Alphabet Letters with 2 Sounds
Why do some alphabet letters have 2 sounds? It’s confusing for kids! Since these alphabet letters exist, let’s explore letters that have more than one sound.
Vowels
Vowels have two sounds, short and long. Should you teach the short and long vowel sounds at the same time? Stick to short vowel sounds only when teaching beginning Kindergarten readers CVC words. Otherwise, they have to decide which sound to use, short or long.
Hard and Soft Letter Sounds
Letters ‘c’ and ‘g’ have 2 sounds, both hard and soft. Hard ‘c’ spells /k/ and soft ‘c’ spells /s/. Hard ‘g’ spells /g/, and soft ‘g’ spells /j/. This is an advanced phonics skills that is tricky for beginning readers. Do not teach this concept until after your child can fluently read and spell CVC words, CVC words ending with ‘s’ and simple digraphs (sh, ch, th).
Letter Y Has 2 Sounds
Letter ‘y’ is a tricky one! It can act as a consonant at the beginning of a word, like in the word ‘yes’. It can also spell long /e/ or long /i/ at the end of words, such as ‘fly’ and ‘happy’.
These alphabet letters with 2 sounds are best taught after your child can accurately and quickly read and spell simple CVC words.
