What Are Letters For Initial Consonants (1973)

This [music] is the ABC song. A B C D E F [singing] G H I J K L M N O P Q R S N T U V W [singing] N X Y Z. Now I said my ABCs. Tell me what you think of me. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> What are letters for? Letters stand for sounds. In reading and in writing, we use letters to stand for the sounds we make when we talk. 21 of the letters in our alphabet are called consonant letters. >> This is the consonant sound. B C D E F G H K L M N P Q R S N V W [singing] U N X Y Z. Now I said my ABCs. Tell me what you think of me. Let's listen for consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Read and say each word and listen to its beginning sound as you say it. Listen for the sound of the letter F in feet. Feet. You'll hear the sound of the letter H in horse. Hoof. The sound of the letter L can be heard in lion. Lick lazy lion. You will hear the sound of the letter N in nose. nose. Listen for the sound of the letter M in monkey. man. [music] Listen for the sound of the letter R in rooster. Red. You'll hear the sound of the letter S in seal. Sing. Silly seal. Listen for the sound of the letter D in dog. dog. The sound of the letter K can be heard in kiss. Kiss. Listen for the sound of the letter T in tiger. Tired. Tired tiger. Listen for the sound of the letter P in pig. pig. Listen for the sound of the letter J in jump. Jump. You will hear the sound of the letter B in bear. Beg. Bye-bye. Listen for the sound of the letter Z in zebra. Zigzag. Listen for the sound of the letter Y in yak. Young yak. Yummy. You'll hear the sound of the letter V in van. Van. Consonant letter Q is always followed by the letter U. Together they make the sound in quail. Quake. Listen for the sound of the letter W in walrus. Water. Wow. The letter G has two sounds. Listen for the sound of the letter G in goat. girl giggle. Now listen for the sound of the letter G in giraffe. Gentle The letter C has two sounds. Listen for the sound of the letter C in cow. calf. Now listen for the sound of the letter C in cycle. Cycle [music] cycles. Let's use some consonant letters again. Tell what you see that begins with the sound of the letter F, feet, fingers. What do you see that begins with the sound of the letter M? Monkey marbles. What do you see that begins with the sound of the letter D? Dog. Ducks. What do you see that begins with the sound of the letter C? Cow. Cat. What do you see that begins with the sound of the letter B? Bears. [snorts] Balloons. A B C [singing] D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y