Annie Acrobat’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.

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About the Sound

You may not want to start the alphabet with this sound.   Read below to find out why!!!! (Vowel sounds are tricky!) 

Instead, why not start with Munching Mama?  After all,  this is all about SOUNDS – and Munching Mama’s sound is one that children develop very early in their speech! 

Annie’s sound is a “short” sound and like all vowel sounds is loud (uses voice). It sounds quite a lot like Energetic Edna’s /e/ sound. 

This sound is a VERY important one 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. 

HOWEVER! The vowel sounds can be tricky to learn and for this reason, sometimes it is better to begin elsewhere in the alphabet with a consonant sound which is more obvious and easier to “see” and “feel”  (like Munching Mama’s 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. This sound usually appears a little later but is usually correct in achild’s early words between 2 and 3 years.  

How it is made

The tongue is in a mid-low position towards the front of the mouth. The jaw is opened and the lips can spread a little into a smiley shape. 

A Word on Annie Acrobat and her sound

In other versions of the Speech Sound Set (e.g. the School Set  and the Complete Set), this sound is represented by Andy Apple.  He’s a crow. He says the same sound – but we needed more female characters for this set.  If your child is moving on to using the other sets, you could always say that Annie and Andy are cousins. 

Tips to Help 

Listen to Annie saying the sound. Move the lips into a smiley shape. 

Common Errors

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

1)  Young speakers can make more of an /ah/ sound.  This means that a word like “bag” comes out as “bahg.” This usually corrects itself. 

2) 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. 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.

This letter is the SAME as the lower-case letter d – but has a shorter stick. 

The letter a starts with the Curly Cat shape (see the Cara Kookaburra’s page for more information).  Here is a picture of Curly Cat along with some space for practising. 

The letter’s name is pronounced “ay”.  Sometimes this letter does make the sound /ay/ in words (like “baby” and “station”) BUT in this case we are only talking about it making Annie Acrobat’s sound. 

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. 

Download Colour-In

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. 

References

Crowe, K. and McLeod, S. (2020). Children’s English Consonant Acquisition In the United States: A Review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4(29), 2155-2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00168

McLeod, S., & Singh, S. (2009). Speech sounds: A pictorial guide to typical and atypical speech. Plural Publishing.

Peña-Brooks, A., & Hegde, M. N. (2015). Assessment and Treatment of Speech Sound Disorders in Children: A Dual-Level Text. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Shipley, K. G., & McAfee, J. G. (2016). Assessment in speech-language pathology: A resource manual. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.