How to Practice Phonetic Sounds Using Sandpaper Letters

Sandpaper letters are usually written in script so that a child will easily transition from printing to cursive.

Sandpaper letters are stiff cards with raised, textured letters on them. They are used in lessons to help children understand the sounds and shapes of letters even before they know the alphabet by name. This helps prepare the children to read and write later. Once a child knows the phonetic sounds that accompany each letter, he can practice these sounds with the sandpaper alphabet to prepare him for phonetic reading.

Instructions

1. Sit with the child at a table. You should be side by side so that you are looking at the letters from the same perspective.

2. Review tracing the letters. This should be a familiar exercise to the child. The letters should be traced with the first two fingers of the dominant hand in the direction that they are written. As the child is tracing, make the phonetic sound of the letter. When you are introducing sandpaper letters, you make the sound but the child does not have to, so this should also be familiar.

3. Encourage the child to also make the sound as she traces. For example, if you are working with the letter "t," you might say, "Do you hear the 'tuh' sound I am making whenever I touch this letter? Let's hear you make it." Most children will already be making the sound on their own if they have been using the sandpaper letters independently.

4. Talk about how the "t" sounds in words. For example, after tracing and making the sound, say, "Listen, can you hear the 'tuh' sound in 'tom' and 'tap'? How about 'letter' or 'art'?" Encourage the child to think of some words on his own that have the "t" sound in them.

5. Keep the letters easily accessible. The child can do the exercise on her own--feeling the letters and making the sounds--whenever she likes. She can also think of words on her own if she wishes to do so.

Tips & Warnings

• Because children enter school with varying degrees of prior knowledge, some children may wish to make a "tee" sound instead of the phonetic sound of "tuh," for example, when they encounter the letter "t." If you are working with a student who does this, make sure that \he understands that although "tee" is the name of the letter, it makes a different sound, and that the sound is what he should be focusing on during the lesson.