Sound of the Week

In language, the second year and third year children are continuing to work on developing their sound recognition of letters. Each week we will select a sound to focus on. During that week the children will be presented with the sound associated with the letter and be introduced to the formation of the letter using the sandpaper letters.



When teaching sound recognition we focus on the sound the letter makes and not on naming the letter. Learning the name of the letter may confuse the child as she or he attempts to learn all of the sounds. For example, the letter "c" has a name which begins with the sound s, but is first taught as having a k sound.



The children are encouraged to look around their home for items which begin with the sound we are studying. We invite them to share any of their discoveries with their classmates. If you choose to send an item with your child to share please ensure that it is not breakable or irreplaceable. We would also like to avoid toys as it is tempting for other children to want to touch them.



The order in which we present the sounds is listed below. We will be introducing the sounds in an order which emphasizes the difference in their physical construction, as well as sound. We also try to organize the presentation of sounds in such a way that the children can use their knowledge of the sounds as early as possible to begin constructing simple three letter words.

This is the order we will follow:

m, a, s, e, t, c, o, p, u, d, f, j, g,

l, b, i, n, w, r, h, y, q, z, k, v, x


Generally we will focus on one letter a week, however, there may be some weeks when we choose not to introduce a new sound due to a short week or other events in the classroom.

October 4- 8 short vowel sound for e

October 18 - 22 letter t

October 25 -29 letter c

November 1-5 short vowel sound for o

Marilyn DiMaio