Phonics sounds are the basic building blocks of words. If we take Words as the matter, then phonics sounds are the atoms. Join them together in a proper sequence, and you have meaningful words. Text becomes too difficult of a task if presented in bulk as a paragraph to young learners. Phonics sounds help children break text into bite-size chunks.
Early phonics sounds are easy to grasp. There are basically two families of phonics sounds which children are required to learn to start their early reading.
Beginning sounds of the English language are the first group. There are 26 of them. Start by introducing the sounds only—no need to introduce the names at this stage. Your total emphasis should be on helping children recognize the beginning sounds of common words.
There are a number of activities that you can use for this purpose. You can tell Kid stories that are made of the names of people, places, and objects, starting with a specific beginning sound. Or you can show things to children that start with a certain beginning sound.
The second step is to introduce the word parts. These are the two alphabets that come together to create a new sound. They are the second and the third letter of a three-letter word. These word parts are like the nucleus of an atom. Word parts are not limited to the three-letter words only. They appear in longer words as well. A good grasp of word parts helps children become independent learners.
The best way to help children learn word parts is through children’s stories. Incorporate three-letter words into stories. Stories for children can be told repeatedly to children. You can review the words as you tell the story. You can also frame questions at the end of the storytelling session focusing on the three-letter words with the targeted word part.
Once you develop the recognition of beginning sound and the word pant comes the time to help children read simple sentences that contain the three-letter words. That brings confidence and the pleasure of early reading to young children.
The next step is to help children catchword parts in longer words. They can try saying the words by pronouncing the parts first. This is the beginning of independent reading skills. This reading skill can lead to lifelong academic achievements.
It is a good idea to keep going back to review the beginning sounds and word parts even when children are in grade two or three. Display the alphabets in home and class and review sounds and word parts in an informal manner on a daily basis. This will build a strong foundation for reading skills in the English language.
You will find children’s stories for beginning sounds and phonic sounds in Butterfly and Friend’s pre-primary syllabus by East.