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Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that you can use to find ideas for all your projects and interests.

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An onset includes all the letters leading up to the vowel in a word ("tr" in "truck"). A rime includes the vowel and all the letters that follow it in a word ("uck" in "truck"). Words that have the same rime are considered word families (truck, duck, stuck, etc).

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If your students or child needs some practice with those tricky 3- letter consonant clusters, these FREE puzzles are a fun way to do it! Before working on 3-letter clusters, I recommend that kids have a firm grasp on reading and spelling words with 2-letter blends and digraphs.

*The free download link can be found at the END of this post. Just click on the teal, oval button!

*This post contains affiliate links.

What are Consonant Clusters?

In it's simplest term, a consonant cluster is a group of 2 or 3 consonants within the same syllable. Blends and digraphs are examples of 2-letter consonant clusters.

But sometimes kids come across those tricky 3-letter clusters, like spl- or thr-. These consonant clusters can combine digraphs and blends together. For example, shr- has the sh- digraph that is blended together with the -r. Clear as mud now?

Puzzles with 3-Letter Consonant Clusters

To make learning about these 3-letter consonant clusters a little more fun, I've created 7 different puzzles to go with these beginning sounds: scr-, shr-, spl-, spr-, squ-, str-, and thr-. Not only are there pictures on each puzzle card, but the word is spelled out underneath, leaving the place for the consonant clusters blank.

Work one puzzle at a time; or add an extra challenge by mixing up the pieces for two or more puzzles. Students have to sort the puzzle pieces by their beginning sounds. While this adds a fun twist, it's also challenging!

You Might Also Like

Find these puzzles and MORE resources in my Consonant Clusters Activity Pack! Available at my shop AND at my Teachers Pay Teachers store! ON SALE THROUGH FEBRUARY 11!!

Subscribe to my newsletter to get these & MANY MORE Phonics Cards!
FREE Beginning Sounds Chart
~Becky

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FREE Puzzles with 3-Letter Consonant Clusters - This Reading Mama

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If your students or child needs some practice with those tricky 3- letter consonant clusters, these FREE puzzles are a fun way to do it! Before working on 3-letter clusters, I recommend that kids have a firm grasp on reading and spelling words with 2-letter blends and digraphs.

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Long & Short

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Learning letter sounds is one of the first steps in learning to read. And while most consonant sounds come easily to kids, vowel sounds can be an entirely different monster. For one, vowel sounds are not "felt" as much in the mouth as most consonant sounds, making it harder for kids to hear them. This is evident in kids' invented spellings, such as VN for van. Vowel sounds can also be spelled several different ways, making reading and spelling them tricky {even for some adults}.

Today, I'm taking a bunch of readers' questions about teaching vowel sounds and combining them to share some tips for teaching vowel sounds. If your young reader {or struggling reader} is stuck on learning vowels and vowel patterns, I hope that this post will bring some clarity.

*This post contains affiliate links.
{Update: This became a much longer post than I first intended it to be. 🙂 My best advice is to skim through the questions, which are in bold print if you have a specific question that you'd like answered. If you have another question related to teaching vowel sounds, please feel free to leave a comment.}
Tips for Teaching Vowel Sounds

Please note that my answers may not be your answers and that's okay.

My goal in teaching vowel sounds is two-fold:
1- to teach in a developmentally appropriate way and
2- to teach the most common vowel patterns first because these are most needed for kids in their reading and spelling.

How do I know my child is ready for vowel sounds?

Answer: Just like there are reading readiness signs, there are also signs that a child is ready to learn more about vowels.Children are typically ready to start hearing vowel sounds after they can hear beginning and ending sounds in words consistently.

My favorite way to find out what sounds kids hear in words is to closely watch them spell {or misspell} simple CVC words. They will begin trying to include the vowel in words. Often times, they may use the wrong vowel, if left to spell independently {such as FEN for fan} and that's okay.

This is a sign that they can hear that something comes in between the F and N and helps you know they are ready to learn more about them. I always celebrate this moment as a a teacher because this is a BIG step for many young learners.

Where do I start with teaching vowel sounds?

Answer: Short vowel sounds are much more consistent in their spellings makes them the perfect place to start. This is especially true if you explore the short vowels through word families.

Our Short Vowel Sounds Resource Pack includes wall charts, book marks, and a printable chart to help kids learn their short vowel sounds.

How do I teach short vowel sounds?

Answer 1: Start with word families... one at a time.

You can read more about word families and how effective they can be for beginning readers. Learning word family patterns helps kids to see that words' spellings are connected; and because they can read or spell one word, they can read or spell other words. For example, if kids can read and spell cat, they can read and spell other words like rat, mat, hat, fat, or even that and flat. This is very powerful.

Word families are also very predictable in spelling as well as vowel sound. For example, the a sound in cat is different than the a sound in can {at least where I'm from}, but -at words all share the same a sound and the same -at spelling, making it easier for kids to learn.

The key is introducing word families one at a time, especially at first. Once a child is comfortable with that family, move on to a new word family.

You can find some of the beginning word family work we do in Reading the Alphabet.

Once kids have a few word families under their belt, start mixing them up. I did this with the printables I made for the BOB Books, Set 1. The Measured Mom also has some fantastic Short Vowel Word Family Mats and Short Vowel Word Family Houses that work well for teaching kids short vowel word families.

Answer 2: Some kids don't respond well to the chunking part of learning word families, such as f+at. Marie, of All About Learning, shares that drawing attention to the word families chunks can actually confuse some children, especially if they are showing signs of dyslexia.

So if word family chunks aren't working, use word families without drawing attention to the chunk that they all share. For example, instead of reading fat like f + at {chunking the -at separate from f}, kids could sound it out f - a - t {as three separate sounds}.

For struggling spellers and readers, it helps once again to stick with one word family before moving on to other word families. Some of my favorite resources for kids learning to sound out those short vowel CVC words are our Sound it Out Strips and The Measured Mom's Short Vowel Mats.

If your child continues to struggle with sounding out simple short vowel words, the ideas in my post, Helping Kids Sound Out Words, might be helpful for you.

When do kids start reading longer short vowel words?

Answer: As kids are becoming comfortable with short vowel CVC words and moving out of needing them in word families, they are typically ready to start spelling words with blends and digraphs in them. These include words such as clam, step, bath, or tent. {If these terms are new to you, be sure to visit my blends and digraphs post.

Have you seen these free resources that include blends and digraphs?

What do I teach after short vowel words?

Answer: Once kids are comfortable with short vowels with simple blends and digraphs, you may be tempted to move on to long vowels. But there are a couple more "stops" you can make before you arrive at long vowels. While it isn't "wrong" to move to long vowels, some kids aren't ready for that step just yet and that's okay.

Two extra "stops" you can take are:

1. Teaching kids words that have blends and digraphs at the beginning AND end of words. Instead of a simple word like dump, work on reading and spelling words like stump or thump.

Our Short Vowel Spelling app does this with short vowels, starting with word families, moving to short vowel words with one blend or digraph and then challenging kids with longer short vowel words.

2. Teaching kids the bossy r patterns, which are ar, er, ir, or, and ur. Compare them to the short vowel words they already know, like the sorts at the end of Words Their Way's Letter-Name Alphabet Spellers supplement book.

My child is not understanding the CVCe {long vowel} pattern. What do I do to help him get it?

Answer: Before you introduce words with long vowel patterns in them, sometimes it can be a great idea to just listen for sounds in long vowel words versus short vowel words.

Our Long Vowel Listening Game Pages are the perfect way to get kids listening for the long vowel sounds they hear in words.

It can help by teaching kids long vowel patterns by word families. The -ake family is one of my favorite word families to start with because you can spell so many words with it. I have an older post that shows a few ideas for introducing long vowel families specifically with the -ake family. The Measured Mom also has a set of Long Vowel Word Family Mats, starting with CVCe words and moving to other long vowel patterns.

There are lots of long vowel patterns. Is there an order in which I need teach them?

Answer: Some long vowel sounds are not as common as others. For example, the ui pattern is not as common as the ew pattern for long u vowels. The best place to start is with the most common long vowel patterns because this is what kids see more in books and need more in their spelling.

Typically, I start with the CVCe patterns, like the ones in our Long Vowel Spelling Game. If I had to break it down, this is how I introduce long vowel patterns {give or take}:

CVCe patterns {a_e, i_e, o_e and u_e}

Very Common Vowel Patterns {ee, ea, ai, oa, igh, etc.}

Common Vowel Patterns {ay, ue, ie, ow, long oo, ew}

Less Common Vowel Patterns {ui, ei, final y etc.}

Do I need to teach any other vowel patterns beyond short vowels and long vowels?

Answer: Yes. Like the bossy r patterns, there are other vowel patterns that are needed for reading and spelling. They include patterns like oo {in the word foot}, au, aw, ou, oi and oy. Besides the oo pattern, many of these are less common and could be taught alongside the less common vowel patterns.

More Resources for Teaching Vowel Sounds

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Learning letter sounds is one of the first steps in learning to read. And while most consonant sounds come easily to kids, vowel sounds can be an entirely different monster. For one, vowel sounds are not "felt" as much in the mouth as most consonant sounds, making it harder for kids to hear them.

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Yay for word walls!

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A word wall is not just a great primary-grade learning tool. Teachers across the grades use word walls throughout the curriculum. Many elementary and middle schools require teachers to include word walls in their classrooms; those teachers know firsthand the effectiveness of word walls. Included: Teachers from grades pre-K to 8 share their word wall successes.

Teacher Marion Dunkerley is wild about word walls. Walk into her classroom and you're bound to see a student using a pointer or fly swatter to "read the room," or students playing BINGO or tic-tac-toe or beanbag toss with their word wall words.

Walls covered with words are one "part of creating a print-rich environment for students," Dunkerley told Education World. "Being exposed to that kind of an environment is a critical component of emerging literacy."

WORD WALLS A "PRIMARY" FOCUS

Dunkerley has used word walls with first graders for several years. Spelling words -- taken from lists of sight words students should know -- were added to the word wall each week. This year, she is teaching a family literacy program for preschoolers, so she included on her word wall all her students' names, as well as picture words they see in their world, such as McDonald's and Albertsons (a food store in the area).

If you're looking for ideas for using word walls across the grades, you've come to the right place. Don't miss these special resources from Education World:

Word Wall "Active-ities" Build Vocabulary, Spelling, Writing Skills Five lesson plans from some of the teachers who contributed to this article.

Find more word wall activity ideas -- plus how-to resources -- on Ed World's special Word Wall Resource Page.

Do you have a favorite word wall activity? Please take a moment to "show-and-tell" that activity on Education World's Word Walls message board. If everyone shares an idea, imagine the library of word wall activities you'll have at your disposal!

For additional lesson ideas, see teacher Marion Dunkerley's Word Wall Activities Web page.

In Raymond, Maine, teacher Patricia Allen would never give up her word wall, especially since her kindergarten program at Raymond Elementary went full-day four years ago. "Having a full-day kindergarten offers time to do so much more with literacy throughout the day," Allen told Education World. "The word wall is a great tool I would have little time to use in a half-day program. Now I can teach it and use it, and the children can really make use of it."

Young children are very visual learners, noted Allen. "Some might be stronger visual or auditory learners, but they all are affected by what they see. Daily, they show me their excitement and curiosity about new items, pictures, or words in their learning environment.

"Seeing words on the wall helps them become excited about words and understand that words are important and can be used over and over again. The word wall helps them learn the names of letters, ABC order, and letter-sound relationships. It provides extra exposure and challenge for students who are at many different skill and interest levels."

Throughout the day, Allen finds many uses for the word wall -- starting at the beginning of the day. "At our morning meeting, we have fun finding words in our 'morning message' on the word wall," she explained.

WORD WALL FOLDERS AND HOLDERS

Allen's kindergartners also keep a word wall page in their writing folders, adding to the page as the year progresses. "When we were doing our Castles and Fairytales unit, we added words such as king, queen, castle, key, and gold to our word wall. Then they copied them onto their own word wall pages," she said.

Allen loves to watch as her students reference their personal word wall pages during writing projects or journal writing. "Last year, the children each made a collection of books by illustrating and writing about each fairytale I read aloud during story time," she explained. "They used our classroom word wall and their word wall pages to write their sentences. They were so proud!"

Maureen Foster sees that same sense of pride in her kindergartners at Sanford Street School in Glens Falls, New York. Her students' word wall is prominently displayed on a bulletin board that all children can see from the classroom Writing Center. Among the word wall activities her students most enjoy are Make a Word, in which they arrange letter cards in a special holder to spell word-wall words, and Rainbow Spelling, in which Foster dictates words and students write each word in a different color.

WORD WALLS ARE FOR ALL GRADES!

"We use word walls throughout our school," said Larry Davis, principal of the K-6 Doctors Inlet Elementary School in Middleburg, Florida. "At the lower-grade levels, word walls display words students meet in their reading and other frequently used words. As students move up the grades, word walls begin to take on other forms and purposes.

"Fourth grade teachers use word walls for displaying words that can be substituted for more frequently used words," said Davis. "They call them 'million dollar words' because they are higher-level words that mean the same thing as the simpler synonyms. Our sixth grade teachers use word walls for science, social studies, and math words.

"Space is an issue in some classrooms," Davis added. "Some classrooms have their words on the ceiling -- they have 'word ceilings' instead of word walls."

Teacher Shari Medley has used word walls in fifth grade and in her current assignment as a third grade teacher at Wilson Elementary School in Neenah, Wisconsin. Her word wall is on permanent display. "My words come from our spelling curriculum, frequently misspelled words, and content area words," explained Medley, author of How to Use Word Walls in Your Writing Classrooms.

"The word wall grows each week," Medley noted. "By the end of the year, we should have 450 words on the wall. My students always are amazed at the end of the year to see how many words they have learned."

The greatest benefit of the word wall that Medley observes is its convenience for students. "My students use the word wall as a huge dictionary," she told Education World. "They always look first at the word wall when they are unsure of how to spell a word."

WORD WALLS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

At Paul R. Haas Middle School in Corpus Christi, Texas, a literacy-focused middle school, all grade 6-8 teachers in use word walls. You even can find a word wall in the gym!

"The word walls are constant learning cues for the students," Melba Smithwick told Education World. Smithwick is Haas's campus-based staff developer and a former math teacher at the school. "Because students build the word walls themselves, they take ownership of them and value their use."

Teachers at Haas use word walls in a wide variety of ways. "Some teachers list words on the wall in alphabetical order; others list by categories. In history class, you can list them by event. In math or science, you can list them by systems," said Smithwick. "You can attach words to a hard wall using Velcro, to a bulletin board using push pins, or to a whiteboard using magnets."

When Smithwick taught algebra, she constructed her word wall on a magnetic surface. She would create word cards and cards that provided a definition for each word or cards containing a fill-in-the-blank sentence that required the word. She had students move the words and sentence strips around to turn her word wall into an "interactive word wall." Smithwick's word wall also included math symbols that students frequently encountered in their work.

The key to success with word walls, Smithwick added, is that you need to refer to them often so students get in the habit of using the wall in their assignments.

Trisha Fogarty's 6th grade English classroom at Southside School in Houlton, Maine, has a word wall too. "In my classroom, the word wall belongs to the students," said Fogarty. "If I find a misspelled word in their writing, I have them add it to the wall. If I see a really powerful word, I ask them to add it. If a particular word always seems to boggle them, they are free to add it to the wall." The kids write all the word cards themselves, which adds to their ownership of the wall, noted Fogarty.

Marcia Norris uses a word wall in her intervention classes at Suwannee Middle School in Live Oak, Florida. Norris reports that her school has been a participating Florida Reading Initiative school for 3 years and that teachers there have seen definite growth in test scores by using such strategies as word walls. Norris's word wall includes many words her students must use and spell correctly in their written work -- words such as there/their/they're, hole/whole, and piece/peace. "My students keep a mini word wall in their folders that matches exactly the word wall in the classroom," said Norris. "As we add a word to the wall, they add it to their mini word wall. So when they ask, 'Does spelling count?' I always say 'It definitely does if it's on your word wall.'"

WORKING WORD WALLS

"It's no longer enough for classroom walls to be attractive," says Dr. Darla Shaw, coordinator of the graduate reading program at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut, and a frequent workshop presenter on such topics as word walls. "A working word wall may be only an inanimate object, but if properly developed, it can bring real life to a [classroom]."

For teachers who have not used a word wall before, Shaw has some "words" of advice:

Word walls should be student generated, not commercially prepared.

New information should be added on a regular -- even daily -- basis.

Content-area material from the curriculum rather than randomly selected words should be utilized.

Word walls should be referred to often so students come to understand and see their relevance.

Word walls are a group effort; allow students to make suggestions for content.

"Children who learn in a classroom with a working word wall have a distinct advantage over students who don't have such a resource in their room," said Shaw.

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A word wall is not just a great primary-grade learning tool. Teachers across the grades use word walls throughout the curriculum. Many elementary and middle schools require teachers to include word walls in their classrooms; those teachers know firsthand the effectiveness of word walls. Included: Teachers from grades pre-K to 8 share their word wall successes.

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1. Start where the child is
2. Make word study an active process of classification
3. Base word study on contrasting words with different sounds or spellings
4. Help children understand how the writing system works
5. Teach students how to develop a strategy for unlocking the pronunciations of unknown words
6. Keep comprehension as the goal
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by Sharon Vaughn and Sylvia Linan-Thompson

This chapter provides an overview of phonics and word study: what it is, how to assess it, the sequence of skills, and how to design instructional activities. The chapter also includes instructional classroom activities to guide teachers and parents and an annotated bibliography.

What Is Phonics and Word Study Instruction?

To learn to read and spell using phonics, children have to learn the relationship between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes), and then remember the exact letter patterns and sequences that represent various speech sounds (Moats, 2000). Other terms for phonics include letter-sound correspondences, letter-sound relationships, and sound-symbol associations. There are several forms of phonics instruction, including synthetic, analytic, embedded, spelling-based, and analogy-based phonics. The National Reading Panel (2000) reports that the various forms of phonics instruction vary in 13 important ways, depending on the size of the unit, the pace of instruction, and the precise elements of the learning activities. Because word study is based on the stages of spelling, this chapter describes an explicit approach to phonics instruction that includes a range of skills, from alphabetic knowledge to reading in decodable books.

Given the differences and similarities available across instructional approaches, how will you know if the program you are using is effective? To read successfully-to read independently and construct meaning from text-beginning readers need to be able to identify words automatically and have an effective strategy for decoding unknown words (Bos & Vaughn, 2002; NRP, 2000; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). To reach this point, students have to learn the relationships between 44 speech sounds and more than 100 spellings used to represent them (Blevins, 1998; Bos & Vaughn, 2002). They then have to apply this knowledge to reading both known and unknown words, in isolation as well as in context, and learn to read irregular words.

An effective phonics program follows a defined sequence and includes direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships. Each instructional set includes sound-spelling relationships of both consonants and vowels. Sequencing helps students to learn the relationship between letters and sounds, and to use that knowledge to blend the sounds in order to read words, and to segregate the sounds in order to write words, even before they have learned all the letter-sound correspondences. Effective programs also include books and stories that contain a lot of words for children to decode using letter-sound relationships, and provide children with opportunities to spell words and write their own stories using letter-sound relationships (Blevins, 1998; Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievment [CIERA], 2001; NRP, 2000; Texas Education Agency [TEA], 2000).

Phonics instruction provides key knowledge and skills needed for beginning reading. However, phonics should not be the entire reading program, but should be integrated with other elements such as language activities, story time, and small group tutoring, to create a balanced reading program. While two years of phonics is sufficient for most students, other students may require more instruction. Use assessment information to adapt phonics programs to meet the needs of individual students (NRP, 2000). Most important, starting early is key. As Stahl (2001) notes, "Early and systematic instruction in phonics seems to lead to better achievement in reading than later and less systematic instruction" (p. 333). Adams (2001) points out that to learn to read, "all students must know the letters of the alphabet, understand their linguistic significance (phonemic awareness), and learn the logic and conventions governing their use (phonics); and . . . ensuring students' grasp of these basics must be a serious goal of any responsible program of beginning reading instruction" (pp. 67-68).

Why Should I Teach Phonics and Word Study?

The goals of phonics and word study instruction are to teach children that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds, that written words are composed of letter patterns representing the sounds of spoken words, that recognizing words quickly and accurately is a way of obtaining meaning from them, and that they can blend sounds to read words and segment words into sounds to spell (Adams, 1990; Chard & Osborn, 1999; NRP, 2000). Gough and Tumner (1986) identify two basic processes necessary for learning to read: learning to convert letters into recognizable words, and comprehending the meaning of print. The first process can be taught through phonics and can lead to students comprehending the meaning of text.

The combination of deficient decoding skills and difficult material results in unrewarding early reading experiences that lead to less involvement with reading activities (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998). On the other hand, systematic and explicit phonics instruction improves children's word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension, and is most effective when it begins in kindergarten or 1st grade (CIERA, 2001; NRP, 2000).

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

The crucial elements of phonics and word study are: phonological and phonemic awareness, print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, alphabetic principle, decoding, reading practice with decodable text, irregular or high-frequency words, and reading fluency. How much time you spend on each of these elements will depend on the age and level of your students. As children participate in phonics and word study activities, their understanding of the conventions that govern language will increase. The elements do not have to be taught sequentially; for example, kindergarteners benefit from learning prerequisite skills for strong word recognition, the communicative function of print, alphabetic knowledge, phonemic awareness, and the alphabetic principle (Chard, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 1998). As students master the skills, they can use them to decode and spell regular words and practice reading decodable text. Most students who have had effective phonics instruction can read quickly and easily, and have an effective decoding strategy for reading unknown words.

Print Awareness

Print awareness is the ability to understand that

Written language is related to oral language and carries messages,

Speech can be written down and read,

What is written can be spoken,

The length of a spoken word is usually related to the length of the written word,

Print is read from left to right,

The structures of written language are different from those of spoken language, and

There is a difference between words and nonwords.

Students with print awareness can usually read some signs and logos (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 them develop this awareness, you can reinforce the forms and functions of print found on classroom signs, labels, posters, calendars, etc.; explain print conventions such as print directionality, word boundaries, capital letters, and end punctuation; and emphasize book awareness and handling. Listening to and reading predictable, patterned stories and books helps students practice what they are learning (Reutzel & Cooter, 1999; TEA, 2000). These kinds of books help model the concepts of print and conventions, as well as oral reading fluency and expression. Students should read the same predictable and patterned stories repeatedly, and the stories should include the use of context and picture clues and repeating language patterns (Bos & Vaughn, 2002).

Alphabetic Knowledge

Alphabetic knowledge, also known as alphabet recognition, involves knowing the shapes, names, and sounds of letters and progresses from letter names to shapes to sounds. Children should recognize and name letters quickly and accurately (Adams, 1990). Knowledge of letter names is strongly related to the ability to remember the shapes of written words, treat words as sequences of letters, and develop the alphabetic principle (the association of letters with their corresponding sounds). Students who cannot name certain letters are likely to have trouble mapping sounds to their corresponding letters; those who already know something about written letters tend to be more interested and able to learn more about the letters (Chard & Osborn, 1999).

Most children can identify an average of 14 letters when they enter kindergarten (Hiebert & Sawyer, 1984); others do not know any. These children need planned instruction that allows them to see, play with, and compare letters. Specifically, activities should use a sequence of letter introduction that can be adjusted to each student's needs-some might learn several letters each week, whereas others may only learn one. Teachers should include games, songs, and other activities that help children identify letters, learn uppercase and lowercase forms, and point out differences and similarities among the letters. Teachers should also plan writing activities that encourage children to practice writing the letters they are learning and to experiment with and manipulate letters to make words and messages (Blevins, 1998; TEA, 2000).

The Alphabetic Principle

The alphabetic principle refers to the systematic relationship between sounds and letters. Children who understand that the sequence of letters in written words represents the sequence of sounds in spoken words and who know letter-sound correspondences can use this knowledge to decode both familiar and unfamiliar regular words (Bos & Vaughn, 2002; Ehri, 1991; TEA, 2000). Children who understand the alphabetic principle can translate the letters and patterns of written words into speech sounds automatically.

Effective alphabetic principle instruction should be planned and sequenced. To achieve this goal, adopt the following practices:

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

Provide practice opportunities with both new and previously taught sound-letter relationships;

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

Once you start phonics and word study instruction, some students will begin to make connections between letters and sounds on their own, but many will need explicit instruction to learn all the necessary letter-sound correspondences.
Decoding and Reading Practice with Decodable Text

Decoding is the process of reading letters or letter patterns in a word to determine the meaning of the word; for students, it is a strategy for reading unknown words. Once children develop this skill, they can apply it to reading words automatically and effortlessly. This allows them to focus on getting meaning from what they read (NRP, 2000; TEA, 2000). Students should begin by working with word families, spelling patterns, and onsets and rimes. As they become more sophisticated readers, they will need more advanced decoding strategies that focus on structural analysis: the ability to understand parts of words in order to understand the words as a whole. These parts of words include:

Inflectional endings. Meaningful word parts (morphemes) that indicate tense, number, person, or gender when added to base words (-ed, -es).

Prefixes. Word parts at the beginning of base words (pre-, in-, un-).

Suffixes. Word parts at the end of base words (-ful, -ly).

More advanced students can use structural analysis to identify word parts and multisyllabic words. In addition, structural analysis teaches students about letter combinations and derivatives (words with the same root or base words)-knowledge they can use to segment multisyllabic words into decodable parts to determine their meaning (Henry, 1997). Teaching students about affixes in particular helps them learn that some word parts are common across words.
When teaching structural analysis, teachers should teach meanings along with recognition, and model how to look for word parts. Structural analysis will increase the number of words students can easily decode. 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; and

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).

Effective programs allow students to use their knowledge of sound-letter correspondences to practice decoding words both in isolation and in context. The use of decodable text provides teachers with the opportunity to model how to blend and segment sounds, sound out unknown words, and use onset rimes or word chunks to decode words. Students should practice these skills early on, as well as recognize less predictable words by sight as whole words and practice reading words and phrases independently. Students should then learn about letter sounds and simple spelling patterns, and to fluently and independently read words, sentences, and connected text (Bos & Vaughn, 2002).
Decoding lessons should include discussions about the text, to promote comprehension and reinforce the idea that the purpose of reading is to get meaning (TEA, 2000). Decodable books allow students to practice new skills, but teachers should gradually introduce books and stories that are less controlled so that they can extend those skills further.

Irregular Words

Not all words can be read through decoding. For example, in irregular words, some or all of the letters do not represent their most commonly used sound (for example, the vowel sound in from is not the usual sound for a short o). Students should encounter some of these words in texts for beginning readers, and will need to identify them by sight or automatically. To help students learn these words, teachers should introduce them in a reasonable order, and cumulatively review the ones that have been taught.

Sound-letter correspondences are important components in beginning reading instruction; rather than teach them in isolation, teachers should coordinate them to reinforce and extend student learning. Daily, integrated lessons that include explicit introductions to letter-sound relationships and opportunities to blend sounds, build and practice spelling words, and read words and decodable texts will enhance the beginning reading experience (Blevins, 1998).

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. (National Reading Panel, 2000, p. 92)

Once your students meet the prerequisite conditions for word recognition, print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and phonemic awareness, you can begin teaching them about the four subprocesses essential to teaching phonics and word study: letter-sound knowledge or alphabetic understanding; regular word reading; irregular word reading; and reading in decodable text.

Letter-Sound Knowledge

Letter-sound knowledge-also known as alphabetic understanding-helps students understand that the letters or clusters of letters that make up words represent separate spoken sounds, and that to read a word they must first identify the most common sound of each letter, then blend the sounds together. Figure 3.1 provides the most frequent spellings of the 44 English sounds, as well as keywords to guide pronunciation. It is important to teach the most common sound for each letter first.

Figure 3.1. Guide to Pronunciation of English Sounds

Though teachers often teach one letter a week, introducing letter sounds in alphabetical order limits the number of words the students can form, thus limiting their ability to practice using the alphabetic principle to read and write. A better strategy is to teach letter-sound associations that can be combined to make words that children can read and understand. The combination of a vowel and a few consonants-for example, /m/, /s/, /a/, /t/-allows children to form several words. Teachers should begin by teaching sounds that are easy to articulate. Continuous sounds, such as /m/ and /s/, are easy to say and hear because the sounds can be held without distortion, whereas stop sounds, such as /p/ and /b/, are easily distorted. It is not practical to teach all the letters with continuous sounds before any with stop sounds, because some stop sounds appear often in books for beginning readers. If a student is having trouble, teachers should focus on letter-sound relationships that are easier to pronounce.

During initial instruction, teachers should separate confusing letter-sound associations, such as letters that are visually or aurally similar, and determine that students have mastered one before teaching the next. Visually similar letters can differ in the vertical direction of their extensions (b/p, d/q), their left-right orientation (b/d, p/q), and their top-bottom orientation (w/m, u/n) (Blevins, 1998). Aurally similar letters include /b/, /p/, and /d/. As with visually similar letters, aurally similar ones should be separated to help students learn each as a distinct sound.

The following is a common sequence for introducing letter-sound correspondences:

1. Initial consonants (m, n, t, s, p)

2. Short vowel and consonant combinations (-at, -in, -ot)

3. Blends (bl, dr, st)

4. Digraphs (th, sh, ph)

5. Long vowels (eat, oat)

6. Final e (-ake, -ute, -ime)

7. Variant vowels and dipthongs (-oi, -ou)

8. Silent letters and inflectional endings (kn, wr, gn, -es, -s) (Blevins, 1998)

The number of letter-sound correspondences teachers introduce each week will vary based on the students, but two per week should be adequate for most. Teachers should remember to select letter-sound relationships that will allow the students to form words.
Here is a basic lesson for introducing letter-sound correspondences once students have learned letter names and forms:

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

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

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

If students at the beginning of first grade know none or only a few letter names, teachers should teach both the letter names and sounds simultaneously.
Regular Word Reading

Once children know three or four letter-sound associations, teachers should begin regular word reading and building activities. For example, students who have learned the letter-sound correspondences for i, t, p, n, and s can begin applying them to reading 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.

Students need opportunities to practice regular word reading. Once they learn enough letter-sound correspondences to form words, teachers should integrate regular word reading into the instruction. Here is a basic regular word reading lesson that teaches students to blend sounds:

1. Sound out words without stopping between sounds. Use words with letters that begin with continuous sounds, like sit, to make this step easier.

2. After students sound out the word, ask them to first read each sound without stopping ("ssssiiit"), and then to say the whole word fast.

3. Teach students to sound words silently first before sounding them aloud.

The following are general guidelines for planning and teaching regular word reading:

During initial instruction, begin with short vowel-consonant and consonant-short vowel-consonant words (it to sit and pit, in to pin and tin) before moving on to patterns that include blends and digraphs (CCVC [stop], CVCC [mast], CVCE [bike], and 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, then variant vowels (ea, oa) and dipthongs (oi, oy).

Select words that end with stop sounds.

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

Students who are taught to apply their lettersound knowledge and given opportunities to do so will be able to read and write sentences even before learning all the letter-sound correspondences.
Since about a quarter of the most frequently used words in children's writing and texts are irregular (Moats, 2000), they should learn to read irregular as well as regular words. Figure 3.2 includes a list of irregular words; because students can't apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to these words, they will have to learn them as whole words.

Figure 3.2. Thirty Irregular Words for Beginning Readers

Here are some guidelines for teaching irregular words:

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

The number of words taught in each lesson will depend on the student.

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

Review previously taught words on a daily basis.

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

Reading in Decodable Text

Learning letter-sound relationships in isolation is necessary, but not enough. Students must know how to apply their knowledge to reading text. They should begin by reading decodable text comprised largely of words containing previously taught letter-sound relationships and gradually move to less controlled text as their ability and confidence grow. Because most decodable texts contain irregular words, be sure to teach these in advance if students do not know them. Once the class has read a book as a group, teachers should provide opportunities for the students to reread the text. Many publishers have decodable book series, and 1st grade basal programs often include decodable texts. Figure 3.3 provides a list of decodable book series for teachers. (For specific letter-sound relationship lessons, see the instructional activities section of this chapter.)

Progress Monitoring

Monitoring student progress helps teachers plan instruction and alerts them if students are falling behind. Teachers can use the information gleaned from monitoring to group students for instruction and modify the pace of instruction based on the skill level of students in each group. Student progress in every area can be monitored informally. For example, to assess student knowledge of letter-sound relationships, teachers might maintain a list of letter-sound associations that the students have already mastered; about once every two weeks, they can ask the students to identify the sounds of letters on the list, or to give the letter name of a given sound. Teachers can also give students a letter dictation-provide a letter name or sound and have the students write the corresponding letter.

Teachers should monitor regular and irregular words separately, but can use the same process for each type of word. To monitor word reading in isolation, teachers should ask students to read a set of familiar words and see if the students can read them automatically. In most instances, it will take the students fewer than three seconds to read the word. Teachers can also keep a record of the words students miss repeatedly while reading connected text.

Instructional Activities

Note: Each lesson title in the following activites indicates whether the activity is an introduction to a new skill or element or a follow-up practice lesson.

Basic Lesson in Letter-Sound Knowledge: Name That Letter/Say That Sound

Objective. Students will identify letter names and letter sounds.

Materials. Uppercase and lowercase letters.

Sequence. Begin by introducing one vowel and three or four consonants, adding new letters as students master them.

1. Tell students they will be learning the names and sounds of letters so they can begin to form words.

2. Model the task. Show students the first letter and say, "This is A." Then ask, "What letter is this?"

3. Repeat with each letter.

4. Show each letter to students and ask them as a group to name it.

5. After the group names each letter, ask the students to name letters individually, going from student to student as quickly as possible.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 using letter sounds.

Scaffolds. Use one vowel and two consonants; use only lowercase or uppercase letters.

Challenge. Show students a letter. Tell them to listen carefully to directions since they will sometimes be asked to name the letter, and other times to name the sound.

Follow-Up Lesson in Letter-Sound Knowledge: Which Letter Am I?

Objective. Given a letter sound, students will write the letter that makes that sound.

Materials. White boards, markers, erasers.

Sequence. Begin by introducing one vowel and three or four consonants, adding new letters as students master them.

1. After reviewing the letters they've learned, tell students that you will say a letter sound or name, and they will write the corresponding letter as they say the sound.

2. Model the task for the students. Say a letter sound, writing the letter as you do so.

3. Give students a sound and monitor them as they write the corresponding letter.

4. If students write the incorrect letter, show them the correct one. Ask them to say the sound and write the letter slowly as they do so.

5. Say the sound or name of the next letter.

6. Once all students have performed the task correctly, continue giving them letter names or sounds.

Variation. Ask students to write the letter as many times as they can in 10 seconds while saying the sound.

Scaffold. Give students either letter names or sounds.

Follow-Up Lesson in Letter-Sound Knowledge: Slap Cards

Objective. Students will identify letter names or sounds.

Materials. Uppercase and lowercase letters on index cards.

Sequence. Begin by introducing one vowel and three or four consonants, adding new letters as students master them.

1. Tell students whether they will be practicing naming letters or saying letter sounds.

2. Review letter cards.

3. After students have named each letter or identified each sound as a group, ask them to do the same individually.

4. Ask each student to place a card on a pile in the center of a table and say the name of the letter on the card. When a student places a vowel on the pile, all the students slap the pile of cards. The student whose hand is on the bottom takes the pile.

5. Pass out an equal number of cards to each student. Choose a student to start the game.

6. Play until one of the students is out of cards or time is up.

Variations. Use regular or irregular words.

Note: This activity was adapted from the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2001a).

Basic Lesson in Regular Word Reading: Read the Word

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

Materials. Word cards using words from the following list:

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

Sequence.

1. Tell students they will be reading new words.

2. Tell students that when shown a word card, they will first sound out each letter-sound and then read the word fast.

3. Show students a word card. Model the task by saying each sound continuously as you point to each letter ("iiiinnnn").

4. After sounding out the word, read the word fast ("in").

5. Show a word and ask the students to say each sound. Determine that all students have said each sound correctly. If a student makes an error, review the correct letter-sound correspondence and repeat.

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

7. Continue with the remaining word cards.

Scaffolds.

Review the individual letter-sound correspondences that appear in the words shown.

Students point to each sound as they pronounce it, and sweep their fingers under the word when reading it fast.

Students use letter tiles, pulling down each tile as they say the sound and sweeping a finger under the tiles when they say the word fast.

Follow-Up Lesson in Regular Word Reading: And the Word Is . . .

Objective. Students will read words containing rime patterns.

Materials. One set of cards containing previously studied onsets, and oneset containing previously studied rimes.
Sequence.

Rimes:

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

2. VCE: -ake, -ale, -ame, -ate, -ice, -ide, -ine, -ore, -oke, -ade, -ike, -ime

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

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

All:

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 the two together, and read the word.

4. Model the activity.

5. Ask each student to take a turn. If all students do the activity correctly, have them take turns picking cards and reading the words. After reading a word, each student should say whether it is real or made-up.

Scaffolds.

Limit the number of rimes used. Use rimes with the same vowels, such as -at or -an.

Limit the number of onsets used.

Ask all students to read each word formed.

Follow-Up Lesson in Regular Word Reading: Tic-Tac-Read

Objective. Students will read previously taught regular words.

Materials. A laminated tic-tac-toe board for each pair of students, word cards with regular words, and ten plastic counters, half in one color and the other half in another color.
Sequence.

1. Give each pair of students a game board, a matching set of cards, and counters.

2. Explain how to play the game.

3. In each pair, one student picks a word card from the stack and reads it. The other student decides if the word was read correctly. If it was, the first student places his or her counter on the board. If it was not, the second student reads the word correctly and places his or her counter on the board.

4. Students continue playing until one student in the pair has three counters in a row or all the spaces are filled.

Variation. Fill the squares with irregular words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit for reading the word.

Note: This activity was adapted from the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2001a).

Basic Lesson for Irregular Word Reading: What's the Word?

Objective. Given irregular words, students will read them.

Materials. Three to five word cards, a pocket chart, a notebook that has each page marked with one letter of the alphabet, and pencils.

Sequence. Begin with the most common irregular words.

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

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

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

4. Ask the students to read the word again and write it in their notebooks.

5. Monitor the students to determine that they spelled the words correctly.

6. Place the word card in the pocket chart.

7. Follow steps two to six with the other words.

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

Variation. Use words from a text that students will be reading.

Follow-Up Lesson in Irregular Word Reading: Irregular Word Road Race

Objective. Students will read irregular words that have been previously taught.

Materials. For each student: a game board (see Figure 3.4), word cards matched to the game board, and a chip or game piece.
Sequence.

1. Explain the game to students. Tell them to place a chip in the start box, read the word in the first box, and then read each word card aloud until finding the card with the word that matches the word in the first box. Next, they will move the chip into the box containing the word. Tell them to repeat the process with the word in the next box on the board, and to continue to the end of the board. (Note that cards are not discarded but are placed back in the pile.)

2. Model for students.

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

4. Monitor students to determine mastery of the skill.

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, and ask students to provide either the name or sound.

Scaffolds. Pair students with more able partners and ask them to take turns reading the word cards; limit the number of words.

Challenge. Impose a time limit for reading the word.

Note: This activity was adapted from the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2001a).

Basic Lesson in Structural Analysis: Let's Add Word Parts

Objective. Students will understand that affixes change the meanings of words.

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

Sequence. Most common prefixes and suffixes, less common prefixes and suffixes.

1. Tell students that adding parts to a word will change its meaning. Tell them that prefixes appear at the beginning of a word, and they will learn the meaning of the prefix, 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 say what it means.

4. Write a root word on the chart paper. Ask students to read the word and say what it means. 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, say, "The new word is unhappy. un- means 'not' and 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 using the second prefix.

Variation. Use suffixes.

Scaffold. Limit the number of prefixes introduced.

Note: This activity was adapted from the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2002b).

Follow-Up Lesson in Structural 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. Three to four cards with root words written on them per student and 1 × 1.5-inch sticky notes with a prefix or suffix written on each.

Sequence. Most common prefixes and suffixes, less common prefixes and suffixes.

1. Tell students they will review the meaning of prefixes and suffixes they have learned and 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 for each.

3. Ask students to read the root words in unison, then give each of them three to five root word cards.

4. Tell students you will pick an affix from the pile, and each of them will add that affix to his or her root word card before reading the new word and saying what it means.

5. If students have trouble providing the meaning of a word, ask them the meaning of the affix, then the meaning of the root word. If the students still cannot provide the meaning, model the task. For example, say, "'un- means 'not,' and happy means 'with joy,' so unhappy means 'not happy' or 'without joy.'"

6. Repeat with the other affixes.

Scaffolds. Limit the number of affixes used; use only prefixes or suffixes.

Note: This activity was adapted from the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2002b).

Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., Ivernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (1996). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling. Des Moines, IA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
This book provides an approach to word study instruction based on developmental stages of spelling. The text includes a discussion of the basis for the approach, 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 a practical, easy-to-read format. The book begins with a brief description of phonics, followed by activities, lists, and teaching guidelines for alphabet recognition, phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondences, and regular and irregular word reading.

http://reading.uoregon.edu/au/index.php.
This Web site includes a definition of alphabetic principle, research findings on phonics, a discussion of the importance of phonics, and instructions on how to sequence phonics skills in grades K-3.

http://reading.uoregon.edu/instruction/.
This Web site provides information on critical phonics skills and features of phonics instruction.

http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/materials/primary_phonics.asp.
This Web site allows readers to download a professional development guide on phonics and decoding instruction that includes strategies and instructional materials.

http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1phonics.html.
This Web site provides an introduction to phonics instruction, including science-based findings and a discussion of different instructional approaches.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/oese/sasa/rb/slide009.html.
This Web site provides a discussion of phonics instruction, including research findings, different instructional approaches, and cautions about the process.

http://www.nrrf.org/aboutphonics.htm.
This Web site introduces science-based phonics instruction and contains links to several papers, as well as a list of phonics product companies.

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/ldrp_chard_guidelines.html.
This Web site includes an article on effective phonics and word recognition instruction for students with reading disabilities.

http://doe.state.in.us/publications/phonics.html#anchor3978700.
This Web site allows readers to download a "Phonics Tool Kit" booklet and includes video clips that explain the kit. The booklet provides reading strategies (including phonics) and contains practical tips for teachers.

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by Sharon Vaughn and Sylvia Linan-Thompson This chapter provides an overview of phonics and word study: what it is, how to assess it, the sequence of skills, and how to design instructional activities. The chapter also includes instructional classroom activities to guide teachers and parents and an annotated bibliography.

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Developmental Phases in Learning to Read Words
- Pre-Alphabetical Phase
- Partial Alphabetical Phase
- Full Alphabetical Phase
- Consolidated Alphabetic Phase
(Graves, Jewel, Dewitz 194).

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"The basic principle underlying English writing is the alphabetic principle- phonemes are represented by letters" (Graves, Jewel, Dewitz 190).

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The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters represent sounds which form words; it is the knowledge of predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Unlike the Chinese who use characters to represent whole ideas or the Egyptians who used pictures to represent words, English is an alphabetic system - letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of our speech.

Learning the alphabet is a more daunting task than one realizes. It typically begins in preschool when a child learns how to sing the alphabet song and recognize many letters as well as their name in print. This learning process is typically completed by third grade when a child has obtained knowledge of all letter-sound relationships as well as the correct cursive-letter formation. Over these five years, a child has many distinct tasks to master.

Alphabetic Principle Activities

Let's start with the basics - they must identify the name, shape and sound of each letter in the alphabet. Typically a child learns the name of each letter, followed by their shape and sound. Since music helps children learn, the easiest way to teach the name of each letter is to sing the alphabet song.

A child must then learn both the uppercase and lowercase letter forms. While uppercase letters are easier, it is important to expose a child to lowercase letters early because that is how a child will most likely see them in books. When applicable, review the two letters (a & g) with different lowercase print styles.

Letter shapes can be learned in a variety of ways. Reading alphabet books, playing with alphabet blocks or plastic letters, playing cards or even with food are great ways to expose a child to the shapes of each letter. Writing each letter whether traditionally with pencil and paper or nontraditional methods that implore creativity by using chalk, shaving cream or ketchup are other fun ideas that help a child learn the letters of the alphabet. When applicable, review not only the shape but also the sound (consonant and short vowel) of each letter.

Reading to your child every day is extremely important. In fact, studies confirm that learning to read is easier for children who are read to daily. With that said, both of my children quickly learned the basic sound each letter makes with a video and alphabet flash cards. When my son was in preschool, a friend recommended Leap Frog's Letter Factory DVD. It certainly does not replace a book but it does help a child learn the letters of the alphabet and their basic sounds. The video concludes with a catchy song that shows the letter and says both the name and basic sound - remember music helps children remember things!

Alphabetic Principle Definition

In their book, The Between the Lions Book For Parents, the authors Rath and Kennedy define the alphabetic principle as the simple idea that the letters we use in print represent the sounds we use in speech. The further state that a child must grasp this concept in order to combined letters to form words and read (the ultimate goal).

Learning to read is a complicated process and each child develops differently. Parents and educators need to nurture a child and help them foster a love of reading. Always remember to keep it fun - animate your voice when reading to your child and do not be afraid of the nontraditional methods as they tend to keep it fun!

Source: Rath, L.K., Ed.D & Kennedy, L. (2004). The Between the Lions Book for Parents. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

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The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters represent sounds which form words; it is the knowledge of predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Unlike the Chinese who use characters to represent whole ideas or the Egyptians who used pictures to represent words, English is an alphabetic system - letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of our speech.

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Game to practice word recognition!

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As your child begins to show an interest in the words she sees around her, you can encourage this curiosity with the following literacy games.

These games will start to make her familiar with special words which are important to her. This develops her word recognition ability which will eventually help her to become a fluent reader.

The purpose of these games is not that your child sounds out the words phonetically, but that she starts to recognise them as whole words. Since you are not limited to choosing phonetically simple words, you can choose those words which really mean something to your child. She is certain to be more motivated when she realises that the words you are showing her are really worth reading. Having said that, if you are looking for ideas for literacy games to help your child practice reading words phonetically, many of these games would also work well for this purpose.

Follow this link if you are more interested in phonics games. Or you could try these early literacy activities which focus on learning letters.

Learning individual words in isolation is one thing, however words become more meaningful to your child when she can read them in the context of a sentence. She will then start to read the words more intuitively. She will also start to learn how words come together to produce meaning. There is therefore also a section below on literacy games focused on building sentences using the special words your child is learning.

Keep an open mind when you are playing these literacy games. If your child does not seem interested, don't push her. Try again in a few weeks. Your intention should be to give her the opportunity to explore written language when she is ready.

You could also buy one of these commercially available early reading games designed to practice skills such as sight-word recognition and rhyming and help to introduce new vocabulary.

Word Recognition

The following literacy games focus on familiarising your child with special words which are important to her. She will learn to recognise these words and identify them by their appearance.

First introduce your child to new words using the Label Mania and Word Cards games. Keep track of the known words using the Word Box game. Then reinforce and practice the words using the other literacy games in this section.

Label Mania Create cards with clearly printed words and used them to label toy boxes, items at the breakfast table, favorite toys, rooms in the house, appliances, items of furniture, body parts etc. You can also use post-it notes. By the time the post-it note has fallen off your child has probably lost interest in that label anyway and so you can replace it with a new label for a new item.

Word Cards Choose some words which are important and special for your child, such as dinosaur, car, princess, chocolate and print them clearly on index cards. Look for relevant opportunities to introduce her to the first word. For example, when she is playing with her princess toy, show her the 'princess' word card and tell her what the word says while following under the word with your finger. Talk a little about the princess and then leave the card next to the toy. Review the same word card several times in the day. Repeat with the other special words, introducing them also at relevant opportunities. Continue introducing new words as long as your child is interested.

Word Box Create a word box for putting the learned Word Cards into. You could also make copies on index cards of the labels in the Label Mania game which your child is familiar with and add these to the box. Put your child's name on the box and ask her to decorate it. Every few days ask your child to read you her cards and tell you about the words. As the collection of cards increases, help your child to sort the words alphabetically or into subject categories (eg food, toys, body parts), perhaps illustrating the subject dividers or the cards themselves.

Word Action Choose around eight of the Word Cards from the Word Box and spread them out on the floor. Give your child fun instructions to follow which involve the words. For example, "Jump to the word dinosaur. Put a toy car on car. Pretend to eat the chocolate. Put the hat on your head." This is one of my children's favorite literacy games!

Word Set When you have several cards in two or more categories in the Word Box take these cards out, shuffle them up, and ask your child to sort them back into their appropriate categories.

Word Match Choose around eight Word Cards and gather together objects or pictures which represent the words. Spread out the Word Cards on the floor and ask your child to match the object or picture to the appropriate word.

Word Scrapbook Print a word on the top of a piece of paper and help your child to fill the rest of the sheet with things representing that word. She can cut and glue pictures and words from magazines, stick in pictures found on the internet (try a Google image search), make her own drawings or take a photo and then print it and stick it in. She could also include other words related to the main word (eg 'dalmatian' for the word dog, or 'joy' for the word happy). Keep the pieces of paper in a binder and add new pages regularly. When you have around 20 pages you can start to sort them with your child alphabetically or into subject categories.

Charades Write words which can be acted out, and which your child has already been introduced to, on index cards. Or use appropriate Word Cards from your Word Box. Put them in a bag and ask your child to pick one and act it out. You have to guess what the word is.

Make a Menu Cut out pictures of food from magazines or print them from the internet (try a Google image search). Write out the names of the foods on small pieces of paper. Ask your child, if she is able, to write the word 'MENU' at the top of a piece of paper, or else write it yourself. Then ask your child to stick the pictures of the food down the left hand side of the paper. Help her find the name of each food and stick it (or copy the name) next to the relevant picture. Pretend you are in a restaurant and order food using the menu.

Building Sentences

If words are read in the context of a sentence they can be easier to learn because they become more meaningful. Here are some literacy games to play with your child to help her start to make simple sentences with her special words.

Simple Sentences Write the beginning of a sentence on a piece of card and let your child choose words from her Word Box to complete the sentence. For example, "I love...", "I eat...", "I can..." ,"I see the...". A variation of this is to just write "eat" or "can" on a piece of card, and let your child make sentences such as "dogs eat bones" or "Daddy can run".

Simple Sentence Books Create a simple book made up of the sentences your child creates in the Simple Sentences game. For example, a book entitled "What I love to eat" could have on the first page "I eat strawberries" with a picture of strawberries, and on the second page "I eat chocolate" with an photo of your child eating chocolate etc. Ask your child to read the book aloud. Here are some more reading activities for making books.

Silly Sentences Ask your child to compose a silly sentence from the Word Cards in her Word Box by laying out the words in a line. Make new Word Cards as necessary for needed words. You can then make a silly sentence from the Word Cards for her to read.

Sentence Snipping Write a sentence using words your child is familiar with. Cut out the words and mix them up. Ask your child to put the words back in order.

Magnetic Words Buy a magnetic word kit, such as one of those from Magnetic Poetry, and encourage your child to make up silly sentences on the fridge.

Interactive Chart An interactive chart is a large piece of card or laminated paper which you hang on the wall with repetitive or predictable text written on it in large letters. Use from one or around six lines of text depending on the age of the child. Illustrate the chart using pictures, drawings or photos. The text has one or more gaps where different Word Cards can be attached to change the meaning of the sentence. Choose nouns which mean something to your child to put on the Word Cards. Your child can fix the Word Cards to the chart with blu-tack, changing the cards when she likes to make different sentences. Ideas for interactive charts include:

A recent trip to the zoo or a farm. "I went to the zoo and I saw a ...". As well as putting the name of the animal in the gap, your child could also attach a picture of the animal below the text.

A chart of friends and relatives' names. Draw an outline of a bus and write the following text inside "I looked inside the bus and who did I see? I saw ... looking back at me." Your child can attach a name in the gap and also a picture of the person below the bus.

A food chart based on Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. "One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar. On [insert day of week] he ate through one [insert food]. But he was still hungry."

Other Useful Resources

Try these worksheets to practice learning words:

Here are some free literacy games you can find on-line:

We hope you have fun playing these literacy games!

You may also like:

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Literacy Games to Develop Word Recognition

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As your child begins to show an interest in the words she sees around her, you can encourage this curiosity with the following literacy games. These games will start to make her familiar with special words which are important to her. This develops her word recognition ability which will eventually help her to become a fluent reader.

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Game to practice word recognition!

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Out of Sight Words is a beautiful, quirky game that allows children to practice their knowledge of sight words! Kids have to read the sight word, and then find its corresponding image in the fun illustrations. Simply click on the word at the bottom of the screen and then find it in the picture! Abo…

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Introduction

This article examines the content and instructional plans of phonics and word recognition to be used with children with reading disabilities. Information is provided about the content of effective word-recognition instruction. Guidelines are included based on this information as well as on 4 other aspects of reading instruction (i.e., oral language development, print awareness, reading aloud, and independent wide reading) that are central to any accessible and effective classroom program. These guidelines will assist educators in selecting programs that enable all children to be successful in learning to read.

The goals of reading instruction are many, but certainly include that children will read with confidence, that they will understand what they read, and that they will find reading a source of knowledge and pleasure. To achieve these goals with all children, an effective classroom program of beginning reading instruction must provide children with a wide variety of experiences that relate to a number of important aspects of reading.

Some of these experiences focus on meaning. For example, children take part in oral language activities that concentrate on concept and vocabulary development; children hear good stories and informational texts read aloud; they read and discuss with other children what they read, often under the guidance of their teachers.

Other experiences focus on word recognition of printed words as children engage in print awareness, letter recognition, writing, and spelling activities. Children take part in phonics lessons and word-recognition strategy instruction. They learn that the sounds in spoken words relate to the patterns of letters in written words in predictable and often generalizable ways. As they read books and other print materials, children learn to combine their knowledge of print and sounds with their knowledge of language to read with meaning and enjoyment. It is evident that no one aspect of a beginning program should monopolize instructional time.

Word-recognition Instruction

Many publishers - both large and small - have developed programs of phonics and word-recognition instruction. Some of the phonics and word-recognition instruction are integrated in large basal reading programs and others are in supplemental programs narrowly focused to address one aspect of instruction. Many teachers teach phonics and word recognition by using the district's commercially published basal reading program, typically a program of instruction that includes grade-level materials for teaching reading with a teacher's guide and student reading materials as well as ancillary materials that support the primary components. These programs often contain phonics and word-recognition activities embedded in a sequence of instruction that includes shared reading from children's literature, guided reading in predictable stories, and writing activities.

These commercially published basal reading programs are particularly important because they are typically adopted by a school or district and become the cornerstone of instruction for most classrooms. Recent reviews of the major commercial programs (Smith et al., in press; Stein, Johnson, & Gutlohn, 1998) have revealed that word- recognition instruction and instruction in oral language skills related to word recognition were inadequately represented. Stein et al. found that few programs included an explicit phonics approach, and student reading selections often did not correspond to the words children were learning during word-recognition instruction making most of the selections inaccessible to the readers.

In addition to the basal programs, teachers often supplement their regular instruction with published phonics programs. These programs are commonly used with students identified as having reading disabilities. Many parents seek out such programs to use at home if they are concerned that their children are experiencing difficulty learning to read in school. There are literally hundreds of supplementary programs on the market, and new programs appear regularly. These programs take many forms. Many appear in traditional print form that feature board and card games, flash cards, word lists, story books, and workbooks. Some combine traditional instructional materials with audiotapes, electronic games, videotapes, and computer discs. Still other programs provide essentially all instruction by computer.

This article is designed to be used to examine the content and instructional plans of phonics and word-recognition instruction to be used with children with reading disabilities. The purpose of the article, however, is not to explore the many meanings, interpretations, and merits of phonics and word-recognition instruction. Rather, the purpose of the article is to help those who intend to use commercially published programs of instruction to make good choices that will benefit both teachers and students with reading disabilities. Such an examination can provide information about the content of a program's word-recognition instruction and its suitability for providing access to the general curriculum for students with reading disabilities.

The content of phonics and word-recognition instruction

Although the relation of systematic phonics and word-recognition instruction to reading achievement is a much debated topic, any enlightened discussion by advocates of such instruction emphasizes that it must be only a part of a total program of instruction (Snow, Bums, & Griffin, 1998). The main goal of such instruction is to help children figure out the alphabetic system of written English and become comfortable with that system as they become readers (Lyon, 1998). The authors of Becoming a Nation of Readers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985), written almost a decade ago, nicely described the goal, purpose, and limitations of phonics instruction:

The goal of phonics is not that children be able to state the "rules" governing letter-sound relationships. Rather, the purpose is to get across the alphabetic principle, the principle that there are systematic relationships between letters and sounds.

Phonics ought to be conceived as a technique for getting children off to a fast start in mapping the relationships between letters and sounds. It follows that phonics instruction should aim to teach only the most important and regular of letter-to-sound relationships, because this is the sort of instruction that will most directly lay bare the alphabetic principle. Once the basic relationships have been taught, the best way to get children to refine and extend their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to read. (p. 38)

Phonics then is the system of instruction used to teach children the connection between letters and sounds (Snow et al., 1998). We do want to warn the reader, however, that this term is entirely abused and has many different meanings to different people. A generally agreed on definition may not be possible.

The alphabetic principle

An important part of helping children with reading disabilities figure out the system underlying the printed word is leading them to understand the alphabetic principle (Adams, 1990; Ehri & McCormick, 1998; Liberman, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 199 1). This means, to understand that in written English, words are composed of patterns of letters that represent the sounds of spoken English words. Some children seem to figure out the alphabetic principle almost effortlessly, with little or no instruction. However, most children, and children with learning disabilities (LD) in particular, benefit from organized instruction that centers on sounds, letters, and the relations between sounds and letters (Perfetti & Zhang, 1995). They also benefit from word -recognition instruction that offers practice with, for example, word families that share similar letter patterns. Additionally, children with reading disabilities benefit from opportunities to apply what they are learning to the reading and rereading of stories and other texts. Such texts contain a high proportion of words that reflect the letters, sounds, and spelling patterns the children are learning.

Elements of phonics and word-recognition instruction

To help children map the relations between letters and sounds, effective phonics and word-recognition strategy instruction should provide them with opportunities to become comfortable with a number of aspects of reading, including alphabetic knowledge, phonemic awareness, sound-symbol relations, word-identification strategies, spelling and writing connections, related reading practice, and reading fluency.

Each of these elements of phonics and word-recognition instruction is discussed in this section. Each discussion is followed by a set of guidelines for program evaluators to consider as they examine programs. We relied on the following sources for determining what is most important to phonics and word-recognition instruction:

Alphabetic knowledge

Children must become expert users of the letters they will see and use to write their own words and messages (Lyon, 1998). Children's knowledge of letters is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read (Adams, 1990). That is, children who begin first grade able to quickly and accurately identify, say, and write the letters of the alphabet have an advantage in learning to read. Children whose knowledge of letters is not well developed when they start school need a lot of sensibly organized practice that will help them learn how to identify, name, and write letters.

Guidelines for alphabetic knowledge instruction

A beginning reading program should include the following elements:

1. A variety of alphabetic knowledge activities in which children learn to identify and name both upper case and lower case letters.

2. Games, songs, and other activities that help children learn to name letters quickly.

3. Writing activities that encourage children to practice writing the letters they are learning.

4. A sensible sequence of letter introduction that can be adjusted to the needs of the children.

Phonemic awareness

Children's ability to think about individual words as sequences of sounds is important to their understanding of the alphabetic principle (Liberman & Shankweiler, 1985; Snow et al., 1998). Toward that understanding, children learn to identify rhyming words and to create their own rhymes. They also learn that sentences are made up of separate words, words are composed of syllables, and words are made up of sounds that can be separated from each other and manipulated in other ways. Finally, they learn that sounds that are separated (or segmented) from words can be put back together again to form words.

Some children have a great deal of difficulty learning to separate, or segment, the sounds in spoken words, and to then reconstitute the sounds (i.e., to blend the segmented sounds back together to make a word; O'Connor, Notari-Syverson, & Vadasy, 1996). However, it is this very aspect of phonemic awareness that enables children to apply their knowledge of sound-letter relations to the sounding out of printed words (Smith, Simmons, & Karneenui, 1998).

It is important to make some clear distinctions: Phonemes are the separable individual sounds in words. They are the smallest units of sound. The onset is the initial single phoneme or initial consonant cluster in a word and the rime is the remaining set of phonemes in a word. Rimes are larger than phonemes, but smaller than syllables.

For example, take bat and bright, both one-syllable words:

In contrast:

Most sequencing of phonemic awareness instruction begins with rhyming words and then moves to helping children learn how to divide (or segment) sentences into words, words into syllables, words into onset and rime, and finally, one-syllable words into phonemes.

Not all programs include the same content. For example, some programs introduce onsets and rimes before requiring students to identify and manipulate each of the separable sounds of one- syllable words. Some programs do not include onset and rime activities. In many programs, segmentation is introduced by having children identify and segment the initial sound of a one- syllable word. After practicing with initial sounds, the children then learn to identify and segment final sounds, and finally work with medial sounds. Still other programs have children learn to segment and then blend each individual sound of spoken one-syllable words.

Phonemic awareness activities usually involve oral tasks in the absence of print. In some programs, however, the instruction directs the children to use auditory (clapping) and visual cues (Elkonin boxes, blocks) to help them understand that the sounds in words can be separate entities. At the more advanced levels of instruction (segmenting and blending), the relations of sounds to written letters often become part of the instructional sequence, so that the children hear and see the relations between sounds and letters.

Guidelines for phonemic awareness instruction

A beginning reading program should include the following elements:

1. Activities that follow a sequence of instruction that progresses from easier to more difficult tasks and from larger to smaller units, for example:

Rhyming words.

Dividing sentences into words.

Dividing words into syllables.

Segmenting and blending onsets and rimes.

Identifying beginning, medial, and ending sounds in spoken words.

Segmenting and blending individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.

2. Auditory (e.g., clapping), visual (e.g., tiles, chips), or both cues to help children identify separate sounds in words.

3. Activities to teach the relationship of letters to sounds in more advanced tasks (segmenting and blending phonemes).

4. For children who are having difficulty, a sequence of instruction that:

1. Starts with continuous sounds (for example, m, s, i, f) that are easier to hear and blend.

2. Advises teachers to stretch out and connect (or "sing") the sounds (e.g., "ssssaaaammm," rather than separating them, for example, "S ... a ... m").

Sound-letter relations

Children's early reading development is dependent on their acquisition of the sound-letter relations that underlie written English. Many children with reading disabilities benefit from explicit and systematic teaching of these sound-letter relations; this is typically described as or labeled phonics. Children with reading disabilities benefit from a sequence of phonics instruction that permits them to apply the relations they learn to the reading of words and simple stories (Carnine, Silbert, & Kameenui, 1997; Chard, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1998).

Phonics instruction is usually categorized as explicit or implicit. In explicit phonics instruction, the sounds associated with the letters are identified in isolation and then blended together to form words. The teacher directly tells students the sound represented by an individual letter. For example, "The letter l makes the sound / llll/." When children have learned several correspondences, including one or two vowels, they can read words by blending sounds of the letters together. For example, students who have learned the sound-letter correspondences / I / / a/ / m/ and / p/ can utilize a blending strategy to read " lamp."

In contrast, implicit phonics instruction includes helping students identify the sounds associated with individual letters in the context of whole words, rather than in isolation. Typically, students are asked to infer the sound of a letter from a word or set of words that contain that letter. For example, in teaching the sound for m, the teacher is directed to:

Write man on the board and underline the letter m.

Have the students say man and listen for the beginning sound. Elicit from the students that the letter m makes the sound / m/.

In implicit phonics, children are often encouraged to utilize context and picture cues to identify any unfamiliar words they encounter in text selections. Most supplementary programs employ explicit instruction.

Rate and sequence of introduction

There is no set rule about how quickly or how slowly to introduce sound-letter relations. Obviously, it is important to gauge the rate of introduction by the performance of the group of children with whom the program is being used. Furthermore, there is no agreed on order in which to introduce sound-letter relations. The advice most often given is to avoid programs that teach all possible sound-letter relations before providing real reading practice. Rather, the sound-letter relations should be selected so that the children can read words as soon as possible. That is, the initial sound-letter relations presented in a program should have high utility. For example, m, a, t, and th are of high utility, whereas gh as in through, ey as in they, and a as in want are of less high utility. It should be noted that programs that present all of the consonants before any of the vowels are taught do not allow children to read words, even after they have learned several sound-letter relations.

An effective program may start with two or more single consonants and one or two short vowels. The children can read words that are spelled with these letters. Then, more single consonants and more short vowels are added, along with perhaps a long vowel. As each new sound-letter relation is introduced, the children read words spelled with those letters. For example, if the relationships for a, f, n, s, and t, are presented first, the children can work with the words fan, an, at, ant, fast, and fat among others. Then if the relations for m, th, c, and i are added, the children can work with such words as if, cat, sat, man, and that. The children can create sentences such as, " A fast ant sat on a fat cat."

Consonant blends or clusters (e.g., br, tr) may be added; digraphs (e.g., th, sh, ch) are often introduced to permit children to read words such as this, she, and chair. Stop sounds at the beginning or middle of words may be harder for children to blend than are continuous sounds. Consonant blends or clusters may be harder for some children to learn than single consonants. For some children, being presented with consonant blends or clusters and individual sounds in the same lesson can lead to difficulty.

The number of possible variations is enormous. The point is that the order of introduction should be logical and consistent with the rate at which the children can learn. Furthermore, the sound-letter relations chosen should permit the children to work with words almost immediately.

Guidelines for examining sound-letter relations instruction

Plan of instruction. A beginning reading program should include:

1. Common sound-letter relations taught directly and explicitly.

2. Advanced phonemic awareness activities combined with the presentation of sound-letter relations.

3. Opportunities for children to practice sound-letter relations in every lesson.

4. Practice opportunities that include new sound-letter relations as well as cumulative review of previously taught relations.

5. Opportunities early and often for children to apply their expanding knowledge of sound-letter relations to the reading of regularly spelled words that are familiar in meaning.

6. A suggestion that the teacher or students point to the letters as they sound out the words.

Rate of instruction. A beginning reading program should:

1. Recognize that children learn sound-letter relations at different rates.

2. Introduce sound-letter relations at a reasonable pace (e.g., in a range of two to four per week, depending on student performance).

3. Encourage teachers to informally assess children's application of sound-letter relations and to use this information to make instructional decisions.

Sequence of instruction. A beginning reading program should:

1. Introduce consonants and vowels in a sequence that permits the children to read words.

2. Choose consonants and vowels that can be combined to make words for the children to read.

3. Teach a number of high-utility sound-letter relations first and add lower utility relations later.

4. Introduce consonant blends or clusters in separate lessons.

5. Provide blending instruction with words that contain the sound-letter relations that the children are learning.

Word-recognition strategies

Effective word-recognition strategies permit children to quickly and automatically translate the letters or spelling patterns of written words into speech sounds so that they can identify words and gain rapid access to their meanings (Vandervelden & Siegel, 1997). Children must learn to identify words quickly and effortlessly so that they can focus on the meaning of what they are reading (Stanovich, 1986). As children learn to read more and more complex stories, effective word-identification strategies will permit them to figure out the pronunciations of words they have never seen before in print. Students' semantic and syntactic knowledge, in turn, can help to confirm the accuracy of their attempts at word identification.

It is important that children learn to use their sound and spelling knowledge as a primary strategy for word recognition (Bay Area Reading Task Force, 1997; Beck, 1998). Children should also have opportunities to work with larger units (e.g., word families, spelling patterns, and onsets and rimes). More advanced word- identification strategies focus on structural analysis - the identification of root words, prefixes, and suffixes - and on how to read multisyllabic words.Children need to recognize some common words before they have the sound-letter knowledge to sound them out (e.g., the, this). Additionally, some words are "irregular," meaning they are difficult to read using a sounding out strategy. The program should introduce some irregular and other sight words in a reasonable sequence. These words should be continuously reviewed in the lessons and in the written materials the children read. Presenting some words as sight words should not overshadow the importance of teaching children to learn how to use word-identification strategies to figure out words.

Guidelines for addressing word-identification strategies

A beginning reading program should include

1. Opportunities to practice word recognition, including words with newly introduced sound-letter relations or word parts mixed with previously learned words.

2. Opportunities for children to learn to use word order (syntax) and word meaning (semantics) to confirm the words identified through word-recognition strategies (Adams, 1998).

3. A limited set of sight words (some of which are regularly spelled) in the beginning stages of reading instruction.

4. Phonetically irregular words in a reasonable order and review the words cumulatively.

5. Phonetically irregular words in the written materials the students read.

6. Opportunities for children not only to decode words but also to access the words' meanings.

7. Strategies for identifying words with more than one syllable.

Spelling and writing

Children with reading disabilities must have opportunities to write and relate their writing to spelling and reading. Initially, children's phonetic approximations of words or invented spellings should be encouraged to stimulate writing (Ehri, 1998; Snow et al., 1998). As children learn to read and write words, they become aware of how these words are spelled. Increasing children's awareness of spelling patterns hastens their progress in both reading and writing. In the first grade, spelling instruction can be coordinated with the program of reading instruction. As children progress, well-organized, systematic lessons in spelling are critical.

Guidelines for effective spelling and writing activities

A beginning reading program should include

1. Spelling activities that are related to the words that children are reading and writing.

2. Guides to move children from their own temporary spellings to more standard spellings.

3. Spelling instruction with explicit instruction in sound-letter relations and word-identification strategies.

4. Lessons that help children attend to spelling patterns.

5. Purpose-filled writing activities that permit children to respond to what is read to them and to what they read, express themselves creatively, and communicate with others.

Related reading practice

Most children benefit from opportunities to practice accurate and fluent reading in stories. The term decodable text is used to describe stories and other materials that use the sound-letter relations the children are learning as well as a limited number of high-frequency sight words. Decodable text may also contain a limited number of "special words" that make the text more interesting. Decodable stories can provide children with reading disabilities with the opportunity to practice what they are learning about letters and sounds. For example, if the children know these sound-letter relations - m / m/, s / s/, t / t/, p / p/, e / e/, and a / a/ and the special words the, elephant, said, no, and thank you - they can read a story such as:

Pat and the Elephant

Pat met the elephant.

The elephant met Pat.

Pat sat.

The elephant sat.

The elephant sat on the mats.

The elephant sat and sat.

Pat sat and sat.

Pat said, "Elephant, pat the pets."

The pets said, "No, thank you, Elephant."

In addition to decodable books, many predictable and patterned books provide children with engaging language and print experiences. These books may be most beneficial when children are developing print awareness. Typically these books are not based on the sound-letter relations, spelling patterns, and sight words the children are learning. For example:

Two Cats Play

Two cats play on the grass.

Two cats play with yarn.

Two cats play with a ball.

Two cats play all day.

Two cats too tired to play.

Many children benefit from practice with stories that contain a high proportion of decodable or familiar words. For some children, this sort of systematic approach is critical.

Stories should "fit" the child's reading level. As children with reading disabilities become more proficient, a wider range of books become readable to them. The decodability or predictability of the books is no longer a constraint. There is little research that directly address the level of decodability of texts that best facilitates children's reading fluency. Different sources have recommended different levels of decodability. For example, Anderson et al. (1985) and Juel (1994) both recommended approximately 90% of the words in a story should be decodable. As children learn to read words, sentences, and stories fluently, accurately, and automatically, they no longer have to struggle to identify words and are free to pay closer attention to word meanings.

Guidelines for decodable text for related reading practice

A beginning reading program should include

1. Stories that have a significant proportion of decodable words.

2. A sequence of stories, such that the sound-letter relations the children have learned are cumulatively reviewed in the words of the stories.

3. Stories that are comprehensible.

4. Words in the stories that are in the children's spoken vocabularies.

Reading fluency

To become fluent and accurate readers, children with reading disabilities must read texts that are appropriate to their current level of reading ability. This can be ac complished by engaging students in activities in which they read and reread stories and informational texts (Samuels, 1979). Periodically, timing children's reading is also effective in increasing accuracy and fluency (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 1992).

Guidelines for instruction that promotes fluency

A beginning reading program should include

1. Opportunities to read and reread familiar stories by using partner reading and peer tutoring.

2. Practice in reading new or difficult words, prior to reading texts.

3. Opportunities for occasional timing of students' reading with strategies to record their progress in their accuracy and rate of reading.

4. Opportunities to hear texts read appropriately by adults, tapes, and peers.

5. Ideas for developing a home-school connection that supports children's reading and rereading of texts to parents, grandparents, and siblings.

Oral language development, print awareness, story reading, and independent reading

As previously mentioned, the point of reading instruction is not that children learn to say words, but rather that they understand the meanings of the words, sentences, stories, and other texts they read. Four aspects of beginning reading instruction contribute directly to all children's ability to understand what they read:

1. Oral language development: Children must have opportunities to expand their use and appreciation of oral language.

2. Print awareness: Children must have opportunities to expand their use and appreciation of printed language.

3. Reading aloud: Children must have opportunities to hear good stories and informational books read aloud daily.

4. Independent reading: Children must have opportunities to read daily from a broad range of print materials.

Each of these elements of beginning reading programs is discussed in this section.

Oral language and listening opportunities

A weak foundation in oral language may impede children's progress in reading (Snow et al., 1998). To comprehend written language, children must have some familiarity with the vocabulary and sentence structures they encounter in their stories and school texts. Constructive oral language experiences in the classroom are important for all children, but they are especially so for children with reading disabilities and for those who have had fewer opportunities to develop the kind of language needed for reading. For these reasons, kindergarten instruction needs to capitalize on every opportunity to engage children in thoughtful discussions, explanations, and demonstrations. Listening is another aspect of oral language development. Children need to listen carefully to follow directions. Listening comprehension is an important contributor to reading comprehension (Menyuk, 1988). Consequently, kindergarten instruction should provide opportunities for children to listen as well as to speak. These opportunities can come in giving and following directions, class discussions, storybook reading, and games. Children's comprehension of written language depends in large part on their effective use and understanding of oral language (Snow et al., 1998). Language experiences are a central component of good reading instruction. Children learn a great deal about the world, about themselves, and about each other from spoken language.

Ideas for instruction that promote oral language

Kindergarten and first-grade language instruction that focuses on listening, speaking, and understanding includes:

1. Discussions that focus on a variety of topics, including problem solving.

2. Activities that help children understand the world, in and out of the classroom.

3. Songs, chants, and poems that are fun to sing and say.

4. Concept development and vocabulary-building lessons.

5. Games and other activities that involve talking, listening, and, in particular, following directions.

Developing print awareness

Children's appreciation and understanding of the purposes and functions of written language are essential to their motivation for learning to read (Lyon, 1998). Children with reading disabilities must become aware that printed language is all around them on signs, billboards, and labels, and in books, magazines, and newspapers, and that print serves many different purposes (Gunn, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1998; Sulzby & Teale, 1991). These experiences and what the adults around them say about the print can help children learn how print functions.

When children are read to regularly and when they play with letters and word games, they begin to learn how the system of print works. Specifically, they begin to understand that we read print from left to right, that we read from the top of the page to the bottom, that capital letters begin sentences, that periods end sentences, and more. Awareness of these concepts of print provides the backdrop against which reading and writing are acquired.

Ideas for instruction that promote print awareness

Reading and writing instruction that focuses on the use and appreciation of written language includes:

1. Activities that help children to understand that print represents spoken language.

2. Activities that highlight the meanings, uses, and production of print found in classroom signs, labels, notes, posters, calendars, and directions.

3. Activities that teach print conventions, such as directionality.

4. Activities in which children practice how to handle a book - how to turn pages, how to find the tops and bottoms of pages, and how to tell the front and back covers.

5. Lessons in word awareness that help children become conscious of individual words (e.g., their boundaries, their appearance, and their length).

6. Activities in which children practice with predictable and patterned language stories.

Story reading

Good stories and informational books should be read aloud daily. What should be read? Obviously, read-aloud books must interest children, hold their attention, and expand their imagination. At the same time, children should hear books that stretch their knowledge of the world, expand their vocabulary, and provide them experiences with a variety of sentence patterns. The best read-aloud books are not the books with simple vocabulary and sentence structures that are written for children to read on their own, but rather books that are characterized by less common vocabulary, more complex sentences, and concepts that stretch children's knowledge of the world.

A program of reading aloud should include a variety of genres-narratives, nursery rhymes and other poems, and informational books. Good story reading includes good discussions about the story. Such discussions help clarify the author's intent and the relation of the story to the children.

Although everyone agrees that children love good stories and develop favorites that they want to hear again and again, their interest in acquiring information about the world around them should not be neglected. For example, informational books about animals, trees, planets, stars, and how machines work will introduce children to a lot of fascinating knowledge about the world in which they live.

What is the best way to organize for reading aloud? There are lots of ways and various times during the school day to read books to children (i.e., books can be read to the entire class or to groups of children, and volunteers can read to individual children or small groups of children).

Ideas for reading aloud to children

Lots of good advice is available on how to read to young children, but some common sense observations are important to keep in mind:

1. With very young children who have not had a lot of story reading experiences, start with very short periods of story reading; gradually make the story period longer, 15 min or more.

2. Make sure that the children are paying attention.

3. Make sure all of the children can hear what is being read.

4. Make sure all of the children can see the pictures that are shown.

5. Make the delivery interesting - dramatize exciting parts of stories, change your voice when speaking the lines of different characters (i.e., act surprised, exaggerate, laugh, be sad).

6. Read interactively; that is, engage the children in the story by having them respond to questions, repeat phrases, and predict what is going to happen next.

7. Discuss the story with the children after reading it; have children retell parts of the story.

8. Do not hesitate to reread favorite stories, but remember to keep adding stories that will extend the children's vocabulary and their knowledge of the world.

9. When reading books aloud, do not hesitate to change the wording in a sentence or phrase that children may not understand to a phrase or sentence they will understand. Then return to the book and read the phrase or sentence that was in the book.

10. Explain and sometimes act out the meanings of important words in the story that children may not know. Point to the details of illustrations that will help children understand the meanings of complex sentences and new words.

11. Talk about the story at other times of the day; try to find everyday situations in which some of the words and phrases from the story can be used.

12. Do not forget to read informational books as well as stories.

Independent wide reading

Children must be provided with opportunities to read widely. In addition to contributing to reading fluency, wide reading improves vocabulary through experience with a variety of language experiences. Wide reading allows children to advance their reading repertoire by exploring many different kinds of genres. Providing children with a great many books, both narrative and informational, is a primary objective. Sometimes children will want to pick their own books. At other times, children will want teacher- or peer-recommended books to read.

Classroom and campus libraries must offer children a variety of reading materials: some that are easy to read and others that are more challenging. Additionally, many children need access to books that can travel home for reading with family members.

Guidelines for independent wide reading

Classrooms that ensure wide reading provide the following:

1. Daily time for self-selected and teacher- recommended reading.

2. Access to books children want to read in their classrooms and school libraries.

3. Access to books that can be taken home to be read independently or to family members.

Conclusion

Recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1997) has placed greater emphasis on the inclusion of children with LD in the general education curriculum. This emphasis on curricular inclusion demands that the methods and materials used for instruction be accessible to a full range of students. To date, analyses of commercially published reading programs present in the literature have revealed that the design of materials is typically based on instructional principles that make them inaccessible to children with LD (e.g., Smith et al., in press; Stein et al., 1998). It is not realistic to expect that school districts will undertake time-consuming and labor-intensive analyses before purchasing commercially published reading programs. However, the quality of programs used to teach beginning reading to children with and without reading disabilities is critical. Hopefully, these guidelines will assist educators in selecting and implementing reading programs that enable all children to be successful in learning to read.

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Phonics and Word Recognition Instruction in Early Reading Programs: Guidelines for Children with Reading Disabilities

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This article examines the content and instructional plans of phonics and word recognition to be used with children with reading disabilities. Information is provided about the content of effective word-recognition instruction.