Helping Your Child With Phonics
Dear Parents:
Learning to read can be accomplished in many ways. There
have been many different approaches touted over the years. Some claim to be the
breakthrough that all have been waiting for, however, no one method has ever
been proven to work for everyone. This manual addresses one method, and does
not propose that it will be the answer for everyone. This manual is intended to
explain the reading process,in a simple parent friendly manner. It is intended
to help parents get started teaching their own children to read. It will
explain how reading with PHONICS, progresses, step by step. Phonics is the
sound the different letters of the alphabet make. Several of these Phonics
sounds present a problem for the student who is first learning to read. This
manual is intended to help parents understand the Phonics process and to then
guide their child, along through this process. Please read it completely in order
to gain an overview of the whole Phonics process.
IN ORDER TO USE THIS MANUAL
EFFECTIVELY
1. Introduce the sounds
in the order they have been outlined.
2. Move along slowly. Do
not move on to the next sound until the previous one has been mastered.
3. Have fun with your
child. Teaching reading to anyone that is having difficulty will take time and
patience.
Teaching reading through phonics involves
learning the various sounds that the letters of the alphabet make. The order in
which these sounds are to be taught, will be outlined beginning on page 2.
Follow the order without changing it. Each new sound builds on the previous
one. Following the order is most important. The use of games, to learn the
sounds, is a very useful device. The activities outlined in this manual can be
used to teach all of the different sounds, the word cards are simply changed.
If your child is having difficulty reading, regardless of
his or her grade, the following approach could be followed.
PLEASE READ THE WHOLE
MANUAL COMPLETELY BEFORE BEGINNING. MANY IMPORTANT STEPS ARE DISCUSSED
THROUGHOUT THIS MANUAL.
ORDER IN WHICH THE SOUNDS SHOULD BE
TAUGHT
Sample words for all of
the sounds can be found in the word bank further on in this manual.
Initial Consonants: This
involves teaching your child the name of each letter of the alphabet and the
sound that each letter makes. Alphabet soup and cereals that are made with the
letters of the alphabet are very helpful in making a game out of learning these
sounds.
Short Vowels: The
letters a-e-i-o-u- offer a problem for students who may be having difficulty
reading. The student will want to use the sound that this letter gets from the
alphabet,however,the sound that we are looking for,is the sound that we get
from words like,hat,set,hit,dot,and hut. There is no point in pushing on until
these sounds are well known and very familiar to the student. The a & o
should be introduced first as these are the two short vowel sounds that are the
easiest to master. The other three should then be presented last.
Blends: Blends are two letters that are blended together to make one
sound. When the blends are first learned they should be mixed only with short
vowel sounds at first and then they can be combined with more difficult
combinations latter on. Examples of blends are:
1. bl-cl-fl-gl-kl-pl-sl-
2.
br-cr-dr-fr-gr-pr-tr-wr-
3.
sn-st-sk-sw-sp-sc-sl-sm
4.
spl-str-spr-shr-thr-scr-squ-tw
Blends that have been
discussed are the blends that come at the beginning of a word. Blends will also
be found at the end of words. Since these sounds often present a much more
difficult mastery for the student they should be presented at a later time.
Examples of such blends are:
1.ck-nd-lt-lf-lk-lp-nk-ng-nt-ch-tch-sp-mp-ft-ct-pt
Long Vowels: Long vowel sounds are the sounds that one hears when we say the
alphabet. There are two main ways in which these sounds are accomplished. The
first is called a Vowel Digraph. For simplicity we most often refer to these
sounds with the children as the double vowel sound. An example of a double
vowel would be -ea-. A simple catchy rule that works quite well in remembering
how to decipher these words goes like this," WHEN TWO VOWELS GO WALKING THE
FIRST ONE DOES THE TALKING," (the second letter says nothing). Thus the
sound that results is the long sound E (the same sound that you would hear if
you were to say the name of this letter in the alphabet). Examples of vowel
digraphs are: ee-ea-ai-ay-ue-oa.
Bossy E Words: Words such as hate-made-tube are examples of what we call bossy E
words. The E at the end of the word has an effect on the sound that the first
vowel will make. We often tell the children that the E at the end of the word
is very bossy. That E makes the other vowel say the long sound even if it
doesn't want to. If you will look at the list of words in the word bank you
will see that there is a drill list of words that will force the student to use
this rule effectively,(Drilling short and Long sounds). Have them read the
short vowel word first and then the long vowel word beside it next. Example:
hat---hate. They will often want to say hat for both words. They will usually
look at you, perhaps with a little smile, knowing that something is wrong.
Remind them of the rule and then ask them to try again. As you continue
practicing these combinations vary your selection of words. Do not always have
them read the word that has the short sound first, at times start with the
bossy E word. This prevents guessing and ensures that the rule and it's
application is soundly ingrained.
Controlling R: Words that contain the letter combinations of
ER-IR-UR-OR-AR make up the controlling R words. ER-IR-UR
all make the same sound so they may be taught all together. OR sounds
are very straight forward. The sound AR is interesting because the R is the
only sound that is heard. These sounds are often referred to as Phonograms.
Dipthongs: These sounds often present a bit more problems for the
student.They are therefore presented latter as the student gets more able to
sound out the easier sounds.All to often, the introduction of several sounds
confuses the student, and, his or her ability to decode the various sounds
becomes slower with the introduction of several sounds. Thus it is wise to go
slowly and be sure that each sound is soundly known.
OU-OW-OY-AW are examples
of Dipthongs
Consonant
Diagraphs: CK-SH-TH-WH-QU-GH-CH.
These sounds are similar to consonant blends but are often more difficult to
read and so will be presented as a group and not mixed in with the blends. See
the word bank for a complete group of these words.
Hard and soft C and G:
The rule that applies here is the same for the C and the G. When the letter C
or G is followed by either an E-I-or-Y,then the C or G, will have a soft sound.
This would be found in words like ice,giant,cereal, and ace. The C and G have
the sound of S and J respectively. The other sound of these letters is referred
to as the hard sound. Words like can and go illustrate this adequately.
Y at the end of words:
The letter Y found at the end of words will have either the long sound of E or
I. Remember this is the sound that the letter E or I makes when we say the
alphabet.
Irregular sounds: Many of the rules that have been mentioned previously in this
manual will be found to have exceptions.This makes reading the English language
difficult at times for students that are having a hard time acquiring a phonics
base. For this reason,the words that do not follow the rules, as outlined in
this manual,will not be explored at this time. This manual attempts to outline
a plan to help reluctant and hesitant readers get started. It only is intended
to lay out a basic plan for beginning readers. Further Phonics study into the
more complex structures can be found in regular phonics books that regular
classroom teacher's use.