Charlie Choo-choo’s Sound

About the Sound

This sound is a soft “fat” sound. It is starts with a production similar to Tapping Tessa’s  /t/ sound. 

Sound Pair

A sound pair is another sound that is made in the same way – only one of the pairs is LOUD (uses voice) and the other is SOFT (uses no voice, is whispered).  Not all sounds have a pair.  When a sound is involved with a speech error, often (but not always) the Sound Pair will also be involved in the same speech error. 

The sounds of Charlie Choo-Choo (soft)  and Jumping Jemma (loud) are  Sound Pairs. 

When it develops

 This sound usually emerges in a child’s speech between the the ages of 4 years and 4.5 years of age. 

How it is made

This is a tricky one to explain…  Place your tongue tip lightly behind your front teeth and then force air over it. 

Tips to Help 

This sound can be tricky to make. Try starting with a /t/ sound and then moving into a /sh/ sound. The sound should be a “fatter, fuller” sound than /t/.  It includes friction – rather than a sharp, distinct /t/ sound. 

Common Errors

Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child progresses in their speech development.  

1. It is a common early error for children to say the /t/ sound instead of the /ch/ sound in words. An example is a child saying “too it” for “chew it”.  This error is called STOPPING. It simply means the /ch/ sound, that contains some friction, is produced as a shorter, sharper sound (/t/).  A child usually “grows out” of this error with Charlie’s sound by the age of 5 years. 

2. Sometimes children produce Sharna Shoosh’s /sh/ sound instead of the /ch/ sound. For example, “ships” for “chips”.  This is a normal error called DAFFRICATION and usually corrects naturally by the age of 4 years. 

About the Letters

The lower-case letters used in this set is the non-cursive letter ch. 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.

Charlie Choo-Choo’s sound is written using a digraph. A digraph means “two letters that make one speech sound.” 

The letters’  names are pronounced “see aitch”. 

Digraphs included in this card set are ch, th, and sh.  These are not usually introduced in early phonics-based writing and reading lessons until the second year of formal schooling.  Still, the sounds /ch/ and /sh/ are certainly in a typical preschooler’s speech, so I have included them in this card set.  

Activities

The Colour-In

 1. Learners can be shown how to form the letter, starting at the star. If there are two possible ways the writer could head with their pencil (or crayon), they should head towards the smaller star next.  Try and give consistent instructions when you show a child how to form the letters.   2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun. Encourage children to say the SOUND as they trace the letter.  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.

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. Start by saying “Let’s look for all the ch letters”. When you find them, say the sound as you point/circle/underline.