The Better Alphabet & Other Phonics Songs
5 tips to build automaticity and get your kids’ reading and writing using!
As Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers, we work tirelessly to ensure our students master their letters and sounds by the end of the year. We spend hours and hours every week teaching these sound-symbol connections (Aa says /a/…M says /m/), but it’s important to remember the bigger goal- How will our students USE this newly acquired letter and sound knowledge?
The ultimate goal of teaching letters and sounds isn’t memorization - it’s giving kids the tools they need to read and write!
- To read → we see a letter/letter pattern and automatically say its sound.
- To write → we say a sound, and know automatically what letter/letter pattern to write.
With this in mind, we need a way to teach the alphabet (sound-symbol connections) as QUICKLY as possible, so kids can start using this knowledge to actually read and write! Maybe you already have a method that works…But what if there was a better way- a faster, more effective way to teach letters and sounds through phonics songs?
…cue the Better Alphabet Song! The year I started using the Better Alphabet Song in my Young Fives classroom, every single one of my students learned their letter names and sounds by November. Many mastered them much sooner. But that wasn’t all…my students also learned many phonics patterns like “au/aw,” “ey/ay” and “th” and they used them to read and write words with confidence!
What is The Better Alphabet Song?
Well let’s start with what it isn’t. The Better Alphabet Song is not just a catchy tune. It’s a research-backed strategy that transforms how children learn the alphabet. By weaving this song into daily instruction, teachers can quickly accelerate letter-sound knowledge.
The average student will take between 2 weeks and 2 months to learn all letters and sounds
-Katie Garner
Yep, you read that right…by singing this song 2 times a day, every day, kids can learn all letters and sounds in as little as two weeks to two months - freeing up valuable instructional time for reading and writing real words!
As teachers, we’re always searching for the most engaging and effective way to teach the alphabet, and we tend to overcomplicate the teaching of letters and sounds. The goal of the Better Alphabet Song is to teach the individual letter sounds FAST, so kids can…
- Read and write words with individual letter sounds (e.g. cat, sit, map)
- Learn other phonics patterns that make up MOST words we encounter in text! (e.g. saw, house, day)
Teaching letters and sounds is not enough…
Think about it for a moment…what happens when the letter Aa doesn’t say /a/?! Most text we find in the classroom, whether it's a poster on the wall, or a picture book during storytime, is made up of words with letters that don’t make their “usual” sound. Take a look at the Kindergarten passage below. If a child only knows one sound for the letter Aa…/a/, how are they supposed to read words like “stars,” “clear” or “are”? In those words, ‘a’ is next to another consonant, changing its sound completely!
The solution: Teach Secret Stories simultaneously with the Better Alphabet Song. As soon as students know a handful of letters and sounds, start throwing out a few Secrets.
Remember the goal is to give students ALL the tools they need to read and write, so if we only teach the individual letters and sound(s) we are withholding a large piece of the code.
The research behind The Better Alphabet Song
Research shows that Melodic mnemonics enhance recall by engaging students’ attention and creating strong memory connections. We know that when information is paired with a familiar melody and repeated consistently, it becomes easier to retrieve (Wallace, 1994; Purnell-Webb & Speelman, 2008). This is what makes the Better Alphabet Song such a powerful tool! By using a simple, repeating tune, students effortlessly (and quickly) master letter names and sounds. Traditional songs and methods rely on memorization, while this approach taps into the brain's natural ability to store and process pitch, rhythm, and intonation.
What makes it different from other phonics songs?
Unlike traditional alphabet songs, the Better Alphabet song taps into muscle memory, helping kids connect letter names to sounds quickly and automatically. We also know that…
- The Better Alphabet Song connects sound to symbol (e.g. /m/ ⇒ Mm): As students sing the letter name and its corresponding sound, their eyes are also GLUED to the written symbol.
- Students fully engage their mouth muscles to articulate and over-enunciate the sounds while singing.
- It relies on “muscle memory: The Better Alphabet Song doesn’t rely on what are often “underdeveloped” cognitive processing centers (where learners have to “remember” the letters and sounds). Instead, it uses earlier-developing muscle memory to link letter names and sounds for automatic and non-conscious sound retrieval.
- Students learn the multiple sounds of each letter. For letters with more than one sound (e.g. Cc, Gg, Aa, Oo, Ee) students say the name of the letter followed by BOTH sounds the letter can make.
“A says /a/ /a/ /a/, /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/… but it can also say /ā/ /ā/ /ā/, /ā/ /ā/ /ā/ /ā/ /ā/”
- Many repetitions of each sound: The Better Alphabet Song leads students to say the sound of each letter 8 times! We know from research that repetition aids in recall and builds automaticity.
- The song has a repeating melody for every single letter, so there is no need to go back to the beginning of the song to remember how “x” sounds. A child can start singing right on the letter they need.
5 tips to start using the Better Alphabet Song today
The beauty of the Better Alphabet song is in its simplicity. ANY teacher can incorporate it into their daily routine with very minimal preparation. Kids learn the alphabet effortlessly, freeing up space to learn other phonics patterns and actually start reading and writing!
- Sing it twice, daily (audio + video versions)
- Teach the Phonics Secrets in the song
- Use visuals like mats and posters for sound-symbol anchoring
- Practice “letter runs” for sound automaticity
- Hand out “eye glue” and “muscle mouth” awards to build engagement!
Example Young Fives/Kindergarten daily schedule
- Sing it twice, daily (audio + video versions)
Find directions to download the Better Alphabet Song audio in your Secret Stories book (back cover). If you would like to use the video version, you can find it HERE! Sing the song once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but mix up how you sing it!
- In the morning, sing along to the video version (all students watch the video and sing along, eyes glued to the letters)
- In the afternoon, sing along to the audio version (all students point to each grapheme on their “Better Alphabet Mat” as they sing along with the song).
Note: There is another version of the song by Jack Hartmann (this is not a substitute for the original but rather a fun version to sprinkle into your day. The Original Better Alphabet Song includes 8 repetitions of each sound…that’s one of the reasons it is so effective)!
2. Teach the Phonics Secret Stories in the song
There are a few Secret Stories that appear in the Better Alphabet Song: Sneaky y, The Superhero Vowels…students need to learn these “secrets” before they start singing! Sneaky Yy, for example, can say the sound /y/, but also says /ē/ or /ī/ when y appears at the end of a word!
Students can start learning Secret Stories (phonics patterns) as early as preschool as well! Start throwing out new secrets simultaneously as you teach the alphabet!
This is an example from a Young Fives classroom. This student knew all letters and sounds but also many Secret Stories phonics patterns!
3. Use visuals like mats and posters for sound-symbol anchoring
- Better Alphabet Mats: Download and laminate the Better Alphabet mats for students to use as they sing the Better Alphabet song audio (students will follow along and point to each letter as they sing)! The mats may be used for whole group, or small group learning! You can find this resource HERE!
Note: Remember to “Clip your sounds!” Consider how you pronounce each phoneme (sound). Be sure not to add /uhhh/ at the end of each sound you sing. For example, we want to say /b/ instead of /buhh/, to avoid students reading /b/ /u/ /a/ /t/ for “bat”! We also want to consider certain sounds that may be confused for a Secret Story sound. For example, the er/ir/ur sound /errrr/ might be confused with the sound of the letter Rr…/r/.
- Alphabet anchor posters: While you may already have alphabet anchor posters up in your classroom, consider swapping them out for the Better Alphabet posters! The Better Alphabet keywords and pictures have been carefully chosen to represent the sound(s) of each letter, aligning to the Secret Stories.
Carefully consider the keywords and pictures in your alphabet posters. Aardvark for “Aa” begins with the sound /ar/, which is a Secret Story!
4. Practice “letter runs” for sound automaticity
The goal of “letter runs” is to raise the bar, and give students practice with sound automaticity! Students skip saying the letter name and focus purely on the letter sound…see the letter, say the sound! Watch a few examples below! Letter runs can be sung fast or slow, and to any tune.
5. Hand out “eye glue” and “muscle mouth” awards to build engagement!
The Better Alphabet Song only works if students are using their “muscle mouths,” to articulate each sound, and their “eye glue” making sound-symbol connections as they sing! Give out an award to one student who has the best “eye glue,” and “muscle mouth,” in your classroom! Your kids will LOVE this.
Note: Be sure your students have their eyes glued to the letter/letter pattern, rather than YOU!
In summary…
The Better Alphabet Song isn’t just a fun tune - it’s a powerful tool for building automatic sound-symbol connections that kids can use instantly to read and write. By pairing it with the Secret Stories and incorporating it into your daily routine, you’ll equip students with the full phonics toolbox they need to succeed! By singing the song twice just two times a day, you will transform how your students learn the alphabet - and watch their confidence soar as they begin to read and write with ease.
