Alphabet Practice
Twenty-six letters, each with a shape, a name and a sound. Get these firm and everything after them is easier.
Name and sound are not the same thing
The letter b has a name, bee, and a sound, b as in bat. Children are usually taught the names first, and then find they cannot read, because words are built from sounds and not from names.
Teach both, but when you are sounding out a word, use the sound. c-a-t works. see-ay-tee does not.
The letters children confuse most
These six cause most of the trouble. They are worth extra practice on their own, away from the rest of the alphabet.
| Pair | Why it is confusing | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| b and d | The same shape, facing opposite ways. | Make a fist with each hand, thumbs up. The left hand makes a b, the right makes a d. The word 'bed' has a b at one end and a d at the other, like a bed with a headboard at each end. |
| p and q | Again the same shape reversed, below the line this time. | Practise them in words rather than alone: pen, put, queen, quick. A q in English is almost always followed by u. |
| m and n | Same shape, different number of humps. | m has two humps and two sounds in 'mmm'. Count the humps aloud. |
| i and j | Both have a dot; j goes below the line. | Write them side by side. The j has a tail that hangs down, like a hook. |
| u and v | Curved bottom against pointed bottom. | u is a cup you could drink from. v has a sharp point and would spill. |
| Capital I and small l | In many typefaces they look identical. | Show them inside words: I am, a little lamp. Context settles it, and children learn to use context. |
How to practise one letter
The same five steps work for every letter. Do one letter at a time and do not move on until the child can do step five without help.
Look at it
Show the capital and the small letter together: A a. Say the name. Say the sound.
Find it
Look for the letter on a page, a packet, a signboard, anywhere. Finding it in the real world matters more than finding it on a worksheet.
Trace it
Draw it large with a finger in the air, then on the table, then on paper. Big movements first, small ones later.
Write it
Three or four times, no more. A whole page of the same letter teaches nothing after the fourth one and makes the child hate it.
Use it
Say three words beginning with that sound. Then let the child say three. If they can do this, the letter is learnt.
Handwriting
Do this
- @{title=Do; items=System.Object[]}
Avoid this
- @{title=Do not; items=System.Object[]}
Blending: the step that makes a reader
Once a child knows most letter sounds, they can begin to blend. Say each sound in a short word slowly, then say them faster, then say the word.
Start with three-letter words where every letter makes its ordinary sound: cat, dog, pin, sun, bed, top, hat, red, cup, man.
Do not start with words like said, one or come. Those break the rules, and they are learnt later as whole shapes.
Practise the letters
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Primary Activities
Ten-minute things to do once the letters are steady.
Short Reading Comprehensions
The first short passages, with questions.
Poems
Rhyme makes sounds easier to hear.