A Letter at a Time. Phonics Help Build a Foundation to Reading.
Unless you happen to be one of the three little pigs, it’s impossible to accomplish building a house without a blueprint, especially with a Big Bad Wolf looming nearby. You need a strong foundation for each of the building blocks—or bricks, in this particular metaphor. Clay to brick, brick to wall, wall to house—the structure is strong from the very beginning. Now let’s apply this idea to building a sturdy knowledge base when children learn to read, starting with phonics.
There are so many ways for parents to introduce the concept of phonics to their children at an early age. Familiarity helps, like starting with the letters within a child’s name when learning the alphabet. Spelling them out in play dough or finger paint, or writing their name in a sandbox helps a child recognize letters in a word he or she knows well. Pointing out letters when you see them, pronouncing the most common sound of each letter, and reading aloud to him or her are simple ways to teach how to decode the letters within words.
Phonics are taught at a young age because they play an important part in learning how to read. While every kid learns at a different rate, normally children are taught phonics in kindergarten through second grade.
ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy uses interactive games and learning activities to teach phonics. We don’t want these future readers to huff and puff when they learn to read words and sentences, so in the phonics lessons, children are taught the sounds of letters of the alphabet first and the relationship of those letters to sounds. And like bricks that form a house, children learn that those 26 letters combine into groups of letters. And soon enough, you have a child learning to read!
ABCmouse has a full online curriculum for kids ages 2–8. Children can start wherever they feel most comfortable and progress at their own pace. In a simple step-by-step process, our phonics program helps them develop their reading skills and phonemic awareness and become confident readers in a way that makes sense to them. The curriculum’s entertaining lessons, puzzles, and educational activities teach children reading skills while being engaged and playing games. So, whether it’s singing a song, using flash cards, reading books, or reviewing a vocabulary words list, kids are drawn to the activities and you can track their progress.
Teacher-recommended, the exercises in award-winning ABCmouse support the common core state standards, which outline what a student should know and be able to do in his or her grade. Phonics instruction is just one of the many Learning Activities within the reading program! With thousands of engaging lessons, you can help build that learning foundation for your child one brick—and one letter—at a time.
With thousands of engaging lessons, you can help build that learning foundation for your child one brick—and one letter—at a time.
* The Process of Learning to Read via ABCmouse Supports Research-Based Best Practices in Early Childhood Education