence.
5. Focus on proper letter formation, not speed (at first.) Kiddos don’t need to write it fast when first learning—they need to write it correctly. Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. When children are first learning to write their letters, this is the time we stop and correct them. Do not allow invented formations that will eventually slow them down. Encourage proper letter formation from the beginning.
Adams, Marilyn Jager (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.
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Savannah Campbell is a K-5 reading specialist. She has taught her entire 12-year teaching career at the school she went to as a child. She holds two master’s degrees in education from the College of William and Mary. Savannah is both Orton-Gillingham and LETRS trained. Her greatest hope in life is to allow all children to live the life they want by helping them to become literate individuals.
Savannah Campbell is a K-5 reading specialist. She has taught her entire 12-year teaching career at the school she went to as a child. She holds two master’s degrees in education from the College of William and Mary. Savannah is both Orton-Gillingham and LETRS trained. Her greatest hope in life is to allow all children to live the life they want by helping them to become literate individuals.
Feeling overwhelmed with all the terminology out there? Want to know the key terms all teachers need to teach phonics? In this FREE Rules of English cheat sheet, you get a 5 page pdf that takes you through the most important terms for understanding English—you’ll learn about digraphs, blends, syllable types, syllable divisions, and move. Grab today and take the stress out of your phonics prep!
