Phonemic awareness begins with the children's ability to distinguish sounds in the target language. For example, children learn to listen to sounds and make associations with "baba" to get a bottle. According to "Emergent Literary and Kindergarten Instruction," kindergarten pupils benefit from certain types of alphabet instruction. For example, research says that presenting letters with a food, such as an orange, or a doable action, such as a kick, is effective. Pupils can also make their own alphabet books that will reinforce prior knowledge of a food or action and associate it with a letter.
Phonics is the association of language sounds with the matching written letter. Because the English language has many more sounds than letters in the alphabet, many young readers get confused. For example, the word "cereal" begins with the "s" sound rather than "c." But rather than emphasize the exceptions to phonics rules, Patricia Benthan, an author for Kindergartenlessons.com, says children need to "play with letters and words to engage in activities and experiences about literature, and receive specific instruction that increases their awareness of language."
Even before children begin kindergarten, it is important that they understand the concept of words and books. Reading comprehension begins with gentle guidance in the relationship between the letter symbols and the words the teacher, tutor or parent reads. It is all right to point to each word as the teacher reads to show the flow and direction the words follow on a page.
According to "The Effects of Kindergarten Instruction in Alphabet and Numbers on First-Grade Reading," the "ability to recognize letters and numbers in kindergarten has been demonstrated to be a better predictor of end of first grade reading skills than other accepted 'reading skills' or IQ." However, that benefit did not continue through second or third grades. While learning the alphabet letters' names and sounds is an important foundation, reading needs to be valued as a means of learning, entertaining and communicating for the kindergarten advantage to continue.