Unit 1: What is phonics instruction?
Cracking the Alphabetic Code
Say the sound of each letter. What does the word say?
C h a i n
The English language can be very tricky.
Phonemic Awareness before decoding
Before students can begin to sound out and decode words they must have a strong background in phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is a child’s understanding that our speech has a series of individual sounds which an emphasis on the sounds of spoken words (Tompkins 146). It is important to understand that phonemes are the smallest units of speech but they are written as graphemes (Tompkins 146). Phonemic awareness is taught through songs, chants, riddles and nursery rhymes because they are playful and entertaining for children (Tompkins 147). Phonemic awareness is the prerequisite for learning to read.
Phonics
Ch has three sounds
/ch/ as in chance, /sh/ as in chef and /k/ as in chaos
“Phonics is the set of relationship between phonology (the sounds in speech) and orthography (the spelling patterns of written language)” (Tompkins 155). Phonics focuses on spelling patterns and their location in a word. Children use their knowledge of sounds to sound words they do not recognize ( Graves, Juel, Graves, Dewitz 18). The main goal of phonics is for a reader to quickly decode the sounds in an unfamiliar word. Knowing the relationship between letters and spoken sounds, children will be able to recognize familiar words and be able to decode new unfamiliar words automatically (Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn)
Consonants
B, c, d, f, g, h , j , k , l , m , n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y and z.
Almost all consonants represent one sound with a few exceptions like C, and G. C can say /k/ or /s/. For example, cut or city. G can also make two sounds /g/ and /j/. For examples grape or gem.
Vowels
Vowels = a, e, I , o and u (usually in the middle of a word or at the end of a syllable)
There are short and long vowel sounds.
Short vowels sounds have one vowel like in cat, tap, man.
Long vowels have two vowels like in make or feet. Vowel sounds are very complicated and there are many different combinations. ( ai, ay, oi, oy, oa, oe, oo, ou, ow, aw, au, ew, ea, i.e.)
Can you think of any other words with the /oa/ sound that uses the /ow/ spelling? (Hint: snow)
Blending
Once students can identify all the sound in a word they must also be able to blend them together. To read a short vowel word like map, the children need to identify /m/ /a/ /p/ and combine all the sounds to say into a complete word. When there is a long vowel sound, students have to identify the pattern and the other letter sounds of the word. For example, bake, students have to recognize the e is silent at the end of the word. A students ability to blend sounds comes from a strong background in phonemic awareness (Tompkins 158). A student who hasn’t had practice blending speech sounds into words will most likely have trouble blending sounds in to words for decoding (Tompkins 158).
Six Common Spelling Patterns in English Syllables
1. Short vowel sounds and syllables that end with a consonant. CVC (bat), VC (at)
2. Syllables ending with a vowel. CV (me, go)
3. Silent Final e ( take, home, make)
4. Vowel teams- the first vowel is long and second is silent ( ai, ea, oa)
a. If two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. ( meat)
5. Bossy r – ar, ur, ir, or, er ( her, car, fur)
6. Consonant plus le- little, turtle
(Graves, Juels, Graves Dewitz, 189).
Types of Phonics Instruction
Explicit – start with a vowel, consonant, digraph, phonogram and build out to the whole words. It is a part to whole approach
Implicit – start with the whole word and break down the word into syllables and then the phonograms. It is a whole to part approach
Explicit instruction is found to be more beneficial to students and more systematic. Most phonics programs are taught using explicit instruction.
Case Study:
Read over and become familiar with the student Johnny.
Johnny is an 8-year-old boy in second grade. He enjoys playing outside with his friends at recess and playing sports. Art is one of his favorite classes because he enjoys painting but has weak fine motor skills. He has difficulty concentrating and staying on task at school. Johnny has trouble reading words. He often confuses short vowel sounds and has difficulty rhyming words. Johnny often guesses at words only paying attention to the beginning sound.
Question: What are the weaknesses in his phonics skills?
Record Here: Learning Log Recording Page
Activities:
1. True or False Quiz- Click the link below
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/2dc2077a-1f5a-4e36-af77-a61e3c61c0e9
Learning Log: Click here to record your thoughts Learning Log Recording Page
2. Define phonics in your own words.
3. Describe the purpose of phonics.
Reflection/Discussion
Reflections own current practices in the classroom
Guiding question: How do you teach phonemic awareness/phonics in your classroom?
Record your reflection here and respond to your classmate. Share your best practices and what works well or might not work so well in your classroom. Ask your classmates questions about what they do in their classroom.
https://todaysmeet.com/Unit1Reflection
Additional Resources:
References
Armbruster, Bonnie. Lehr, Fran. Osborn, Jean. Literacy Information and Communication System. Put Reading First. The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/html/prfteachers/reading_first1phonics.html. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
Tompkins, Gail Literacy for the 21st Century A Balanced Approach 5th Edition
Graves, Michael F., Connie Juel, Bonnie B. Graves, and Peter Dewitz. Teaching Reading in the 21st Century: Motivating All Learners. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2011.
Click here to go to: Unit 2: Why do children with learning disabilities struggle with phonics instruction?
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