Are you looking for a research-backed way to teach the letter D and its sound?
Do you teach preschool or kindergarten students who are ready to learn their first letter sounds? With all the talk of the science of reading these days, are you wondering if there are ways to tweak your instructional practice to be more explicit and effective?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I’ve got some simple tips I’d love to share with you! The letter d is pretty common in words young readers will encounter in their beginning stages of learning to decode. Words like dog, dig, dad, mud, and sad show up in many early decodable books, so I introduce the letter sound d early on in my sequence.
In my 20-plus years of teaching children to read, most programs I was asked (or required!) to use had me saying something like this:
“This is the letter d (showing the printed letter). D says /d/, as in dog (showing a picture of a dog under the letter). Repeat after me, D, dog, /d/”.
But now, after years of diving into research studies and professional books, as well as attending countless trainings in structured literacy, I do things a little differently, and it’s made a big difference in how easily and quickly my kids learn letter sounds.
I’m sharing what I do and why I do it below. I hope you get some inspiration for some new and easy ideas to implement!
Routine for Introducing the Letter D and Its Sound
Start with speech.
Why?
As humans, we learn to speak very easily because our brains are wired for it. Learning to read, however, is not a natural process! For this reason, I made the switch to start with speech, as opposed to print, when introducing a new letter. I’ve noticed increased engagement with this method because looking at interesting photographs of dogs and dinosaurs and repeating words orally captures and holds kids’ attention more than looking at a printed letter (which means nothing to them at this point). Starting my lesson this way is also less intimidating to young children because it involves things they’re familiar with, and it’s also just more fun.
How?
Say 3-6 words that begin with the letter d, such as diamonds, desk, doughnuts, dinosaurs, and dog. Ask children to repeat each word after you say it. Showing an image of each word helps add interest and can be especially helpful for students with limited English vocabulary and kids who struggle with attention. Tell students that all of these words begin with the sound /d/. Try not to say “duh”; instead, try to clip the sound as much as you can. This helps when students start to blend words.
Draw attention to what your mouth does when you make the /d/ sound.
Why?
Letters have no inherent meaning. We need to explicitly teach students to connect a letter to a sound and vice versa. Drawing our kids’ attention to how our mouths look and feel while producing the sound helps to make an abstract concept more concrete.
How?
Ask students to notice what their mouth is doing to make the sound /d/. If you are in small group, hold up a small mirror to let students look at their own mouths. Draw attention to the fact that our mouth opens a bit and our tongue taps the top of our mouth just behind our front teeth to make the sound. Notice how it makes a noisy sound in our throats. Place your hand on the front of your throat to feel the vibration.
Here’s where visuals come in handy again. Display a “mouth pic”/sound articulation card for students to see. I also use a hand cue to distinguish the d from the b. I tell them the open part of the letter d comes first (as opposed to the line in the letter b), and that’s a reminder to open their mouths to make the sound. They can even make the d shape with their right hand and hold the opening over their open mouth. This has helped my kindergarten students tremendously!
Introduce the printed letter with an EMBEDDED mnemonic.
Why?
Research revealed decades ago that using embedded images, keyword pictures displayed within the letter as opposed to showing a picture separate from the letter (beside, above, or below), resulted in improved student acquisition AND retention of letter-sound correspondences. In fact, it was found to be more effective and efficient than using non-embedded pictures or just keywords without pictures. Using embedded pictures, especially ones of relatable objects, to help kids associate letter-sound relationships just makes sense. But it’s nice to know that solid reading research backs up this technique!
How?
This is the first time that you’ll actually show your students the letter. But it won’t be a plain letter; it will be a letter with an embedded mnemonic. The image of a keyword, such as dog illustrated WITHIN the letter, helps solidify the connection between letter (grapheme) and sound (phoneme). The shape of the dog, corresponding to the shape of the lowercase letter d, will serve as a reminder of the letter-sound relationship.
Model and practice how to write the letter.
Why?
Since reading and writing are so intertwined, students need sufficient practice with both decoding and encoding. As an intervention specialist who works with students from kindergarten to 4th grade, I see how hard it is to undo inefficient letter formation habits. For the past few years, I’ve made it a point to prioritize letter formation as early as possible.
How?
I like to keep my letter formation language simple. You may have different wording from a program you’ve used, or you may wish to change up how you say this, but here’s what I say as I model how to write the lowercase letter d.
“Touch the middle line as you curve around. Push up to the top and come straight back down.” If students already know how to make a c, I’ve found “Start like a c, turn it into a d” to stick! I model with my hand in the air and/or show an animated slide on my computer (in small group) or smart TV (in whole group). Ask students to try to follow along with their fingers in the air. If children are seated at desks, I ask them to finger-write it on the desk.
If you are tutoring or have one-on-one instruction, you can also do this in a tray of sand or, for a less messy option, beads. Shaving cream is also a choice if you have a thick towel nearby to clean up the mess! None of these are necessary though. Sky or desk writing will do!
I usually have students practice without a writing utensil at least a few times before I ask them to write with a dry-erase marker or pencil. This is just so I can make sure they’re comfortable with the movements before they practice on paper.
Research-Aligned Alphabet Resources
If you need easy-to-use resources to implement the steps above, here are my recommendations:
Initial Sound Slides: These no-prep slides introduce each letter sound in the most effective and efficient way. Start with images of interesting photographs containing the beginning sound. Show a photo of a real kid making the sound along with a keyword image. Show the letter with an embedded mnemonic image. Then show the animated letter formation (in uppercase and lowercase plain letters).
Mnemonic Alphabet Articulation Mouth Cards | Alphabet Posters with Real Pictures: These are printable, 1-page posters to show if you prefer a paper option or don’t have access to digital resources. It’s also a nice way to display the alphabet if you have classroom wall space.
Alphabet Picture Cards with Embedded Mnemonics: This set of printable pages comes with embedded letter cards in two sizes. Teach phonemes for 21 consonants, 5 short vowels, AND consonant digraphs WH, TH, SH, CH, and CK.
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Since b and d reversal is a source of frustration for many students, I like to use an additional cue here as well. You may like this free set of posters showing a few options of visuals to help kids distinguish d from b.
Looking for an “everything bundle” of embedded letter resources, including digital slides, letter cards, worksheets, games, and more? Save nearly 50% and get all 12 resources. Get your students quickly and effectively mastering letter sounds so they can begin the even more exciting discovery of how to read and write words!
Sources:
Ehri, L. C., Deffner, N. D., & Wilce, L. S. (1984). Pictorial mnemonics for phonics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(5), 880–893. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.76.5.880
Ehri, L. C. (2013). Orthographic Mapping in the Acquisition of Sight Word Reading, Spelling Memory, and Vocabulary Learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356
Ehri, L.C. (2022). What Teachers Need to Know and Do to Teach Letter–Sounds, Phonemic Awareness, Word Reading, and Phonics. The Reading Teacher, 76(1), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2095
McNamara, G. (2012). The effectiveness of embedded picture mnemonic alphabet cards on letter recognition and letter sound knowledge. Theses and Dissertations. 302. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/302
Shmidman, A., & Ehri, L. (2010). Embedded Picture Mnemonics to Learn Letters. Scientific Studies of Reading, 14(2), 159–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430903117492