Identifying Letters through Phonics

Phonics is about learning letters and the sounds that correspond with them. Knowing that so many letters make a variety of sounds and that different letters can represent various sounds, teachers start with the most common sound or two sounds for each letter a student is learning about. Instead of spending an immense amount of time with letters and sounds in isolation, we can teach phonics during reading and writing. We can teach phonics continually during shared and guided reading and community and independent writing. When we begin teaching letters and sounds we should start with letters and sounds children are familiar with. A great example of this is children's names.

A great example of teaching phonics through teaching letters and sounds is by using the "Silly Names Song" in which the teacher changes the beginning sound of the names. The teacher then has the children change the beginning sound of their name. In the "Silly Names Song" video the teacher uses the sounds of the letter t and w. This is how the song goes:

In the classroom,

early in the morning,

hear the children playing with their sounds.

Change your name to start with /t/.

Change your name to start with /t/. 

Name with /t/.

Name with /t/.

What's your name? 

Shout it now!

Silly Names Song Video

Since a child's name has letters and sounds they are familiar with, this will help them understand print better and ultimately make connections to what they know and what they are learning. Another way to teach letters and sounds is through community writing. Here are a few prompts that can be used for community writing:

• It starts like Marissa.
• Let's get our mouths ready to start Jessica's name.
• What do you hear at the beginning of sand? Does it sound like Sebastian? 

At this point in time you can have the student look at a name chart (example below) and see what the letters sound like.