1. Maine Reading First Course
Session #10
Phonics Instruction
Maine Department of Education, 2006
Maine Department of Education, 2006

2. Key Learning Goals Session 10 Phonics Instruction
To enable class participants to transform their theoretical understandings into classroom practices that support student development of phonics knowledge, including instructional strategies for teaching:
letter and letter-sound identification, including letter clusters
the use of letter-sound information (consonants, vowels) to decode and write words
the use of word structures and patterns (onsets and rimes, syllables, affixes, letter clusters, spelling patterns) to decode and write words high-frequency words and irregular word patterns
Maine Department of Education, 2006

3. Maine Department of Education, 2006
What is Phonics?
Phonics is knowing the relationship between printed letters (graphemes) and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language.
(Put Reading First, 2001)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

4. Changing Emphasis of Five Essential Elements
Maine Department of Education, 2006

5. Phonics Instruction is Important Because…..
It helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language.
It leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle—the systematic and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken words.
(Put Reading First, 2001)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

6. Effective phonics instruction is….
Systematic—the plan of instruction includes a carefully selected set of letter-sound relationships that are organized into a logical sequence from easier sounds to more difficult sounds. High utility sounds and letters are taught first, letters with similar shapes and sounds are separated.
Explicit—the plan of instruction provides teachers with precise directions for teaching letter-sound relationships, including:
Explaining and modeling
Giving guided practice
Watching student responses and giving corrective feedback
Planning extended practice
(Put Reading First, 2001)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

7. Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction……
significantly improves children’s word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension.
is most effective when it begins in kindergarten or first grade.
(Put Reading First, 2001)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

8. Effective Phonics Instruction Provides…..
ample opportunities for children to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words, sentences, and stories.
(Put Reading First, 2001)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

9. Systematic Phonics Instruction
Provides a sequence or order of letter-sound relationship instruction that proceeds from easier letter-sounds to more difficult letter-sound combinations.
Maine Department of Education, 2006

10. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Recommended Guidelines for Systematic Phonics Instruction (Blevins, 1998)
Sequence
Teach short-vowel sounds before long-vowel sounds
Teach consonants and short vowels in combination so that words can be generated as early as possible
Be sure the majority of consonants taught early are continuous consonants (i.e. f, l, m, n, r, s)
Use a sequence in which many words can be generated
Progress from simple to more complex sound-spellings:
consonants and short vowels
digraphs
consonant blends
final e
long vowels
silent letters
syllables
roots and affixes
Scope
Decide which sound-spelling relationships are important enough to warrant instruction, and which can be taught as needed. Use list of 44 more frequent letter-sound spellings.
Maine Department of Education, 2006

11. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Progression of Phonics Knowledge & Skills Across Grades K-3 (Chall, 1996; Blevins, 1998; Lyons & Moore, 2003)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

12. Curriculum Maps for Alphabetic Principal Kindergarten
Maine Department of Education, 2006

13. Maine Department of Education, 2006
First Grade
Maine Department of Education, 2006

14. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Second Grade
Maine Department of Education, 2006

15. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Third Grade
Maine Department of Education, 2006

16. What are the Different Approaches to Phonics Instruction?
Synthetic Phonics
Analytic Phonics
Analogy-Based Phonics
Phonics through Spelling
Embedded Phonics
Onset-Rime Phonics
Which approach(es) are systematic?
Maine Department of Education, 2006

17. Elements of Explicit Phonics Lessons
Teach—How to
Sound (phonemic awareness)
Letter-sound association
Draw on prior knowledge
Practice—Let’s do
Word building
Spelling
Apply—You do
Sentence dictation
Reading decodable text
Application in other contexts (reading and writing)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

18. Explicit vs. Implicit Phonics Instruction—Which is Which?
After reading a story about animals, the teacher asks students “What sound does horse start with? Do you see any other animals whose names begin with that sound? What letter says /h/? Can you write the letter “h”?
After a lesson in which students isolate words that begin with the /h/ sound, the teacher links the sound to the letter by showing students the letter “h”, telling them it stands for the /h/ sound, and using “h” to practice making words that begin with the /h/ sound. Later, the teacher reads a book about animals and shows students how the word horse starts with “h”. The teacher encourages students to look for other animals or words that begin with “h”.
Maine Department of Education, 2006

19. Phonics Lesson Dos (Blevins, 1998)
Use logical sequence and be explicit
Build on what children know and adjust instruction to student needs
Provide frequent, daily lessons
Keep lessons brief, fast paced, & focused
Provide built-in review and explicit transfer to reading and spelling activities
Make learning public (i.e. word walls and letter charts) and reflective (i.e. Talk-to-Yourself Chart)
Maine Department of Education, 2006

20. Phonics “Talk-to-Yourself Chart” (Gaskins, et al, 1997)
Completed chart for the word high.
The word is high.
Stretch the word. I hear 2 sounds.
I see 4 letters because -igh stands for one sound.
The spelling pattern is igh.
This is what I know about the vowel: It is the long-i sound.
Another word on the Word Wall with the same vowel sound is light.
Maine Department of Education, 2006

21. Phonics Lessons Don’ts (Blevins, 1998)
Avoid having children continually wait for turns—use small group instruction.
Avoid instruction that is not explicit
Avoid using incorrect language or terminology. For example:
Instead of saying, “You can hear the f sound, “ say, “You can hear the /f/ sound.”
Instead of saying, “What sounds do you see at that the end of mint?” say, “What sounds do you hear at the end of mint?”
Maine Department of Education, 2006

22. Phonics Lesson Components (Blevins, 1998)
Repeated readings
Phonemic awareness exercises
Explicit letter-sound relationship instruction
Blending practice
Word-building practice
Controlled reading practice
Dictation
Maine Department of Education, 2006

23. Types of Texts for Beginning Reading Instruction (Just Read Florida)
Predictable and Patterned Books
Decodable or Phonetically Regular Books
Pictures for Words (Rebus) Books
Maine Department of Education, 2006

24. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Your Turn
Sketch out a plan for how you might explicitly teach the:
/m/ sound and letter “m”,
/ch/ sound and digraph “ch”, or
Prefix “un”
Maine Department of Education, 2006

25. Maine Department of Education, 2006
Considerations for Phonics Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities and/or Limited English Proficiency
Provide direct, explicit, systematic instruction in letter/sound relationships, including preteaching and reteaching and review
Provide instruction in English language structure
Be aware of the differences between English and a child’s primary language.
Teacher children how to transfer what they know in their primary language to English.
Teach letter sounds and combinations that do not occur in the child’s native language.
Involve students in daily events with a variety of books and printed materials
Engage students in read aloud and shared reading opportunities with more proficient readers
Maine Department of Education, 2006

26. Instructional Activities for Phonics
Letter Identification/Letter-Sound Correspondence
Decoding
Blending
Word Building
Word Sorts/Word Hunts/Word Walls
Syllabication
Encoding
Segmenting
Dictation
Sight Vocabulary/Irregular Words
Maine Department of Education, 2006

27. Think-Ink-Pair-Share
How Does the Phonics Instruction in My Reading Program Align with Research?
Think-Ink-Pair-Share
Systematic
Explicit
Letter-Sound Information
Integration
Maine Department of Education, 2006

28. Maine Department of Education, 2006
3—2—1
3—things worth remembering
2—things to learn more about
1—burning question
Maine Department of Education, 2006