What is Bjorem Better Letters™ with The Laurie Berkner Band Card Deck?

Inspired by the original Bjorem Speech® Sound Cues, Bjorem Better Letters™ contains SIX decks organized into one box, each seamlessly integrating with Laurie Berkner’s “Better Letters” songs for a harmonious blend of music and learning. 

Speech-Language Pathologists all over the world have been using the images in the Bjorem Speech® Sound Cues to teach sounds to kids with HUGE SUCCESS. The goal with creating Bjorem Better Letters™ is to help kids learn their letters and the different sounds those letters can make. Bjorem Better Letters™ is designed to enhance phonemic awareness and letter recognition skills. How? Children can match the Bjorem Better Letters™ cards with the corresponding Example Words and illustrations. 

There are a total of 88 cards in the Bjorem Better Letters™ deck, which includes Better Letter cards and Example Word cards to match. Let's take a closer look at what each type of card looks like, and why we made them the way that we did:

What is a Bjorem Better Letter™ card? 

A Better Letter is a card with the letter and the sound cue (environmental sound) representing the sound the letter makes. Remember sometimes two letters can make one sound (hey digraphs!). 

   

Why is a sound cue important?

A sound cue is a kid-friendly picture of a sound. These are sounds that make sense to kids! The sounds a child hears around them are often the first sounds/words children make. For example, "mmm!" for yummy might be a child's first sound. children relate to these environment sounds making sound cue relationships more FUNctional. Sound cues are NOT example words. 

What is an Example Word card?

As speech language pathologists, we’ve seen ABC flashcards in stores that typically include example words that don’t necessarily match the sound that the letter makes. Listen, English is TRICKY! We very carefully selected the example words to include in this deck. See below!

What letters are included in the Bjorem Better Letters™ with Laurie Berkner deck? 

Different letters, same sound?

Some sounds are represented by different letters. The sound cue stays the same, the letters are different. Let’s see an example: 

Same letter, different sounds?

On the other hand, one letter can make more than one sound... see the visual example below...

The letters are all lowercase? Why?

Did you know, a majority of the letters a child reads and writes are lowercase? Over 90% of characters in text are lowercase! When it comes to teaching handwriting, it is important to teach lowercase letter formations first. The exceptions to this rule are: 

• Teaching the first letter in the child’s name
• Teaching the word I 

You can introduce uppercase letters after lowercase letters are formed accurately. Here are some tips to avoid letter reversals when teaching handwriting: 

• b is tall and has a ball (tall ball helps kids remember) 
• g and j go the same way
• For the letter d, you first make a letter c and then make a line to form the back of the d

Who is Laurie Berkner? What’s this collaboration? 

Bjorem Speech® is thrilled to announce our collaboration with The Laurie Berkner Band on the new Bjorem Better Letters™ product. Laurie Berkner is a celebrated children’s music artist in the United States, who captivates both young audiences and their parents with her engaging songwriting, delightful vocals, and catchy melodies. Her music, which includes award-winning and best-selling albums, features enjoyable sing-along songs that facilitate learning and connection among kids. 

How do I use The Laurie Berkner Band songs and the Bjorem Better Letters™ deck TOGETHER?

• Have the Better Letters cards out while listening to Laurie’s songs.
• Match the Better Letter card and Example Word card to each lyric of Laurie’s songs (tip: they are color-coded to the song).
• Practice one song at a time, select the color-coded matching card set.. play the song on repeat, kids love repetition.
• Play the videos and press pause for your child to find the example word. Press play to answer check. 
• The sound cues and the hand cues (the hand motions you will see in the music videos) will help anchor the sounds to memory. 
• Learn with your child! Letters and sounds can be complicated (as we’ve shared a bit about in this blog post already!)
• Jump, gallop, stomp and sway – kids love to get up and move to make learning more fun! 

The Bjorem Better Letters™ and Laurie Berkner's music create a multisensory learning experience that is not only educational but also highly engaging. This innovative approach to learning ensures that kids not only learn but also have fun in the process. 

NOW AVAILABLE!