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How to Modify Reading Instruction to Meet the Needs of Students in Special Education

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The National Center for Learning Disabilities presents examples of accommodations that allow students with learning disabilities to show what they know without giving them an unfair advantage. Accommodations are divided into the following categories: how information is presented to the student, how…

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by Sylvia Linan-Thompson and Sharon Vaughn

In a recent conversation, teachers of English language learners (ELLS) voiced concerns about the teaching of phonics to students in their classes who have several levels of English proficiency."English is so irregular, it doesn't make sense to teach students all the rules because there are so many exceptions."
"True," continued another teacher, "but students have to learn the relationship between letters and sounds to learn to read and spell." "But does it make sense," wondered another teacher, "to teach students the rules if they don't know what many of the words mean? What concerns me is that one of the principles of English as a second language instruction is that we should teach in context to support student learning, but phonics is often taught in isolation and is very decontextualized." "How can we make instruction more meaningful?" asked the fourth teacher.
The above points are valid and worthy of consideration in planning phonics instruction for ELLs. In this chapter we discuss what we know about teaching phonics to English language learners and provide some activities that have been effective in schools. We describe a phonics approach to instruction that includes a range of skills from alphabetic knowledge to reading in decodable books-everything you need to know for word study.

What Is Phonics and Word Study Instruction?

Gough and Tumner (1986) identified two basic processes necessary to learn to read: learning to convert letters into recognizable words and comprehending the meaning of print. Learning to convert letters to recognizable words requires knowledge of the relationship between sounds and the letters or other symbols that represent them, then remembering the exact patterns and sequences that may represent various speech sounds (Goswami, 2006; Moats, 2000). The orthographic system of a language consists of the relationship among the visual symbols used in the writing system, the mapping of these symbols onto speech, and meaning (Seymour, 2006). As children map sounds to print, they are also accessing the words in their vocabularies. They use this knowledge to support them in identifying the word they are reading. Although there are similarities in learning to read across languages, differences in the orthography of the language lead to differences in how long it takes to learn to read and how much difficulty some children may have. In some languages, like Finnish, Italian, and Spanish, the relationship between letters or symbols and sounds is fairly consistent-that is, there are few exceptions and fewer relationships to learn. Other languages, like Kanji, English, and Danish, are not as consistent. There are many inconsistencies in English that puzzle English language learners.

Children have to learn which letters have consistent relationships and which do not, and when to apply the rules that govern them. For children learning English as a second language, understanding the relationship between letters and sounds is critical, since some of the sounds will be new to them-sounds they have not heard or spoken as meaningful units of speech. They may be applying a phoneme (sound) from their home language to a different grapheme (letter) or using letters alone or in combinations that do not exist in their home language. In addition, they lose the advantage provided by accessing their knowledge of words, since their English vocabularies may be limited.

Converting letters to recognizable print can be taught through phonics instruction and can lead to students comprehending the meaning of text. Phonics is an approach in which children are taught to decode words by using and applying their knowledge of the relationship between letters and individual sounds to read. In planning phonics instruction for ELLs, you will have to decide among several forms of phonics instruction. All the approaches include instruction in letter-sound relationships but vary in the explicitness of the instruction and how systematic the process is in determining the sequence of instruction. In synthetic approaches to instruction, students are taught the individual letter-sound relationships and then taught explicitly to blend the letters into words. Teachers who use embedded phonics teach letter-sound relationships during the reading of connected text. Embedded phonics is less explicit than synthetic phonics instruction.

An effective phonics program for English language learners uses a synthetic approach that follows a defined sequence and includes direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships. Each instructional set includes major sound-spelling relationships of both consonants and vowels. This sequencing arrangement provides students opportunities not only to begin to learn the relationship between letters and sounds but also to use that knowledge to begin blending these sounds to read words and to segregate the sounds to write words even before they have learned all the letter-sound correspondences. For ELLs, who are learning to read in an inconsistent orthography like English, instruction using analogy-based phonics provides children an additional strategy for reading a larger number of words as they are building their English oral language skills. In addition, the program should include books and stories that contain a large number of words that children can decode by using the letter-sound relationships they have learned and are learning. Finally, programs should provide ELLs opportunities to spell words and write their own stories with the letter-sound relationships they are learning (Blevins, 1998; Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement [CIERA], 2001; NRP, 2000; Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2000). English language learners struggling with reading acquisition who receive explicit phonics instruction as part of comprehensive literacy instruction tend to develop stronger foundational reading skills (Denton, Anthony, & Parker, 2004; Linan-Thompson & Hickman-Davis, 2002; Vaughn et al., 2006). Even students with limited English proficiency made gains in reading skills, indicating that a wide range of ELLs benefit from explicit instruction.

Good readers rely primarily on letter-sound correspondences in words rather than context or pictures to identify words; use reliable strategies to decode words; and read words enough times so that they become automatic. Phonics instruction provides ELLs the knowledge needed to develop those same skills effectively and efficiently by providing a road map for making sense of how English works as well as effective decoding strategies. However, phonics instruction should not be the entire reading program, but rather it should be integrated into other elements of reading instruction, such as language activities, story time, and small-group tutoring to create a balanced reading program. Learning to read in languages with less-consistent orthographies like English takes longer than learning to read in languages with more consistent orthographies (Seymour, 2006). For most students, two years of phonics is sufficient; other students may require more instruction. English language learners whose initial reading instruction is in English may require more time, since they are learning both a new language and a new process. Older ELLs or those who learned to read in their home language will still need phonics instruction to learn the structure of English but may acquire the knowledge more quickly. Use assessment information to adapt phonics programs to meet the needs of individual students (NRP, 2000). Most important, starting early is key: "Early and systematic instruction in phonics seems to lead to better achievement in reading than later and less systematic instruction" (Stahl, 2001, p. 333).

Why Should I Teach Phonics and Word Study?

Imagine trying to put together a 1,000-piece puzzle without a picture for reference. You might begin using strategies such as finding all the pieces that have a straight edge to form the perimeter and then grouping pieces by color. Through trial and error, you would begin to form the picture. Children learning to read in English are faced with the same situation when they are given bits and pieces of information about English orthography, but not a systematic way of learning, applying, and practicing the spelling patterns and rules they are learning.

Children learning to read in English have to learn the letter-sound relationships among 44 speech sounds and more than 100 spellings used to represent them (Blevins, 1998; Bos & Vaughn, 2006). In addition, students have to apply this knowledge to read both known and unknown words in isolation and in context, and they need to be able to read irregular words. Although it might seem that English is too irregular to teach systematically, there are enough regularities to make a systematic approach to phonics instruction appropriate. For example, the teaching of vowels is often identified as an area for concern in teaching English language learners, but we can see from the table that the exceptions account for fewer than one-third of the words (see Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1. Phonics Rules and the Percentage of Exceptions to Them

Phonics and word study instruction provide an opportunity to teach children that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds, that written words are composed of letter patterns that represent the sounds of spoken words, and that recognizing words quickly and accurately is a way of obtaining meaning from what is read. In addition, children learn that they can blend the sounds to read words and segment words into sounds to spell (Adams, 1990; Chard & Osborn, 1999; NRP, 2000).

What Elements Should I Include in My Phonics and Word Study Instruction?

We know that ELLs can learn to read in English even when their oral skills in English are not fully developed (Gunn et al., 2000; Hudelson, 1984), but this instruction is more effective if it is accompanied by development of their oral language skills (Gersten & Baker, 2003). Most important, given that it takes longer to learn to read in English than it does in most languages, reading instruction should not be withheld until children have attained oral language proficiency in English (Quiroga et al., 2002). Because the development of reading processes for ELLs is essentially the same as that for native English speakers, you can use the same instructional sequence (Edelsky, 1981a, 1981b; Hudelson, 1984). Therefore, provide instruction that includes print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, phonological and phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, decoding, irregular/high-frequency words, reading practice with decodable text, and reading fluency when children enter school. The exception would be for children who speak no English at all. Two of these elements, phonological and phonemic awareness and reading fluency, are covered in depth in Chapters 3 and 5, respectively.

How much time you spend on each of these elements will depend on the age, level, English proficiency, and previous reading experience of your students. As children participate in phonics and word study activities, their understanding of the conventions that govern spoken and written language will increase. These elements do not have to be taught sequentially, and the rate at which students acquire these skills will vary. In general, however, kindergarten students benefit from instruction that teaches prerequisite skills for strong word recognition, the communicative function of print, alphabetic knowledge, phonemic awareness, and the alphabetic principle (Chard, Simmons, and Kame'enui, 1998). Most students who have had effective phonics instruction can read quickly and easily and have an effective decoding strategy for reading unknown words. English language learners will also need to develop their oral language skills as they are acquiring reading skills.

For each of the crucial elements, a brief description and characteristics of effective programs are provided.

Print Awareness

Students who understand that written language is related to oral language and that printed language carries messages have print awareness. They also know that the structures of written language are different from spoken language and know the difference between words and nonwords (Blevins, 1998; Reutzel & Cooter, 1999; TEA, 2000). This awareness of the forms and functions of printed language is a reliable predictor of future reading achievement.

Children develop print awareness when they have opportunities to hear books and participate in read-aloud activities. To help students develop print awareness, you can reinforce the forms and functions of print found in classroom signs, labels, posters, calendars, etc.; teach and reinforce print conventions, such as print directionality, word boundaries, capital letters, and end punctuation; and teach and reinforce book awareness and book handling. These activities will be critical for students who come from home languages that use right-to-left or up-and-down directionality in reading, such as Hebrew or some Asian languages. You can also allow children to practice what they are learning by listening to and participating in the reading of predictable and patterned stories and books, and you can provide opportunities to practice with predictable and patterned books (Reutzel & Cooter, 1999; TEA, 2000). These activities help ELLs not only develop print awareness but also gain knowledge of English vocabulary. However, students will be less likely to be able to use context and picture clues if they are in the beginning stages of English development. Use books and stories that have illustrations that are highly correlated to the story to explicitly build vocabulary.

Alphabetic Knowledge

The goal of instruction that develops alphabet knowledge is to get children to recognize and name letters quickly and accurately (Adams, 1990). Knowledge of letter names is strongly related to children's ability to remember the forms of written words, to treat words as sequences of letters, and to develop the alphabetic principle: the association of letters with their corresponding sounds. Alphabetic knowledge progresses from letter names to letter shapes (the form) to letter sounds. Learning letter names and sounds seems straightforward; however, children whose home language is logographic will also be learning a new alphabet system, while children from other alphabetic languages may only be learning new names and sounds for letters they have seen before. You may need to provide more explicit instruction and more opportunities to practice those sounds and letters that have no equivalent in children's home language, since they may have difficulty hearing and pronouncing them. Their inability to pronounce some sounds does not necessarily indicate lack of knowledge. While you want to support children in pronouncing the sounds correctly by demonstrating how to position the mouth, teeth, and tongue, be careful not to turn the lesson into a speech lesson or to stop instruction of new letters until they master one that is difficult to pronounce. Figure 3.2 provides an example of some of the sounds that may be difficult for children from some language groups.

Figure 3.2. Sounds That Are Difficult for ELLs

Children who do not know letter names and sounds, whether due to lack of instruction or because they are just learning English, need planned instruction that provides many opportunities to see, play with, and compare letters. Some children can learn several letters each week, while others may only learn one. Include games, songs, and other activities that help children identify and name letters, provide activities in which children learn uppercase and lowercase forms of letters, and point out differences and similarities among the letters. In addition, plan writing activities that encourage children to practice making the letters they are learning and provide them opportunities to experiment with and manipulate letters to make words and messages (Blevins, 1998; TEA, 2000).

Alphabetic Understanding

Alphabetic principle refers to the systematic relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters). In particular, English language learners need to know that in English

Some letters represent more than one sound

Different letters can represent the same sound

Sounds can be represented by a single letter or combinations of letters

To help children understand the alphabetic principle, include the following practices in your teaching:

1. Teach letter-sound correspondences explicitly and in isolation initially; then provide multiple opportunities daily to practice using this new knowledge to read and write.

2. Provide practice opportunities with new letter-sound relationships as well as previously taught relationships.

3. Give your ELLs opportunities to apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to the reading of phonetically spelled words that are familiar in meaning (TEA, 2000).

4. Provide additional practice in the sounds that are not part of a student's home language.

Remember, effective instruction in the alphabetic principle requires that teachers plan and sequence instruction to avoid teaching words that have a similar look or sound, since they might be confusing for ELLs. Once you start phonics and word study instruction, some students will begin to make connections between letters and sounds on their own. However, many of your students will need even more explicit instruction to learn all the letter-sounds correspondences they will need to know.
Decoding and Reading Practice with Decodable Text

Decoding is the understanding of how to read letter or letter patterns in a word to determine the word and its meaning. English language learners who can decode words have a strategy for reading unknown words. Furthermore, once children have developed this understanding and can apply it to read words, they can begin to read words rapidly, automatically, and effortlessly. This will allow them to focus on getting meaning from what they are reading (NRP, 2000; TEA, 2000). For ELLs, the level of their knowledge of English will impact meaning. Many children will learn to decode but will not be able to gain meaning from text until they have sufficient vocabulary. Chapters 5 and 6 provide many activities for building children's vocabulary and comprehension.

Initially, provide opportunities to work with word families, spelling patterns, and onsets and rimes. The use of analogy-based phonics will be useful at this point. Once students are familiar with letter-sound correspondences, teach students to use that knowledge to read unknown words. In analogy-based phonics, students use their knowledge of a word they know-for example, night-to read similar words, such as light or plight.

As students become more sophisticated readers, they will need more advanced decoding strategies that focus on the structure of words. This knowledge provides ELLs a strategy for segmenting multisyllable words into decodable parts and for determining the meaning of the word (Henry, 1997). In particular, teaching affixes shows children that there are word parts that are common across words. This will help them with reading, spelling, and accessing meaning because it highlights the regularities in the language. Learning to analyze the structure of words provides students knowledge of letter combinations, derivatives. and affixes.

Instruction should include the meaning of word parts, such as the following:

Inflectional ending-a meaningful word part (morpheme), such as -ed or -es, that indicates tense, number, person, or gender when added to a base word

Prefix-a word part, such as pre-, in-, orun-, at the beginning of a base word

Suffix-a word part, such as -ful or -ly, at the end of a base word

When teaching structural analysis, teach the meanings along with recognition and model how to look for word parts. Teaching students to use structural analysis will increase the number of words they can decode easily. Consider the following. The most common affixes in the primary grades are re-, un-, con-, -ness, -ful, and -ion. The prefixes un-, re-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, and dis- are used in 58 percent of all prefixed words. Three inflectional endings, -s/-es, -ed, and -ing are found in 65 percent of words that have inflectional endings and suffixes (White, Sowell, & Yanagihara, 1989). In addition, many prefixes and inflectional endings are common across languages.
Effective programs provide students opportunities to use their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences to practice decoding words in isolation and in text and teach students the meaning of unknown words to provide context for their reading. Instruction in the meaning of words should not be time-consuming when the focus of instruction is phonics, but should rather be a quick introduction with a picture or other visual or easy definitions-just enough to give the students context. More in-depth vocabulary instruction can take place in a preview or review session. The use of decodable text lets teachers model how to blend and segment sounds, sound out words when unknown, and use onset-rimes or word chunks to decode words.

Reading decodable text should include discussions about the text to promote comprehension and reinforce the idea that the purpose of reading is to get meaning (TEA, 2000). While decodable books offer students opportunities to expand their new skills in decoding, gradually introduce them to books and stories that are less controlled to extend both their reading skills and exposure to new vocabulary.

Irregular Words

Not all words can be read completely using a decoding strategy. Irregular words are less phonetically regular, that is, some or all the letters in the word do not represent their most commonly used sound. Irregular words may be the most difficult for English language learners, because students have to learn these words by sight and in many cases the words will not be a part of either their receptive or expressive vocabularies.

These elements are important components in beginning reading instruction, whether students are just learning to read or have just immigrated to the United States and are learning to read in English. Systematically teaching children the structure of English beginning with letter-sound correspondences through the reading of connected text gives students a framework for making sense of English orthography. Daily, integrated lessons that include explicit introduction of letter-sound relationships and provide opportunities to blend the sounds to read words, to build words, to read decodable texts, and to practice spelling words will enhance students' beginning reading experience (Blevins, 1998).

The rate at which children move through the stages described above will depend on their age, knowledge of the reading process, and level of English proficiency. Older students with limited English proficiency may need only minimal instruction in the elements that are different from those in their home language. Younger students will need instruction similar to that which is provided to English monolingual children.

How Can I Teach Phonics and Word Study?

By emphasizing all of the processes that contribute to growth in reading, teachers will have the best chance of making every child a reader. (NRP, 2000, p. 2-92)

In this section, we focus on the sequence of instruction and provide guidelines for integrating the four subprocesses essential in teaching phonics and word study to beginning readers: letter-sound knowledge or alphabetic understanding; regular word reading; irregular word reading; and reading in decodable text.

Instructional Factors

Letter-sound knowledge helps English language learners understand that individual letters or clusters of letters that make up words represent the separate sounds of spoken language. Students who have alphabetic understanding know that to read a word they must first identify the most common sound of each letter and then blend the sounds together to form the word. Figure 3.3 provides the most frequent spellings of the 44 sounds of English and a key word to guide pronunciation. Remember, teach the most common sound for each letter first, and highlight to the extent possible the similarities or differences between students' home language and English when appropriate.

Figure 3.3. Guide to Pronunciation of English Sounds

In introducing letters, a combination of a vowel and a few consonants allows ELLs to form a number of words. These combinations might include /m/, /s/, /a/, and /t/, so students can form words even if they only know a few letter-sound correspondences. In addition, teach new learners sounds that are easier to articulate first. Continuous sounds such as /m/ and /s/ are easy to articulate and hear because the sound can be held without distortion. Stop sounds such as /p/ and /b/ are easily distorted when the sound is held. Use your judgment and knowledge of students' ability. If a student is experiencing great difficulty remembering the letter-sound associations, limit the number of lettersound relationships taught and focus on correspondences that are easier to pronounce. However, if the difficulty is in pronunciation, give the student more explicit instruction on how to pronounce the word, focusing on how to form the sound, but keep the instruction moving.

In addition, separate confusing letter-sound associations during initial instruction and be sure your students are comfortable with the first one before teaching the second. Characteristics that might cause confusion are visual similarity and auditory similarity. Visually similar letters can differ in the vertical direction of their extension ( b/p, d/q), their left-right orientation ( b/d, p/q), or their top-bottom orientation ( w/m, u/n) (Blevins, 1998). Auditorily similar sounds can also cause some student difficulty. For example, some students may have difficulty hearing the differences among /b/, /p/, and /d/. In addition, students may confuse the sound of letters if the sound of a letter in English is similar to the sound of a different letter in another language. For example, the /long e/ sound in English is the same as the sound for i in Spanish. While it would be difficult to know all the letter-sound correspondences for all the language groups represented in your class, if you notice that students from the same language group are having similar problems with particular letter-sound correspondences, it would be worth investigating the source of confusion by asking an adult speaker of the language.

A basic lesson to introduce letter-sound correspondences to ELLs once they are familiar with the names and forms follows:

1. Present the letter and tell students the sound. Hold up a letter card. Say, "This letter is m. The sound for m is /mmm/."

2. Ask students to tell you the name and then the sound. Be sure they know the difference between the name and the sound.

3. Ask students to write the letter as they say the sound.

If students at the beginning of 1st grade still do not know any letter names or only know a few, or if you are teaching older students who are new to English, teach letter names and letter sounds simultaneously. In particular, with older ELLs, move the introduction of letter-sound correspondences at a quicker pace so students can apply them to the texts they are reading.

Once children know three or four lettersound associations, begin regular word-reading and word-building activities. For example, if students have learned the letter-sound correspondences for i, t, p, n, and s, they can begin to apply this knowledge to read words such as it, in, pit, pin, sit, sip, and tip. Teaching them the short sound for a can more than double the number of words they can read and write. Older students who know how to read in their home language may not need explicit instruction in word reading. It is more likely that they will need opportunities to apply the lettersound correspondences they are learning in context.

After students have learned enough lettersound correspondences to form words, integrate regular word reading into the lesson. A basic regular word-reading lesson to teach students to blend the sounds follows:

1. Sound out words without stopping between sounds. If you use words with letters that have continuous sounds at the beginning of the word, like sit, this step will be easier.

2. After students have sounded out the word, ask them to read it quickly. For example, present the word sit. Students say each sound without stopping, ssssiiit, then say the whole word quickly: sit.

3. Transition students from sounding out words aloud to sounding out words silently before saying them quickly.

General guidelines for planning and teaching regular word reading follow:

During initial instruction, first choose words that are short vowel-consonant words and consonant-short vowel-consonant words: it to sit and pit; in to pin and tin; at to sat andpat. Then go on to patterns that include blends and digraphs: CCVC (stop), CVCC (mast), CVC silent e (bike), CCVCC (truck).

Progress from simple to more complex sound spellings.

Teach consonant sounds (/b/, /m/, /s/) before blends (br, cl, sn) or digraphs (sh, ch).

Teach short vowel sounds, then long vowel sounds followed by variant vowels (ea, oa) and diphthongs (oi, oy).

Select words that have stop sounds at the end of the word.

Select words that represent vocabulary familiar to the children and that they are likely to encounter in their reading (Blevins, 1998; Chard & Osborn, 1999).

Clarify or review the meanings of all words used in the lesson.

Students who are taught to apply their letter-sound knowledge and are given opportunities to practice using them will be able to read and write sentences even before they learn all the letter-sound correspondences. This procedure not only allows ELLs to practice the skills they are learning in isolation and in context, but it also introduces the elements of English gradually and systematically so they can internalize the structure of English.

As not all words can be completely sounded out, include instruction in irregular word reading, because about a fourth of the most frequently used words in children's writing and texts are irregular (Moats, 2000). The list includes words such as the, to, was, do, they, you, and is. Since students cannot apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to these words, they will have to learn them as whole words. Guidelines for selecting and teaching irregular words follow:

Select and teach words that appear frequently in stories and informational texts.

Teach students the meanings of the words, as they are not likely to encounter them in either their receptive or expressive vocabularies.

Determine the number of words taught in each lesson based on the abilities of the student.

Teach new irregular words before they appear in a story. Discuss the word and any special features and point out parts of the word that are regular.

Review previously taught words on a daily basis.

Provide students with opportunities to use these words in their reading and writing activities (Blevins, 1998; Chard & Osborn, 1999).

Learning letter-sound relationships in isolation is necessary but not enough for English language learners. They also need to apply their knowledge to reading text. Provide students with opportunities to practice reading connected text. Begin with decodable text and gradually move to less-controlled text as students' ability and confidence grow. Because most decodable texts contain irregular words, be sure to teach those in advance if students do not know them. After reading as a group, give students opportunities to reread the text.

Several activities to teach these elements are provided in the instructional activities section of this chapter.

Progress Monitoring

Monitoring student progress will help you plan instruction and alert you if a student is falling behind. You can then use the information to group students for instruction and to modify the pace of instruction based on the level of students in each group. You can monitor student progress in each area informally. To assess the acquisition of letter-sound relationships, you can maintain a list of letter-sound associations that have been taught and mastered. About every two weeks, ask your ELLs to identify the sounds of letters or to give the letter name of the sound provided. You can also give students a letter dictation. You provide a letter name or sound, and they write the corresponding letter.

Monitor regular and irregular words separately, but use the same process for each type of word. Monitor word reading in isolation by asking students to read a set of words that have been taught. The goal is for students to read the words automatically. In most instances, that will be within three seconds. You can also keep a record of the words students miss repeatedly while reading connected text. Progress monitoring will also help you get a sense of how students are doing in terms of learning and applying the structure of English orthography in their reading and writing. Research with English language learners representing various language groups demonstrates that progress-monitoring measures in basic phonics skills such as letter naming and regular and irregular word reading are valid predictors of later reading ability. These measures let you know what students know and do not know but do not necessarily indicate that the student will have trouble learning. How they respond to well-thought-out instruction will be a better indicator of how well they are able to learn.

What Are Some Useful Phonics and Word Study Activities?

Basic Lesson in Letter-Sound Knowledge: Fish for Letters

Objective. Given a letter, students will identify the letter name and sound.

Materials. Multiple copies of letters students have learned on cards, fishbowl

Sequence. Introduce one vowel and three to four consonants initially. As students master letters, add new letters.

1. After reviewing letters learned, tell students that they will pick a card from the fish bowl and say the name and sound.

2. Model for the students. Pick a card, show it to the students, and say the letter name and then the sound.

3. Ask students to take a turn.

4. If students give the incorrect name or sound, provide it. Ask all students to repeat and have student return card to the bowl.

5. If the student gives the correct name and sound, he or she keeps the card.

6. Continue until all cards are gone.

Scaffold. Give only letter names or sounds.

Regular Word Reading: Read the Word (Phoneme Level)

Objective. Given a regular word, students will read the word.

Materials. Word cards
Sequence.

VC: in, at, am, it, up, ox

CVC: mat, hop, cut, sit, pin, can, ten, get, not, cup, cut, tap, red, him, cob, run, gum, ham, mad, hid, dip, box, bug, big

CCVC: stop, flap, snap, trip

CVCC: mast, jump, bunk, fall, hand, will, bend, rock, told, dash, back, duck

CVC silent e: bike, take, joke, made, time, more, cape, kite, five, name

CCVCC: truck, sport, blast, small

1. Tell students they will be reading new words.

2. Tell students that when shown a word card, they will first sound out each lettersound correspondence and then read the word quickly.

3. Show students a word card. Model saying each sound continuously as you point to each letter, for example, iiiinnnn.

4. After sounding out the word, read the word fast: in.

5. Show a word and ask the students to say each sound. Make sure each sound is correct. If a student makes an error, review the correct letter-sound correspondence and repeat.

6. After students have sounded out the word, ask them to read the word fast. If a student reads the word incorrectly, ask him or her to sound it out and then read the word fast.

7. Review the meaning of the word. Ask if anyone knows what the word means. If no one gives a definition, give a quick definition using a picture, gesture, synonym, or short description.

8. Continue with the remaining word cards.

Scaffolds. (1) Review the individual lettersound correspondences for the letters used to form the words. (2) Students point to each sound as it is pronounced and sweep their fingers under the word when they read it fast. (3) Students use letter tiles and pull down each letter tile as they say the sound and then sweep their finger under the tiles when they say the word fast.

Regular Word Reading: Read the Word (Onset-Rime Level)

Objective. The student will identify a particular word pattern given a group of words (see Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4. Most Common Rimes

Materials. Blank index cards, marker
Sequence.

VC: in, at, am, it, up, ox

CVC: mat, hop, cut, sit, pin, can, ten, get, not, cup, cut, tap, red, him, cob, run, gum, ham, mad, hid, dip, box, bug, big

CCVC: stop, flap, snap, trip

CVCC: mast, jump, bunk, fall, hand, will, bend, rock, told, dash, back, duck

CVC silent e: bike, take, joke, made, time, more, cape, kite, five, name

CCVCC: truck, sport, blast, small

1. Tell students that many English words contain a group of letters that look and sound the same. Explain that learning to read this group of letters or the pattern of the word will help them read other words.

2. Introduce the pattern for the lesson. "Today we will learn the ending pattern -ap. The sounds are /a/ /p/. When you blend them together, they say /ap/."

3. Ask students to tell you other words with the ending pattern /ap/.

4. Write student contributions on the index cards, one word per card.

5. If students give a nonsense word, acknowledge that the pattern is correct but that it is not a real word in English. Write the word.

6. When students cannot provide any more words, ask students to read the word cards. Have them segment the word at the onset-rime level. Then blend them together to read the word.

7. Review all the cards again; this time ask student to read the entire word when it is shown.

8. Review the meaning of all the words.

Source. Adapted from Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader: Activities for an Accelerated Reading Program-Expanded Edition, by University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts, 2001, Austin, TX: Author.

Regular Word Reading: Building Words

Objective. Students will practice reading words containing rime patterns.

Materials. A set of cards of previously studied onsets and a set of cards with previously studied rime patterns

Sequence. Onsets: single letter, blends ( bl, fl, sn, st), digraphs ( gr, br)

Rimes:

VC: -an, -ap, -at, -aw, -in, -ip, -ir, -op, -or, -ug, -it, -et, -ot, -up, -ut

VCV: -ake, -ale, -ame, -ate, -ice, -ide, -ine, -ore, -oke, -ade, -ike, -ime

VVC: -ail, -ain, -eat, -eek, -een, -oot, -eed, -eep, -ait, -eet, -eem, -oop

VCC: -ack, -ank, -ash, -ell, -est, -ick, -ill, -ing, -ink, -ock, -unk, -ump, -uck

1. Review the onset and rime cards.

2. Place the two sets of cards face down in the middle of the table.

3. Explain to the students that they will pick the top card from each pile, put them together, and read the word.

4. Model the activity.

5. Ask each student to take a turn. If all students can do the activity, have students take turns picking cards and reading the words. After the word is read, the student identifies it as a real or made-up word.

Scaffolds. (1) Limit the number of rimes used-either rimes with the same vowels or the set of rimes. (2) Limit the number of onsets used. (3) Ask all students to read each word formed.

Regular Word Reading: Changing Word

Objective. Students will practice reading previously taught regular words.

Materials. Chart paper or chalkboard with a ladder drawn on it, marker or chalk

Sequence. Change only the onset, change only letters in the rime, change letters in both the onset and rime

1. Tell students they will be making new words by changing one letter at a time.

2. On the bottom rung, write a word with a pattern they have learned.

3. Model how you will change one letter to form a new word. Ask students to read the word.

4. Ask a student to change one letter to make a new word. Move up the ladder.

5. Students will continue providing new words until they reach the top rung.

6. Ask students to review the meanings of the words on their board.

Variation. Accept both real and nonsense words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit to read the word.

Irregular Word Reading: What's the Word?

Objective. Students will learn irregular words

Materials. Word cards (three to five per lesson), pocket chart, notebook with each page marked with one letter of the alphabet, pencils

Sequence. Begin with most common irregular words

1. Tell students they will be learning some words that do not follow the letter-sound correspondences they have been learning, so they have to learn these words as a whole.

2. Show students the first word card and read the word. Ask students to repeat the word in unison.

3. Spell the word as you point to each letter and then ask the students to spell the word in unison.

4. Ask the students to read the word again. Then students write it in their notebooks on the appropriate page. Monitor to make sure they spell the words correctly.

5. Ask students if anyone knows the meaning of the word. If no one knows the meaning of the word, provide a quick definition.

6. Ask students to make a quick note in their notebooks to help them remember the meaning. Students may want to write the meaning in their home language.

7. Place the word card in the pocket chart.

8. Follow steps 2-7 with the other words.

9. Review the words taught. Point to each word in the pocket chart and ask the students to read it in unison. Then ask individual students to read the word and provide the meaning.

Variation. Use words that will appear in text that students will be reading.

Analogy-Based Phonics: What Do I Already Know?

Objective. Students will use analogy to sound out unknown words.

Materials. Words with patterns students know written on cards (three to four per student)

Sequence. CVC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( bat), CCVC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( stop), CVCC words with rime patterns that are decodable ( bump), words with irregular rimes ( night)

1. Tell students they will be reading new words using what they know about spelling patterns to help them sound out the words.

2. Review the clue word (night) by showing the students the word card and asking, "What is our clue word?"

3. After students respond, ask, "What are the letters in night?"

4. After students respond, underline the -ight and tell students that the new words they will be reading also end in -ight.

5. Ask students to repeat the ending.

6. Ask students to read the words as you present them one at a time. Remind them to sound out the initial sound or sounds and then use what they know about the ending to read the word.

7. Ask students to tell you the strategy they used to read the new words.

8. Review the meanings of the new words in the lesson.

Scaffolds. (1) Begin with simple rimes and syllable patterns such as -VC and new words that have a one-letter onset. (2) Use new words with onsets that are blends or digraphs. (3) Use rimes and word-spelling patterns that are irregular.

Analogy-Based Phonics: Strategy Use in Context

Objective. Students will use analogy to sound out unknown words they encounter in texts.

Materials. Texts that have several words with a rime or spelling pattern students know

Sequence. Texts that have only one or two patterns; texts with more patterns for which students will have to use their knowledge of various rimes and patterns

1. Tell students they will be reading a book that has words they have not read before.

2. Remind them to look for the part of the word they can already read.

3. Tell students to sound out the first part of the word and add the part they know to read the word.

4. Remind them that you will review the meaning of the words after you read the story.

Irregular Word Reading: Irregular Word Road Race

Objective. Students will practice reading irregular words that have been previously taught.

Materials. For each student: a game board, word cards matched to game board, a chip or game piece (see Figure 3.5)

1. Explain the game to students. Tell them: "You will place a chip in the start box, read the word in the first box, then read each word card aloud until you find the card with the word that matches the word in the first box. Now, you move the chip into the box containing the first word." Explain that they then go on to read the word in the second box, and read the word cards again until they find its matching word card. Continue to the end of the game board. Note that cards are not discarded but are placed in the back of the pile.

2. Model the procedures in step 1 for students.

3. Review the meanings of the words.

4. Give each student a game board, a set of cards, and a chip. Remind students to read each card in the set aloud.

5. Monitor students.

Figure 3.5. Road Race Game Board

Source: Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader: Activities for an Accelerated Reading Program-Expanded Edition

Variations. Fill the squares with regular words or specific onset-rime patterns; for kindergarten students and struggling 1st graders, fill each square with a letter (students provide either the name or sound as directed).

Scaffolds. (1) Pair a more able reader with a struggling reader. Students take turns so the more able student reads the word cards until finding the first word. Then the second student reads the word cards for the second word. (2) Limit the number of words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit to read the word.

Lesson for Learning the Doubling Rule (-ing and -ed)

Objective. Students will learn the doubling rule for adding -ing or -ed to CVC verbs and will practice writing CVC + -ing or -ed words independently.

Materials. Flip chart, blackboard, or dry-erase board; writing notebooks and pencils; marker

1. Tell students they will learn the doubling rule for adding endings to CVC words. Explain that in English, when we add -ing or -ed to a CVC word, we double the last consonant then add the ending. Model the process using only one of the endings and a pattern that students know well.

2. Give students a word. Ask them to write the word in their notebooks. Then ask them to add the ending.

3. Ask a student to write the word on the chart.

4. Ask students to check their work.

5. Give students several more words.

6. Review the meanings of all the words.

Review Lesson for the Doubling Rule

Objective. Review the doubling rule for adding -ing or -ed to a CVC verb.

Materials. Flip chart, blackboard, or dry-erase board; writing notebooks and pencils; marker

Sequence. Complete the activity as a group, complete activity in pairs, add CVCC words

1. Review the doubling rule with students. Remind them that in English when they add an ending to a CVC word they must double the last letter.

2. Write a CVC verb on board. Ask students what they must do to add an ending. Rewrite the word with the ending.

3. Tell students that they will have a tick-tack-toe tournament.

4. Draw a tick-tack-toe board, and write a CVC verb in each square.

5. Tell students that to gain a square, they have to change the verb by adding either -ing or -ed correctly. If the new word is written correctly, the student may draw an X or O. If the student does not add the ending correctly, the square remains open. In the first round, students play against the teacher.

6. Have students determine whether an answer is correct or not by showing thumbs up or thumbs down. Continue until someone wins the game by getting three in a row.

Variation. Students play in pairs.

Scaffold. Use only one type of ending.

Structural Analysis: Let's Add Word Parts

Objective. Students learn that affixes (prefixes and suffixes) change the word meaning.

Materials. Chart paper, marker, a list of root words students can read and give the meaning for each

Sequence. Most-common prefixes, most-common suffixes, less-common prefixes, less-common suffixes

1. Tell students that adding word parts to a word will change the meaning of the word. Tell students that prefixes appear at the beginning of the word and that they will learn the meaning of the prefix and then add it to root words.

2. Write a prefix on the chart paper. Read the prefix and tell students its meaning.

3. Ask students to read the prefix and tell its meaning.

4. Write a root word on the chart paper. Ask students to read the word and give its meaning. If students do not know the meaning, provide it.

5. Write the root word with the prefix. Ask students to read the word.

6. Model how to determine the meaning of the new word. For example, un- means "not"; happy means "with joy"; so unhappy means "not happy" or "without joy."

7. Provide additional root words and ask students to read and define the prefix, read the root word, read the word with prefix added, and define the new word.

8. Repeat steps 2-7 with the second prefix.

Variation. Use suffixes.

Scaffold. Limit the number of prefixes introduced.

Advanced Word Analysis: Make a New Word

Objective. Students will add previously taught prefixes or suffixes to a root word and will give the meaning of the new word.

Materials. Root words written on cards (three to four per student), small sticky notes with a prefix or suffix written on them

Sequence. Most-common prefixes, most-common suffixes, less-common prefixes, less-common suffixes

1. Tell students they will be reviewing the meaning of prefixes and suffixes they have learned and will practice reading words with prefixes and suffixes.

2. Review the prefixes and suffixes written on the sticky notes. Ask students to read them in unison and provide the meaning.

3. Ask students to read the root words in unison. Then give each student three to four root word cards.

4. Tell students you will pick an affix from the pile; each one in turn will add it to one of his or her root word cards, read the new word, and say its meaning.

5. If a student has difficulty providing the meaning, ask the student the meaning of the affix, then the meaning of the root word. If the student still cannot provide the meaning, model the process. For example, un- means "not" and happy means "with joy"; unhappy means "not happy" or "without joy."

6. Continue with the other affixes.

Scaffolds. (1) Limit the number of affixes used. (2) Use only prefixes or suffixes.

Advanced Word Analysis: Word Part Jeopardy!

Objective. Students will identify prefixes, suffixes, and roots in words and their meanings.

Materials. Category cards for each of the three categories: prefixes, suffixes, and root words; answer cards for each category; dollar amount cards (for sample Q&A see Figure 3.6)

1. Place game pieces on the board as you explain the game.

2. Tell students they will be playing Jeopardy! to test their knowledge of word parts and their meanings.

3. Divide students into teams.

4. Tell them that under each dollar amount there is an answer to a question related to its subject category card.

5. They will pick a category and dollar amount, expose and read the answer, then give the question to the answer.

6. If they get the answer correct, they get the dollar card. If they answer incorrectly, another team gets a chance to answer.

7. Game continues until all the cards are exposed.

Advanced Word Analysis: Is It Real?

Objective. Students will use the prefixes they have been studying to make words.

Materials. Word cards using prefixes from previous lessons; game board with words that combine with prefix cards to make real words, and some that combine to make nonsense words; dice or spinner; game pieces

1. Review what a prefix is. Review the prefixes from the previous lessons. Make sure that students can read, spell, and define each prefix.

2. Ask students to read the word cards in unison. Periodically ask a student to define the word or to use it in a sentence.

3. Introduce the game and explain the rules.

4. Distribute a prefix card to each student or pair of students. Tell students they will take turns rolling the dice or spinning and then moving their game piece the appropriate number of spaces. Then they combine the prefix on their card with the word on the space and read the new word. The students must decide if it is a real word or a nonsense word. If it is a real word, they must define it and use it in a sentence. If unable to complete all steps correctly, they can ask a peer for help. If it is not a real word, the student tells what it would mean if the prefix were used correctly.

5. Continue until one of the students reaches the end.

Scaffold. Pair students of high and low levels of English proficiency.

Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., Ivernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
This book gives information on how to provide word study instruction to students based on their spelling developmental stages. The text provides a description of the basis for this approach to instruction, instructions for assessing students prior to beginning instruction, and activities for students in each of the stages of development.

Blevins, W. (1998). Phonics from A to Z: A practical guide. New York: Scholastic Professional Books.
This guide provides a wealth of information for teachers in an easy-to-read and easy-to-use format. The book begins with a brief description of phonics and then provides activities, lists, and teaching guidelines for alphabet recognition, phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondences, and regular and irregular word reading.

Cunningham, P. M. (2004). Phonics they use: Words for reading and writing (4th ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
This research integrates the strategic approaches needed to help students develop reading and spelling skills using a coherent collection of practical, hands-on activities that provide a framework for teaching phonics. It emphasizes the importance of students using phonics for decoding, reading, and spelling a new word, and for writing. Rather than subscribe to a single theory, the book stresses a balanced reading program-incorporating a variety of strategic approaches-tied to the individual needs of children.

Diaz-Rico, L. T. (2004). Teaching English learners: Methods and strategies, my lab school edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Chapter 8 provides activities for teaching grammar through integrated language skills and gives a history of English to help explain the peculiarities of the language.

Donat, D. J. (2003). Reading their way: A balance of phonics and whole language. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
This book fulfills the goal of increasing reading achievement with a balanced literacy program for kindergarten and beyond, using the best of phonics and whole-language approaches. Donat presents reading-instruction strategies, scheduling and grouping options, assessments, evaluations, and sound and spelling patterns for each grade level. Teachers will find an abundance of ideas for immediate implementation in their classrooms, and school administrators will appreciate the guidance in developing quality literacy programs. Supplemented by an appendix of suggested resources and a reference section.

Henry, M. K. (2003). Unlocking literacy: Effective decoding and spelling instruction. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Designed for general and special educators of students from prekindergarten to middle school, this book offers a range of creative strategies for helping students learn and a refresher course on language skills. The text is filled with classroom activities; lesson plans incorporating multisensory, language-based instruction; samples of student work; explanations of current research; and extensive word lists.

Kress, J. (1993). The ESL book of lists. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
This book provides useful lists for teachers on a number of topics, including the identification of difficult English sounds for specific language groups and word lists for a variety of objectives.

McCormick, C. E., Throneburg, R., & Smitley, J. (2002). A sound start: Phonemic awareness lessons for reading success. New York: Guilford Press.
One volume provides three separate sets of phonemic awareness lessons, complete with scripted directions and reproducible learning materials and assessment tools. Incorporating a variety of activities, each set is field-tested and research based and the lessons may be used independently or in conjunction with one another.

Moats, L. C. (2000). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing Co.
This comprehensive book on the English language will help you understand the organization of written and spoken language, make the connection between language structure and how children learn to read, and provide sample lesson plans and adaptations. This information is essential for teachers of English language learners.

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by Sylvia Linan-Thompson and Sharon Vaughn In a recent conversation, teachers of English language learners (ELLS) voiced concerns about the teaching of phonics to students in their classes who have several levels of English proficiency. "English is so irregular, it doesn't make sense to teach students all the rules because there are so many exceptions."

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Teacher question:

I am interested in understanding how phonemic awareness and phonics can support students who do not have a structure for learning the English language. For example, English Language Learners who have no structure for language in their home language or in English. If you can suggest resources that address this matter I would be so grateful.

Shanahan's response:

The research on these aspects of second-language literacy learning is limited. However, the research that has been done indicates that English learners clearly benefit from explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics for English reading (Shanahan & Beck, 2006).

That shouldn't be too surprising. No matter what your background, if you are trying to learn to read English, you will have to learn to decode. That means that you will need to be able to perceive English phonemes in oral language and that you will need to learn the relationships between the letters and spelling patterns and those sounds or pronunciations. (And, that would be true at any age of development, if we're talking non-readers).

However, it is also notable that such instruction tends to have a smaller impact on overall reading achievement (e.g., reading comprehension) than has been reported for first-language learners. Phonics instruction helps you to translate from print to pronunciation. If you don't know the meaning of the word that you have translated then pronouncing the word won't help you to understand the text. Native English speaking children are likely to know the meanings of more English words than will their ELL classmates, so phonics has a bigger positive impact for them than for the ELLs (it helps, just not as much).

Second-language learners, like all learners, bring knowledge with them. I've written before about my experiences in teaching myself to read French. My knowledge of the sound-symbol relationships in English is very helpful because I can often apply my knowledge of English to French. Take a word like, "danse." Except for the medial vowel, all of the sound-symbol relations are the same as in English... and the replacement of the /ah/ sound for the "short a" sound is not particularly jarring or foreign to my English ears. Reading a word like "danse" is pretty easy for me because I get to apply my English knowledge of phonemic principles and sound-symbol relations.

What you know in your home language can be helpful. It can also be misleading. When I was first learning, I would read a word like "ecoutent" as AY-COO-TAHNT... the French pronunciation, however, is more like AY-COOT. In English, we'd pronounce those last letters, but in French, not so much. I had to learn to simply eat those final letters when it came to my pronunciation. Generalizing from my home language helps me to decode in some cases, and it misleads me in others. Fortunately, it has been much more helpful than a hindrance.

The same is true with children and with other languages. The more similar a home language is to the one you are trying to learn, the more transference that is possible. I can translate a lot of English decoding to French and I'll do pretty well. If I were trying to read Arabic, I would have a lot more to learn.

You say these students have no "structure for language." I suspect that you mean they come to school not being literate either in their home language or in English. If a Mexican youngster can't read Spanish, then he won't be able to transfer those common sound-symbol relations from Spanish to English. But that doesn't mean that he or she couldn't learn to hear the English sounds or to decode with them. (That's why some authorities argue for teaching children to read in their home language: it should be easier to learn the language that you speak and then to transition from that written language to written English. Research does suggest that can be helpful, though it is not absolutely necessary).

Even when students aren't literate in their home language they may have relevant knowledge to bring to the task. For example, phonemic awareness is the most transferable aspect of language. If youngsters can hear the sounds within words in their home language, they should be able to hear those sounds within English words. Of course, there are languages that lack some of the English phonemes (Japanese doesn't have "l" or "r"), or particular sounds might be combined with other phonemes in ways that we don't combine sounds in English. Those instances can benefit from direct instruction.

What does all this mean?

1. Teach phonemic awareness and phonics to beginning English readers no matter what their language background or how much literacy they have. (If you are teaching kids to read in their home language first, then teach the decoding for that language, and provide additional instruction as needed when the transition takes place).

2. If students can already read in the home language, you should be able to reduce the amount of phonics that is needed to the extent that there is overlap between the two languages.

3. If students are phonemically aware in their home language, you shouldn't have to do as much with that (though there can be a benefit from focusing on those English sounds that may be unfamiliar).

Finally, second-language students in U.S. schools often underperform in reading. That means they may require some kind of intervention to give them extra targeted teaching. Many schools rightfully provide special interventions that target skills like phonemic awareness and phonics.

However, just because a reader is struggling doesn't automatically mean the problem is with decoding. That is especially true for these second language learners. They, too often, are assigned to extra decoding work even when their decoding skills are adequate. For them, the extra focus should be on developing their English language.

Here are a couple of relevant resources that you should find helpful:

* Reading 101 for English Language Learners

* What Does Research Tell Us About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners?

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Phonics for English Learners? | Reading Rockets

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Teacher question: I am interested in understanding how phonemic awareness and phonics can support students who do not have a structure for learning the English language. For example, English Language Learners who have no structure for language in their home language or in English.

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Phonics for MLs - A World of Language Learners

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Learn about some of the differences between teaching phonics to ELLs and native English speakers. Also discover some new resources.

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Reteaching Activities

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Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

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Choosen Standard
Second Grade

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Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. To read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle - the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language. Decoding is when we use letter-sound relationships to translate a printed word into speech.

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Need to know

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As an educator, you have probably already heard of phonics. But chances are that no one has ever sat down with you to explain exactly what phonics instruction is. That's where we come in - with the help of phonics expert Wiley Blevins, we have compiled the basic information that you need to know before teaching phonics.

What is phonics?

Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and their spellings. The goal of phonics instruction is to teach students the most common sound-spelling relationships so that they can decode, or sound out, words. This decoding ability is a crucial element in reading success.

Why is phonics instruction important?

Most poor readers tend to rely so heavily on one reading strategy, such as the use of context and picture clues, that they exclude other strategies that might be more appropriate. To become skilled, fluent readers, children need to have a repertoire of strategies to draw on. These strategies include using a knowledge of sound-spelling relationships - in other words, an understanding of phonics. In addition, research has shown that skilled readers attend to almost every word in a sentence and process the letters that compose each of these words.

Therefore, phonics instruction plays a key role in helping students comprehend text. It helps the student map sounds onto spellings, thus enabling them to decode words. Decoding words aids in the development of word recognition, which in turn increases reading fluency. Reading fluency improves reading comprehension because as students are no longer struggling with decoding words, they can concentrate on making meaning from the text.

In addition, phonics instruction improves spelling ability because it emphasizes spelling patterns that become familiar from reading. Studies show that half of all English words can be spelled with phonics rules that relate to one letter to one sound.

How should you structure phonics instruction?

Phonics instruction should be explicit rather than implicit. Implicit instruction relies on readers "discovering" clues about sound-spelling relationships; good readers can do this, but poor readers are not likely to do so. Explicit instruction is the most effective type of phonics instruction, especially for children at risk for reading difficulties.

A good phonics lesson begins with an explicit explanation of the sound-spelling being taught along with guided opportunities for students to blend, or sound out, words using the new sound-spelling. These exercises should be followed by guided and independent reading practice in text that contains words with the new sound-spelling. This portion of phonics instruction is key. Therefore, phonics instruction should focus on applying learned sound-spelling relationships to actual reading, with smaller amounts of time spent on the initial task of learning phonics rules. That way, you can plan phonics lessons that are appropriate for all students, even if some have higher levels of phonics mastery than others.

How is phonics different from phonemic awareness?

Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols, whereas phonemic awareness involves sounds in spoken words. Therefore, phonics instruction focuses on teaching sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonemic awareness tasks are oral.

Despite these different focuses, phonics instruction and phonemic awareness instruction are connected. In fact, phonemic awareness is necessary for phonics instruction to be effective. Before students can use a knowledge of sound-spelling relationships to decode written words, they must understand that words (whether written or spoken) are made up of sounds. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds. Without this insight, phonics instruction will not make sense to students.

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As an educator, you have probably already heard of phonics. But chances are that no one has ever sat down with you to explain exactly what phonics instruction is. That's where we come in - with the help of phonics expert Wiley Blevins, we have compiled the basic information that you need to know before teaching phonics.

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Small Group Phonics Instruction Using Decodable Readers

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In this article:

Most of the assessments here should be given one-on-one. It is important that you have a non-distracting, comfortable testing environment for students, and that the rest of the class is engaged in a task or assignment and working quietly. It's even better if you can arrange for another teacher to be present while you are performing assessments.

This list of informal assessments is not all-inclusive; there are components of reading that these tools do not assess. This information is also available in chart form.

Letter/sound recognition

About this assessment

Familiarity with the letters of the alphabet is essential to the development of reading skills. Instruction should be geared towards unknown letters and their sounds. Students should be able to recognize the letters in both uppercase and lowercase forms.

What it measures

Ability to recognize letters and sounds.

Examples of assessment questions

Show student one letter at a time and ask:

Can you tell me what letter this is? (Record the student's response)

Can you tell me what sound it makes? (Record the student's response)

Age or grade typically mastered

Many students enter kindergarten with the ability to recognize letters. Fewer students recognize the letter sounds. Both are taught in kindergarten.

When should it be assessed?

Assess letter/sound recognition three times during kindergarten, at the start of school, at mid-year, and at the end of the year.

Concepts of print awareness

About this assessment

Concepts of print are usually learned incidentally as children are exposed to books and story readings at home and at school. Concepts of print include an understanding that: print carries meaning, that books contain letters, words, sentences, and spaces. It also includes understanding what books are used for, and that books have parts such as a front cover, back cover and a spine. Eventually, students learn more sophisticated ideas such as understanding that we begin reading on the left and read across the page to the last word on the right, and then we got to the next line, begin reading on the left, and so on.

What it measures

If a student understands:

That print has meaning

That print can be used for different purposes

The relationship between print and speech

There is a difference between letters and words

That words are separated by spaces

There is a difference between words and sentences

That there are (punctuation) marks that signal the end of a sentence

That books have parts such as a front and back cover, title page, and spine

That stories have a beginning, middle, and end

That text is read from left to right and from top to bottom

Examples of assessment questions

Give the student a book and ask the following questions. "Can you show me:"

a letter?

a word?

a sentence?

the end of a sentence (punctuation mark)?

the front of the book?

the back of the book?

where I should start reading the story?

a space?

how I should hold the book?

the title of the book?

how many words are in this sentence?

Age or grade typically mastered

Some students enter kindergarten with an understanding of print concepts, but other will master it as the school year goes on.

When should it be assessed?

Assess concepts of print twice during kindergarten, at the start of school and at mid-year. In addition, as you model story reading techniques to help guide instruction, identify students who need additional support, and determine if the pace of instruction should be increased, decreased, or remain the same.

Phonological awareness

About this assessment

Phonological awareness is a necessary part of reading instruction. Children can show you they have phonological awareness in several ways. It is necessary as the classroom teacher to determine strengths and weaknesses to plan instruction.

What it measures

Recognizing a word in a sentence shows the ability to segment a sentence

Recognizing a rhyme shows the ability to identify words that have the same ending sounds

Recognizing a syllable shows the ability to separate or blend words the way that they are pronounced

Understanding onset-rime shows the ability to blend the first sound in the word (onset) and the rest of the word (rime)

Examples of assessment questions

Word
How many words are in this sentence? "I am happy." (Correct response: 3)

Rhyme
Do these words rhyme? big, fig(Correct response: Yes)

What about key, tree? (Correct response: Yes)

Syllable blending
I am going to say a word in parts. Listen: o...pen What word did I say? (Correct response: open)

Syllable segmentation
Can you tell me the two word parts in open? (Correct response: o...pen)

Syllable deletion
Say open without the -pen. (Correct response: o)

Onset-rime
What word do these sounds make? /s/ - /ee/ (Correct response: see)

How about /h/ - /op/? (Correct response: hop)

Age or grade typically mastered

Word: Age 3

Rhyme: Age 4

Syllable blending: Age 4

Syllable segmentation: Kindergarten

Syllable deletion: Kindergarten

Onset-rime: The middle of kindergarten

When should it be assessed?

Typically, phonological awareness is assessed during kindergarten and throughout first grade. During the beginning of kindergarten, assessment should be limited to recognizing words, rhyme, syllable blending, and segmentation to help guide instruction.

Phonemic awareness

What it measures

Phoneme matching is the ability to identify words that begin with the same sound.

Phoneme isolation is the ability to isolate a single sound from within a word.

Phoneme blending is the ability to blend individual sounds into a word.

Phoneme segmentation is the ability to break a word into individual sounds.

Phoneme manipulation is the ability to modify, change, or move the individual sounds in a word.

Examples of assessment questions

Remember, when a letter appears between slash marks, you should say the letter sound, and not the letter name.

Phoneme matching
Which words sound alike? man, sat, sip (Correct response: sat, sip)

Phoneme isolation - initial (first) sound
What's the first sound in sat? (Correct response: /s/)

Phoneme isolation - final (last) sound
What's the last sound in sat? (Correct response: /t/)

Phoneme isolation - medial (middle) sound
What's the middle sound in sat? (Correct response: /a/)

Phoneme blending
What word do these sounds make? /h/ - /o/ - /t/ (Correct response: hot)

Phoneme segmentation
What sounds do you hear in hot? (Correct response: /h/ - /o/ - /t/)

Phoneme manipulation - initial (first) sound
Say mat without the /m/ sound. (Correct response: at)

Phoneme manipulation - final (last) sound
Say mat without the /t/ sound. (Correct response: ma)

Phoneme manipulation - substitution
Say pig. (Correct response: pig)

Now change the /p/ in pig to /f/. (Correct response: fig)

Age or grade typically mastered

Phoneme matching: The middle of kindergarten

Phoneme isolation - initial (first) sound: The middle of kindergarten

Phoneme isolation - final (last) sound: Late kindergarten or early first grade

Phoneme isolation - medial (middle) sound: Late kindergarten or early first grade

Phoneme blending: Late kindergarten or early first grade

Phoneme segmentation: First grade

Phoneme manipulation - initial (first) sound: First grade

Phoneme manipulation - final (last) sound: First grade

Phoneme manipulation - substitution: Middle to end of first grade or early second grade

When should it be assessed?

Phonemic awareness assessments should be done three times during the kindergarten and first grade years to help guide instruction.

Informal (qualitative) reading inventory

What it measures

Grade level reading

Fluency

Comprehension

Vocabulary

Oral reading accuracy

Examples of assessment questions

Choose a grade level passage for the student to read. As the student is reading complete the oral reading accuracy and reading fluency assessments. After the student finishes the passage, check for understanding through explicit and implicit questions. Also, ask open-ended questions about the vocabulary found in the passage.

Age or grade typically mastered

This assessment can be given to students in grades one through twelve. Students should be expected to master age-appropriate material.

When should it be assessed

The informal reading inventory is an on-going assessment, and should be completed several times throughout the child's schooling. In kindergarten, perform the informal reading inventory twice per year, at mid-year and at the end of school. In first and second grades, it should be done three times, at the beginning of the school year, at mid-year, and at the end of the year. If a child is struggling, the inventory should be done more often in order to have an accurate picture of the child's progress.

Reading comprehension

About this assessment

Reading comprehension assessments are the most common type of published reading test that is available. The typical type of reading comprehension assessment involves asking a child to read a passage of text that is leveled appropriately for the child's age or grade, and then asking explicit, detailed questions about the content of the text. An example of a common reading comprehension assessment is the Informal Reading Inventory (IRI), also known as the Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI).

There are variations on the basic reading comprehension assessments. For example, instead of questions about facts found directly in the text, the child could be asked to answer questions about information that is implied in the text, or the child might be asked to retell the story in the child's own words.

Oral reading accuracy

About this assessment

This assessment provides a measure of a student's oral reading accuracy by giving teachers insight into a student's individual reading level. It allows the teacher to listen and record reading behaviors such as the number of errors a student makes, if the student substitutes words, or if the student needs prompting from the teacher.

The information offered by this assessment is limited. For example, it does not measure phonological ability, vocabulary, or comprehension. This is why it is often given in conjunction with other assessments such as the informal reading inventory. It should never be used in isolation.

Note: When children read orally, they usually concentrate on reading accurately and do not pay as much attention to comprehension of the content. It is also important to remember that if this assessment is used with students who are new to learning English, it should be given both in English and the child's primary language.

What it measures

Oral reading accuracy. It also provides the teacher with insight into a student's ability to use strategies to decode unfamiliar words.

Examples of assessment questions

Choose a passage for the child to read aloud. As the child reads, take notes on words read correctly and incorrectly.

Age or grade typically mastered

First through third grade.

When should it be assessed?

Reading accuracy assessments can be given as part of an informal reading inventory or combined with a comprehension assessment to yield more information. Reading accuracy should be assessed several times throughout the year to help you plan on-going instruction. Are students reading on grade level? Do some students require additional support? Do your students have rich vocabularies? Are your students able to read age-appropriate material?

Steps in administering this assessment

1. Choose a book that is age appropriate, but unfamiliar to your student. (This gives a more accurate picture of a child's ability in handling texts.)

2. Ask the student to read the story aloud to you and then at the end tell you what the story was about.

3. You should familiarize yourself with the following scoring information prior to administering this assessment:

Reading behavior

How to score

Read correctly (no error)

Check mark over word

Omission (one error)

Long dash over word omitted

Insertion (one error)

^ at point of insertion with the inserted word written above it

Repetition of a word (no error)

Mark above word with a capital R

Repetition of a phrase (no error)

Capital R with a line and an arrow stretching across phrase repeated

Self correction (no error)

Capital SC above the word to indicate child has self-corrected

Unable to read word (one error)

T for Teacher prompt

Decodes a word in an obvious manner (no error)

Mark individual sounds read within the word followed by a check mark if eventually read correctly or a circle if read incorrectly

Read incorrectly (one error)

Circle word

What should you count as an error when giving this assessment?

Substituting a word

Passage reads: The tall fir tree.

Student reads: The tall far tree.

Omitting a word

Passage reads: The tall fir tree.

Student reads: The tall tree.

Inserting a word

Passage reads: A dark and stormy night.

Student reads: A dark and stormy winter night.

Needs prompting (if the student has to be told a word by the person administering the assessment)

Passage reads: I wish that people...

Student reads: I wish that... (pauses) that... (teacher prompts "people")...

4. As the student reads, mark each word on the form by using the symbols above. Place a check mark above the words read correctly.

5. If the student reads a word incorrectly or substitutes a word, record what is said above the actual word.

6. As the student reads, pay attention to his or her behavior. Is the student using context clues (from the sentence or pictures), structure (language sounds correct) and visual cues (using beginning sounds, familiar word chunks, etc.) to read words and gather meaning?

7. Intervene as little as possible when a student is reading.

8. If the student is stuck on a word, wait 5-10 seconds before you tell him or her the word.

9. After the reading, ask the student to tell you about what he or she has just read. Make notes on the following:

Can the student tell you what happened in the story in his or her own words?

Does the student include the different parts of a story (the characters, setting, events, problem and resolution)?

Can the student identify the main idea and supporting details?

Does the student use some of the vocabulary found in the text?

Is the student's retelling minimal, adequate or very complete?

What do I do with the information obtained from this assessment?

The information gathered while completing an oral reading accuracy assessment can be used to determine error, accuracy, and self-correction rates. To calculate a student's reading accuracy rate, divide the total words read correctly by the total words read. For example, if a student read a passage containing 100 words and made 5 errors:

95 (total words read correctly) / 100 (total words read) = 95% word accuracy

Use the accuracy rate along with the information gained in the student's story retelling to determine whether the text the student read was too easy, just right, or too difficult for the reader. Below is a general breakdown to use to help guide you when choosing texts for students:

Oral reading accuracy

What this says about the text

95-100%

Too easy; the text does not present a challenge

90-94%

Just right; the text is challenging but manageable

89% and below

Too difficult; the text is frustrating for the reader

If a student can read a book with 100% word accuracy but can only give a minimal retelling of the story, do not choose a higher leveled book. We read to get meaning; if a child is not getting meaning from a text they must be instructed on comprehension strategies. Word accuracy without comprehension is not acceptable.

What should I be looking for when I give an oral reading accuracy assessment?

Giving an oral reading accuracy assessment and asking a child to retell reveals many things about a child's reading ability. There are other things to be on the look out for and can be taught in the moments following this assessment:

Has the student mastered directionality, letter-sound correspondence, return sweep, etc?

Did the student make "good errors" when phonetically reading a word (i.e., reading island as "is land" instead of "eye land")?

Was there an attempt to self-correct errors?

Did the student attempt to decode an unknown word?

Was the student's reading slow and labored, or fluent?

Did the student use expression while reading?

Reading fluency

What it measures

How many words a child reads correctly in one minute.

Examples of assessment questions

Choose an appropriate passage for the student to read aloud. As the student reads, complete a record for one minute.

Age or grade typically mastered

Students should be expected to master age-appropriate material.

When should it be assessed?

Fluency assessments should be completed throughout the year to help guide instruction.

Word recognition

What it measures

Sight word vocabulary at a given grade level.

Examples of assessment questions

Ask a child to read from a list of words.

Age or grade typically mastered

Students should be expected to master age-appropriate material.

When should it be assessed?

Word recognition should be assessed three times during the year for students in kindergarten through second grade to help guide instruction.

Phonic elements

What it measures

Phonic elements at a given grade level.

Examples of assessment questions

What sound do the letters 's' 'h' make? (Correct response: /sh/)

How can I turn cap into cape? (Correct response: Add an 'e' to the end of the word.

Age or grade typically mastered

Students should be expected to master age-appropriate material.

When should it be assessed?

Phonic elements should be assessed several times throughout the year in grades one through three to help guide instruction.

Portfolios

About this assessment

Portfolios can be used to document students' achievement and progress. Portfolios give an accurate picture of an individual's strengths and weaknesses. Instruction on how to pick a piece of work to place in a portfolio (does it show a concept that was struggled with then understood, does it demonstrate an understanding of a concept? Is it something you are proud of?) is beneficial for students. This type of instruction engages the student to reflect on his or her own work. Portfolios encourage students to take an active role in learning information they feel they have not yet mastered.

Portfolios can help guide instruction. Through looking at a piece of child's work, a teacher can quickly see what lessons are further needed. For example, by looking at a student's writing a teacher may determine lessons in using commas correctly need to be revisited.

Types of portfolios

Collection
The collection may consist of a folder that holds samples of a student's work. The collection should include representative examples of the various types of student work, such as tests, writing samples, and homework assignments.

Display portfolio
A container or box containing a selection of work documenting a student's progress may hold work in this type of portfolio. This type of portfolio may be used to share with parents at conferences. Pieces of work are carefully selected by both teachers and students to show and share with parents/guardians during conferences.

Teacher/student assessment portfolio
A collection of documentation including copies of work in the student's display portfolio, tests, anecdotal notes, conference summaries, contacts made with parents, etc. This portfolio is used by the teacher to aid in discussions with administrators, other teachers, parents, etc about a particular child.

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Types of Informal Classroom-Based Assessment

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Most of the assessments here should be given one-on-one. It is important that you have a non-distracting, comfortable testing environment for students, and that the rest of the class is engaged in a task or assignment and working quietly. It's even better if you can arrange for another teacher to be present while you are performing assessments.

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More resources: Sounds and Symbols: Assessments by Specialists (PBS Launching Young Readers series) Fluent Reading: Assessing Reading Skills (PBS Launching Young Readers series) Assessment: Course Module Topics A-Z: Assessment and Evaluation Informal assessment information can help you decide the following: How to plan future instruction so that student needs are met How students should be grouped for instruction so that each student receives instruction at the right level of difficulty If instruction is being delivered at the right pace Which students need individual support What do I want to

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Phonics Games for Kindergarten or First Grade // small group phonics activity

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Phonic Bingo -  Easy ESL Games video #42

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An Introduction to Phonics and learning to read

Throughout this article, I aim to provide you with a clear understanding of teaching phonics effectively in the classroom and offer a variety of strategies and proven ideas to teach phonics.

WHAT IS PHONICS? A DEFINITION FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS.

Phonics can be defined as a body of knowledge and skills regarding how the alphabet works.

In the context of this article, phonics refers to the method of teaching a student to read by developing their phonemic awareness and an understanding of the links between these sounds and how we use the letters of the alphabet to represent them.

This understanding is essential not only to read well but to bridge the gap between reading and writing.

With a good foundation of phonics knowledge, students can quickly become confident readers and independent solid writers.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS IMPROVES READING FLUENCY

When students develop phonemic awareness, it dramatically enhances their reading fluency which is a reading "superpower", allowing students to read with speed, accuracy and expression. Reading fluency dramatically enhances students' ability to read with intonation and energy that translates into expressive writing skills.

A COMPLETE DIGITAL READING UNIT FOR STUDENTS

How To Teach Reading Using Phonics

The use of phonics, or synthetic phonics as this method is technically known, is an effective and efficient means of teaching young students how to read. For this reason, phonics is the primary methodology for teaching reading in the school systems of many English-speaking countries.

In English, there are around 44 sounds or phonemes. Given that there are only 26 letters used in the language and that many sounds have more than one possible spelling, it is helpful that students learn the relationships between the letters and sounds in a straightforward and explicit manner.

To achieve this, phonics centers on the relationship between sounds and how they can be spelled.

It focuses on the letter and sound correspondences to enable students to break written words down into their component sounds before later recombining them to read the whole word. This process is known as segmenting and blending.

SEGMENTING AND BLENDING

Rather than allowing students to struggle to recognize complete words, as in the whole word method, or to look for contextual clues to figure out what is being said in a text, phonics teaches students to look at the letters of a word and segment it into its component sounds, before blending these sounds back together to read the entire word.

For example, when faced with the word cat, a student might run their finger under the first letter and make the initial /k/ sound, then /a/, and, finally, /t/.

Once they have successfully segmented these individual sounds, they then blend them together to say the word /kat/.

With practice, the speed with which students can look at a word, segment the sounds, and then blend these sounds together to read the word rapidly increases. This makes learning to read through the phonics method the most efficient way for most children to learn not just to read but to write too.

DECODING AND ENCODING: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN READING AND WRITING

Initially, phonics reaps rich rewards for students in terms of the passive skill of reading. This is also known as decoding.

Later, the student's knowledge of phonics can help them develop the active skill of writing or encoding.

For this reason, teachers will often weave emergent writing skills, such as letter formation, into their phonics lessons to take advantage of the opportunity to bridge this gap between reading and writing skills.

WHAT ABOUT SIGHT WORDS?

As effective as synthetic phonics are in teaching students to read, they won't be enough on their own to unravel all the opaque mysteries of English orthography.

English is something of a mongrel language. Over the centuries, it has been influenced by the German, Latin, French, Greek, and Celtic languages, among others.

This fact has led to many inconsistencies in spelling surviving in the modern language. Sometimes phonics won't be enough to decode these words. That's why students need to learn to read some words by sight alone.

Sight words, or high-frequency words as they are also known, are those extremely common words used time and again in most texts. Many of them are phonetically irregular and follow no conventional spelling rules. For children's reading books, sight words can account for up to 75% of the words in the text.

Therefore, it's best to combine the study of phonics with the learning of these sight words for maximum effectiveness. This is something to consider when engaged in your long-term planning.

The most effective strategy for learning these sight words is for discussion another day; for the remainder of this article, we will focus exclusively on the teaching of phonics.

THE STAGES OF PHONICS TEACHING

Before beginning to teach phonics, it is helpful to have a broad overview of the various stages that comprise a comprehensive synthetic phonics program. The following outline can serve as a practical general guide.

1. THE PRE-PHONICS STAGE

Before beginning to learn phonics in earnest (e.g. sound/letter correspondences), certain prerequisite skills need to be developed, including:

LISTENING SKILLS:

Children must be able to listen carefully to the sounds of speech. They must learn to filter speech sounds from other unrelated environmental sounds. This is usually best achieved by playing various listening games. When children have developed good aural comprehension, the game Simon Says is a fun way to further develop listening skills.

SOUND REPRODUCTION SKILLS:

Once the children have learned to discriminate between various sounds, they should learn to reproduce these themselves. This is usually achieved by modelling the sounds carefully for the children and encouraging them to copy these with particular attention paid to the shape of the mouth when making each sound. The popular fun game Telephone is excellent for this.

SEQUENCING SKILLS:

It is essential for children learning to read to be able to sequence not only the events of a story but the individual sounds of the words they hear. They must be able to recognize which sound comes before or after another. They should also be familiar with sequencing language such as first, second, before, after, then etc.

We have a complete guide to sequencing for teachers and students here.

2. SOUNDS AND ACTIONS

With our younger kids, it can be challenging to give them an anchor to 'hold on to the sounds of language.

To help build such an anchor to these sounds, which will later help link sounds to written letters, actions are often connected to each sound to aid in memorizing them. This is especially useful in the early stages as it works well for the most basic of sounds.

For example, when making the /m/ sound, children could be taught to rub their tummies as if they have eaten something delicious while saying " mmmmm ".

Or, they could open their mouths wide as if they were eating an apple while saying the /a/ sound.

It is easy to devise customized actions to go along with the various sounds of English and then teach these to your class. Ensure you consistently use the same actions every time for a specific sound to avoid confusion.

Later, when students come to segment words into their individual sounds, they can use these actions to help recall them.

3. THE LETTER AND SOUNDS CORRESPONDENCES

Explicitly teaching the letter and sound correspondences lie at the heart of good phonics teaching.

It is essential to understand a little of the theory of synthetic phonics to be effective here. Here are a few important points to consider:

● Letter Names vs. Letter Sounds

It is crucial that children understand the difference between the names of the letters of the English alphabet and the sounds, as these are two very different things. For example, the letter c is called / see/ but the letter itself usually denotes either a /k/ or /s/ sound. It may seem obvious, but many teachers not trained in the teaching of phonics overlook this distinction and unwittingly make learning to read much more difficult for their students as a result.

● Letters Don't Make The Sounds

As the limited letters used in English are needed to represent many different sounds, it's important to point out to students that letters don't make the sounds; they are simply an option for showing the sound. Often there will be more than one way to show the same sound; for example, the sound /s/ can be encoded in several different ways, including as s, c, and ps. When you are asking your students to write something, you can make the sound and ask them what letter they could use to show this sound. This type of phrasing reinforces the correct relationship between the letters and sounds.

● Avoid The Lazy Vowels

It is also important to remember that when teaching the letters and sounds to avoid making the lazy vowel or schwa sound at the end of a sound. For example, when pronouncing the /k/ sound, make it crisp and short, rather than adding in an extra -uh sound at the end. This will make it much easier for the students to blend sounds together later.

HOW TO PLAN A PHONICS LESSON FOR YOUR CLASS

The detail and delivery of your phonics lessons will depend greatly on the specific situation of your students. However, some general points will be helpful to consider when planning a phonics lesson for your class.

● Keep Phonics Lessons Short and Sweet

To avoid getting bogged down and boring your kids, keep phonics lessons short. In and around 10 to 15 minutes is ideal and no more than 20 minutes. Remember, we want our kids to be lifelong readers, and that means they need to enjoy it!

● Be Consistent

There is a lot of ground to cover here, and consistency is key. If your students are learning to read, they'll need to practice and study their phonics every day - preferably at the same time each day too.

● Keep on Moving

While a lot of reinforcement will be required over the course of the year, research has shown that keeping a brisk pace through a phonics program achieves the best results. Don't get bogged down waiting for everyone to get everything before moving on. You will be revisiting the material.

● Keep Things Fun!

Learning to read should be a positive experience, particularly as learning to read means acquiring one of the most empowering skills a child will ever have. To keep things fun, be sure to incorporate lots of enjoyable activities and games into your phonics lessons.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES FOR ANY TEXT - GREAT FOR GUIDED READING

Phonics Games and Activities
I Spy
This perennial classic is a fun way to get some phonics practice in. You can adapt it to say, "I spy with my little eye something beginning with..." and say a sound rather than a letter. If you wish to work on letter recognition rather than sound, simply hold up the letter itself quietly.
Sorting Activities
Sorting activities are a great way for students to practice their phonics knowledge and can take on an almost infinite number of variations. For example, younger kids may enjoy sorting objects into two hula hoops on the floor, which are labelled with their initial consonant sounds, while older kids might work on consonant blends.
Bingo
Bingo is another very versatile game that can be used to practice sound and letter recognition. Simply decide what you want to work on and place those into suitably sized grids (9×9 works well). These could be initial consonants, vowel digraphs, or pictures of nouns. If you set up some blank grids on laminated sheets, you can save yourself a lot of prep time too. Simply write a broad selection of sounds you are working on onto the whiteboard. Students can select 9 of them to fill in their laminated grid. Now each student will have their own unique bingo card!
Partner Reading
Partner reading is a great way to practice listening skills, as well as reading. Organize students into pairs and provide them each with a copy of the same text. One partner reads the text while the other follows closely with their own copy. The listening partner helps the reader decode difficult words when they have trouble. After a time, partners switch roles. This usually works best when partners are of a similar ability. You can further differentiate here by choosing different texts to suit the abilities of each pair.
Shared Writing
Shared writing is an effective means of introducing independent writing activities. For beginning students, it may take the form of simply spelling a basic CVC word together. For example, to work on the spelling of the word cat, you could draw three cradles on the whiteboard and say each sound; in turn, challenge the students to come up and write the corresponding letter in the cradle until they have written the word - -.

As we can see, the teaching of phonics is a highly efficient and effective means of teaching our children to read and, ultimately, write. It works on training students to be able to hear the various sounds of English, identify these sounds, and link these sounds to the symbols we call letters.

While there are other methods of learning to read employed with emergent readers in the classroom, in two decades of teaching, I've never seen another methodology come anywhere close to phonics for overall effectiveness.

And, best of all, phonics can be a lot of fun to learn and teach too!

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO PHONICS

The content for this page has been written by Shane Mac Donnchaidh. A former principal of an international school and English university lecturer with 15 years of teaching and administration experience. Shane's latest Book, The Complete Guide to Nonfiction Writing, can be found here. Editing and support for this article have been provided by the literacyideas team.

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Teaching Phonics: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers

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A guide to teaching phonics to students including phonemic awareness, reading fluency, phonics sounds for reading and, phonics games and activities. Teach kids to read through a logical research based method.

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What Is Phonics