Phonics for Beginners

The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language — and that there is an organized, logical, and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds. Most children read using their knowledge of both phonics rules and sight words. They read the sight words they know and then follow phonics rules to sound out the words they do not know. The phonics approach to reading focuses on the sounds that letters or groups of letters make. When children are taught the sounds associated with each letter, they can “sound out” unfamiliar words.