Learning+to+Read+&+Phonics

Phonics.
Phonics is like a puzzle, it promotes active investigation about sounds and letters in the classroom. Phonics focuses on sound-letter relationships and depends heavily on a good understanding of the alphabetic principle.

Mapping Sounds to Letters:
Many teachers use problem solving approaches with phonics... Example: When reading the book Bambi, the teacher could write 'Bambi' on the board and would then get the class to look at the letters and combinations and how they make sounds. The letter 'b' makes a /b/ sound etc...The children could then build lists of words that fit the letter combinations like; Bambi, book, belt, boot...

Phonic Generalizations:
There are many phonic generalizations but many of them only work 50% of the time. One rule is that an 'e' on the end of a word makes the vowel in the middle of the word sound long. This rule works for the word 'make' but not for the word 'done'. Another rule is that when 2 vowels go walking the first does the talking. This rule works for the words 'sheep' and 'soap', but not for the words 'could' or 'blood'. For a list of more generalizations [|click here].

Stage 1: The Letters of the Alphabet.
Recognize, say and write the letters of alphabet in both lower and upper case.

Stage 2: Onset and Rime-common rimes.
The onset in a syllable is any consonants that precedes the vowel. The rime consists of the vowel and consonants that come after the onset. This is a strategy that children can use when faced with unfamiliar words.

Stage 3: Blends.
When two or more letters are combined they are known as blends or letter clusters. Consonant blends are usually grouped in two categories: those that occur at the beginning of single syllable words and those that occur at the end.

Stage 4: Digraphs and other Letter Combinations.
Digraphs are two letters making a single sound, they can be consonants or vowels. They are combinations that represent single phonemes which neither letter in the combinations ordinarily represents alone.

Stage 5: Structural Analysis.
Involves making structural changes to a base word. Syllables are important, there are as many syllables as there are vowel sounds. Contractions are single words that result from combining two or more words, for example: I am = I'm and does not = doesn't Compound words are made by combing two words to make a different word, for example: 'some' and 'thing' = something

Phonemic Awareness:
Is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds that comprise spoken words. It is the understanding that language is made of small units of sound. Click here to find out more about phonemic awareness and discover good activities to help children improve their phonemic awareness.