The Phonetic Sounds of Letters

Below is the alphabet with proper associated words to teach the phonetic sounds of letters we discussed in our “5 Mistakes” article series. These associations help emergent readers learn the first sound that each letter makes. This lays a foundation that is vital for reading success. 

You can use these letters and corresponding words to help your child develop phonemic awareness and help them to understand the alphabetic principle. To begin, you can pick a few letters and say, “/a/a  /a/  apple,” or “/b/  /b/  ball.” Be sure to first practice the letter sounds on your own before showing your child. This ensures you’ll be teaching the correct letter sounds to your child. It is even better to have picture images for your child to match to each letter.

After you go through the lesson a few times, he should be able to follow this method on his own and proceed through the alphabet. We can’t stress enough how important this lesson is in building a firm foundation for reading success. We have apps and printed reading lessons available on this site to help your child learn these essential letter sound connections.

Welcome to the first step in mastering the spoken and the written word!

a
apple

b
ball

c
cat

d
dog

e
elephant

f
fan

g
girl

h
hand

i
igloo

j
jacket

k
kangaroo

l
ladder

m
map

n
nest

o
octopus

p
pan

q
quail

r
rabbit

s
sun

t
table

u
umbrella

v
vacuum

w
wagon

x
/x/ at the end of fox

y
yak

z
zebra