Get Ready to Huddle! Discover Intensive Phonics (K - 3 rd Grade & SPED) Huddle 4 th Tuesday of each month at 2 pm MT Please Call Passcode # Presented by: Joan Parrish

“Transferring Phonics Skills to Other Academic Curriculum ” The Big Question

The Misconception of Phonics 1. Phonics skills can only be taught in isolation during language arts. 2. Hinders development of critical thinking skills. 3. Phonics and vocabulary skills do not transfer to other academic areas.

Phonics is a part of the total Language Arts curriculum The Language Arts curriculum includes: Phonemic Awareness Phonics Spelling Vocabulary Reading Grammar / Creative Writing

Phonics promotes the development of critical thinking skills Systematic phonics lessons are taught by example during the learning and the direct application of phonetic rules. Using phonics develops higher critical thinking skills because explicit, systematic phonics instruction automatically teaches some aspects of formal logic such as decoding and encoding.

Phonics skills should transfer to other academic areas. The five areas of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension) must be integrated into mathematics, science, and social studies to enrich the students’ understanding of concepts in those areas.

Social Studies Phonemic Awareness: the ability to notice, think about, and work with individual sounds within a spoken word. This skill can be taught through singing songs, rhymes, and word play. Phonics: the relationship between letters and sounds. Teachers can relate phonics skills with social studies trade books that have a repetitive initial sound or vowel pattern to reinforce vowel patterns and teach content. Poetry is a powerful source for both content and phonics.

Math Mathematics: the ability to understand the relationship of a specific amount and associate it to the “picture” or name of the number (number sense). Vocabulary: Selecting certain books to reinforce math concepts is very powerful. Students use phonics skills to decode and read specific math vocabulary, then “act out” the arithmetic computations.

Science A phonics lesson using a specific letter sound is reinforced during a shared science story that integrates a life, earth, or physical science concept. Make the concept come to life through “hands-on” experiences.

Spelling & Vocabulary Expand spelling lists by adding vocabulary from the other content areas of instruction. Students will be more prepared and have a greater understanding for reading assignments.

Reading Thematic Units Children can be exposed to the various curriculum areas through literature. Literature can be broken into thematic units to teach different skills. Here are a few websites for teachers regarding thematic units:

Why integrate phonics skills into other subject areas? A balanced approach to learning is provided. Enables children to make relevant connections to life. Promotes the transfer of knowledge to the subject areas. Provides opportunities for different ways of learning: kinesthetic, tactile, spatial, visual, and auditory. Phonics skills are reinforced in contextual experiences.

Questions & Answers “What is really important in education is not that the child learns this and that, but that the mind is matured, that energy is aroused.” Soren Kierkegaard

Get Ready for the next Discover Intensive Phonics Huddle! “Syllabication” Tuesday, January 27 th at 2:00pm MT No Huddles in December! Have a great Holiday!