PHONICS INSTRUCTION HOW TO SUPPLEMENT FUNDATIONS Julie Burns REED 745

What is Phonics?  Phonics is instruction in the letter-sound relationships that are used in reading and writing (Borgia, 2011).  The goal of phonics instruction is to help students develop the alphabetic principle.  Students who understand the alphabetic principle know that the sounds of spoken words match a symbol (letter) that can be written to make words.

What is Explicit, Systematic Phonics?  This would be our current program, Fundations.  The word explicit may refer to precise, fully developed, clearly expressed instruction.  Sometimes the phrase is used to describe the precise, fully developed, and clearly expressed instructions provided to teachers in scripted phonics programs.  These programs make it perfectly clear what teachers are to say and do.

What is Explicit, Systematic Phonics? Cont.  Systematic means orderly, planned, and coordinated. In the context of phonics instruction, systematic is used sometimes to refer to instructional progression, sometimes to a set of activities and materials, and sometimes to the schedule of instruction (Villaume, 2003 ).  A substantial amount of research has attempted to determine whether non scripted phonics instruction or scripted phonics programs with explicit instruction for teachers lead to greater student achievement.

The Results  A long-standing and growing body of research confirms that teacher expertise is a more significant factor in student reading achievement than teaching method (Villaume, 2003 ).  This research describes how the most effective teachers recognize and address student confusion by quickly providing additional clarifying examples and how they notice and respond to a lack of student engagement by changing the pace of the lesson or modifying the activity.

How Do They Do It?  They use supplementary lessons!  Supplementary lessons should include reading, writing and play with words.  This will reinforce the skills being taught during Fundations.  Incorporate skills being taught with Reader’s Theater, spelling words, basal readers, leveled readers, writing topics, poetry…ect.

What to Supplement?  There are 37 "dependable" rimes in our language that make up nearly 500 primary grade words.  Any of these rime patterns can be the focus of a lesson. Be sure to select patterns and words from shared reading and writing materials that you are using.  Students that have had more time for writing in journals and using their invented spelling were significantly better in their decoding and comprehension skills than those students only in a traditional spelling program (Stahl, 1992) Use Word FamiliesEncourage Invented Spelling

Try It! This activity will focus on the long vowel sound patterns in words.  After choosing a spelling pattern for the vowel sound of long o, look for a text that has words with patterns like —one and -oa. Silverstein's (1974) poem, "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out," has several words with these patterns: bones, cones, oatmeal, toast, and roasts.

Try It! Cont.  Put a pattern like —ow at the top of a sheet of chart paper and ask students to share words they can think of that fit this pattern and have the long o sound.  Do the same for several other long o patterns. Have students write the words on these charts under the appropriate pattern.  Challenge them to look for other words in their reading and environment that fit one of these patterns.  Do this for several days so that students begin to internalize the pattern for a particular vowel sound.  Display the charts next to your other Word Wall words as constant reminders of their work and of the relationship between letter combinations and sounds.

Long –O Word Wall -ow-oa-one row tow low know toast road oats boat bone tone cone lone

How Can We Do It? Minute Reflection: How can we incorporate more activities like we just discussed as a supplement to Fundations?

References Borgia, L., & Owles, C. (2011). Terrific Teaching Tips. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 39(3), Beverly, B. L., Giles, R. M., & Buck, K. L. (2009). FIRST-GRADE READING GAINS FOLLOWING ENRICHMENT: PHONICS PLUS DECODABLE TEXTS COMPARED TO AUTHENTIC LITERATURE READ ALOUD. Reading Improvement, 46(4), Heide, S. (2005). Meaningful Phonics Instruction: Engaging Students Through Poetry and Word Study Folders. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 33(4), McIntyre E, Petrosko J, Newsome F, et al. Supplemental Instruction in Early Reading: Does It Matter for Struggling Readers?. Journal of Educational Research [serial online]. November 2005;99(2): Mesmer, H. E., & Griffith, P. L. (2005). Everybody's selling it--But just what is explicit, systematic phonics instruction?. Reading Teacher, 59(4), Shefelbine, J. (1998). Strategic Phonics. Instructor-Intermediate, 108(2), 102. Strickland discusses proper role of phonics. (2011). Reading Today, 28(4), 6. Villaume, S., & Brabham, E. (2003). Phonics instruction:Beyond the debate. Reading Teacher, 56(5), 478. Wilson, G., Martens, P., Arya, P., & Altwerger, B. (2004). Readers, Instruction, and the NRP. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(3),