Join me every week as I show you how me and my 4-year-old Certain Little Someone dosimple preschool at home.
No curriculum, no pressure, but lots of learning!
You’ll have to forgive me, but phonics is a subject about which I am quite passionate. Phonics and reading - the two can hardly be separated - are dear to my heart. Yes, dear to my heart. I know that’s weird, but it’s true. In my Kindergarten-teaching years, phonics was the subject that I absolutely loved to plan and schedule and teach teach teach. By the time my students graduated from my class, I wanted to be sure they were fully grounded in the basic workings of the letters and sounds of the English alphabet!
All the sounds. Not just the individual alphabet letters, but their combinations and how they work together to create all the sounds that we use in English. And you know what? Once you start breaking it down, it’s not nearly as complicated as it might seem. And it’s a lot more reliable than we often think. Sure, there are plenty of exceptions - English is famous for that! - but there are also plenty of dependable rules and phonograms that can be taught at a very young age.
And the best part is this - you don’t really need a curriculum! Any mom can teach her child how to read and spell by teaching phonics in a logical progression. Supplemental accessories like flash cards, worksheets, and basic reading books can be very helpful, but really, an entire curriculum is not essential at all.
The Goal of Phonics Instruction
The main goal of phonics instruction is actually two-fold: to learn to read, and to learn to spell. Teaching phonics in and of itself is almost a means of killing both those birds with one stone, but you have to teach it thoroughly. Good phonics instruction includes at least the following elements:
- Identifying letters and groups of letters and associating them with their corresponding sounds
- Isolating those sounds visually, aurally and orally
- Manipulating those sounds to form new (or even nonsense) words, or rhyming words
- Recognizing patterns, similarities, and differences in letter groups and words.
Basic Phonics Lesson Plan Structure
Each phonics lesson should include elements of these different abilities in order to thoroughly teach the sound in question to the child. This is my basic lesson plan for each new sound:
- See The Sound/Say the Sound - using flash cards, written letters, or manipulatives to show the letter or group of letters that makes the sound. I demonstrate the sound and ask the child to repeat it.
- Hear the Sound - say different words containing the sound either at the beginning, middle or end. Most words are familiar to the student, but I also try to throw in some new words to increase their vocabulary and sharpen their listening skills.
- Read the Sound - the child reads the sound both separately and combined into words (as soon as reading skills are developed).
- Make or Write the Sound - if a child is capable of writing, listening and dictating exercises can be performed during this section of the lesson. Pre-writing children can practice forming the sound themselves either in sand (contained in a small box) for individual letters, or by using letter tiles (or other manipulatives) to put together individual letters that form the sound in question.
Sample Phonics Lesson
- I write an “S” and an “H” beside each other in the same color on a piece of paper (or whiteboard/chalkboard). I tell my Certain Little Someone that these letters have their own individual sounds when they are by themselves, but when they are beside each other, they work together to create a new sound. That sound is “SH”. I ask him to repeat that sound after me.
- I then say a bunch of different words: ship, shine, dish, wash, push, etc, emphasizing the “SH” sound and drawing it out. I ask him to think of other words that start or end with “SH” (this skill develops later; he doesn’t do very well with it because he’s not quite 4 yet, but many kindergarteners have enough access to their vocabulary that they can do this well.).
- Then we play some kind of game that helps him to differentiate between “SH” and other similar sounds like “CH”. For example, I ask him to hold up the “SH” flashcard high above his head if he hears “SH” in the word, but if he doesn’t hear “SH”, he should put the flash card on his lap or on the table. Then I say a list of words like: share, train, cheese, shop, etc.
- I write words or phonograms (groups of letters/parts of words, for example “ash” or “sho”) for him to read and blend together.
- For kindergarteners who know how to write, I would dictate words and ask them to write them correctly on a whiteboard or chalkboard. There are lots of different games to be played here as well, and different listening skills that can be applied to different sounds. My Certain Little Someone is still learning how to write, though, so we’re not here yet. Instead we do some kind of activity with manipulatives like letter tiles, where he puts together the right letters to form the sound we’re learning.
Sequence
- Consonants - m, s, r, f, n, l, b, g, j, v, w, z, d, p, c, t, k, qu, x, h, y (Yes, there is a reason for going in just that order. I adapted it from Montessori.)
- Vowels - a, e, i, o, u
- CV Blends - ma, fe, do, etc AND/OR am, ef, od, etc. Follow the same progression of consonants above. Younger children require a lot more time on this step than older children. This step should be repeated until a child can see a CV blend and say the blended sound without sounding out.
- CVC - Once a child is comfortable with the CV blends, add a final consonant (or initial consonant) to form short-vowel words, like cat, dog, etc.
- Digraphs: sh, ch, th (voiced and unvoiced), wh, ck
- Long Vowels - introduce orally first, w/o regard to spelling
- CVCe - I call it the “Magic E” that transforms a short vowel into a long
- Vowel Digraphs - ai, ay, ea, ee, ie, ie (one says “I”, the other says “E”), oa, oe
- Consonant Blends - S blends (sc sk sl sm sn sp st), L blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl), R blends (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr), W blends (dw, sw, tw)
- 3-Letter Consonant Blends - shr thr, scr, spr, str, spl, squ
- Diphthongs - aw, au, ew (and ue), ow (and long ow), ou, oo (long and short - moon, book), oi, oy
- Phonograms - ang, ank, ong, onk, ung, unk, unc, ing, ink, and, ond, ind, ild, old, oll, all, al
- R-Controlled Vowels - ar, er, ir, or, ur
- Advanced Phonograms - aught, ought, ight, eigh,
- Alternate Consonant Sounds - c-“s”, g-“j” (also dge), y-“i”, y-“e”
- Silent Consonants - gn, kn, wr, mb
- Suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -er, -or, -ed (It makes 3 different sounds “d”, “t”, “ed”), le, -ly, -ful, -ous, -tion, -sion, -ssion, -ture, -sure,
- Advanced Consonant Digraphs - gh, ph, wh (h), ch (k), sch, chr
- W- Controlled Vowels - wa, war, wor
- Alternate Vowel Sounds - o (u), ou (u), ou (long u), ey (ay), ea (short e), ea (long a), ear (er), ear (air)
- Contractions - n’t, ‘re, ‘s, ‘ve, ‘s (has), ‘d, ‘ll, ‘m, ‘s (us)
- Prefixes - a-, al-, re-, pre-, en-, un-, in-, dis-, etc.
- ai (rain)
- ay (way)
- eigh (weigh)
- ea (steak)
- a_e (late)
- ey (grey)
- a (at the end of a syllable, like la-ter)
- ei (rein)
See what I mean? But I found that my kindergarteners, if they were expressly taught each separate sound, quickly learned to differentiate between them and could also successfully spell words using each of these sounds when I dictated them.
Phonics Resources
Some great resources for teaching Phonics:
Phonics A to Z - This is the bomb- diggity for phonics resources. Not only does it thoroughly explain the intricacies of English phonetics, and how to teach them, it offers charts with examples, and lots of different teaching activities and games.
Phonics Pathways - It follows a slightly different progression from the one I outlined above, but it’s just as effective.
The authors of both the above books have written other helpful books as well, but those 2 are my favorite.
Next week, I’ll share how we do apply newly acquired phonics skills to reading! If you missed it, last week, I shared my preschool philosophy and our little homeschool corner.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my brain and into my passion for educating the little ones. I know I usually talk about food and other less mentally-intensive topics, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite subjects of all time. Come back tomorrow for more of the same-old same-old!
Other posts in this series:
Phonics-Phonics, Part 2-Reading-Reading, Part 2-Handwriting-Math-Days of the Week-Bible-“Other”
Amen, sister! I currently teach 2nd grade and it is so difficult to teach continuing reading skills when the students do not have a solid understanding of phonics; individual letters, blends, vowel combinations, etc. I’m struggling with this right now. Do I pull that student aside and reteach all of this or do I plunge forward hoping he/she has had it and just forgotten?!
Teaching phonics is so, so important! When I was a kid they taught reading by memorization. The process made the teachers look great because the kids were reading within days, but it was a HUGE disservice to the students because we grew up lacking the skills to really read. I was always in the top reading groups, but if it was a new word, I was at a loss. I hated reading and dreaded book reports. I would try to pick a book with a good cover that condensed the book and used that to write my report, or found one that was made into a movie. That way I could turn in my reports without having to actually read the book. It was horrible to have to go up to your mother as a high schooler and ask, “What’s this word?”
When our kids started school, I worked as teacher’s aid and one of my jobs was to do the phonics drill every morning. This is when I discovered that you can sound out most words and it opened a whole new world to me. I suddenly found that I loved to read! I wish the school systems would stop playing around with “new” and “better” ways of teaching. If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it! Teach those phonics and drill those math tables!!
Loved reading this today! Yesterday I sat down to read the phonics curriculum that I bought for my son (The Writing Road to Reading) and my eyes were glazing over within the first few pages. Thankfully, my mom - who is a veteran homeschooler and who has used that book for many years - was able to tell me to ignore the detailed instructions and focus on teaching the sounds and showing them how to write the phonograms. So much simpler than I thought it was!
We are still a little while away from school but thanks for all the info, I will share with my friend starting to home school this year.
I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed because it seems like all my two-year-olds friends are now in pre-school, and I’m more comfortable with him at home at this point. I have been looking for lesson plan ideas to introduce some pre-school concepts to him on my own. Do you have any recommendations for what lessons to start at different ages?
Sarah, you can do a very simple, fun, and active version of the lesson outlined here. Start with the alphabet (go in the order that I listed), and park on each letter for a while (at least a few days). Print out coloring pages with the letter and color them, saying the letter’s sound (not its name) over and over again. Say words beginning with the sound, and emphasize the sound - mmmmmmouse, mmmmommmmmy, etc. Have him repeat the sounds back to you (he might not at first; just keep trying, but don’t pressure him). At that age, I didn’t really do formal lessons with my son; I just took opportunities when I could to point out letters and their sounds. Also, I made letters available to him (the fridge magnets from leapfrog really work very well), and lots and lots of books and reading out loud. There are lots of letters and sounds books at my local library, too; ask the children’s librarian for books about letters and the alphabet and read them over and over again. And don’t stress out about whether or not he’s “getting it” at this point. It’s just exposure and for fun at that age!
One book that helped my Little One was Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! I read it to her several times a week during her first year, and with the help of the LeapFrog magnet letters, Little One could name all of the letters on sight at 18 mos.
I know if I’d really pushed her with daily flashcards, she would have had it down even earlier but I try not to overdo it. She is in an environment full of educators, so I just want to give her every opportunity without being one of THOSE parents.
I know she could be farther along because there are certain items (Kix cereal and the local university, for example) that she is able to associate the food/school name with the letters visually, verbally and aurally.
When she turned two, she was starting to sound out several of the letters. Yay! Reading by 30 months?
Yes, Dr. Seuss’ ABC has been a big hit around here, too!
I like that it is simple and easy to use. Phonics is so important and tools that help our little ones succeed is very important. Thank you for sharing!
Great information! I will be teaching this in the near future. Thanks for sharing with the Thrive @ Home community!
THANKS! Such great information to know!!
I loved reading this! My oldest daughter is starting to become interested in reading and we have been looking for learning ideas. This is an awesome starting point! Thank you.
Intensive phonics is so important. I didn’t realize how much of this I naturally did with my firstborn until I got to the point where I wanted a phonics program. I was shocked at how many programs out there weren’t really phonics based. It always makes me sad to see young children memorizing sight words when there are reasons for why they are spelled the way they are spelled. We tie our handwriting-spelling -reading all together and I love our multi-sensory, complete approach!
And the programs that ARE phonics-based either move too slow or not ina logical progression (in my humble opinion, lol).. Which is why I do my own phonics and not a curriculum.
Check out this cute idea using paint sample cards to create word families:
http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2009/11/preschool-first-grade-at-home-paint.html
You are going to love this idea although it might suit your “Certain Little Someone” when he/she is closer to first grade, depending on the reading level.
Thank you for your resource here. I’ve pinned it for use with my own Little One in the near future.
Great idea, thanks!
I just realized I told you how awesome this post was on FB, not here! So yes, you rock. This is a very awesome resource for me right now! Thanks for sharing over at Fellowship Fridays