Explicit Systematic Phonics
The purpose of phonics instruction is to teach children sound-spelling relationships and how to use those relationships to read words. Phonics instruction should be explicit and systematic. It is explicit in that sound-spelling relationships are directly taught. Students are told, for example, that the letter s stands for the /s/ sound. It is systematic in that it follows a scope and sequence that allows children to form and read words early on. The skills taught are constantly reviewed and applied to real reading.
Systematic and early instruction in phonics leads to better reading. This is because phonics knowledge aids in the development of word recognition. Word recognition, in turn, increases fluency. Reading fluency, then, improves reading comprehension since children are not struggling with decoding and are able to devote their full attention to making meaning from text. Inadequate decoding is characteristic of poor readers.
Good phonics lessons contain the following critical parts. Each will be discussed in depth on the following pages. Phonological Awareness Introduce Sound-Spelling Phonics Maintenance Blending Word Building Dictation/Spelling
Phonological Awareness Phonemic awareness is the understanding or insight that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds (phonemes). This awareness includes the ability to pick out and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Phonological awareness is an “umbrella” term that includes phonemic awareness, or awareness of words at the phoneme (sound) level. It also includes an awareness of word units larger than the phoneme. Therefore, phonological awareness includes: • words within sentences; • rhyming units within words;
• beginning and ending sounds within words; • syllables within words; • phonemes, or sounds, within words (phonemic awareness); and • features of individual phonemes such as how the mouth, tongue, vocal cords, and teeth are used to produce the sound.
Children sometime come to school unaware that words consist of sounds. Phonological awareness activities help children learn to distinguish individual sounds, or phonemes, within words. This awareness is a prerequisite skill before children can learn to associate sounds with letters and manipulate sounds to blend words (during reading) or segment words (during spelling). Often children who have difficulties with phonics instruction do so because they have not developed the prerequisite phonological awareness skills that many children gain through years of exposure to rhymes, songs, and being read to. Phonological awareness training provides the foundation on which phonics instruction is built. Thus, children need solid phonological awareness training in order for phonics instruction to be effective. For example, phonics instruction that begins by asking a child what sound the words sit, sand, and sock have in common will not make sense to a child who has difficulty discriminating sounds in words, cannot segment sounds within words, or does not understand what is meant by the term sound. Children must be able to auditorily discriminate /s/ in the words sit, sand, and sock before it makes sense to them that the letter s stands for this sound in these words.
Most phonological awareness activities are oral. They are playful in nature and provide an engaging way for children to discriminate the sounds that make up words. For example, oral blending activities help children to hear how sounds are put together to make words. These activities will lead to decoding, in which children begin sounding out or blending words independently. Children who have difficulty orally blending words will have difficulty sounding out words while reading. The oral blending exercises begin with blending larger word parts, such as syllables, and progress to blending onsets and rimes and finally whole words sound by sound. The earliest oral blending exercises use words that begin with continuous consonants such as s, m, l, f, r, and z. These consonant sounds can be sustained without distortion. This makes it easier for children to hear the distinct sounds and more efficient to model the principle of oral blending,
because all the sounds in the words can be “sung” together in a more natural manner. For example, the word sat can be stretched out and sung like this: sssaaat. Movements can also be added to help children note when the speaker goes from one sound to the next. Many children will benefit from these visual cues.
The oral segmentation exercises help children to separate words into sounds. These exercises begin with a focus on syllables, which are easier to distinguish than individual sounds. Segmentation exercises will lead to spelling, in which children begin segmenting words into their component sounds in order to write them. Children who have difficulty orally segmenting words will have difficulty breaking apart words in order to spell them. You can tell if children are developing the necessary segmentation skills when they begin asking questions such as “What stands for the /a/ sound in cat?” or “What stands for the /sh/ sound in shop?”
Oral blending and oral segmentation tasks are the primary tasks focused on because of their connection to early reading and writing development. In addition to these tasks, discrimination activities will help children to focus on specific sounds in words. For example, children are asked to listen for vowel sounds. Since vowel sounds are necessary for decoding, and children’s early invented spellings often omit vowels, much practice is provided to help children hear these sounds in words. It is easier for children to discriminate long-vowel sounds than short-vowel sounds. Therefore, the exercises contain long- before short-vowel sound discrimination. Additionally, children practice listening for specific consonants at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of words.
Phonological awareness is not the same thing as phonics. Phonological awareness deals with sounds in spoken words, whereas phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols. Therefore, phonics deals with learning sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonological awareness tasks, by contrast, are purely oral.
According to Adams (1990), there are five basic types of phonological awareness tasks. Within each task type are progressively more complex activities. These task types and sample activities include the following.
• Task 1—The ability to hear rhymes and alliteration a. rhyme Example: I once saw a cat, sitting next to a dog. I once saw a bat, sitting next to a frog. b. alliteration Example: Six snakes sell sodas and snacks. c. assonance Example: The leaf, the bean, the peach—all were within reach. • Task 2—The ability to do oddity tasks a. rhyme Example: Which word does not rhyme: cat, sat, pig? (pig) b. beginning consonants Example: Which two words begin with the same sound: man, sat, sick? (sat, sick) c. ending consonants Example: Which two words end with the same sound: man, sat, ten? (man, ten) d. medial sounds (long vowels) Example: Which word does not have the same middle sound: take, late, feet? (feet) e. medial sounds (short vowels) Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: top, cat, pan? (can, pan) f. medial sounds (consonants) Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: kitten, missing, lesson? (missing, lesson)
• Task 3—The ability to orally blend words a. syllables Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. ta . . . ble—What’s the word? (table) b. onset/rime Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. /p/ . . . an—What’s the word? (pan) c. phoneme by phoneme
Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. /s/ /a/ /t/—What’s the word? (sat)
• Task 4—The ability to orally segment words (including counting sounds) a. syllables Example: Listen to this word: table. Say it syllable by syllable. (ta . . . ble) b. onset/rime Example: Listen to this word: pan. Say the first sound in the word (the onset) and then the rest of the word (the rime). (/p/ . . . an) c. phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds) Example: Listen to this word: sat. Say the word sound by sound. (/s/ /a/ /t/) How many sounds do you hear? (3)
• Task 5—The ability to do phonemic manipulation tasks a. initial sound substitution Example: Replace the first sound in mat with /s/. (sat) b. final sound substitution Example: Replace the last sound in mat with /p/. (map) c. vowel substitution Example: Replace the middle sound in map with /o/. (mop) d. syllable deletion Example: Say baker without the ba. (ker) e. initial sound deletion Example: Say sun without the /s/. (un) f. final sound deletion Example: Say hit without the /t/. (hi) g. initial phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say step without the /s/. (tep) h. final phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say best without the /t/. (bes) i. second phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say frog without the /r/. (fog)
TIPS • Move through the activities quickly. You need not spend a lot of instructional time on these activities. They are designed to be quick-paced and playful. • Carefully pronounce all the sounds. Avoid distorting sounds. For example, avoid adding an “uh” to a sound, such as saying “suh” instead of /sssss/. • Do not expect mastery of all skills. Some children will need many opportunities with various phonological awareness tasks to become successful. Hints throughout the lessons provide ideas for modifying tasks to help children experiencing difficulties. In addition, phonological awareness intervention activities are provided at the end of each lesson. Informally monitor students and select those who need this intervention. Conduct the activities during Differentiated Instruction/Independent Center time.
The purpose of phonics instruction is to teach children sound-spelling relationships and how to use those relationships to read words. Phonics instruction should be explicit and systematic. It is explicit in that sound-spelling relationships are directly taught. Students are told, for example, that the letter s stands for the /s/ sound. It is systematic in that it follows a scope and sequence that allows children to form and read words early on. The skills taught are constantly reviewed and applied to real reading.
Systematic and early instruction in phonics leads to better reading. This is because phonics knowledge aids in the development of word recognition. Word recognition, in turn, increases fluency. Reading fluency, then, improves reading comprehension since children are not struggling with decoding and are able to devote their full attention to making meaning from text. Inadequate decoding is characteristic of poor readers.
Good phonics lessons contain the following critical parts. Each will be discussed in depth on the following pages. Phonological Awareness Introduce Sound-Spelling Phonics Maintenance Blending Word Building Dictation/Spelling
Phonological Awareness Phonemic awareness is the understanding or insight that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds (phonemes). This awareness includes the ability to pick out and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Phonological awareness is an “umbrella” term that includes phonemic awareness, or awareness of words at the phoneme (sound) level. It also includes an awareness of word units larger than the phoneme. Therefore, phonological awareness includes: • words within sentences; • rhyming units within words;
• beginning and ending sounds within words; • syllables within words; • phonemes, or sounds, within words (phonemic awareness); and • features of individual phonemes such as how the mouth, tongue, vocal cords, and teeth are used to produce the sound.
Children sometime come to school unaware that words consist of sounds. Phonological awareness activities help children learn to distinguish individual sounds, or phonemes, within words. This awareness is a prerequisite skill before children can learn to associate sounds with letters and manipulate sounds to blend words (during reading) or segment words (during spelling). Often children who have difficulties with phonics instruction do so because they have not developed the prerequisite phonological awareness skills that many children gain through years of exposure to rhymes, songs, and being read to. Phonological awareness training provides the foundation on which phonics instruction is built. Thus, children need solid phonological awareness training in order for phonics instruction to be effective. For example, phonics instruction that begins by asking a child what sound the words sit, sand, and sock have in common will not make sense to a child who has difficulty discriminating sounds in words, cannot segment sounds within words, or does not understand what is meant by the term sound. Children must be able to auditorily discriminate /s/ in the words sit, sand, and sock before it makes sense to them that the letter s stands for this sound in these words.
Most phonological awareness activities are oral. They are playful in nature and provide an engaging way for children to discriminate the sounds that make up words. For example, oral blending activities help children to hear how sounds are put together to make words. These activities will lead to decoding, in which children begin sounding out or blending words independently. Children who have difficulty orally blending words will have difficulty sounding out words while reading. The oral blending exercises begin with blending larger word parts, such as syllables, and progress to blending onsets and rimes and finally whole words sound by sound. The earliest oral blending exercises use words that begin with continuous consonants such as s, m, l, f, r, and z. These consonant sounds can be sustained without distortion. This makes it easier for children to hear the distinct sounds and more efficient to model the principle of oral blending,
because all the sounds in the words can be “sung” together in a more natural manner. For example, the word sat can be stretched out and sung like this: sssaaat. Movements can also be added to help children note when the speaker goes from one sound to the next. Many children will benefit from these visual cues.
The oral segmentation exercises help children to separate words into sounds. These exercises begin with a focus on syllables, which are easier to distinguish than individual sounds. Segmentation exercises will lead to spelling, in which children begin segmenting words into their component sounds in order to write them. Children who have difficulty orally segmenting words will have difficulty breaking apart words in order to spell them. You can tell if children are developing the necessary segmentation skills when they begin asking questions such as “What stands for the /a/ sound in cat?” or “What stands for the /sh/ sound in shop?”
Oral blending and oral segmentation tasks are the primary tasks focused on because of their connection to early reading and writing development. In addition to these tasks, discrimination activities will help children to focus on specific sounds in words. For example, children are asked to listen for vowel sounds. Since vowel sounds are necessary for decoding, and children’s early invented spellings often omit vowels, much practice is provided to help children hear these sounds in words. It is easier for children to discriminate long-vowel sounds than short-vowel sounds. Therefore, the exercises contain long- before short-vowel sound discrimination. Additionally, children practice listening for specific consonants at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of words.
Phonological awareness is not the same thing as phonics. Phonological awareness deals with sounds in spoken words, whereas phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols. Therefore, phonics deals with learning sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonological awareness tasks, by contrast, are purely oral.
According to Adams (1990), there are five basic types of phonological awareness tasks. Within each task type are progressively more complex activities. These task types and sample activities include the following.
• Task 1—The ability to hear rhymes and alliteration a. rhyme Example: I once saw a cat, sitting next to a dog. I once saw a bat, sitting next to a frog. b. alliteration Example: Six snakes sell sodas and snacks. c. assonance Example: The leaf, the bean, the peach—all were within reach. • Task 2—The ability to do oddity tasks a. rhyme Example: Which word does not rhyme: cat, sat, pig? (pig) b. beginning consonants Example: Which two words begin with the same sound: man, sat, sick? (sat, sick) c. ending consonants Example: Which two words end with the same sound: man, sat, ten? (man, ten) d. medial sounds (long vowels) Example: Which word does not have the same middle sound: take, late, feet? (feet) e. medial sounds (short vowels) Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: top, cat, pan? (can, pan) f. medial sounds (consonants) Example: Which two words have the same middle sound: kitten, missing, lesson? (missing, lesson)
• Task 3—The ability to orally blend words a. syllables Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. ta . . . ble—What’s the word? (table) b. onset/rime Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. /p/ . . . an—What’s the word? (pan) c. phoneme by phoneme
Example: Listen to these word parts. Say the word as a whole. /s/ /a/ /t/—What’s the word? (sat)
• Task 4—The ability to orally segment words (including counting sounds) a. syllables Example: Listen to this word: table. Say it syllable by syllable. (ta . . . ble) b. onset/rime Example: Listen to this word: pan. Say the first sound in the word (the onset) and then the rest of the word (the rime). (/p/ . . . an) c. phoneme by phoneme (counting sounds) Example: Listen to this word: sat. Say the word sound by sound. (/s/ /a/ /t/) How many sounds do you hear? (3)
• Task 5—The ability to do phonemic manipulation tasks a. initial sound substitution Example: Replace the first sound in mat with /s/. (sat) b. final sound substitution Example: Replace the last sound in mat with /p/. (map) c. vowel substitution Example: Replace the middle sound in map with /o/. (mop) d. syllable deletion Example: Say baker without the ba. (ker) e. initial sound deletion Example: Say sun without the /s/. (un) f. final sound deletion Example: Say hit without the /t/. (hi) g. initial phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say step without the /s/. (tep) h. final phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say best without the /t/. (bes) i. second phoneme in a blend deletion Example: Say frog without the /r/. (fog)
TIPS • Move through the activities quickly. You need not spend a lot of instructional time on these activities. They are designed to be quick-paced and playful. • Carefully pronounce all the sounds. Avoid distorting sounds. For example, avoid adding an “uh” to a sound, such as saying “suh” instead of /sssss/. • Do not expect mastery of all skills. Some children will need many opportunities with various phonological awareness tasks to become successful. Hints throughout the lessons provide ideas for modifying tasks to help children experiencing difficulties. In addition, phonological awareness intervention activities are provided at the end of each lesson. Informally monitor students and select those who need this intervention. Conduct the activities during Differentiated Instruction/Independent Center time.
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