Read About Best Practices in Working with phonics

Introduction/Overview

Research indicates that the most critical factor in fluent word reading is the ability to effortlessly, automatically, and visually recognize letters, spelling patterns, and whole words. Moreover, the goal of all reading instruction—comprehension—depends on this ability.

Adams, Beginning to Read, page 14.

As Adams states, comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. In order for students to enjoy and understand the text they read, they must be fluent word readers. Students should be able to recognize letters, spelling patterns, and eventually whole words. Through consistent practice with decoding and blending, students become successful with word attack strategies.

Definition/Purpose

Learning to read is a complex process that involves the integration of many cognitive, motor, and perceptual abilities. In this session, we focus on the narrow domain of phonics instruction. The primary focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand how letters are linked to sounds and spelling patterns. Research shows that students in the early grades who have experience with letters and sounds are more likely to become successful readers.

Teaching Phonics Through Mini-Lessons

In a comprehensive literacy classroom, the daily schedule contains a phonics component. This block of time is usually 20–30 minutes in length. Mini-lessons that include hands-on activities with manipulatives are implemented. The phonetic mini-lessons are designed to help students explore letters, sounds, and words. The phonetic tasks are customized to meet the learning needs of a group of students as they learn to categorize, compare, and analyze grapho-phonic information. These tasks are designed to reinforce and extend students’ learning through manipulative experiences that promote automatic and fluent control of letters and words.

Developing Letter Categories

One of the first concepts that students learn is that letters make up reading and writing (Adams, 1996). Students recite the “Alphabet Song” and learn letter names. Then they use this knowledge to learn letter shapes and sounds. Alphabet charts are used to reinforce letter categories by giving students the letter name and a strong picture cue. The students can use the chart as a mnemonic aid for letter shapes and sounds whenever they read or write.

Attribute Sorting

Letter Discrimination

In order for the brain to process visual information, it must classify the information into categories. The letter discrimination tasks enable students to develop categories based on the physical characteristics, or shape, of the letter. In order to develop this visual familiarity, students sort the letters by noticing distinguishable features, or attributes, such as letters with sticks, letters with circles, letters with sticks and circles, etc. Automatic visual recognition of letters aids proficient reading and writing (Adams, 1996).

Sample Mini-Lesson for Letter Discrimination

The teacher gives each student letter cards or magnetic letters and a blank sheet of paper. She instructs students to lay out the letter cards at the tops of their desks and to place the sheets of paper near the bottoms.

Teacher: Today we’re going to look for letters with sticks. Let me show you how a stick might look. (draws a vertical line on the board) A stick might look like this. (draws a horizontal line on the board) A stick can look like this. (draws slanted lines on the board) Or, a stick can be a slanted line, like this. Some letters might have more than one stick, like these letters. (demonstrates E, X, M, K) Some letters might have a stick and a circle. (writes a d as she says stick and circle) Today, I want you to look at each letter card and place the letters that have only sticks on your paper.

The teacher demonstrates to the whole group by taking a large letter card, tracing the stick, and placing the letter card in the Pocket Chart. She then picks up a letter card that has a stick and a circle. She traces the stick and directs students’ attention to the circle part of the letter as she traces it. She explains that it cannot go in the pocket chart with the other stick letter because it has part of a circle on it. Then, she walks around the room to observe and support students as they work independently. She notices that Katie has placed a B as a stick letter.

Teacher: That letter does have a stick, Katie. Use your finger to show me the stick. (Katie traces the vertical stick in the letter B, and the teacher moves the student’s finger to trace the half circles in the B.) Are these sticks, too?

Katie: No.

Teacher: Where might you put that letter?

Katie: At the top. It’s not a stick.

Teacher: I like the way you’re looking carefully.

The teacher might support the task in several different ways. In the previous example, the teacher distributed a number of various letter cards to each student. However, some students might work better with multiple copies of only two or three different letters at a time. The teacher can provide further support by giving each student letter cards with only sticks or only circles, not letter cards that contain both features. The teacher might also want to begin by sorting uppercase letters first, since many students come to school with more familiarity of uppercase letters. Tracing a letter is another task that enables a student to attend to the distinct visual features of the letter while learning the letter shape. Tracing, coupled with specific guidance in the formation of the letter, helps the student who has difficulty. Students can trace the letter cards with one finger as they and the teacher both say the movement. Having students write the letter quickly several times on a sheet of paper while saying the movement will also promote automatic and fast responding. There are numerous possibilities for structuring the letter discrimination sorting tasks to provide students with flexible opportunities for learning the distinct visual features of letters.

Letter Identification

The letter-name identification tasks are designed to connect the letter shape with the letter name that the students have already learned. These activities with manipulatives enhance letter recognition by helping students become confident and quick at recognizing individual letters. Furthermore, the tasks firm up the knowledge of letters that students acquire through writing and guided reading.

Once students’ learning of letter shapes is underway, the teacher can enhance knowledge of letter names:

• Give each student letter cards of known letters, such as some of the letters in their name. For example, Cathy might be given the letter cards t, h, C, a, y, C, h, a, t, y.
• Next, ask each student to line up the letter cards at the top of her desk. Say, Quickly pull down each letter card and say its name. Push it back up and say its name.
• Ask students to look for and pull down a specific letter. For example, say, Look at your letter cards and pull down every t.
• Some students might not recall the letter by its name but have a special word they identify with the letter. Have these students pull down the letter card and saying a word that begins with that letter. For t, h, C, a, Cathy might say tiger, horse, Cat, apple.
• Finally, link the learning back to a guided reading book by having students locate in the book one or more of the letters they have studied.

Sound/Symbol Relationships

Letter/sound learning fits into a broader frame of assisted writing; there is a dynamic relationship between the two. However, once students have learned to recognize and discriminate some printed letters, the assisted writing is followed by specific letter/sound instruction during the phonetic connections block. Visual familiarity with these letters promotes the acquisition of letter/sound knowledge that is critical to reading.

Students must obtain knowledge of letters in several ways in order to become flexible with them. A good way to achieve this is for the teacher to begin sound-symbol instruction by giving students some familiar letters. These are letters that the students have been using during sound-analysis activities for interactive writing and letters that begin unknown words that students have been predicting during guided reading. The teacher provides more support by using letters that are visually dissimilar (t, m, s, b). Next, the teacher promotes over-learning with these letters by engaging students in multiple ways of learning the letters, such as:

• Sound of letter
• Name of letter
• Word associated with letter/sound
• Movement as letter is written
• How letter looks embedded within word

Basic steps:

1. Pre-selected letter cards are lined up across the top of each student’s desk. The teacher instructs the students to quickly pull down each letter card as they say its name.
2. Next, they are instructed to pull down letter cards for the letters that start the words she calls out:
      Pull down the letter that starts the word tiger.
      Pull down the letter that starts the word monkey.
   The teacher continues calling out words until the students have pulled down all the letters. She might repeat the activity as they push the letters up again.
3. The students are then instructed to pull the letter down as they say a word that starts with that letter. The teacher provides guidance to a student who is having difficulty thinking of a word by directing the student to the small alphabet card or strip, which includes pictures.
4. The teacher promotes flexibility as she has students sort the letters by letter name.
5. She promotes over-learning of the letter by getting students to attend to the visual details of the letter while writing it several times on a practice board as they say the movement.
6. Finally, students are required to search for letters embedded within words by looking in a familiar guided reading text.

Sample Mini-Lesson for Beginning Letter/Sound Instruction

The teacher begins the mini-lesson by calling out words that are alike (banana, bicycle, butterfly). She tells students the words are alike because they begin with the same sound you hear in ball (points to large Alphabet Chart). She then uses a letter book to show students pictures of some other words that begin like ball. They reread the book together. Finally, she uses cards with names written on them to show students that some of them also have names that begin like ball. (She repeats this instruction for s, m, and t before moving into the guided activity).

The following excerpt shows how the teacher promotes the acquisition of knowledge of beginning letter sounds:

Focus: Beginning Sounds

Letter Cards Needed: s, s, m, m, b, b, t, t

1. Quickly pull down each letter card and say its name.

2. Pull down the letters that start the words:
     meat, sister, beetle, train, sun, top, mask, bottle

3. Push up each letter card that starts the words:
     summer, tired, music, mom, butter, talk, basket, seven

4. The teacher then instructs students to pull down each letter and say a word that starts with that letter while providing support if needed.

5. Next, the teacher promotes flexibility with letters by having students sort by letter name:
     Find all the m's and pull them down as you say the letter name.
     Find all the b's and pull them down as you say the letter name.
     Find all the s's.
     Find all the t's.

6. She then helps students analyze the visual features of letter while connecting it with the letter name by having each student write the letter:
     Write the letter m quickly several times on your dry-erase board while you say the movement. (down, up and over, up and over) Now, say the name of the letter.

7. Finally, she wants the student to discover how the letter looks embedded within a word:
     Look in your guided reading book and find an m. Use two fingers to frame it and say its name.

As soon as students gain competence with beginning letter sounds, extend letter activities:

• Words that end with consonants
• Words with medial consonants
• R-family blends (br-, tr-, gr-, fr-, cr-, wr-, dr-, pr-)
• L-family blends (bl-, gl-, cl-, pl-, sl-, fl-)
• S-family blends (sc-, sn-, sk-, sm-, sp-, st-, sw-)
• 3-letter family clusters (str-, thr-, spr-, shr-, squ-, scr-, sch-, squ-)
• Final consonant clusters (-nch, -mp, -nk, -sk, -pt, -sp, -ct, -lt, -dge,
• -nd, -ft, -nce, -nge, -st, -nse, -nt)
• Initial consonant digraphs (sh-, th-, wh-, ch-)
• Final consonant digraphs (-sh, -th, -ch, -ck, -ng, -tch, -nk)
• Medial double consonants (p, t, n, l, m, d, s, r)
• Short vowel words (a, e, i, o, u)
• Long vowel words (a, e, i, o, u)

For a comprehensive list of words for the above activities, refer to: Pinnell, G.S., and Fountas, I. Word Matters: Teaching Phonics and Spelling in the Reading/Writing Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.

Sample Mini-Lesson for Consonant Blend Instruction

Focus: Consonant Blends

sk-, sp-, st-, sm-

Letter Cards Needed: s, k, p, t, m

The teacher begins the mini-lesson by calling out some words that are alike (spit, spike, splinter) and telling students that they are alike because they all begin with the same sound that you hear in spoon. (The teacher points to the large Blends Chart and places the letter cards for sp in the pocket chart.) She then uses a blends book to show the students some pictures of other words that begin like spoon. They reread the blends book together. (She repeats this demonstration for sk, st, and sm before moving into the guided activity.)

Guided Activity:

1. Quickly pull down each letter card and say its name.

The students are then instructed to pull down the letter combinations that begin the words the teacher calls out.

2. Pull down the two letters that start the word star.

Run your finger underneath the letters as you say the sound /st/. Then, push the letters back up to the top of your desk.

3. Pull down the two letters that start the word smile.

Run your finger underneath the letters as you say the sound /sm/. Then, push the letters back up to the top of your desk.

4. Repeat this procedure with: skeleton, spider, stop, smash, stick, storm, skip, spill, skirt, smoke, space, stand, smart, smell, spoil, skin, station, sky.

5. The teacher then instructs students to pull down specific letter combinations and say a word that starts with those letters. For example:

Pull down the letters sm and say a word that starts like that.

The teacher provides support with the blends chart if needed.

Write each letter quickly several times on your dry-erase board while you say the movement.

6. Finally, the teacher wants the student to discover how the consonant blends look embedded within a word.

Look in your guided reading book and find a word that begins with /sk/ and use two fingers to frame it and say the sound that the two letters make. (She repeats the procedure with sm, st, and sp.)

Sample Mini-Lesson for Short Vowel Instruction

Here is how the teacher promotes the learning of short vowel sounds: Focus: Short Vowel Sounds a and e Letter Cards Needed: a, a, a, e, e, e

Teacher: Quickly pull down each vowel and say its name. (She points to large Alphabet Chart.) Listen as I say some words that have the same sound as in apple: sat, land, map. (She writes these words on a chart.) What do you notice about these words?

Carolyn: They all have an a in them.

Teacher: You’re right. They all have the vowel a and the a sounds the same in each of these words. Say them with me.

All: (saying words)

Teacher: (pointing to large Alphabet Chart) Now, listen as I say some words that have the same sound as in elephant: leg, pet, bell. (writes them on a chart) How are these words alike?

Kristi: They all have a short e sound like in elephant.

Teacher: Very good, Kristi. They do all have a short e. It’s the same sound that we hear in elephant. Say these words with me.

All: (say words)

Teacher: Pull down the letter card for the vowel sound that you hear as I call out some more words: pat, back, egg, man, sled, nest. Let’s check and see if you were right. (Writes pat on an index card) What vowel did you pull down for pat?

Several: A

Teacher: Say pat.

All: Pat.

Teacher: (points to chart) Does pat belong with sat, land, and map or with leg, pet, and bell

All: Sat, land, and map.

Teacher: Yes, it does belong with Sat, land, and map because it has a short a sound. (writes pat underneath the appropriate column)

She continues checking the other words in the same manner. Next, she has them push up the letter card for the vowel sound that they hear in: has, ever, can, very, gas, jelly. She adds these to the categorization list as they are checked in the same fashion.

Guided Blending Practice

Once students have learned a small set of letters/sounds, it is important to begin using these letters to form words. This will help students see the utility of their letter learning and begin the process of using these skills to unlock print. The blending and decoding exercises are based upon the previously taught letters and sounds. The purpose of blending is to teach students a strategy for using their letter/sound knowledge to read words. At the beginning, students will blend words sound by sound. It is critical that you model for students how to blend words every day through formal blending practice. Note that the primary purpose of this activity is not to master any one set of words, but to experience success in applying letter/sound learning to figure out unfamiliar words.

Each day, write four to six words on the chalkboard. Write approximately three to four words that contain the new phonetic element that you have introduced to the students for the week and the write two to three words that review phonetic elements that have been taught in the past. Also write a sentence that offers practice with the previously taught high-frequency words. Below is a sample exercise.

1. Write the following words and sentence on the chalkboard. Do not read the words to the students. Avoid letting students read or call out the words before they are blended chorally.
   Row 1: sat sad Sam
   Row 2: at man mat
   Row 3: I see a mat cat.
2. Begin with the first word in row one. Point to each letter in the word. Have the students to say each sound. For example: /s/, /a/, /t/. If the students do not provide the correct sound, give it. Then note that this sound needs to be retaught or reviewed in future lessons.
3. Slowly slide your finger under each letter and have students blend the sounds chorally. Remind students to extend the sound for each letter and to not pause between the sounds. For example: /sssaaat/. If the first sound with is a “stop” sound (/b/, /d/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /k/, /p/, /t/, /y/), quickly blend the first sound with the vowel sound that follows. For example, /baaaad/. (bad)
4. Next, quickly run your finger under each letter as the students chorally blend the word. For example, /ssaat/.
5. Run your finger beneath the word. Instruct the students to read the word as a whole. For example: sat. It is important that all students are reading all words. Therefore, choral reading of the blending lines is best. Note students who do not respond or wait for classmates to respond first.
6. Repeat the sequence with the other words in Rows 1 and 2.
7. Do a choral reading of the practice sentence in Row 3, pointing as each word is read. If the students do not recognize a high-frequency word, state it and note that further review with that word needs to be done.

Word/Sentence Dictation

Just as students practice decoding through blending, they practice encoding (spelling) through dictation. Dictation practice can begin as soon as students know enough letters sounds to form words. This spelling practice helps students see the relationship between reading and writing. As their knowledge of letters/sounds increases, students will quickly begin to see how their control over written language grows as they become capable of writing more and more words. Dictation in essence, gives students a strategy for spelling words. It also provides the teacher with valuable feedback on which letters/sounds students have mastered and incorporated into their writing repertoire. Each dictation exercise contains a list of words and a sentence for students to write.

• Dictate the words or sentence to the students. Call out each word one at a time.
• Instruct the students to write each word.
• Prompt them to articulate the words slowly as they write. For example, Say the words slowly and write what you hear.
• Allow students enough time to complete the task before moving to the next word.
• Provide extra support if needed by clapping on each sound as you say the word. This will help students segment words and associate sounds with spelling. For students who experience greater difficulty (indicating weak phonemic awareness skills), you can provide two levels of help: 1) Face the class and say the sounds more slowly while you move your hands from right to left to illustrate beginning, middle, and end. 2) Model the blending for each sound in the word. Then point to an alphabet chart.
• When completed, write the words and sentence on the chalkboard. Have students self-correct their papers. A key component of dictation is self-correction in which students begin to notice and correct their errors.

Word Building

Building High-Frequency Words

Letter Card Sets can also be used to help students gain automatic control of words that are used frequently in their reading and writing. These words are committed to long-term memory as students are instructed to build each word rapidly, check it with their fingers, write it fast on their wipe-off board, record it in their personal dictionary, and locate it in a guided reading text.

The following excerpt shows how the teacher activates several sensory systems while helping students learn a new word.

Teacher: Today, I’m going to teach you an important word that begins like Beth’s name.

Beth: B!

Teacher: That’s right, Beth. It does begin with a b. It is a word that you see a lot when you read, and a word that you use when you write a story. It’s the word be. Let me show you how to make the word be. (Teacher models how to make the word be using her letter cards. After she makes the word, she reads it and checks it with her finger.) Now, take a good look at the word be and find the letters that you need to make the word be. (The students use their letter cards to make the word be as the teacher instructs them to make it fast.) OK. This time I want you to take two more letter cards and make it fast. Read it and check it with your finger as you say it. (They all make and check the word be.) Did you make it fast? Good! Now, quickly write the word be on your wipe-off board. Hunter, did you check it? (Hunter reads his word and checks it with his finger.) Erase it and write it again really fast! (Prompts each student to write the word be quickly several times on his or her wipe-off board as it is said aloud.) Super! That was really fast! Now, put down your marker and close your eyes. Use your finger to write the word be in the air as you say it aloud. (The students work with eyes closed to write and say the word be.) Now, where will we add the word be in our Personal Dictionaries, at the beginning, at the middle, or near the end?

Student: Beginning.

Student: Near the front.

Teacher: You’re both right! Let’s all turn quickly to find the b page. What new word are you going to write?

All: Be. (They add be to their Personal Dictionaries.)

Teacher: Let’s open our book What People Do to page 16 and see if we can find the word be. (They all locate and frame the word be. The teacher distributes individual writing journals.) Look through your journal and see if you can find a story where you’ve used the word be. (The students search through their journals, rereading text and sometimes locating the new word.) What new word did you learn today?

All: Be.

Teacher: That’s a good word to know because you write it a lot and it is in so many books.

The word be was selected for this mini-lesson because students use it frequently. Any other high-frequency word could also be taught following this same mini-lesson format. However, the teacher does not leave the word after one mini-lesson. In order for students to enter it into long-term memory, they need repeated encounters with the word. Therefore, the teacher provides further memorable opportunities to practice the word and use it.

Extending Known Words Through Analogies with Onsets and Rimes

For students who are more competent, the teacher increases the challenge by beginning the instructional interaction by distributing some letter cards and prompting students to manipulate the cards to make some words they know. Next, the teacher guides them through multiple tasks of manipulating onsets that contain the consonant(s) that come before the vowel. The rime is the part of the syllable that contains the vowel and the consonant(s) that might come after it. For example, the c in cat is the onset and the at is the rime.

Teacher: You know the word can. Make it with your letter cards really fast. (The students make can.) Now, take away the c from can and break that word apart like this. Watch me as I do it and say its parts. (Demonstrates breaking and saying the onset c /k/ and the rime an. The students break can.) Push it back together again and run your finger under it to check it as you say it. (The students make and check the word can.) Break it apart one more time. Check it again as you say the parts. (Demonstrates as she runs her finger under the c and says /k/, then checks the an and says an. The students break the word apart and check.) Make it again really fast and check it. (They do.) Break it again and take the c away. What chunk will you have left?

Several: -an.

Teacher: That’s right, -an. Now, if I wanted to make the word fan, what letter would I put in front of the -an chunk?

All: F.

Teacher: Try it and see if it looks right (they make fan). Were you right? Did you check it? (Students nod affirmatively.) Now, take away the f from fan. (models) What chunk do you have?

All: -an.

Teacher: Look at your letter cards. What letter do you need to add to the front of -an to get ran?

Several: R.

Teacher: You try it and check it! (They do.) Now make the word that you started with, can. Also, I want you to make another word that you know, me. (They make can and me.) Take the last chunk off the word can. What chunk do you have?

Students: -an!

Teacher: Take off the first part of the word me. What letter are you going to take away?

All: M.

Teacher: Put it in front of the -an chunk to make our new word. (Demonstrating man.) Who knows the new word we’ve made?

Several: Man.

Teacher: Good job! Run your finger under it while you say it and see if it looks like man. (They check.)

Notice how the complexity of the task increased as the teacher observed that the students understood the concept of the analogy strategy for building new words. Understanding how to use word parts to solve unknown words will result in faster responding (Clay, 1991).

Word Sorting

High-Frequency Word Sorts

High-Frequency Word Cards are a collection of words frequently encountered throughout guided reading texts. They are created to provide further opportunities for students to build their core vocabularies. Instant recognition of these words enables students to focus on constructing meaning while reading. Sorting through the word cards is a powerful way for students to gain automatic control of commonly occurring words. After the guided reading lesson, give each student a pile of high-frequency word cards. Within each pile, include several copies of the high-frequency words used in the guided reading text. Instruct the students to sort through their piles of cards and look for a specific high-frequency word that has been used in the text. After the sorting task, bring students back to meaningful text by having them open their books, find a sentence with the high-frequency word in it, and read it aloud to their partner.

Emergent/Early Word Tiles

Sorting word tiles are designed to help students notice larger chunks of information within words. This will allow students to become automatic at processing orthographic patterns. Knowledge of this visual information will promote fast and fluent responses in reading and writing.

Word-sorting activities are guided by the knowledge that students bring to the task. Therefore, once the students have had numerous mini-lessons using manipulatives and have acquired a number of known words, they develop classification strategies for organizing the word tiles into related groups. They later apply this strategy in reading and writing when they activate their knowledge of familiar spelling patterns to figure out new words.

Word sorting is performed in whole-class and small-group settings. It may also be done individually in a literacy center after students understand the process. There are two ways to guide students in word sorting mini-lessons.

Open Sort: Self-Selected Categories

One type of word sort is a self-selected, or open sort. The teacher instructs students to self-select categories by saying, I want you to look through your pile of word tiles and group them together any way you want. You may exchange word tiles with other group members if you like. As students work with their tiles, the teacher occasionally coaches a student to notice another category.

Closed Sort: Specific Features

In a closed sort, the teacher might have students find words that have a specific feature. The teacher instructs students by saying, I want you to look through your pile of word tiles and find the words with -at. Lists are then created and generalizations drawn as students discover sound, letter, or meaning patterns.

Specific Categories for Word Sorts

A rime is the part of a syllable in a word that includes the vowel and the letters that follow it. Wylie and Durrell (1970) have identified the 37 most frequently used rimes that make up over 500 primary grade words. The emergent/early set of word tiles includes the following rimes: -at, -ay, -all, -ick, -ide, -ing, -op, -ug, -ump, -in.

The teacher can select a specific feature for sorting (closed sort) from the following list of ways to sort the word tiles:

• Initial consonant sound: b-, c-, d-, f-, g-, h-, j-, k-, l-, m-, n-, p-, q-, r-, s-, t-, v-, w-, x-, y-, z-
• Final consonant sound: -d, -g, -k, -l, -m, -n, -p, -r, -s, -t, -w
• Short vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Long vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• Words that rhyme
• Words from the same word family
• Words that are nouns, verbs, or adjectives