V is for violin: Building Phonemic Awareness and Letter Identification

How to Use This Book

• Show the cover and point to the title.
  
  • Have students locate all the V letters in the title and trace over them with a finger while saying the letter name and sound:
    • "V says /v/!"
  • Reinforce the idea that each letter has two forms—uppercase (V) and lowercase (v).

Exploring the Story

• Tell students that in the book, they will see many things that begin with the /v/ sound.

  • Have students listen for the /v/ sound in other words such as: van, vest, vase, volcano)
  • Point out how the first letter of each word is in red.
  • Discuss how this helps the reader focus on the letter V and its sound.

Interactive Reading & Stretching Out Sounds

• Model how to stretch out the sounds.

  • Stretch out (elongate)the sounds in each word and then blend it back into a whole word. For example "vvvaaaann- van!"
    
  • Have students try it with different words from the book.

• Make real-world connections.

  • Let students draw something that begins with V and label it.