Phonics

When you speak or read, you use sounds. When you read, the sounds are represented by 26 letters of the alphabet. Associating sounds with letters of the alphabet is called phonics.  Each of the 26 alphabet letters represents one or more sounds.  A letter's name can also be one of its sounds. For example, the letter A can sound like aaa, ah, or ae. Each of the 26 alphabet letters has a capital and a lower case form. The two forms for each of the 26 letters are shown in the video above.  When letter sounds are put together, they become words. For example, putting together the sounds of the letters C, A, and T, spells the word CAT.

A letter can be used more than once in the same word. If the same letter appears more than once in a word its sound might be the same or different each time it appears in that word. 

There are two types of letters in the alphabet: consonants and vowels. The basic difference is how the sound is produced through the mouth. When sounding consonants, air flow is interrupted or limited by the position of the tongue, teeth or lips. The majority of letters in the alphabet are consonant letters. Most consonant letters have only one sound and rarely sound like their name. 

When sounding vowels, your breath flows freely through the mouth. Five of the 26 alphabet letters are vowels: A, E, I, O, and U. The letter Y is sometimes considered a sixth vowel because it can sound like other vowels. Unlike consonants, each of the vowel letters has more than one type of sound or can even be silent with no sound at all.

When a vowel sounds like its name, this is called a long sound. A vowel letter can also have short sounds. Whether a vowel has a long sound, a short sound, or remains silent, depends on its position in a word and the letters around it. The letter Y is sometimes considered a vowel because it can sound like the vowel letters A, E, or I depending on the letters around it or whether the letter Y is at the middle or end of a word. 

Certain combinations of two or more consonant letters are called letter blends. Letter blends appear in the beginning or at the end of words to create specific sounds. In letter blends you can hear the sound of each letter. If the letters make a single sound they are called digraphs. 

Certain words are used again and again. These are common words that may or may not follow phonics rules. I'm going to be posting these lists soon.