Put your lips together. Hold the air behind them. Now pop them open — /p/. It is a quiet sound. Your voice stays off.
Check yourself: Hold your hand in front of your mouth. You should feel a little puff of air hit it. Now put your other hand on your throat — it should stay still.
Watch for: Children swap /p/ and /b/. The lips do the same thing; only the voice differs.
◆ marks a word that does NOT follow today's pattern — Blumenfeld boxes these on the page. Teach it by heart; do not let the class sound it out and lose faith in the rule.
Say the word, have them repeat it, count the sounds on fingers, THEN write. The count is what stops a child writing the first letter and guessing the rest.