Look at My Mouth - Teacher's Notes, Reading

1. Learning to read

Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a
child’s life.

Help your child to learn the sounds of the alphabet
because
the sounds of the alphabet combine together to make words.

How to begin:

Let your child learn the sounds of the alphabet by exploring
Look at my Mouth.
They can then compare the way they say the words, and compare the
shape of their mouth.

Children process through stages, developing their language skills to learn the sounds of the alphabet.

Stages	Teacher Talk
Stage 1. Using picture and word cues to complete the sentence	I bite into the '............'
Stage 2. Looking at mouth movements in the mirror	Say the name of the picture while you look into mirror. What can you see in the mirror? Can you see your mouth? Is it moving? Feel your mouth when you are saying the word. What is your tongue? What is your tongue doing? What are your lips doing?
Stage 3. Using the mirror to discover and practise beginning sounds	Say the name of the picture while you look into the mirror. What is the first thing you do with your mouth when you say 'apple'? (Give children time to discover the sound and the movement. You may have to repeat this very important question.) Say the word. Well done! Try again. Look at your mouth. Look at my mouth.
Stage 4. Connecting sound and mouth movements with a letter	Can you show me the word for 'apple'? Say the word 'apple' and look into the mirror. What is the first thing you do with your mouth when you say 'apple'? Teacher points to the first letter of 'apple'. This is the letter for the 'a' sound.
Stage 5. Introducing the name of the letter	The letter is called 'A'.