Teaching Tips

Teaching Tip for Oct, Nov, Dec '07

Check your alphabet books!! Many of the alphabet books out there are beautiful picture books but poor phonics books. Here are things to look for:

• both upper and lower case letters are presented - not just upper case! (our focus should be lower case)
• the vocabulary used is child-appropriate. Many theme books have a limited word base and end up using words far above a child's vocabulary.
• the vowel sounds presented are the short vowel sounds. These are the sounds we first want to introduce to children. Many alphabet books use long, irregular and r-controlled vowel sounds on the vowel pages.
• the consonant sounds are represented by pure consonants rather than blends or digraphs. The 'r' and 'l' blends can be especially problematic, 's' blends aren't as bad as the 's' is the dominant sound. I found one book that used the silent 'kn' pattern for the 'k' page! Abadaba Alphabet by Sheila Moore (abadabaalphabet.com) is a good alphabet book with a focus on letter sounds and lower case letters.