As children prepare to become readers, they will need to understand the relationship between sounds and letters to form words.

1. Phonics – Sound-Letter Match
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2. Phonics refers to a system of rules used to sound
out and read unknown words. As children prepare
to become readers, they will learn and use the
relationship between sounds and letters to read.
For children to use this relationship, they need to recognize upper-andlower case letters and to match sounds heard with the letters that
represent them. The activities in this slideshow demonstrate beginning
activities to support your child’s reading readiness.

3. Phonic skills refer to the
ability to match the
sounds heard with the
letters they represent
to make words.

4. Letter Recognition
As your child becomes familiar with
reciting the alphabet, have him/her
practice letter recognition.
Begin the activity by choosing 2
letters that are visually very
different such as the letters t and s.
Next, draw two circles on a white
board. Write a letter above each
circle.
Provide several of the chosen letters for
your child to sort. Scatter the letters
below the circles. Have your child say
both letter names (t and s). Next, have
him/her sort the scattered letter tiles and
magnetic letters into the appropriate
circles.
To increase difficulty extend the
lesson to include three or four
letters and time your child.

5. Materials Needed
Select visually different letters to sort.
Use a magnetic white board or a self-made
mat to draw circles. The number of
circles represent the number of letters to be
sorted. Begin with 2 letters and increase
in difficulty eventually using 3 or
more letters.
Use a timer for added difficulty

6. t
Sorting Mat
s

7. Sound-Letter Match
/a/
/b/
/c/
To read, children need to
match sounds to letters.
To build sound letter match, have
your child sort letters according
to the sounds you say.
Begin with two different sounding
letters such as /s/ and /t/ and then /d/
and /h/. Provide pictures or items
for support. In this example shapes
are used to provide support:
star for /s/
triangle for /t/
diamond for /d/
heart for /h/

8. Sound-Letter Match
If your child needs support ask, “What is the sound of
this letter? What shape begins with that sound?”
s
t
d
h

9. Phonics: Sound Letter Match Sorting Board

10. Sound Letter Match Cards
s
t
s
h
d
d
s
t
d
t
h
s
s
t
s
h
t
h
d
t
d
s
d
h
d
h
t
s
t
h
t
t
h
h
s

11. Sound-Letter First Grade Expectation
Given a set of letters, your child should produce each
associated sound within one second.
Automatic recognition activity
Time your child as he/she produces the associated sound of each
letter in random order. Put the cards said correctly in one stack,
and those said incorrectly in a separate stack.
Alphabet cards can be purchased or made.
use both lower case and upper case letters

12. Activity Videos
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To View Our
Activity Videos.