Energetic Edna’s Sound
Below you will find BONUS ACTIVITIES that come with your purchase of The Speech Sound Set Alphabet Cards.
Note that in this series, only lower-case non-cursive letters are included. Lower-case letters are certainly more difficult to write than capitals, but this resource is about exposing children to the look of the letters that they will be seeing in the sentences of their ‘readers’ (books) when they begin formal schooling.
Buy The Speech Sound Set Alphabet CardsAbout the Sound
Edna’s sound is a “short” sound and like all vowel sounds is loud (uses voice). It sounds quite a lot like Annie Acrobat’s /a/ sound.
It is a very important sound because it is a VOWEL SOUND.
In English, we have many many vowel sounds (not just the short a-e-i-o-u sounds). We have the sound /eeeee/ in the word “me” or “leaf” and the sound /oy/ in “boy” and the sound /air/ in “where” and “pair” and so on… In fact, in English we have around 20 VOWEL SOUNDS! (If you wish to explore them ALL see The Speech Sound Set – Complete Version).
VOWEL SOUNDS are really important because they are the “glue” of our words and syllables. You can’t make a word without a vowel sound.
Why are vowels hard to learn?
1) the way in which vowels are produced may vary in words with the accent of the speaker
2) the positioning of the mouth is hard to explain.
Let’s talk more about the positioning of the mouth to make a vowel sound.
When we make CONSONANTS, there is usually some CONTACT between the lips, teeth, and/or the tongue. It makes them easier to “feel” and to “see”. With vowels, there is no CONTACT between the teeth, tongue or lips (the articulators) when they are made. Instead it is just a movement of the mass of the tongue in the mouth – sitting more backwards or forwards in the mouth, bunching upwards or sitting low, tensing, untensing. This affects the shape of the mouth cavity, producing the different vowels. The other thing that changes is how open the mouth is. Sometimes the jaw drops, sometimes the lips round.
Voice is used with ALL vowel sounds. They are all loud.
Sound Pair
Vowel sounds do not come in pairs. (This is a concept you will learn about with consonant sounds).
When it develops
There is not a lot of research on the development of vowel sounds in Australian children. Usually longer (untensed) vowels “ooo” and “ahhh” come early in a child’s speech. Vowels like this one usually come later but are usually in a child’s early words between 2 and 3 years.
How it is made
The tongue is in a low position towards the front of the mouth. The jaw is opened a little and the lips can spread a little into a smiley shape.
Tips to Help
Listen to Edna saying the sound. Move the lips into a smiley shape – maybe a little less wide than for Annie’s sound.
Common Errors
Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child progresses in their speech development.
1) A child might produce the sound differently according to their accent.
Accents aren’t errors!
About the Letter
The lower-case letter used in this set is the non-cursive letter e. Non-cursive is what is most often seen in text and in the world around a child, so we encourage all written text to be presented in non-cursive in the preschool setting.
The letter starts with a line and then goes over into the Curly Cat shape (See About the Letter – the letter C).
The letter’s name is pronounced “ee”. Sometimes this letter does make the long sound /ee/ in words (like “me” and “evil”) BUT with THIS alphabet card, we are only talking about the letter making Energetic’s Edna’s short sound.
Some children get confused with the letter name e (“ee” ) and Itchy Iggy’s short sound /pig/. This is because the name the letter and the sound are almost the same – only the “ee” is long and Itchy Iggy’s sound is short. This is the reason why many children confuse the letters e and pig in their writing. To prevent this, be sure to be clear when you are talking about a letter’s name and a letter’s sound.
There is a reason why I don’t like elephants representing the letter e on alphabet charts. I’m from Victoria – and in Victoria themajority of us pronounce the letters “el” as “al”. For example, we say the first part of “elephant” the same as how we say the first part of “alphabet.” You don’t think we do? Well, say for me Smelly Sally. If they rhyme, then I’ve proven my point. Let’s stick with an EGG on Victoria alphabet charts so children can hear (and learn) a true short /e/ sound.
GET RID OF ALPHABET CHARTS WITH ELEPHANTS ON THEM
Activities
Colour-In
1. Learners can be shown how to form the letter, starting at the star. If there are two possible ways that the writer could head with their pencil (or crayon), they should head towards the smaller star next. Try and give consistent instructions for the letter formation. E.g. “Down, back up and then round”. 2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun. 3. Together look at the pictures, name each and LISTEN for the first sound of each word. It will begin with the target sound. 4. You can point to the first letter in each word. Name the letter.
Picture Cards
Each picture begins with the target sound. You can print these out and make cards or just look at them on a device. (Note that there aren’t a lot of words that start with this sound that are easily recognised by young children. For this reason, the picture cards are combined with Itchy Iggy’s).
1) Cards can be used for these for a range of games such as SNAP, BINGO or MEMORY.
2) Start a double-spread page in a scrapbook for each sound. Paste in the colour-in (above), practise writing the letter and cut out and paste the pictures on the pages.
3) Combine them with another set from a different sound and do a SORTING ACTIVITY.
4)Make a poster for each sound and paste on the corresponding pictures.
Find the Letter
View the download on a digital device and point to the target letters or print out and circle/ underline the letters. Try and encourage scanning of left to right of each line while looking for letters.