2. Unit 6: Teaching Letter-Sound Associations  Barriers to Learning Letter-Sounds  Teaching Letter-Sounds

3. “…teaching children all the letters of the alphabet is not easy, particularly when they come to school knowing few of them.” National Reading Panel

4. Letters are abstract shapes that convey no meaning to the uninitiated. A B C D E F G H Letters Are Abstract Shapes 

5. “...There are 52 capital and lower-case letter shapes, names, and sounds to learn.” Shape: H h Name: aich Sound: /h/ National Reading Panel Letters Are Abstract Shapes H h

6. B “bee” P “pee” D “dee” T “tee” Letter-Names May Sound Alike

7. What is this?

8. q b d p

9. Letter-Shapes Are Often Similar b d p q h n u m V W M l i j The shapes of many letters are similar, and, therefore, easily confused with one another.

10. G g g D d Letter Forms Are Often Different A a a E e Each letter has two or more forms that may look very different.

11. 7 pairs of letter-sounds differ only in that 1 is unvoiced and 1 is voiced. /b//p/ /d//t/ /v//f/ /g//k/ /j//ch/ /z//s/ /th//th/ Quiet Sisters Noisy Sisters Unvoiced and Voiced Letter-Sounds

12. Letter-names that begin with the letter-sound: b - “bee” k - “kay” t - “tee” Letter-names that end with the letter-sound f - “eff” l - “ell” x - “ex” Letter-names not containing the letter-sound: c - “see” h - “aich” Letter-Sounds In Letter-Names

13. : Activity: Sounds in Letter-names: Add all of the consonants to the chart.

14. b d j k p t v z (c, g) f l m n r s x Letter-names that begin with the letter-sound: Letter-names that end with the letter-sound: Letter-names not containing the letter -sound: c g h q w y Sounds In Letter-Names

15. Barriers To Alphabet Learning Letters are abstract. Shapes for different letters are similar. Capital/lowercase may be different. Relation of letter-name to sound inconsistent. Dl f pbdq R r N n dubuyu /w/

16. More Barriers: Slow Retrieval m Uh, uh…uh, don’t tell me…uh…m!

17. More Barriers: Slow Retrieval Of Letter Names And Sounds “Letter learning requires retaining shapes, names, and sounds in memory and in fact, overlearning them so that letters can be processed automatically in reading and writing words.” National Reading Panel Report, 2000, p. 2-125

18. Unit 6: Teaching Letter-Sound Associations  Barriers to Learning Letter-Sounds  Teaching Letter-Sounds

19. Instructional Principles Applied To Letter-Sounds  Assessment  Sequential & Systematic  Direct and Explicit  Teach to Mastery & Automaticity  Multisensory Strategies Felton & Lillie, 2001

20. Strategies For Students With Naming/Retrieval Problems  Begin with a small set of items  Provide cues  Provide extensive practice - over learning  Practice in two directions: Sound to letter and letter to sound  Avoid guessing Felton & Lillie, 2001

21. Activity  Review sequences of letter-sound associations  What are the key things to consider when determining appropriate sequence?  Is a vowel taught?  Types of Consonants (continuants/stops)  Voiced/unvoiced  Names of letters

22. Activity  Review sequences of letter-sound associations

23. How many words can you make using the first 11 letters? Recipe for Reading: c, short o, short a, g, m, l, h, t, short I, j, k, p, ch, short u, b, r, f, n, short e, s, sh, th, w, wh, y, v, x, and z. Letterland: c, short and long a, d, m, t, s, short and long I, n, g, o, p, e, u, k, l, f, b, j, r, q, v, w, x, y, and z. Fundations: t, b, f, m, c, short a, short I, r, short o, g, d, s, short e, short u, l, h, k, p, j, w, z, q, y, x. Carreker: short I, t, n, s, short a, l, d, f, h, g, short o, k, c, m, r, b, short e, y, j, u, w, v, x, z, qu

25. Begin With A Small Set Of Items Possible set of letters: a i b t s f m vowels: a i consonants: b t s f m Appropriate words: at am it if bat bit at am it if bat bit tab Tim sat Sam sit fat fit fib mat tab Tim sat Sam sit fat fit fib mat Inappropriate words: is as Ma aim

26. Provide Cues  Types of cues:  Picture  Gesture  Key word  Stories, chants, rhymes

27. Embedding Letter-Shape And Picture Cue Sf h h

28. ZOO PHONICS

29. Cues For Short Vowels a apple /a/e edge /e/ o octopus /o/ u up /u/ i itch /i/

30. Video: Cues for Vowels  Please click on the video below to play.

31. a a…a…a… Oh, no, here comes Bossy R. He’s such a bully. R...r...r…r r You vowels think you are so special—just because you have to be in every word. From now on when you come before me, you have to say my name. The Story of Bossy R car art star bark hard carpet harmony

32. o oei u Did you hear what he did to a? Hey, O, come over here. Right now! I like you, kid. You remind me of a smiley face. I am going to let you say a word with me. OR The Story of Bossy R forkhorseborn porkdormantorder Okay, O. Now, scram! Now for the rest of you vowels! I’m going to put a spell on you, e, i, & u. a Uh-oh, there’s that Bossy-R. r

33. The Story of Bossy R er ir ur skirt dirt circle swirl fur spurt urgent curtain better feather blender skater I-R and U-R, you just fight it out to see who’s going in the rest of the words. r Er…er...er Ir...ir…ir Ur…ur…ur You all sound alike! Now, let’s see what words you can be in. Ha, ha!! all of you are roosters!!!. E-R, you are the noisiest, so I am going to make you stay on the end of words.

34. Solution: Provide Extensive Practice In 2 Directions DEMONSTRATION: Teaching a new letter-sound Letter-sound drill

35. Visual Drill

36. Auditory Drill

37. Avoid Guessing  Many students with reading problems have learned to impulsively guess until they get the right answer.  “That’s a b, no d, no, I mean p.”  “There, where, here…”  Remind students to use cues when they are unsure of a letter or sound.  “What’s your key word.”  “Make your hand motion.”  “Check your sound notebook”  Tell them the answer if necessary to avoid guessing.

38. Letter-Sounds Are Not Just For Beginners  More advanced students need letter-sound cues for more advanced spellings:  For example, by Wilson Reading Step 5, when shown the letter a, the student can proudly recite the following as well as similar key words for each vowel: a apple /a/ a safe /a/ a acorn /a/ a Alaska /u/

39. Automatic letter recognition is the key to automatic word recognition Berninger (2000) reports that at-risk children were found to need over 20 times more practice Perspectives, Winter, 2002 Letters Are the Building Blocks for Words

40. Automaticity Practice: Letter-Sound Level  For initial learning, provide picture cues  For fluency practice, use plain letters  Use a key word for vowels  Use visual drill for reading  Use auditory drill for spelling Felton & Lillie, 2001

41. caDS MtTC Adsm Letter Names/Letter Sounds

43. fcrr.org

44. Video: Cues for Letter-Sound Associations  Please click on the video below to play.

45. Review What makes learning letter name, shapes and sounds so difficult? What are some strategies to make this learning easier? Why are cues for short vowels especially important?

46. What is the sound of each of these r-controlled vowel combinations? ar er ir or ur How can you help a student avoid guessing? What is the difference between a visual drill and an auditory drill? Review Continued

47. Congratulations! You have completed Unit 6: Teaching Letter-Sound Associations

48. Sources  Felton, R., & Lillie, D. (2000). Teaching Students with Persistent Reading Problems (a multimedia CD-ROM). Greensboro, NC. Guilford County Schools.  National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read– Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH Pub. No. 00-4764.