Phonics I: Letter-Sound Relations EDC424

Why teach letter-sound relations?

Case 1: What does this student struggle with? Words known and bat cut he hot mom no Words not known an but me not Good sight word knowledge, but it’s masking student’s lack of understanding of the alphabetic principle: (1) sounds are represented by letters and (2) those letters represent the sounds rather consistently

Case 2: What does she struggle with? Pseudoword kot swip gan dree shub flate meep Child’s response ka s ga da…er ser fa mech Some knowledge of first sound in a syllable, but little ability to decode the vowel and final phoneme Needs: teach vowel sounds; how to blend sounds into a word; words need to make sense*

Case 3: What does this 3 rd grader struggle with? Word cold soon war figure certain mineral paragraph Child’s response could same wear finger curtur material potograph Paying attention to beginning and final grapheme but ignores middle grapheme and pulls from words he knows Needs: attention to medial letters/sounds and monitoring

What do children need to know and be able to do to read words? Know the speech sounds associated with written letters in words Know how to put those sounds together to form a pronounceable word Have a strong sense of English spelling/writing patterns Recognize words rapidly Isabel Beck, 2006

Principles of Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondence 1.Instruction should highlight letter-sound relationship at all positions in the word (e.g., beginning, middle, end) 2.Instruction should link phonemic awareness with letter sound correspondence Three perspectives: 1.Phonemic awareness  Decoding 2.Decoding  Phonemic awareness 3.** Phonemic Awareness   Decoding No evidence that engaging children in sophisticated speech- only tasks (substitution/manipulation) will improve decoding. In fact, some evidence that knowledge of letters helps complete these sophisticated tasks (Isabel Beck, 2006). Isabel Beck, 2006

Letter-Sound Instruction Sequence: Consonants > Vowels > Sounds represented by more than one letter (ee, ai, ph, ng) Lesson Sequence for Teaching Consonant Letter-Sound Correspondence 1.Develop phonemic awareness by focusing on the sound represented by a particular letter in the initial position. 2.Connect the printed letter with the sound the letter represents. 3.Discriminate among words that have letter-sound in the initial position and those that do not. 4.Develop phonemic awareness by focusing on the sound in the final position. 5.Discriminate among words that have letter-sound in the final position and those that do not. 6.Discriminate among words that have the letter-sound in the initial and final positions. Isabel Beck, 2006

Vowel-Sound Correspondence (same as consonants but focus on initial & medial) 1.Focus on short vowel sound in initial position 2.Connect sound with letter 3.Discriminate words that have that vowel sound at beginning and other words that do not 4.Focus on short vowel sound in medial position 5.Discriminate words that have that vowel sound in the middle and other words that do not 6.Discriminate among words that have the letter- sound in the initial and final positions. Isabel Beck, 2006

Once you teach, provide LOTS of practice (model, shared, interactive, guided, independent) Model/Shared (Sharing Circle > Centers) Mrs. Jones’ Kindergarten Letter Names and Letter Sounds Mrs. Jones’ Kindergarten Letter Names and Letter Sounds Song Lyrics for Children (more on YouTube) Song Lyrics for ChildrenYouTube Guided/Independent (Center activities) Read Write Think: Picture MatchPicture Match Starfall: ABC AlphabetABC Alphabet Monitor/Reteach PALS Phonological Awareness Literacy Activities (that correlate with PALS assessment) PALS Phonological Awareness Literacy Activities

Empty versions of slides for handouts

Case 1: What does this student struggle with? Words known and bat cut he hot mom no Words not known an but me not

Case 2: What does she struggle with? Pseudoword kot swip gan dree shub flate meep Child’s response ka s ga da…er ser fa mech

Case 3: What does this 3 rd grader struggle with? Word cold soon war figure certain mineral paragraph Child’s response could same wear finger curtur material potograph