Dear Families and Educators,

Thank you for considering this book to use as a tool to support your young learners on their early literacy journey.

I wrote this poem to use with my young learners as a way to expose, engage and introduce them to the Schwa sound.

This book is an introduction:

Young learners will meet Schwa (the most common vowel sound in English). Schwa can be tricky to teach and learn, so in this one meeting, your learners are not expected to master it. Each time they spend with Schwa after the initial introduction, they

will get better acquainted with it.

This book is not a formal phonics lesson:

This book is not meant to replace developmentally appropriate explicit evidence-based lessons. Instead it is meant to complement and support learning and related activities:

• Hearing and recognizing the Schwa sound in familiar names and words.

• Build listening and speaking skills through playful language.

• Familiarity with the idea that letters AEIOU do not always represent short and long vowel sounds (ex. /a/ as in apple and /a/ as in acorn).

• The definitions provided in the parent/ family guide are intentionally simplified and jargon free. Many online resources are available for those who would like to take a

     deeper look at Schwa.

Whether you are using this book in your classroom, homeschool setting, or at home, it is my hope that it will make this tricky concept feel fun and approachable.