If a letter is tied to a character’s name, there is only one sound associated with that letter. It is important for children to learn that individual letters can make more than one sound.

A More Detailed Explanation:

• Letters are simply pictures of sounds
  
  The sounds of letters are not new sounds to children. They are the same sounds children make when playing, talking, and singing. By focusing attention on the sounds the story characters make, rather than on their names, we reinforce that idea.
  
  English spelling is phonographic, which means that letters represent sounds we make. It is not pictographic. Some children actually get confused when we teach them a, a, apple; b, b, ball. I have had children tell me the sound for the letter a is apple and the sound for the letter b is ball.
  
  
• Letters and sounds do not have a one-to-one correspondence.
  
  The letter a can represent four different sounds:
  
  

  	/a/ in apple		/a/in ape
  	/o/ in wash		/u/ in above

  
  
  In addition, we spell the sound /a/ at least eight different ways:
  
  

  	table	take	train	great
  	play	they	eight	vein

  
  
  It can be confusing for a child to look at one pictorial alphabet where a is for ape and another where a is for apple; i is for ice cream and i is for insect. In Butterfly Park^TM Early Literacy, we teach two sounds for many of the letters - a, e, i, o, u, y, c, g, oo, and ow. By creating animals and children that make a variety of sounds, we help children understand that one letter can be a picture for more than one sound. For example, in our story, Maria squeals in delight "i" (as in it) as she tosses her ball into the air. When Jack asks who wants to play ball, Maria points to herself and says "i" (as in ice).
  
  Instead of adding new children or animals for each letter of the alphabet, we limited the number of characters and created an on-going, easy-to-remember story line. With each new situation, the children and animals, like letters, make a new sound.
  
  
• Some letters represent a different sound when they are with other letters.
  
  For example, when s and h are together, the sound is very different than when s is alone and h is alone. In Butterfly Park^TM Early Literacy s has a story, h has a story, and sh has a story. By teaching children that letters can represent different sounds depending on where they are, they begin to see the important patterns in words and they become more flexible in their thinking. Children readily learn that the sound a letter represents can depend on the other letters next to it.

Why does Butterfly Park^TM associate an action with each letter sound?

The Short Answer:

We learn:

10% of what we read,
20% of what we hear,
30% of what we see,
50% of what we see and hear,
70% of what we say,
90% of what we say and do.

Dr. Vernon A. Magnesen, 1983