Letters & Sounds

What are Letters & Sounds skills?

The Letters & Sounds unit is where children begin connecting printed letters to the sounds they make.

In this unit, children learn:

• The names of letters

• The most common sound each letter makes

• How letter sounds can be blended together to form simple words

While letter names are important, the primary focus of this unit is on their most common sound, because sounds are what children use to decode words when reading.

• All consonants are taught with their hard sounds

  • c as in cat

  • g as in gas

• All vowels are taught using their short vowel sounds only at this stage

Children also learn to pronounce sounds cleanly, without adding an extra “uh” sound at the end (for example, /m/ instead of “muh”). 

What a Letters & Sounds Lesson Might Look Like

In a Letters & Sounds lesson, your child’s teacher carefully guides them through both naming letters and producing their sounds, helping them understand the difference between the two.

A lesson may include:

• Introducing a new letter by name

• Practicing the sound the letter makes

• Tapping or pointing on dots using the Hoot App Magic Finger as the sound is spoken, to reinforce sound awareness

• Checking both letter name and letter sound understanding

• Beginning to blend letter sounds together to read simple words

If a child says the letter name instead of the sound, the teacher gently explains the difference and redirects them back to the sound. Teachers model each step as needed, especially when blending is first introduced.

Why this Skill Matters

The Letters & Sounds unit is the bridge between phonemic awareness and early phonics. Children move from working only with spoken sounds to seeing how those sounds connect to letters on the page, helping them understand that words are made up of letters and sounds.

Resources Used in Lesson to Teach Letters & Sounds

Hoot Pre-Word Exercises | t, a, m, s