Know-Its: The Link To Reading

Research does not give an easy answer to what order the letters should be introduced. Age and emphasis make all the difference. For instance, beginning reading programs should give students letters and sounds that are commonly used. This quickly gives readers sounds to launch them into reading more words.

 However, some early childhood programs approach the order of letter recognition by how easily the letter can be written. For example, they start with letters that have straight lines. I have talked with PreK teachers who only teach uppercase letters because the program they use only teaches uppercase. (It’s going to be a shock when they go to Kindergarten and learn there’s more!)

Other PreK programs (including Mr. Know-It’s Pre-Readiness Kits) first expose students to a variety of upper and lowercase letters, especially those in the child’s name. Then letters and sounds are introduced individually, accompanied by many phonemic awareness activities (listening to sounds). Consonants whose sounds can be elongated are introduced first. For example, you can stretch out the sounds for mmmm and sssss. Elongated consonants allow the child to focus on the beginning sound of a word (an essential indicator of becoming a good reader).

After the child has practiced listening for the first sounds, the instructor can move on to consonants more difficult to hear: t, b, p. You can’t stretch these sounds and shouldn’t try to emphasize them by putting "uh" on the end (tuh, buh, puh). Instead you should say the sound lightly. These consonants are more difficult to hear and should be introduced after training children in phonemic awareness.

On the Kindergarten level, it’s important to make the "print connection." The quicker the child uses letters in words, the more sense it makes and the more eager to learn he/she is. Letters taught in isolation can be a real problem later if this connection isn’t made. That’s why Know-Its and Beyond Readiness begins with letters that can be put with the word family "_at" (bat, cat, hat, etc.) This gives students many words to read very quickly.

Blending phonemes is a key skill to learn, especially in first grade. By teaching the stretching process (see article on Stretching) with the sound for short "o," the child focuses on the process. Many vowel sounds are easily distorted. (Remember Eliza Doolittle trying to say her vowels in My Fair Lady?) Short "o" is a pure sound that is not easily distorted. Therefore, it is a good vowel with which to learn how to blend words. (See the DVD from Stage I.) Consonants that make words with short "o" are introduced first to ensure the student can read real words (pop, mom, mop).

In summary, decide where your children are and what you want to teach them. Start where students will succeed. Kids are not fragile, they will adjust to what you teach—just make sure they are adding to their knowledge everyday.