The sound of the consonants should be mastered by kindergarten. Repeat each letter and say the sound the letter makes. For example, B sound like "buh," C sounds like "cuh." Children memorize the sound each letter makes through repetitive instruction. It is important to know what sound is the beginning sound of the word. For example, "B" is for ball, bat and bird, and "C" is for cat, car and cup. The most difficult beginning consonant sounds to learn are "H," "L," "M," "N," "Q," "R," "W" and "Y." Learning these letters sounds will require more time.
The vowels are "A," "E," "I," "O" and "U." The vowels can each make a long or short sound. Short vowel beginning sounds are often introduced first. Some words that start with the short vowel "A" sound are alligator, ant and apple. The long vowel "A" sound typically comes in the middle of a word such as cake or rake. Repeat the letter, the sound and the word when introducing beginning sounds for vowels. For example, "A" makes an "ah" sound in the word "apple."
"Ch," "Sh," "Th," "Gh" and "Wh" are groups of consonants that make specific sounds at the beginning of words. Repeat a group of words such as "chocolate chicken" or "thunder thumb" for the children to hear the specific sound of the beginning consonant digraphs. Digraphs are often more difficult for young children to pronounce. Children will learn to recognize that the combination of two letters together makes one sound.
Worksheets are an excellent activity to reinforce the beginning sounds in phonics. Matching the letter with a picture of an object beginning with that sound will help children master the beginning letter sounds in phonics. They will need to learn the sounds that all the letters of the alphabet make in order put the sounds together to develop reading and spelling skills. Matching worksheets, tracing worksheets, connect-the-dot worksheets and coloring worksheets help to reinforce the beginning sounds.